My first visit to Gigrin to shoot Red Kites and what an education that was!! Never really appreciated the skill involved in getting top quality shots of these, as I was always under the impression that it was a seriously staged event and you couldn't fail to get good images... but it's tough for the novice flight photographer!! I shot about 6gb of shots and have kept about 10 frames and none of them are really good.
Really need a good few visits and a lot of practise in flight photography!!
Unfortunately this is cropped to about 40% of the full frame
Opted for a big in the frame shot to add a bit of impact, so I suspect it won't appeal to most as I generally would have liked more room for the Kite to fly into, but here it is and hats off to the people that have top drawer full frame shots of these!
Comments appreciated
1d2, 500/4is + 1.4x, 1/1000th, f5.6, iso 200, tripod
Worth your trip with this shot, Graeme. Only nit is the two OOF posts(?) in the background. Certainly lots of impact, and a very dynamic pose. The green background is certainly an improvement on most of my blue-sky shots taken there. I like it!
Hats off to you too Graeme. Youcan be very pleased with this shot as it gets away from the usual sky BG and you have caught the Kite in an interesting pose. Very nice.
Its a great shot. I wouldn't worry too much about it being cropped. I think there are a lot of people that crop BIF shots but you just don't know because they don't mention it. I visit a few forums and started asking if shots were cropped or not and in most situations they were which was good news because it always puzzled me how so many people where getting perfectly framed shots
Cropped or not its a cracking image-one of the best kite shots i have seen
Posted by Paul Hillion on April 19, 2007 at 9:21 AM
Beautiful shot! Just out of interest is Gigrin and the Red Kites an all year event or is there better times to visit more than others? It's just that I'd love to visit this year sometime but as I have to travel over from Guernsey I'd have to be pretty sure there would be birds there for me to try and capture.
If I came away with a shot like yours Graeme I'd be a happy chap
Posted by Graeme Lee on April 19, 2007 at 10:06 AM
Hi Paul,
Like I said, it's my first time there, so I'm not particularly up on things but I think it is an all year around event. It has to be and this is why it's a bit contraversial as the Kites are now reliant on this food source. In the winter they reckon there's up to 400 kites flying around which in my view would be really hard to isolate birds, but judging from shots I've seen, it's possible, unless they've cloned out 50 other birds
In the summer they are far less and I'd estimate I saw about 30-50 kites, so there's no shortage to keep you going. I must admit I shot for about 3 hours and I was absolutely shattered
Posted by Paul Hillion on April 19, 2007 at 10:09 AM
Cheers mate, I'm really looking forward to visiting, hopefully I'll be able to sneak away for a long weekend in early summer.
Posted by Alan Bryant on April 19, 2007 at 12:19 PM
A cracker of a shot
Posted by Sean Bolton on April 19, 2007 at 4:31 PM
Hi Graeme
You have done well here, nice and sharp, good colour. I agree Gigrin still takes some skill to get good shots even though the birds are fed right in front of you. They are fast and when there are 200+ birds whirling around it is not easy to pick out a single bird and track it.
Discussion
13 repliesReally need a good few visits and a lot of practise in flight photography!!
Unfortunately this is cropped to about 40% of the full frame
Opted for a big in the frame shot to add a bit of impact, so I suspect it won't appeal to most as I generally would have liked more room for the Kite to fly into, but here it is and hats off to the people that have top drawer full frame shots of these!
Comments appreciated
1d2, 500/4is + 1.4x, 1/1000th, f5.6, iso 200, tripod
Nice one
Tim
Rob
John
Aberdeen
If I came away with a shot like yours Graeme I'd be a happy chap
Like I said, it's my first time there, so I'm not particularly up on things but I think it is an all year around event. It has to be and this is why it's a bit contraversial as the Kites are now reliant on this food source. In the winter they reckon there's up to 400 kites flying around which in my view would be really hard to isolate birds, but judging from shots I've seen, it's possible, unless they've cloned out 50 other birds
In the summer they are far less and I'd estimate I saw about 30-50 kites, so there's no shortage to keep you going. I must admit I shot for about 3 hours and I was absolutely shattered
You have done well here, nice and sharp, good colour. I agree Gigrin still takes some skill to get good shots even though the birds are fed right in front of you. They are fast and when there are 200+ birds whirling around it is not easy to pick out a single bird and track it.
cheers
Sean
Brian