A rare post from me these days as I've not been out shooting much in the last few months . Hopefully a bit better weather will soon change that!
1/640 @ f/8, ISO200. 500/4 on Wimberley & Gitzo 1540.
This is a shot from last year on a trip to Scotland - it's posted to show Barry and Ian that decent shots are perfectly capable of being taken in extremely windy circumstances. The winds on the day this was shot where pretty bad (note the sand eels hanging upwards ) - the strong Westerly's hitting the cliff face and rising, coupled with strong gusts, made it difficult enough to stand up let alone shoot. For these shots, the tripod legs where quite widely splayed, the gimbal head fully locked down, the 500/4's lens hood removed or reversed, and my arm lying along the full length of the lens to try and reduce the buffeting on the lens.
It was quite a relief to leave the cliff and get some shelter - my eyes where streaming with the cold wind, and then me, the camera and the lens where covered in bird cr*p and spray blown in off the sea by the winds... I've got some sunglasses I can convert into goggles for this year to keep the wind and cr*p out of my eyes!
That's a fantastic puffin shot Nick! (Just a little tight in frame, but so what?). Have to say I'm paranoid about the front lens on my 600, so I would need to be anticipating a once in a lifetime shot to take the hood off in those conditions! I still have stains on my gear after a visit to Bass Rock 2-3 yr ago.
I've had to do it a couple of times Ian and never had any problems - the hoods add an incredible amount of resistance in windy conditions and if you're slightly at an angle in the wind, then they seem to magnify any buffeting .
FWIW, the front element in the big glass is 'supposedly' non critical, and is meant to be fairly cheap to replace in the event of damage - so it could be said it's the big-glass equivalent of a protective filter on a smaller lens. Hope I don't have to verify that fact tho' .
Posted by Fran French on April 20, 2009 at 1:04 PM
Certainly worth the discomfort Nick, a lovely image indeed. Looks like the puffin is hanging onto it's lunch for dear life!! Great stuff.
Great shot. A little tight in the frame but you can be forgiven considering the conditions. 'No pain no gain' seems to apply to wildlife photography as well I find!
Tight in the frame, great image, like the way the head is tilted slightly back, counteracting the load and wind...just looked again... that is close to the tip of the tail
Forgot to say..perhaps a tad bright, a slight lowering of the midtones?
lol - tight yes, but I wasn't going any closer to the cliff edge in the blustery winds, and as I'd unwelded the 1.4x from the lens, I couldn't drop any more focal length . I think it was probably keeping an eye on the gulls - hence the head tilt. A few later frames do show it rocking back on it's ankles with the wind - they're quite funny to watch when they do that .
Discussion
11 replies1/640 @ f/8, ISO200. 500/4 on Wimberley & Gitzo 1540.
This is a shot from last year on a trip to Scotland - it's posted to show Barry and Ian that decent shots are perfectly capable of being taken in extremely windy circumstances. The winds on the day this was shot where pretty bad (note the sand eels hanging upwards
It was quite a relief to leave the cliff and get some shelter - my eyes where streaming with the cold wind, and then me, the camera and the lens where covered in bird cr*p and spray blown in off the sea by the winds... I've got some sunglasses I can convert into goggles for this year to keep the wind and cr*p out of my eyes!
Sounds like pretty testing and uncomfortable shooting conditions but good technique has shone through and produced a good result.
Great image
Nice looking image Nick, I like the way the sandeels are being blown upwards by the wind, top stuff.
Andy...
FWIW, the front element in the big glass is 'supposedly' non critical, and is meant to be fairly cheap to replace in the event of damage - so it could be said it's the big-glass equivalent of a protective filter on a smaller lens. Hope I don't have to verify that fact tho'
Fran
Greg
Tight in the frame, great image, like the way the head is tilted slightly back, counteracting the load and wind...just looked again... that is close to the tip of the tail
Forgot to say..perhaps a tad bright, a slight lowering of the midtones?