Running sanderlings

I took this photograph in January 2008 just before leaving Sable Island. I was at the West Spit and crept up to these birds on my stomach so as not to disturb them. I also wanted to be at their level to get a different view. The seals and gull in the background maintain a sense of scale. This photograph reached the semi-finals in the 2008 BBC Wildlife Competition.

Canon EOS 40D, 100-300mm 4.5/5.6 lens, 1/160th sec, f/5.6, ISO 500, focal length 300mm

Damian

Black and white landscapes

Recently I have been playing around with black and white images of landscapes. Here are two that I am quite happy with...





Damian

Graceful gulls

This is a photograph of Greater Black-back gulls flying above a snow covered dune. There gulls are ferocious mean carnivores and will peck out the eye of seal pups, attack birds nests for eggs and chicks and go after some mammals such as rabbits. If one had this "label" in mind when photographing these birds it would surely influence the type of image produced. So, when I saw this image below, I threw out those labels and produced this image. Damian

My return from Sable Island

So I came back from the Island on Friday (23rd Jan) after a 4 week trip. The trip was very good and great for photographs. Lots of great light, extreme weather (wind, snow, rain, blizzards, cold). And best of all I was very much in the right mood to take advantage of it all. Posted a couple of images below and hope to post more. Damian

Gone

My entry for this week is this photo showing hoof prints over the top of a dune on Sable Island. Shot on 14 January 2006 at close to 5pm. 1/60th at f4.0, ISO 200, focal=17mm I tried in both colour and BW and much prefer the latter.  All editing was done in Camera RAW (basic stuff like temperarture, levels, contrast) and the image was converted to BW in PS. Damian

original, RAW image

after editing

Sable beach at dusk

I took this shot on Sable island on 11 January 2007 at 18:10, so quite late. It was shot on a tripod at 30 seconds, f9.0, ISO 100 with my 17-85mm lens set at 35mm. I selectively sharpened the sand in the foreground and left the remaining photo untouched. I really like the colours in this photo. The browns in the sand, the greens in the sea and the blurred surf zone. Damian

Keeping with the tree theme

I took this photo on Sable Island on 31 Dec in 2006 at dusk. I remember this well. We were driving on our ATVs from the East camp to the West camp for the New Years Eve celebrations. It was 6pm and the weather was awful; cold, very windy and there was snow falling. We were close to the camp and I was really looking forward to getting inside but saw this tree trunk in the distance. It was one of those times when you have to think twice about pulling your camera out. But, its at these times when you get the best shots. I was also very happy to have IS on my lens because there was very little light.

1/25th at f4.5, Image Stabilised
ISO 1600
Focal length 30mm

Damian

Sunrise on Sable Island

This is my entry for the week. The photo was taken on Sable Island in late Dec 2005 at sunrise at the east end of the island. I find the warm colours in the sky very appealing and the 'glow' of the morning sun on the grass in the foreground is bloody lovely.

ISO 1oo

1/60th sec at f4.5

26.0 mm

Damian

To follow the horse theme

Since we are on the theme of horses I thought I would post this image that was shot in January. I really like it because there is a lot of emotion that comes through.

It was taken with my relatively new Canon 50mm f1.4 lens; 250th sec, f13.0, IOS 400, RAW, AdobeRGB. A great lens by the way...well worth the investment.

Surf at dusk

This is an image I shot on Sable Island. It was taken at dusk, I had the camera on a tripod with my 100-300mm zoom lens and the camera set at: 10 seconds at f4.0, 250mm, ISO100, RAW.

In CameraRAW I optimised the image by adjusting the levels and curves and so on. This is a technique that I haven't used much before.

Not sure about the quality of the JPEG however.

Damian

Here I am

Hi there,

I have returned from Sable and am slowly re-adapting to life on the mainland. It was a good season in terms of the work and the weather: we had every weather imaginable which make s photography a lot of fun.

I took far fewer photos this year compared with other years. Just a handful each day. I hope to post some of these in the coming weeks.

Hope you all had a good xmas and new year....

Grey seal pup.

Damian

Sable Island south beach

Hi,

Here is a vertical shot from Sable Island, south beach. The photos feels quite atmospheric to me and I like the different layers: overcast sky, cloudy sky, sea and beach.

1/125 sec at f5.6 Focal length 38mm ISO 100 RAW Adobe RGB Shot late afternoon

Comments welcome. Damian

Sparrow and water droplet

Here is a very simple image but one that appealed to me when I saw it. A simple wire, a water droplet and a bird.

1/200th sec, f6.3, exposure +1, ISO 400, focal length 300mm, RAW, Adobe RGB





Damian

Sanderling crop

Damian

This is what I meant when I described cropping your middle Sanderling image. It makes more of the procession, I think, puts them on a level bit of ground and eliminates the uninteresting white foreground.


Also, a general comment and pertinent to these; sometimes your images seem to lack contrast "punch". Is this deliberate or do you think they have enough?


What do you think of my crop?

Original:

Cropped:

Ivan

Sanderlings, Sable Island, Canada

Here are three photos of sanderlings on Sable Island


This photo has an appeal to me because the birds look like and are acting like people, walking out to sea. I was going to crop more of the sea but I think the sky above the sea adds to the feeling of vastness.




This photo has an appeal because of the intricacy that is offered by being close to the birds and the details (colour and form) in the wavelets. I also like the shadows of the birds and the single direction of travel.




This photo has an appeal because of the haphazard nature of the birds and their shadows.

The three photos had the same settings:
1/500th, f 8.0, exposure bias +0.67, ISO 200, focal length 300; RAW, Adobe RGB
Most of adjustments were made in Camera RAW.

Damian

Sanderlings in flight, Sable Island, Canada

Here is the first of the images that I captured on Sable Island. This photo is of a group of Sanderlings in flight with surf in the background. I shot it using the panning technique with Al Servo focusing, thus trying my best to keep the birds in focus. It was shot at 1/100 at f20, ISO 200, focus length 300mm.