20110412

Black-headed Gull

I've been spending quite a bit of time over the last few days trying to capture birds in flight (see also Jackdaw, Rook and Red Kite). This Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) seemed an ideal candidate, whirling around on a stiff breeze above a North Norfolk creek crowded with mallard, swans and various geese. Experimenting with various speeds and aperture settings, I eventually twigged that the key is to deliberately overexpose by a couple of stops – the camera falsely reading brightness from the surrounding sky over accurate levels on the bird itself.

All Canon 1Ds MkII


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3 comments:

  1. Anonymous12 April 2011 at 15:52

    Stunning shots, Tim, as are the ones on the rest of your blog.

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  2. Tim James12 April 2011 at 19:13

    Thanks, Dean. Much appreciated.

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  3. FAB14 April 2011 at 22:43

    Well Tim I think you cracked the settings. Great shots particularly no 3. I sometimes also use 'partial metering' to help when the background light.

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