360Photography

© Charles Fennell

It’s 6 am on a very cold October morning in North Norfolk and a hundred people are walking in single file along a narrow path between the beachfront holiday homes and a large pond. Some are experienced birders or photographers, carrying long lenses and expensive binoculars. Others are tourists enjoying a holiday before the winter. Volunteer wardens from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds are on hand to steer people towards the best places when they finally arrive at the beach, and they are unusually excited.

This is Snettisham, a small village on the edge of The Wash, a vast flat estuary on the east coast of England made up of shifting sand and mud banks, where in 1216 King John lost England’s crown jewels when he and his knights were cut off by the tide and had to abandon their baggage.

© Charles Fennell

The estuary is now home to huge colonies of wading birds, such as the oystercatcher and the knot. At the very highest tides of the year, all of the banks on which they roost offshore are submerged. It’s the “Snettisham Spectacular”, when 50,000 or more circle above the sands as the tide covers them.

It’s a perfect location for wildlife photographers at any level of experience and with any sort of equipment. The kit lens that comes with the cheapest DSLR is enough to capture the shape of the birds in the air; a long lens can pick out individuals.

© Charles Fennell

At first, nothing happens. The sea is at least a mile away, and as the deep channels fill up , there is only a lone egret looking for something to eat. The people watching are starting to make conversation. Many of them have never seen oystercatchers before. Then the display starts, slowly at first, but then for fifteen or twenty minutes there is the unique sound of thousands of small birds flying together, creating a vast shifting airborne shape.

Then it’s over as quickly as it started: almost in unison the last few thousand fly over the heads of the spectators and disappear. It’s 9 am, the sun is up, and the spectators wander back to the carpark, knowing that they’ve seen something quite unique.

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Charles Fennell is a wildlife and landscape photographer in Yorkshire

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Every photographer has one – a moment when an amazing photographic moment presents itself but something goes wrong to stop you getting the shot.

• perhaps you forgot your camera
• your lens cap was still on
• you memory card filled up just at the wrong time
• you hit the shutter a fraction of a second too early or late
• someone walked across the shot at exactly the wrong moment
• your camera was on the wrong ISO, Aperture or Shutter setting
• you were shooting video instead of shooting stills
• or maybe you were ‘chomping’ (checking your last shot on your LCD) while you should have had the camera ready (like the guy in the photo above)

In comments below tell us your ‘missed shot’ story. What was the shot you missed and why did you miss it?

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Tell Us Your Story of that ‘Missed Shot’

Digital Photography School

Wasn’t planning on doing a post today, but this “cheap camera challenge” from DigitalRev combines two things of which I am a very big fan:

1. DigitalRev’s Kai Wong, and
2. Watching Zack Arias sweat.

Normally we have to wait until Gulf Photo Plus to watch Zack sweat out an improv shoot like this. And we still wouldn’t get Kai and DigitalRev in the bargain.

The main problem (other than the POS P&S) is that Zack’s Cantonese is about as good as his subjects’ English. Which is to say, not very. (Dude, at least learn how to say please and thank you in the local language.) Fortunately, Alamby was there to pick up the linguistic pieces.

Fun to watch, but I am noticing a disturbing trend with DigitalRev and visiting photographers. Getting a little worried about my trip to Hong Kong next winter…

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Strobist

© Ankita Ghosh

To me, no flower can beat the essence of Roses. With my mom’s first USA visit, we decided to take her around in and around Columbus. June being the blooming season of Roses, we went to visit the Rose Garden at the Whetstone Park.

We were completely mesmerized by the colors and smell of the flowers. Red, Orange, Yellow, Pink, White Mauve and what not!

© Ankita Ghosh

Needless to say, I was happy to get such a nice subject to try my macro skills. I clicked above 100 pictures. It’s difficult to choose one as my favorite as all of them are nice in their own ways. But the best one so far is the one with red and white stripes.

© Ankita Ghosh

June to September is the season for Roses, they say. I will visit the garden again during the peak bloom so that I can capture the entire realm of the flower bed glazing with vibrant colors.

Link:
http://canvastales.tumblr.com/

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When love is in the ear everybody can be taken with it. Here you’ll find black and white photos of love moments which will help you to be ready for the St. Valentine’s Day.
Photodoto

A band asked me to shoot some pictures at a concert.

© Jon Simpson

As always I set myself impossible parameters in which to shoot. This time, no flash.

Tons of photographers at the concert flashing away, but not me. So when the band came onstage, no or very little front light hitting them. Just video slide show projections, vacillating between dark and brilliant light.

© Jon Simpson

So I kicked up the ISO (around 1200) shooting manual, as always.  I set the f/stop at 1.8 and shot around 60 to 100 shutter, hand held with my 85mm.

Had to be very stealthy and patient and watch the slideshow illumination carefully to catch it at just the right moment and watching the expression and focus like a hawk. I got a few stunners and the band was blown away cause the pics were unlike the others they got from everyone else that night.

© Jon Simpson

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Scottsdale & Phoenix Arizona Senior Pictures Photographer Jon Simpson specializes in Senior Picture Photography. His mission is to create images during this special crossroads in life that will be cherished forever. Located in the Arcadia area of Phoenix, he also shoots seniors in Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Tempe & Chandler, AZ.

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