Posts tagged bird
Wildlife Photographer
22 notes &
Lumen Angelus
Fig 1. Lumen Angelus - Angel of Light
While looking through my archive of photo’s, while preparing a portfolio for submission to another website, I came across this photograph of a Whiskered Tern taken at Marievale Bird Sanctuary, Nigel in South Africa.
I absolutely love how photography can surprise you like this! Although this was taken quite a long time ago now, in 2007; I remember this day clearly. It was a cold grey miserable windy day at Marievale and there was really very little action happening. The wind was strong enough however for the terns to hover into the wind like this. For a brief moment, the sun came out and shone upon this Whiskered Tern and I managed to capture the moment.
It has of course been overly-dramatized in Photoshop for effect, but still today this image speaks to me on many levels. Having been shot quite a long time ago, I have learned so much more about photography and Photoshop and I recognize so many flaws with this image. Yet it appears to transcend all of that and it still manages to convey emotion and drama. Somehow being more experienced hasn’t helped these creative moments, and inspiration like this has been fleeting of late. Does it mean to say, one should forget what one has learned; just go out there and shoot for the moment; ignore the rules and the pundits and simply let the creativity flow?
For me these kind of moments are few and far between but I certainly cherish them when they come along, and love to be reminded of them when I find an old image in the archives like this one.
Do you have any special ‘Aha’ moments that you’d love to share. Drop me a line. I would love to hear from you.
Fig 1. Lumen Angelus - Additional EXIF Info:
Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mark IIn
Lens: Canon 400mm f/2.8 L IS USM
Extender: Canon 1.4x II Extender
Focal Length: 560mm
Shutter Speed: 1/3200s
Aperture: f/5
ISO: 200
Date Taken: Jan 24, 2007, 7:28:24 AM
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Copyright Ian Weatherburn Photography.
19 notes &
The Southern Ground Hornbill is on the Red List of Endangered Species so it’s always great to get a sighting of these birds. It’s even better to hear them calling to each other as they make such a great distinctive sound - almost like a hollow drum that is being beaten.
This photograph was taken in the Madikwe Game Reserve, in the North-West Province of South Africa, while staying at Jaci’s Safari Lodge. We had the most fantastic stay there and they catered wonderfully for my two younger daughters, aged 6 and 7 who were totally enthralled by all the wildlife that we saw there. The ranger, Johan and the staff really knew how to appeal to the children’s senses while keeping the adults happy and well-fed!!
At this focal length and aperture the eyelashes were captured wonderfully and the grass back-drop out of depth-of-field worked wonderfully as a smooth background.
Additional EXIF Info:
Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Lens: Canon 400mm f/2.8 L IS USM
Shutter Speed: 1/8000s
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 400mm
ISO: 1600
Exposure Bias: Av(+0.33)
Notes: Full-Frame
Date Taken: Aug 15, 2011, 10:33:10 AM
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Copyright Ian Weatherburn Photography.
