Author: timpad

A Bright Day 
Unbelievably the suns been shining ! i packed the flash back into its case and setup with my 300 lens , i wanted to capture some in flight shots and this was the right day for it. at about 2 pm the sun is starting to get a bit lower in the sky , giving a good light for this attempt , but by 3 pm it dips behind Machen mountain and thats the end of that !!

The Greenfinches were happy to oblige, feeding on a regular basis, later on a bunch of Long tailed Tits descended to feed before roosting .

These were all taken with manual focus hoping the birds would come in on the right flight line, i found it easier to anticipate the shot holding a remote shutter release and keeping both eyes open.

Greenfinches 
I thought i’d try the flash out again , with limited success. i think the day was a bit too bright,
and the high iso didn’t help either.

The Greenfinches didn’t seem bothered by the flash , too busy squabbling amongst themselves and stuffing their faces. 

Have a care 

Don’t forget , if your’e thinking of tidying the garden up and thinking of burning that pile of rubbish at the end of the garden , spare a thought for Hedgehogs, they may be hibernating under the rubbish. These photos were taken with the help of Mr Keith Jones of the Hedgehog helpline. 

Last Year


As the weather’s not been the best in the last few weeks  i,ve been editing some stuff from last year , and deleting a lot of pictures too ! while also making a mental note to go back again this year in early spring and maybe try some different ideas,
i’d like to get some shots of dippers on the wing and in the water , these were taken on the Sirhowy in April last year, i found two Dipper nests and in both cases Grey Wagtails were nesting only 10 metres away , 

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Flash in daylight 


I saw recently some photos of Hummingbirds taken in the day using flash to freeze motion, – sooo – i thought i could do that !
i set up close to the bird feeders – about 8 – 10 feet away,  with an external flash and a wireless transmitter and put the focus on manual , then went back to the kitchen and made a cup of tea, its a tough life !!
i only had to wait a few minutes before the birds arrived, as they came in to land i took a few shots, 

these were taken at iso 2000 , it will need some experimenting to get better images , but i’m pleased with this first attempt , i didn’t think i would get anything at all !