Photography Challenge - Week 2
Photo Challenges
At the beginning of October we set out to complete a 14 week photo challenge, with each of us covering off the topics in the picture below. This past week, Daz drew number 6 for me - meaning I had ‘Birds in flight’ - the topic I was most looking forward to. I picked out number 1 for Daz (sorry mate!) meaning his subject was ‘Worms eye view’.
My challenge - Birds in flight
After the challenges of ‘Into the blue’ I was determined to hit the ground running with birds in flight. Feeling much better after recovering from last weeks cold, I felt refreshed and prepared to tackle my favourite photography subject.
Birds in Flight - Cormorant
I spotted this cormorant hurtling towards us, and put the ISO to auto, to enable me to use a fast shutter speed. Using zone focus on the eos R meant that I was able to track the bird as it flew through the frame.
A gull in flight
The gull above was one of many that was being fed by people walking along the lake. They were throwing bread to the swans when suddenly a load of gulls swooped down - giving me a perfect opportunity to get shots for my challenge.
A buzzard flying overhead
The circling buzzard
The final image is of a cormorant coming in to land. 3 of them had been darting up and down the river, stopping to dive for fish on some occasions. This one hurtled in at speed, and crashed into the water below.
Crash landing
What did I enjoy?
In a word, everything. I absolutely love taking pictures of birds in flight, whether it be a robin or a peregrine falcon. The wingspans, eye colours and feather details are brilliant to capture.
Lessons to learn
Don’t be afraid of high ISO. With my previous camera 800 ISO was the maximum I could use before photos became unusable. This is not the case anymore, and I feel confident that even at 12,000 ISO I can get a decent shot.
Darren’s challenge - Worms eye view
Darren had the inspiring ‘Worms eye view’ which he was thrilled with. I’m not sure how well sarcasm transcends via this, but just to emphasise that was intended to be sarcastic.
Initial thoughts were to get low and look up, and Daz started strongly. We headed to a local lake which is effectively a graveyard for abandoned ships.
The rope heading to the ship gave a brilliant leading line. Taken from low in the muddy banks, this instantly met the criteria of worms eye view.
Similarly this low angled shot looking up at the dandelion made the blades of grass look huge.
The machinery from a building site gave a interesting backdrop.
The leading lines, geometric shapes and blue tone gave this a really modern / futuristic feel.
The ladybird gave a pop of red in this stunning shot. The large leaf contrasts well with the ladybird, again giving a sense of scale.
The light in this shot really makes the subject stand out.
Looking up at the ceiling of a car park stairwell.
Stumbling across a caterpillar on ‘worms eye view’ week was lucky, and excellently captured. You can almost feel the fuzziness of the caterpillar.
Looking up through the blades of grass at the lone tree, just starting to present autumnal colours.
In Daz’s words:
This weeks theme was a lot trickier than the one I did last week - mostly because of the different challenges it entailed. The main challenge I really had to overcome wasn’t so much the challenge of the theme, but the ideas in my head. Capturing those ideas wasn’t as easy on camera and I felt the best way for me to accomplish the results I wanted was to walk around and look out for certain angles and perspectives.
Despite the initial challenges, I ended up with a few photos that worked and met the theme.
Lessons to learn
If I had any tips or pointers for this theme it would be: Don’t be afraid to get down very low - or even lay on your back and point your camera up.
Next week…
We will have our themes for next week a little later on today - and shall be revealing them when we post our next set of photos. Keep an eye out, and we can’t wait to see what the next week will bring.