Osprey at aviemore, my take

Zephyr

Zephyr

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Name
Graeme
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I took a trip up to Gordon's osprey hide for a few days towards the end of last week, the weather was very hot, and Ospreys don't like to fish in hot weather, so we only got a couple of hits each morning and in pretty poor light, but had to make the most of what we had

This was one of my favourites out of what I've looked at so far, really pushing the ISO on the Mark IV, I wanted to get a sense of movement so getting the wings blurred was a nice touch for me.
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Thanks for looking! :)
 
Fairly tight crop and very noisy but excellent capture with the bird facing you as well :)
 
gramps said:
Fairly tight crop and very noisy but excellent capture with the bird facing you as well :)
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Thanks gramps!

I thought the tight crop was best positioned with this shot and his wings were angled perfectly for it, i thought, and it removes the distraction that was the background out of the shot.
It is very noisy but with the detail not being as much as i'd hoped due to the high ISO, I didn't use any NR due to fear of losing what detail there is present. I shot this wide open at f2.8, it was so early when they fished due to the heat. We got unlucky with how hot it was but it happens, maybe next year will be better!
Just a couple of days after we left, they were back to usual running with 7 hitting the water - i hadn't realised the profound effect heat would have!
Cheers
Graeme
 
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Little bit of Nik Define reduces the noise and highlights the droplets without appearing to seriously degrading the image ... I know how you feel when you make a special trip only for the weather to throw a spanner in the works - anyway you've photographed ospreys, something I've yet to do :)
 
Hi Greame,
Great stuff and hopefully you enjoyed the Osprey,s Dolphins and Red Grouse, you were really unlucky with the weather, its hard to believe but we don't always get 29 degrees day after day, thankfully we have managed to get rid of the Spanish heat wave and are back to good old Highland weather and what a difference..... 7 different Ospreys yesterday with one almost hitting the front of the hide,..... next time leave that damn weather down south.
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I like the movement in the wings Graeme. It gives a better impression of the power of the bird in my view. The birds come in so early some days that you've just got to whack the ISO up and go for it. Better a noisy image in focus than zip. Hopefully you've got the taste and next time the luck I had will fall for you.

The MkIV is a fine camera but it struggles a bit over ISO 2500 in my experience. The really big improvement from Canon in the 5D3 & 1DX is the high ISO performance which, if the exposure is good, let's you pull good results from the files.

I've just seen where you live. I thought I had a long journey!!

Regards

Gaz
 
speyghillie said:
Hi Greame,
Great stuff and hopefully you enjoyed the Osprey,s Dolphins and Red Grouse, you were really unlucky with the weather, its hard to believe but we don't always get 29 degrees day after day, thankfully we have managed to get rid of the Spanish heat wave and are back to good old Highland weather and what a difference..... 7 different Ospreys yesterday with one almost hitting the front of the hide,..... next time leave that damn weather down south.
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Cheers Gordon, it was great and came away with some top notch shots of the dolphins! Ospreys I got some sharp shots like the above, but the light just wasn't there sadly. I will try to keep the hot weather down this way next time !!
Do drop us details on vancouver mate. Keep in touch on the whole :)

Gaz J said:
I like the movement in the wings Graeme. It gives a better impression of the power of the bird in my view. The birds come in so early some days that you've just got to whack the ISO up and go for it. Better a noisy image in focus than zip. Hopefully you've got the taste and next time the luck I had will fall for you.

The MkIV is a fine camera but it struggles a bit over ISO 2500 in my experience. The really big improvement from Canon in the 5D3 & 1DX is the high ISO performance which, if the exposure is good, let's you pull good results from the files.

I've just seen where you live. I thought I had a long journey!!

Regards

Gaz
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Cheers Gaz, and I agree! Thanks for responding, appreciate the comment - seems most people don't bother commenting anymore!!
 
Hi Greame,
Just got up, :), will send you the details of the trip for next year to the Bears and Whales ect, much cooler weather here so it was definitely you that brought that record temps, eight different Ospreys this morning and the bird you really want to photograph almost hit me on the head yesterday afternoon, will keep you posted and great to meet you both.
Thanks Gordon.
P.S Dolphins are slow again, Red Grouse are hot.
 
Joeturner11 said:
Really nice shot mate (y) Liking the motion on the wings!
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Thank you very much Joe! That's what I was aiming for while the light was low, and seems to have paid off! :)

Rustydon said:
Great stuff Graeme (y) - good wing blur and nice to see the water droplets from the bird's fishing action - looks like you had a really worthwhile long journey!
Regards,
Russ
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Cheers, certainly made it worthwhile, hopefully the next time I go (next year) it will be cooler so they'll fish more.

speyghillie said:
Hi Greame,
Just got up, :), will send you the details of the trip for next year to the Bears and Whales ect, much cooler weather here so it was definitely you that brought that record temps, eight different Ospreys this morning and the bird you really want to photograph almost hit me on the head yesterday afternoon, will keep you posted and great to meet you both.
Thanks Gordon.
P.S Dolphins are slow again, Red Grouse are hot.
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Ok awesome. And yeah, does seem like you're back to normal service :). 8 different Ospreys?? Fantastic! Making me jealous right here ;). I will have to be back next year. I also saw on the other thread that you said if you book a few days it gets cheaper?? I didn't realise this, i just always thought each day was a flat rate... will have to bear it in mind next time ... and take you up on it if we book a week or so.
yup, was lovely seeing you again , didn't get chance to go to that cake place again this year at Rothie, shows how much dedication we put in during the week to get the shots! :D
 
Chris Wilson said:
It's a super shot Graeme given the poor light - those osps don't make it easy!
I've still to get one in really good light - but hey, that's for next year.
You realise that this will become an addiction.............................

cheers, cw
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Yes you always want better with no guarantees that it will be. I made the decision before i went this year that it would be my last year. Good or bad. Fortunately it was good.
But i quite fancy a holiday in Aviemore next year with my wife in ...........lets say July!!!!!
 
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