My first Skomer rtip this year...

theMusicMan

theMusicMan

Messages
3,838
Name
John
Edit My Images
Yes
Went to Skomer Island on Thursday this week - had planned to go yesterday, but the forecast was awful so we took the risk and went a day ahead of plan. Was glorious weather, sort of a little micro-climate there was! raining most of the way from here (Newport) to Skomer, then cleared up for a lovely day.

We've all seen the usual Puffin pics so I'll just post the one.

 
:clap: Thats a great capture imho. I know there is some clipping of the head and beak but I dont think it hurts the shot at all .

Nice take on a well photographed subject john..:clap: I alo look forward to seeing more(y)


md(y)
 
Thanks all for your comments.

..MD.. said:
:clap: Thats a great capture imho. I know there is some clipping of the head and beak but I dont think it hurts the shot at all .

Nice take on a well photographed subject john..:clap: I alo look forward to seeing more(y)


md(y)
Click to expand...
Cheers Dave, coming from you mate that means a lot. Thanks Dave.

As for the clipping - yep you're right. That first shot above was 'as taken' in camera and hadn't had any cropping applied to it etc... so I nearly got it right. Here's another one I took that has had a crop, see if this is better.


p33848669-5.jpg
 
oh yes definatly an improvement on the 1st shot . I would be sending that one off to the printers had I taken it mate. also the processing looks slightly better(y)


md(y)
 
Thanks Dave ^^

Thanks Dave ^

hehe...

Glad you liked the #2nd image better, though I do feel it's cheating a little :)
 
I love it. The DOF I feel, would be better, or at least JUST AS interesting, if it allowed a completely sharp head, with the OOF backgdrop. I weant to see those eyes in focus :D

Gary.
 
WoW like these alot. The second for me but would love to see the whole head in focus as others have said.

Superb shot none the less :clap::clap:
 
Stunning Shots John - You truly are showing what the Oly E-3 can do.

What lens was this (70-300mm :shrug:)


(y)
 
Chillimonster said:
Stunning Shots John - You truly are showing what the Oly E-3 can do.

What lens was this (70-300mm :shrug:)


(y)
Click to expand...
Hey Chris, thanks for the comments matey. Yep, these were all taken with the Oly 70-300mm plus the EC1.4x. Not that one needs the 1.4x for the Puffin shots as they are close enough, but I couldn't be ar$ed to take it off!!

Thanks to everyone else too who has taken the trouble to reply with comments. Very kind of y'all :)
 
stan the man said:
great shot john(y)

i'm looking forward to going on the 2nd of june...provided the weather is favourable :cautious:
Click to expand...
Thanks Stan.

The thing is, that's just it... the weather... it is weird. My mate and I left here (Newport) at 6:15 and it was dull, dark (through clouds), and it was drizzling. This continiued all the way West, past Cardiff and Bridgend, and Port Talbot (well... we all know what Max Boyce says about Port Talbot - the Sun never shines on Port Talbot!!) and true to his word, it was dull and horrid as we passed though there. Continuing West towards Swansea and the Gower, it was much of the same, showery and drizzle. Along towards Camarthen and it got worse, rainign heavily on times, and at no time did the sun show its face.

By the time we got to Haverfordwest, we wondered even if the boat would be sailing across... a quick call to Dale Sailing confirmed everything would be running to plan. Phew...

We had some poached eggs and toast in the Tesco Extra just outside Haverfordwest, and proceeded towards Marloes and on to Martins Haven (where the cruise liner sails from!). Now... here's the funny thing, when we arrived in Martins Haven, parked up and walked towards the jetty some 50 mins before the first crossing, the sun started breaking through the clouds. As we crossed towards Skomer on the boat, it brightened up even more, and by the time we arrived at the Wick on Skomer we were down to just the t-shirts - instead of t-shirt, jumper and coat!!

It was a glorious day (see separate landscape thread to have a look at the weather we experienced), and nothing like the weather that was on the mainland, nor what was forecast.

Weird....:thinking:
 
theMusicMan said:
Thanks Stan.

The thing is, that's just it... the weather... it is weird. My mate and I left here (Newport) at 6:15 and it was dull, dark (through clouds), and it was drizzling. This continiued all the way West, past Cardiff and Bridgend, and Port Talbot (well... we all know what Max Boyce says about Port Talbot - the Sun never shines on Port Talbot!!) and true to his word, it was dull and horrid as we passed though there. Continuing West towards Swansea and the Gower, it was much of the same, showery and drizzle. Along towards Camarthen and it got worse, rainign heavily on times, and at no time did the sun show its face.

By the time we got to Haverfordwest, we wondered even if the boat would be sailing across... a quick call to Dale Sailing confirmed everything would be running to plan. Phew...

We had some poached eggs and toast in the Tesco Extra just outside Haverfordwest, and proceeded towards Marloes and on to Martins Haven (where the cruise liner sails from!). Now... here's the funny thing, when we arrived in Martins Haven, parked up and walked towards the jetty some 50 mins before the first crossing, the sun started breaking through the clouds. As we crossed towards Skomer on the boat, it brightened up even more, and by the time we arrived at the Wick on Skomer we were down to just the t-shirts - instead of t-shirt, jumper and coat!!

It was a glorious day (see separate landscape thread to have a look at the weather we experienced), and nothing like the weather that was on the mainland, nor what was forecast.

Weird....:thinking:
Click to expand...

john,

sounds like you were quite lucky,weather wise.although i've never been on skomer,i know the area very well(marloes and martins haven et al)as i used to do a lot of fishing down there in the summer months,so know to well how unpredictable the weather can be....

my trip down there is with a mate and another person i've not yet met..and i know he will only go if the forecast guarantees us getting on skomer...

were the guillimots there?
 
stan the man said:
john,

sounds like you were quite lucky,weather wise.although i've never been on skomer,i know the area very well(marloes and martins haven et al)as i used to do a lot of fishing down there in the summer months,so know to well how unpredictable the weather can be....

my trip down there is with a mate and another person i've not yet met..and i know he will only go if the forecast guarantees us getting on skomer...

were the guillimots there?
Click to expand...
I think we were very lucky Stan, though I am told that Skomer has the least rainfall in Wales and though it was raining on the mainland, it didn't at all on Skomer.

The boat will run in the rain, it is only wind that stops sailings, and that's due to the dangerous landing site on Skomer itself, not the rough seas when crossing. Call Dale Sailing at 08:30 on the day of travel and they will then be able to advise you if the boat is able to land. They still do tours around the island when the weather isn't safe enough for landings.

Yep - the Guillemots were there, as were Razorbills, Fulmar, Kittiwake, LBBs, a few GBB's, Cormorant, Herring Gulls etc... The Manx's are usually way out at sea in the daytime but there were a few closer to shore when I looked.
 
hypnotic said:
At times they will walk right past you ... Within inches ... :eek:
Click to expand...
Yep, absolutely right. I was standing on the path at the Wick, and several walked right past me to their burrow on the opposite side.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top