Phal's house of pics

Some more shots from one of my local haunts! I've been heading up there a lot since its 5 mins from work and from where I live! Been trying to practise my handheld shots. I also gave mode 3 IS a test since some people online reported good results (I find it's about the same as mode 2 with the added difficulty of having to track without IS which is about what you'd expect I guess).


This guy/girl has turned up recently when I've been up there for some target practise. On both occasions I've ended up with these shots without really knowing I'd gotten them! I'm just there trying to get better with my handheld shots so I just for anything that moves and is reasonably close.

Peregrine Falcon by Phal44, on Flickr


The good thing about this place is that it's the top of a steep hill so you can get some eye level shots of the birds in flight...The bad thing is that the wind is usually coming from down the hill so birds are pointing away and you're shooting into the sun for the afternoon.

Caught Eye by Phal44, on Flickr



These guys are quite fond of this area too and they do their best Buzzard impressions then I'm around by trying to glide about in the breeze as much as possible. This one looked especially tatty!

Flying Scarecrow by Phal44, on Flickr


I got the answer to that age old question - How does a Kestrel poo mid-flight? With it's little legs dangling down out of the way of course!

Bombs Away by Phal44, on Flickr



Saw it land to hunt quite a few times but this was the only catch I saw :)

Eye Contact Lunch by Phal44, on Flickr
 
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Couple of old shots I hadn't processed from last year at Duxford. I'd missed the Lancasters all summer due to a holiday and the breakdown of an engine on the Canadian one so I wanted to get them! When I did it was a bit of a let down since the weather was so meh so I didn't process too many shots apart from the later ones when it perked up a bit.

There's a couple I've decided to go back and sort and here's two (both taken with my old 70d)

Bigbirds by Phal44, on Flickr

Lancaster flyby by Phal44, on Flickr
 
Bumper crop today!

Some flappy things!


Orange-tip

Orange-tip by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr

Something I found hiding in the grass

Mothy by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr

This thing was pretty small but very shiny! Seems to be a moth or at least that's what I'm guessing! Has a long curly wurly tongue like a butterfly :)

Shiny Moth thingy? by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr


Spotted Wood

Spotted Wood Butterfly by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr

Another unknown moth?

Mothy Moth by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr

Brown Wall

Brown Wall Buttery by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr

Finally got some of these guys! Brimstone :)

Brimstone by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr
 
Hover Kestrel with a slowish exposure

Surprising Hover by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr

Wings out straight for some gliding

Gliding Kestrel by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr

What is this? Something that likes hiding in the reeds and the beak almost looks silver

Birdy by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr

Birdy by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr


Birdy by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr

Moody looking Jackdaw

Moody by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr

The best is last... Had rather unsuitable settings set from when I was shooting Butterflies but managed to get this shot handheld which was a pleasant surprise :D

Poor little furry fella doesn't look like he's enjoying the ride

Come With Me by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr
 
I got some nice shots of a Kestrel hunting last night and had a little fun with one of the shots and the processing. I couldn't quite decide on something more natural or something a little more stylised and then I also realised that my more heavily processed shot worked well as a B&W shot :)

Here they are


#1 Fairly natural looking

Looming Kestrel 1 by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr


#2 Processed to accentuate the sun which was almost in shot

Looming Kestrel 3 by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr

#3 B&W version of the above with a few tweaks

Looming Kestrel 2 by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr
 
Here's the link to the album with a 'few' more pics. Flickr tries to arrange them in a nice mosaic but the quality suffers in some of the sizes so I find it's better checking each individually but maybe that's just me!




https://www.flickr.com/photos/phal44/sets/72157653786470561




Here's a few random shots picked from the list. There's better shots in there but I can't be bothered looking for them lol




1

JE5A8858 by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




2

JE5A9070 by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




3

JE5A9198 by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




4

JE5A9221 by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




5

JE5A9255 by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




6

JE5A9587 by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




7

JE5A8760 by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr
 
This one settled down often but always in a bad place! Whenever it would settle anywhere convenient it would just fly away when I got close. Followed it for got knows how long across about 20-30 different spots lol :(




Light was getting a bit low so I was spamming shots at 1/250th in the hope of getting sharp ones with the natural light and here's the best of the bunch




1

Annoying Butterfly 1 by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




2 - Slightly closer shot at same angle as #1

Annoying Butterfly 2 by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




3 - Probably the best angle I got but I didn't get very close

Annoying Butterfly 3 by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




4 - Crappy angle

Annoying Butterfly 4 by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




5 - A stack of a few shots which lined up nicely and had different bits in focus

Annoying Butterfly 5 by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr
 
More after work activities from this week :) Who need's gyms?!







1

Overhang by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




2

This guy looked a little beat up

Shot Down by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




3

Shots like this might as well be guesswork when the wind is blowing them about on the end of a stalk of grassy stuff but sometimes they turn out alright :)

Peering Over by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




4

Resting by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




5

Upright Lady by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




6

SideLady by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




7

Blue And Yellow by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr
 
My last post was work from Wednesday night this week (10-06-2015) so this is from Thursday night (11-06-2015) and overall it's a little better (imo)




1 - Peering Over The Edge

Peering Over The Edge by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




2 - Hanging On

Hanging On by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




3 - Thing On A Thing

Thing On A Thing by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




4 - in The Desert

in The Desert by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




5 - Upsidered Admiral

Upsidered Admiral by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




6 - Read Admiral

Read Admiral by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




7 - Re-read Admiral

Re-read Admiral by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr
 
Never seen any snakes in the UK until this year for some reason... Now I've seen a few :)




I'd seen one Adder sunbathing in the morning a few times after being shown a spot by a local dog walker but I never managed to get a good shot of it.




Thursday evening I was strolling about looking for Flutterbies and then noticed two Adders a few meters from me. Immediately I was a bit too close to the first one so it just hid pretty much straight away. This is the second one and I was looking for it's head.




Peering In by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr




I had to peer in at different angles looking for it's head and I think we saw each other at the same time which was kind of funny. The head moved to look at me as soon as I got the right angle and I could see it was about to go hide. I lined up the lens to take shots of a gap it looked like it would go through and got this. Sadly the focus is not perfect but this is about as good as I've managed so far :)




Taken @ 560mm with a 25mm tube fitted to get a bit closer




Just A Glimpse by Etienne Fournier, on Flickr
 
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