Late photo opportunities at Stithians Demo Day

On what must have been the warmest, brightest and most still day of the year, came some stunning late afternoon sunlight. The optics demo day was successful with some 25+ people viewing through the best equipment on offer to date. By 4.30pm everyone had their fill, by which time the light was perfect for some eagerly awaited photography. The four shots below are the best of the day.

Male Reed Bunting. EXIF: Aperture Priority F/6.3 . Shutter 1/1000 th. ISO 400. Focal Length 420mm. EV -0.3. WB: Cloudy.

Coot. EXIF: Aperture Priority F/6.3 . Shutter 1/1000 th. ISO 400. Focal Length 420mm. EV -0.3. WB: Cloudy.

Goldfinch. EXIF: Aperture Priority F/6.3 . Shutter 1/320 th. ISO 400. Focal Length 420mm. EV -0.3. WB: Cloudy.

Female Great Spotted Woodpecker. EXIF: P Program Mode. Aperture F/10 . Shutter 1/400th. ISO 400. Focal Length 420mm. EV -0.7. WB: Cloudy.

Poor light means high ISO

An early start this morning at Stithians Reservoir sees the weather deteriorate with low light levels obviously affecting shutter speed. The Great-crested Grebe shots below were taken at 2000 ISO, just enough to give 125th second shutter speed. The two images below were taken with the D3 and 300mm F/2.8 and 1.4x TC. Aperture was set to F/4 and exposure 0.0, WB set to Cloudy. Great-crested Grebe is uncommon at Stithians. This individual was found last week by Simon Taylor and was heard calling continuously today. It was also displaying and advertising itself energetically this morning. Presumably it's a male.




The images of Great Spotted Woodpecker and Robin were taken from the southern cut-off hide this morning. The light had improved a little but the rain can be seen in the woodpecker image. The two shots were taken with 1000 ISO setting and the same equipment as above. There is no graininess or noise at all.

A rare sight in Cornwall - frost and ice

A mixed bag of images today but the underlying theme is definitly frost and ice - I cannot remember the last time the reservoirs and lakes froze over. The morning started off at -2.5 degrees but generally warmed up later in the day. The image below at about 7.45 this morning is the southern cut off with the feeding station in the left corner. The colour of the sunrise is totally original and unchanged...stunning.

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker

This gorgeous male Great Spotted Woodpecker obliged this morning as it fed among the willow trunks at the edge of Stithians Reservoir. This was my first real opportunity to test the 600mm F/4. I tried using the 1.7x TC as well but the power was just too excessive so resorted to using the lens and the DX mode within the camera ie. the 1.5x converter within the D3. The images below are all original but reduced in size for the web. WB set to Cloudy. Exposure 0.0. ISO 640.