Sniped by exposure compensation

This Snipe landed in front of me in the hide but not on the preferred side. Instead it settled in direct sunlight and standing in water. A couple shots with normal EV produced a blacked out image. I eventually took the exposure value up to +2.7 to fool the camera's exposure reader. The end result is the bird in perfect exposure and the water nicely setting the backdrop of dark reflections.

However, my photos don't all end up looking like this. Exposure to me is the single most impotant factor in getting the shot. There's more to learn yet!

Bullfinch, Robin and Snipe at Stithians

On a cold and very windy day, these Bullfinch, Robin and Snipe shots were taken from Stithians hide and added some spice to a very wintery day. A family party of Bullfinch had been seen the previous day here, so after some five hours of waiting in the hide, we were rewarded with some reasonably close views. The light was extremely changeable and stupidly I forgot to check the exposure and ISO reading, resulting in a slightly over exposed Bullfinch image. Photoshop CS3 has corrected the error!









The three Common Snipe were showing in front of the hide virtually all morning. One of the birds is distinctively greyer and has a double streak on the front of its neck. It was regularly defending its roosting area by poking others who came too close.

Common Snipe escapes from Sparrowhawk

Some images of Snipe today at the edge of the juncus. The crouching behaviour happened as a big female Sparrowhawk was lurking in the immediate area. No kills were witnessed but the Sparrowhawk was quite content to stay on this rock for a minute or so and rue what could have been a tasty breakfast! All images taken from the hide with Nikon 600mm F/4. Aperture F/4. Exposure 0.0 WB set to Cloudy. ISO 800.