A visit to Farne Islands

Went last Sunday. Amazing experience, especially if you're into birdwatching or photographing.

Few advices for anyone who wants to go for the first time and not make my mistakes . Unless you go for all day expensive trip you'll only have 1 hour on the island so you have to make it count.

1. No point having long lens on the boat, rocking so much you won't be able to get nice photos of birds. Maybe worth it next to seal colonies though. Wide angle great on the boat for shooting whole bird colonies (I didn't have mine on).
2. Decide what you want to shoot and stick to it. Do not try for portaits and BIF at the same time, stick to one bird to get some nice photos and then move on. One stint doing poses and protraits, one for BIF, one for wide shots. Going between them back and forth will cost you time you won't have.
3. Birds are so close that 300-400mm lens is enough unless you want really close portrait. For BIF even 70-200 will do, especially for Puffins coming at you. I had DA 300 with 1.4 converter and for BIF that was too long.
4. Ask at the boat trip desk if you can stay on the island longer than 1 hour and come back on next boat, you may get lucky.

Overall I enjoyed it and shoot some nice photos. But DA 300/4 is not the best lens for BIF, too slow to focus on fast flying Puffins. I have managed to get some nice and sharp photos, but out of about 300 BIF shoots I tried I got maybe 15 keepers. For slower flying birds it's OK though.

And now for the photos:

20170514_Farne Islands_0045.jpg by Grzegorz Furmanski, on Flickr

20170514_Farne Islands_0035.jpg by Grzegorz Furmanski, on Flickr

20170514_Farne Islands_0069.jpg by Grzegorz Furmanski, on Flickr

20170514_Farne Islands_0076.jpg by Grzegorz Furmanski, on Flickr

20170514_Farne Islands_0081.jpg by Grzegorz Furmanski, on Flickr

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Pentax K-3 II, DA 50/1.8, Sigma 18-35/1.8, DA* 300/4, 1.4x HD DA Converter

My advice would be to wear a hat or risk having a head gouged by the nesting Arctic Terns.
Great photos by the way.

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John K

What a great place to visit, and it seems you were blessed with good weather. Some lovely shots especially the last Puffun who seems to be about to ask you a question.

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Peter



My Flickr page

I've heard that as well and was prepared. But they didn't try to do it.

I was so overwhelmed with the amount of puffins, razorbills and guillemots that I forgot about kittiwakes. They're not seen inland and I planned to shoot them but out of about 850 photos I took I had it on 2. Luckily one was in sharp focus 😀.

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Pentax K-3 II, DA 50/1.8, Sigma 18-35/1.8, DA* 300/4, 1.4x HD DA Converter

The artic terns have only just started egg laying now. So will be protective over the next month or so. But believe me they can be vicious...lol Had a great experience there last year. I'm not a bird follower, though I accompanied a friend who was. So I had someone to identify the different species.. I to found my K5II to slow to auto focus, for bird in flight shots, or even the dolphins that we spotted returning to shore. My friend (with a nikon) was taking the mickey... But a wonderful experience,, Everyone assumes because its birds you need a log lens. Not necessarily.. I got my best shot with a DA16-45.
We return in a fortnight. Ive since bought the K1 So we will see how I
get on....

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K-1Gripped K-1 ungripped K-5ii K7 Various lenses

Stuart..