Pondlife

Inspired by the many excellent examples of bird and wildlife posted here, I felt I should really be trying my hand at something similar. So I headed off to a local pond at Sanderstead, which has lots of trees around it also, planning to find some Kingfishers (which I've always thought are a lovely colourful subject) .... only had the f35-70 lens though and I soon realised this may have been a mistake, as for the life of me, even at maximum zoom, I couldn't make out any Kingfishers in the trees at all.

Having heard that they are quite small, I realised I probably needed something much longer (such as 560mm) . But all was not lost as suddenly, quite from nowhere, some much bigger birds appeared , and I found I could see them perfectly clearly with the little zoom

All with the K7 and SMC f 35-70mm f3.5-4.5, and the Pentax AF-540 FGZ using HSS mode (with ambient lighting reduced by approx 1.5 stops from centre) .....



1)







2)







3)







4)




Thanks for checking them out

The second one is the one with the magic. It has the twinkle in the eye, the colours are not as dark as the others and there's generally the right amount of shadow detail. The pose is also the best, as is the placement in the frame.

I think with pond birds, as with children, pets, insects and well, pretty much everything, changing the usual eye-line is crucial to separate your image from everybody else's. Getting down low, really low, generally creates an image with more impact.
If you come back from a shoot with wet knees, you've probably got some nice images

Thanks John and Mark ... Yes John, I think the flash has made that No 2 sparkle more!

Mark, of course that is a good point, and the birds themselves would look better from lower down. It's a small pond and my aim was to eliminate the very bright sunlit grassy banks which would distract, and I wanted the birds completely framed by the darkened water. But next time I'll go lower for sure ... Although I may end up just focussing on all those Kingfishers in the trees ....

Nice to see you trying something different Nigel. No wonder the forum crashed. As has been said, you'd be better off with a lower viewpoint. And using the 75-150 too.

As has been said #2 stands out. Look forward to your next ones

Thanks Alan, you're right, as well as the lower viewpoint a longer focal length would be good. I'll try and get some more here, but I might be distracted with all the Kingfishers I find ...