Hello all. I was at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre in Barnes yesterday - great place - and shot off a card's worth of pictures which I am wading through (no pun intended...). I got a few of one of the Herons there which I have included here - I would love to know what people's opinions are... They were all taken with the Sigma 100-300mm on K-7 and from one of the many hides provided at the centre.
















I hope you like them. I'd recommend a trip to the centre if anyone is in that neck of the woods, and interested at all in birds/wildfowl. There are other animals there as well (e.g. water voles), but as the place is effectively 'wild' rather than having captive animals I didn't see them. Nice plants as well...

Regards

Thanks all for the comments. I would have liked to have them all in colour but the ones I converted to B/W were because the water was a pretty uninspiring brown colour (like in the last shot only worse) and I think that the B/W works better, although I added a slight blue tint...

Regards

I like the 'cage' one I think best - I think you have started to capture this place quite well Emma. I pass here a lot (under the South Bank centre although it normally has a load of lads on skateboards and BMXs doing their stunts. Amazing graffiti as well - your colour graffiti shots capture that well too.

I think it is possible now to get an HDR effect from a single frame if you don't have a tripod - not sure though. Someone here will know better than me.

Regards

Hello all. A few more form the pond... I'm keen to get a bit more 'behavioural' type shots rather than straightforward portraits - although yesterday the behaviour on the pond was mostly lethargic (perpetuated by a spot of bread-snaffling). Although I did end up with a few shots which seem to have the theme of wakes or bow waves in the water... so I concentrated on the patterns in the water as well as the birds themselves

First up, A coot gives it some gas



Before really stepping on it (this is also in the gallery)



A Canada Goose leaves a rather splendid wake



and a Mallard does a bit of a turn



Finally, bare-facedly adding in a cute coda at the end, a Canada Gosling creates a tiny bow wave...



I hope you like these. Any C&C welcomed as ever. Not sure whether these quite work but i shall keep plugging away. They were all taken with the Sigma 100-300 on my K-7

Regards

Thanks i-Berg Much appreciated

Regards

That sigma ought to perform fine on a K20d. It is (I think) an HSM lens so you will need to make sure you have the right firmware (or at least did for the K10d - maybe the K20 supports HSM right out of the box. In terms of O/S I imagine you would need to turn one of the systems off, otherwise I guess they'll confuse one another. The previous incarnation of the lens (less O/S) is a good lens in my view, although it's a big old lump to deal with (a tripod helps) and quite long when out at 400mm. Better performance if you can stop the aperture down a bit so comes into it's own more in good light - ideal just as we're heading into summer. If you want to get out to 400mm or beyond then (in terms of new lenses at least) the Sigma range of lenses or a teleconverter on your existing 70-200 are pretty much your only choices I think. You could also maybe look at the DA* 300mm which is obviously not 400mm but it is very sharp.

Regards

Thanks Tony and A/Grove. I think you are right, Tony, about what plant it is - or at least it fits the description - many thanks. It is certainly fast growing. Mostly gone now from my backyard as well now (having had a bit of a 'tidy').

Regards

Quality stuff... Pre-production 77mm macro? I shall keep watching...

Regards

Both very nice to my mind. Make me want to go to Australia. If pushed though, like everyone else, I would opt for the second as a favourite.

Nice work

Regards

Very cool!

Regards