Black Headed Gull in Flight

IPClark

(and a couple not in flight)

Evening all. Bird photography is something I've never played much with mainly because the longest lens I currently own is my 100mm F2.8L Macro lens (and of course, you'll see me normally posting in the macro section).

However, on a recent trip to Cape Wrath and nearby villages (Durness and Balnakiel) up in the North West of Scotland - http://goo.gl/maps/8rAV2, I got the opportunity to tempt a Black headed gull with a little bit of bread.

Armed with only my 15-85mm IS, I didn't expect much but I found out how bold these guys are. Shooting under very overcast conditions I was rather surprised with the overall results. Not to the standard many of you guys get but I'm actually quite pleased.

joshhuntnm

very nice. beautiful. good work!

IPClark

Thank you Josh. It makes me yearn for a much longer lens now.

puzzledpaul

IPClark wrote: »

Armed with only my 15-85mm IS, I didn't expect much ...

Whilst I generally use something longer, there have been instances when I've got acceptable results using a 70 -200 f4 (non IS) and a 180macro.

Depends on many things - weather / wind being one factor ...very windy day and the birds were having a difficult time travelling a short, known distance - being familiar with their actions, together with them almost hovering offered potential shots.

Degree of habituation, even in a 'wild' situation helps - but background control with a short focal length / wide angle of view will (almost) always be very challenging, imo.

4 + last would be my picks, btw.

I'd stick with macro ... it's cheaper + easier on arms / back

pp

ThirdDayImaging

Very nice Ian! I especially love the fourth one - it's frame-able as is.