Toronto pan sunset
Sticking around after some waterbird photography can be rewarding!
Sticking around after some waterbird photography can be rewarding!
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Apr, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
My parents used to live near Toronto Pan in Welkom, South Africa. It was my favourite place to photograph waterbirds.Time
After finishing off a wonderful late afternoon of waterbird photography we decided to stay out a bit longer than usual. The sun was setting behind the clouds causing it to get darker slightly earlier. Even though it was getting too dark to photograph birds, opportunities were there to get images like this.Lighting
The clouds created a wonderful toned down, golden light.Equipment
Entry level Nikon D3100 camera with the Sigma 150-500mm EX DG APO lens. The widest I could go was 150mm as this was the only lens I had with me, so I shot the image at 150mm. The lens has a sweet spot at f8, which I kept throughout the whole afternoon's shoot. ISO was kept low at 200 and the shutter speed was 1/100 of a second, which is quite slow for 150mm but the stabilizing in the lens made it possible without a tripod.Inspiration
The golden light and dark shadows did it for me. As a bonus a red-knobbed coot swam into the scene as I was taking the image.Editing
I shot in RAW and did very little processing, just white balance adjustments and some minor tweaks.In my camera bag
It depends on the occasion! For birds and most outdoor nature photography I grab my camera and Sigma 150-500mm lens with a Trekking shoulder strap attached to the tripod mount. It has a pouch for extra memory cards and makes walking with the big lens very effortless. For family shoots and portraits a 35mm or 50mm with a speedlight is all I need, and of course my lovely wife to hold the light off camera when shooting outdoors. For landscapes we use a kit lens but would love a Sigma 10-20mm, but for now it does the job at 18mm. We also have this very cool ancient tripod, very old school, but it works! And the gem in our arsenal is a very old manual focus Sigma 90mm f2.8 macro lens. It is 1:2 macro with a filter you can screw on for 1:1 macro work. It is solid metal and focuses very smoothly! Picked it up for a bargain price. With that we use a Gary Fong puffer, the coolest thing we ever found in a bargain bin.Feedback
Don't rush! Relax, enjoy the scenery, hang around longer than usual. Use lenses in unusual ways and think out the box. The beauty that can be found in nature always inspires me to get out with my camera, and when I do I'm never disappointed as the experience itself is worth more than the images I get to keep afterward. It refuels my soul and makes photography a worthwhile pursuit that adds value to life.
