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Flight of the Swans
Two mute swans flying over the reed beds on the river at sunrise on a foggy morning
Two mute swans flying over the reed beds on the river at sunrise on a foggy morning
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Jul, 2015Views
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Contest Finalist in Amazing Silhouettes Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in It Is A Wild World Photo Contest
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken on my local river about a 20 minute walk from home, The river Darenth that runs through the entire length of the Crayford marshes, in Bexley, Kent , EnglandTime
My favourite time of the day in just before and just after sunrise especially in the winter months because of the different and diverse weather that you can get, this was taken in December 2011 at 8.15 am.Lighting
I love winter light that you get at sunrises from November through to February and here in England we get lots of foggy morning especially over water so when all of these elements are combined they give me these very moody and atmospheric looking images, all the light is diffused it throws all the subject into a silhouetted lit theme, this also helps give all those gorgeous golden yellow colours which I also love capturing!Equipment
I use Sony cameras and lenses, This was taken with my old Sony Alpha 100 and with a 75-200mm lens, no tripod was use of filters.Inspiration
One word NATURE!! You can not get photos like this without putting in the effort in the first place, getting up early enough to see and capture the sunrise, knowing what time the sun rises in your area and at what locations, what sort of habitat it is, what sort of wildlife you are most likely to find in it, if there is water ( rivers, sea, lakes) when is high and low tide, I can look out of my bedroom window and see what sort of sunrise it will be and it there is any mist and fog about this is my inspiration to get images like this being one with nature seeing and living that special moment that only I could see.Editing
I use Photoshop SC6 also Nic software I find that there curves and levels tools are superb for bringing out all the detail in the highlight and shadows.In my camera bag
All I have is one camera and two lenses my camera is now the Sony Alpha 77mk2 which has a 24 million megapixel censor and this provides me with superb detail, my lenses are the Sony 16-50mm wide angle and the Sony 70-200mm telephoto both are bitingly sharp lenses but that's all no filters the only time that I used tripods is for long exposures. I also find that travelling light is the key not to be weighted down with all extra equipment, learn how to use just one or two lenses to there full capabilities this will lighten your load!Feedback
As I said previously my advise would be do your homework about your chosen location first , does the tide come in fully what time is the sunset or sunrise, is there any foreground interest for the image you don't what to travel long distances for nothing . With sunrise ( before the sun comes up ) and sunsets ( After the sun goes down ) you will in the main get even light you have not got any blown out highlights or any real dark shadow areas, no uneven forms of light with the sky brighter then the ground this usually means there is one or two stops greater exposure for the sky then it would be for the ground areas so you don't have to worry about getting half of the image to dark or to light, take an average reading usually of the horizon this will take care of the entire image. With foggy weather the entire image with be of even light and when the sun starts to come through the fog will act as like a diffuser filter this means you will have much more exposure control so when adding the flying birds into the equation all you need to worry about is what shutter speeds would suit, anything from 200iso to 800iso usually does the trick freezing the action of the flying birds in this case mute swans.
