Osprey fishing 10 b at Hornmill 2017
Apr, 2018Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo at Hornmill Trout farm in Oakham, UK. The hide is at water level on the pond and Ospreys fish there nearly every day during the season.Time
This photo was taken at 7.21 pm on August 10th 2017.Lighting
Ospreys tend to fish when the light is poor at dawn and dusk as they cannot see the fish through the surface when the sun is brightly reflected on the water. This leads to a trade off between shutter speed and high ISO levels . At dawn you will have to drop your shutter speed or deal with high ISO in your shots.As the light improves you can up your shutter speed.When i took this shot there was about an hour of light left that evening which was lucky.I used a shutter speed of 1/2000th and the ISO was 2500. At dawn your ISO can hit 10000 at that speed but it all depends when the Ospreys choose to fish !Equipment
I shot this on a Nikon D750 and a Nikon F4 300mm, No flash, resting on a bean bag.Inspiration
I set myself a goal at the beginning of 2017 to get a shot of an Osprey taking a fish out of the water and then set about making it happen. On my second attempt i got my shots from ONE dive which i had to wait 3 hours for it to happen.The speed of the bird is intimidating at first.When the bird hits the water you have about 3 seconds to get your shots and then bird will be gone!!!Editing
I'm not into doing loads of post process but i used lightroom which is enough to deal with any high ISO that you get and the associated noise!!! Basic adjustments of contrast,Highlights,saturation ,shadows and sharpening.No objects removed or added to the image.In my camera bag
I normally have my Nikon F4 300 mm, F5.6 200-500 mm(my go to lens) and a Nikon 3.5-5.6 18-200 mm ( for landscapes). A D750 and a D7100 body.Feedback
Be prepared to wait hours in a hide to get this kind of shot. Ideally use a prime lens as it will focus faster than a zoom.Depending on when the birds choose to fish will affect the ISO level. Using a F2.8 lens will help reduce the ISO levels but it is still a hard shot to get properly. Nothing can prepare you for the speed at which it all happens!! After i got this shot i could barely sleep that night and was on a natural high for days afterwards!!!
