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Crane

Taken at Hickling Broad in Norfolk, Uk

Taken at Hickling Broad in Norfolk, Uk
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NIKON D4

Aperture f/8 ISO 1600 Shutter 1/500 Focal Length 5000/10

upload_date

Jan, 2021

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Behind The Lens

Location

I took this photo at Hickling Broad in Norfolk (UK), Norfolk Wildlife Trust run an excellent evening boat trip to parts of the reserve that are inaccessible by foot. Hickling Broad is awonderful place to take bird photos they have Avocets, terns, Great crested grebe, Little grebe, all manner of waders. Its a great place especially on a warm summer evening

Time

This photo was take on 29th May at around 8pm. We were in an old hunting blind only accessible from the water. The blind is now converted to a wildlife viewing hide (no hunting of wild birds these days, I'm glad to say). I was happily snapping away at the large numberf of Avocet on view, the water was as still as a mill pond so the birds reflections were very visible. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw two Cranes fly into view and start feeding. They were a long way off but started to wade closer so I adjusted my position and turned my attention to these magnificent creatures. I was at 500mm and ISO 1600 but despite that I'm quite pleased with the result.

Lighting

The light was just fadig as it was approaching dusk but good enough if you cranked up the ISO a bit. It was that lovely wartery light you get just before the sune fades away. The water was really still so reflected what light there was really nicely and gifted me that nice bit of reflection in the foreground

Equipment

Shot with a Nikon D4 and a Nikon 200mm to 500mm F5.6 lens. I was using F8 at 500mm which gave me 1/500 second at ISO 1600. The Cranes were moving about a fair bit so I needed the fastest shutter speed I could get. I elected for F8 rather than f5.6 becaouse these are big birds and I wanted everything in focus, this shot is side on so f5.6 would have been ok but other more head on shots at f5.6 woul potentially result in parts of the body being soft, which I didn't want.

Inspiration

Hickling Broad is a magical place to take wildlife photos. It was a lovely evening in a remote part of the reserve with a fantastic array of wildlife on view, what more inspiration does a keen photographer need.

Editing

I cropped this a bit (not too much) just to get rid of a few reeds and a couple of Avocet. I wanted a feeling of remoteness and just how natural and lovely the reserve is, I hope I succeeded but thats for others to say. Otherwise a bit of tinkeing with the exposure & contrast and a touch of noise reduction to the background was pretty much all I needed to do.

In my camera bag

My trust Nikon d4 is always in my bag along with my Nikon 80-400mm AF-S and my Nikon 200mm to 500mm. I also have what I call my "Walk round lens" close at hand and this is a Nikon 28mm-300mm f3.5 to f5.6 and of course my binoculars, I never leave home for a wildlife session without my binoculars

Feedback

The best tip is go to places where the wildlife go and avoid crowds, I know this sounds obvious bt the number of times I see people moving around reserves in large groups is astonishing. Also be patient animals aren't buses, there might not be another on along in 5 minutes, be prepared to wait

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Mike-Doyle-pics

Crane

Taken at Hickling Broad in Norfolk, Uk

Behind The Lens

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