Platinum

Mike-Doyle-pics

Gannets

A couple of Gannets at Bempton Cliffs, Yorkshire, UK

A couple of Gannets at Bempton Cliffs, Yorkshire, UK
Read less

NIKON D4

Aperture f/6.3 ISO 200 Shutter 1/4000 Focal Length 5000/10

location

Bempton, York, GB

upload_date

Jul, 2021

Views

Likes

Awards

Curator's Selection

Judge Favorite

Top Choice

Outstanding Creativity

Absolute Masterpiece

Superb Composition

Peer Award

Magnificent Capture

Emotions

Impressed

Top Ranks

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 1

Top 20 rank week 1

Top 20 rank

Top 10 rank week 2

Top 10 rank week 1

See all

Same photographer See all Behind The Lens

Taken at the excellent British Wildlife Centre in Surrey, England

Images from the excellent "British Wildlife Centre" in Lingfield UK

Taken at the excellent British Wildlife Centre in Lingfield (UK)

Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken at Bempton Cliffs, Yorkshire, England. Bempton is one of my favourite places to photograph seabirds there are Puffins, Gannets, Guillemots & Razorbills in abundance. Its noisy, spectacular and inspiring all at the same time, just a magical location especially in the breeding season

Time

We had been at Bempton for most of the day but it was approaching 4pm when I took this image. A lot of people had started to drift away and so the Gannets were much braver and came to the very top of the cliffs to get romantic. These two were particularly active and quite frankly it would have been rude not to take their photograph.

Lighting

The light was brighter than I would have liked but luckily behind me so the birds were front light and picked out the lovely yellow heads of these two Gannets. The difficulty was not over exposing the white feathers.

Equipment

On this day I was using a Nikon D4 with a Nikon 80-400mm AF-S lens. Both were mounted on to my brand new Benro tripod which had its 1st outing on this day and performed beautifully.

Inspiration

I love taking photos of sea birds, especially Gannets they are colourful & quirky and make wonderful subjects. I had set off to Bempton Cliffs hoping to get images of Gannets, Puffins, Razorbills & Guillemots and got decent images of all 4 species. When you go to a location as wonderful as Bempton Cliffs that's all the inspiration you need. The noise and the constant coming and going of all these wonderful sea birds just makes you want to take image after image.

Editing

Not a great deal on this I cropped a little and then took the highlights down, increased the contrast and added a graduated filter over the sea in the background to make it a bit less flat in colour. Apart from that the image required very little intervention from me.

In my camera bag

When this image was taken I was a dedicated Nikon shooter and would take my trusty D4 everywhere along with my 80-400mm AF-S lens and my 200-500mm F5.6 but now I have moved over to the Olympus system so now I have an Olympus E M-1X in my bag along with a 100-400mm F5.6 lens a great combination for wildlife and much lighter than my Nikon set up

Feedback

Yes get out there and take lots of images and enjoy yourself but do some research before you set off. What species will I see, when is the best time of year to go to this location how far away will my subject be (lens choice), will I need a tripod. There's nothing worse that turning up to a great location only to find that you have the wrong gear or you're subject has migrated elsewhere. Research, research research!

See more amazing photos, follow Mike-Doyle-pics

Mike-Doyle-pics

Mike-Doyle-pics

Gannets

A couple of Gannets at Bempton Cliffs, Yorkshire, UK

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow Mike-Doyle-pics

Share photos. Enter contests to win great prizes. Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.

Share photos. Enter contests to win great prizes.
Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.