Last week, a decent patch of heather close to home went up in flames. Terrible for insects and amphibians, but an interesting subject for photography. I wanted to visit the area and try some landscape photography to show the contrast between scorched earth and fluffy pastel skies. The former was no problem, the latter was. It had been a cold and clear night with no clouds. So no epic sunrise to be expected and thus I quickly changed plans and direction and headed for the fishing ponds instead. Last time I was there, I photographed geese against the rising sun. I figured the shots could be better if only I arrived at the scene a bit earlier with the sun still lower on the horizon. Colors would be warmer and the reflection less bright and thus easier to expose without getting blinded in the process. And so I did.
The geese happily obliged and swam several times across the small band of reflective sunlight. Exposing for the bright reflection turned everything else near black. All in all I had a wonderful hour full of ducks, geese, coots, cormorants and herons. Just common birds, but very reliable and always there when the light is right. The rest of the morning hours were spent on my spring project, but with spring still miles away (or so it seems), results have been zero so far. I’ll report back later when the situation has changed for the better.
Geese Reprise; Canon 5D Mark III w. 500/4L IS; 1/5000s at F8 and ISO400; tripod
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