The "Perfect" Picture

Animills
Dec 16, 2018
3 min read

When I first started photography I had this idea in my head that most images would be great and only the odd few would be bad. In reality most pictures are bad and the odd few are great. Its not just a case of taking pictures its making sure the light is good, exposure is correct for the lighting, selecting the camera mode, framing of the picture and most importantly guessing your subjects next move. The idea of turning your camera on and taking the "perfect" picture first time around is highly unlikely. Rarely, you get lucky and it does happen but most the time it takes lots of pictures till you find some that you like. As most photographer do I share my best pictures with you. Today I thought I would share with you the work that goes on behind getting those pictures and the many pictures that never get seen.

Today I visited the Ifield Mill Pond which I have done a previous blog on here . Its a great photography spot for birds that I visit regulary.

Ducks

I started off by taking some pictures of the domestic breeds here as there is such a variety! I keep meaning to research this breed which, once I do I will post here! These bird are always close by to the Mallards which, at the moment have such brightly coloured plumages. TI tried to capture these colours but the resulting pictures definitely go onto the "bad photos pile" as they are blurry and unfocused.

Great Crested Grebe

My next subject was the Great Crested Grebe. The colours of these birds make for great pictures if you can capture them! Anyone that has photographed Grebes knows the pain of just getting the bird into focus and in the centre of the photo for them to dive under the water. You then have to wait for them to resurface, normally further away from where they were to begin with. A continuous game of cat and mouse with varying outcomes. Often in the rush to photograph them before they dive the photos come out blurry.

As with any wild subject (I'm sure they go out of their way to make themselves difficult to photography getting a picture isn't always easy. Often Grebes are far away or hidden under branches resulting in guessing where and when the Grebe will be in view. Today resulted in one of the most frustrating photography failures. I correctly predicted where the Grebe would next surface but hadn't moved to one side enough resulting in branches hiding the Grebe from view. Annoyingly the Grebe surfaced with a fish that had I been a few cm to the left I would have got an amazing shot! Wildlife Photography is made up of so many near misses its part of the job. You can just see the blur of the fish in the first photo and how the branches got in the way.

I find Grebes very hard to capture for some reason they just do not photograph well. So if anyone has any tips of how to get some great photos feel free to share below. Here's some more bad photos below.

It took 12 photos for me to find one I like and even then I'm not sure its clear enough or any good but its the best of the bunch.

Coots

During my visit two Coots started to fight which I thought would lead to some great photos. I selected the motion mode to get the best photos showing the movement of their fight. Unfortunately, the images are very blurred and not sharp enough. An example of having high expectations but the reality being much more disappointing.

Black Headed Gulls

Some bad photos are the result of not knowing how to use your camera. I am still getting used to my camera and will use it in auto mode rather then manually selecting shutter speed etc. Sometimes that means it will auto focus on things I don't want it to or will over expose certain aspects such as the brightness of Black Headed Gulls. These are one of my favourite birds to photograph as they do not seem to be bothered at all by my presence. Below is an example of what my camera likes to do when I try and take photos of them.