[Markulous]

Some shots I've got over the last few weeks

#1
The Dipper - Bradford Dale, Peak District
The river in the valley below has a number of fish ponds and I think the dippers have taken over the culvert type openings. Anyway there are a few about, albeit fairly shy

f/8, 1/160, 300mm IS, ISO400, monopod



#2
The Grey Wagtail - Bradford Dale, Peak District

f/7.1, 1/160, 300mm IS, ISO400, monopod



#3
The Great Crested Grebe - Carr Mill Dam, St Helens
The red in the water was courtesy of a reflected brick bridge

f/5.6, 1/200, 300mm IS, 1.4x TC, ISO100, handheld



#4
The Mallard - Bradford Dale, Peak District

f/5.6, 1/160, 100-400mm IS @ 400mm, ISO100, handheld



#5
The Squeak - Garden, Peak District

f/5.6, 1/80, 300mm IS, 1.4x TC, ISO100, tripod



All comments gratefully received

[Soupdragon]

What did you do to that duck to get it to posture in that bizzare manner

[JMitchell]

2, 3, 4 and 5 are very good shots indeed. Some might ask for the greeb a little lower in the frame, but the colours are so nice. The wagtail is excellent. Love the squeak how did you get that close? (even with a tele....)

[Markulous]

Cheers, guys!

Originally Posted by Soupdragon

What did you do to that duck to get it to posture in that bizzare manner

That would be telling!

Originally Posted by JMitchell

Love the squeak how did you get that close? (even with a tele....)

Taken through the door - I'd seen it a few times so kept an eye out for it's reappearance - got a couple of bird feeders above, so it was after scraps

[AQ]

I am jealous . Super set of pictures. You did well to get that close to a dipper and also the mouse. He must have jumped when he heard to shutter. The Mallard is interesting you do not often get to see the wing colours that close.love the details in the wing.

I have to agree with JM about the grebe. Positioning it lower and more to the right would be better. As it is it looks as though it is just about to swim out of the frame.

[Charlotte]

#1 Great pose, with twigs in its beak, pity it's not sharp though.
#2 Absolute corker.
#3 Great shot; could maybe sharpen its face a bit. I like the compo as is; it's balanced by the bubbles at bottom LH corner.
#4 Beautiful image.
#5 Fab shot. Mouse is sharp, and the BG is very effective (DoF, colours etc.)

Nice work

[Gary Bagshawe]

1st one looks a little soft but 5 and 2 great and 4 brilliant mate.

[Lew]

2,4,and 5 do for me what you so often do. I'm not good enough yet to be jealous. I believe I can agree with Gary,except for me 5 is brilliant too.

[Markulous]

Many thanks for all your comments, much appreciated

S'funny how it can take others before you see that the shot wasn't all you thought - I'm thinking #1 The Dipper. I've other shots which look better, technically, but I got carried away with it's nest building activities (which were cut short by two walkers who stomped passed with an "Alright?", scaring the dipper away. Grrrrrrrr)

I'll admit to a certain luck with the shots -
first time I'd seen a dipper, never mind shot one - I now know where they hang out!
wagtail was very happy hopping around on those rocks
grebe had just finished a courting session with it's mate (that was behind some branches, so couldn't get! )
mallard was preening and stretched it's other wing, so I waited to see if it would do this side.... which it did!
mouse had been around a fair bit - door was closed (shot through the glass - clean but ), so had a bit of time to compose shot (with that shallow DOF I needed that time to manual focus!)