Sea Thrift Confusion and a Case of Bird Identification
"scuse me mate, do you know what bird that is please?"
The man in the running gear was addressing me it seemed. I'd been frowning at the tuft of sea thrift in front of me and wondering whether the composition I was trying was ever really going to work. Ali's sister had requested sea thrift before the lighthouse and an orange sky. She'd seen one I'd taken six years earlier, but it wasn't up to scratch for her living room wall as far as I was concerned. The mood of that June 2015 picture was exactly what was needed, but I hadn't yet learned why my histogram was worth looking at and the image was full of shadows that could never be recovered, even if I had kept the raw file. At that time focus stacking was something I'd heard Lee talking about, but it all sounded far too complicated for my tiny brain. As for now, ingredients one and two were ready, but the sky was an uninspiring washed out blue. Of course I could use Photoshop's sky replacement tool, but we don't do that here - and not just because I don't understand how to use it.
"It's a Hobby," I replied, surprised to see the small raptor hovering low overhead us, just a few yards away. "Or possibly a Merlin," I offered less confidently, trying to remember how to distinguish them from one another and knowing that this lack of certainty was leaving my assertions open to scrutiny. I wondered how long it had been there, absorbed in sea thrift related confusion as I was. "Ah, I was hoping it was a Peregrine Falcon. I've never seen one before you see." I could sense the disappointment in his voice at the news that his search would have to continue, offering the intelligence that I'd seen them now and again along the clifftops at the most westerly edges of the county near Land's End. "Peregrines are a bit bigger than this one I'm afraid." He thanked me for letting him down gently and continued his run along the cliff path.
Now there were just the two of us, myself and the small bird of prey, which continued to hang above me in the air in its search for dinner. I looked at my camera and cursed myself. I've seen this bird here plenty of times before, but it never occurs to me to come equipped with the lens that might offer up a presentable picture of it. I ripped the camera from its tripod and snapped away, but I knew that even with a hefty crop and a rapid deployment of the Topaz Gigapixel software it wasn't going to be a shot that I could share.
I returned to the sea thrift, quickly deciding that the image I'd planned wasn't going to work tonight. Instead of an orange glow I was being treated to pastels of blue and magenta, and just to add to the recipe, long wispy mares' tails reached across the sky to the west of me from above the lighthouse. Another gloriously icy blue hour ushered itself in as I became lost in time here yet again, oblivious to hunger once more. The evenings are getting longer as we enter the month of May, but it remains unusually cold for the time of year here. I'm going to have to rethink that sea thrift shot, but at least the pinks will be around for a few weeks yet.
Later on I did blow up that shot of our feathered friend, just to double check. Definitely a Merlin - the UK's smallest bird of prey. Occasionally the gulls get grumpy and gang up on them if they think their nests are being stalked - there's no way they'd try that with a Peregrine surely?
We're halfway through the four day week. I wish we had a bank holiday every weekend. Happy Hump Day folks.
Sea Thrift Confusion and a Case of Bird Identification
"scuse me mate, do you know what bird that is please?"
The man in the running gear was addressing me it seemed. I'd been frowning at the tuft of sea thrift in front of me and wondering whether the composition I was trying was ever really going to work. Ali's sister had requested sea thrift before the lighthouse and an orange sky. She'd seen one I'd taken six years earlier, but it wasn't up to scratch for her living room wall as far as I was concerned. The mood of that June 2015 picture was exactly what was needed, but I hadn't yet learned why my histogram was worth looking at and the image was full of shadows that could never be recovered, even if I had kept the raw file. At that time focus stacking was something I'd heard Lee talking about, but it all sounded far too complicated for my tiny brain. As for now, ingredients one and two were ready, but the sky was an uninspiring washed out blue. Of course I could use Photoshop's sky replacement tool, but we don't do that here - and not just because I don't understand how to use it.
"It's a Hobby," I replied, surprised to see the small raptor hovering low overhead us, just a few yards away. "Or possibly a Merlin," I offered less confidently, trying to remember how to distinguish them from one another and knowing that this lack of certainty was leaving my assertions open to scrutiny. I wondered how long it had been there, absorbed in sea thrift related confusion as I was. "Ah, I was hoping it was a Peregrine Falcon. I've never seen one before you see." I could sense the disappointment in his voice at the news that his search would have to continue, offering the intelligence that I'd seen them now and again along the clifftops at the most westerly edges of the county near Land's End. "Peregrines are a bit bigger than this one I'm afraid." He thanked me for letting him down gently and continued his run along the cliff path.
Now there were just the two of us, myself and the small bird of prey, which continued to hang above me in the air in its search for dinner. I looked at my camera and cursed myself. I've seen this bird here plenty of times before, but it never occurs to me to come equipped with the lens that might offer up a presentable picture of it. I ripped the camera from its tripod and snapped away, but I knew that even with a hefty crop and a rapid deployment of the Topaz Gigapixel software it wasn't going to be a shot that I could share.
I returned to the sea thrift, quickly deciding that the image I'd planned wasn't going to work tonight. Instead of an orange glow I was being treated to pastels of blue and magenta, and just to add to the recipe, long wispy mares' tails reached across the sky to the west of me from above the lighthouse. Another gloriously icy blue hour ushered itself in as I became lost in time here yet again, oblivious to hunger once more. The evenings are getting longer as we enter the month of May, but it remains unusually cold for the time of year here. I'm going to have to rethink that sea thrift shot, but at least the pinks will be around for a few weeks yet.
Later on I did blow up that shot of our feathered friend, just to double check. Definitely a Merlin - the UK's smallest bird of prey. Occasionally the gulls get grumpy and gang up on them if they think their nests are being stalked - there's no way they'd try that with a Peregrine surely?
We're halfway through the four day week. I wish we had a bank holiday every weekend. Happy Hump Day folks.