A few shots from today with the new toy and it must be said that the conditions were challenging to say the least. Any other day I'd have stayed in the house. There was a heavy low overcast all morning, combined with a general murkiness. After lunchtime the sun made a half-hearted attempt at breaking through the cloud, but there was always a veil of cloud, sometimes thicker, sometimes thinner, never clear.
Shot 1. The mallard was on a river shaded by high trees on the banks. Heavy cloud. ISO 800. Lightened a bit with levels to correct underexposure. Some sharpening, light noise reduction in Neat Image.
Shot 2. Even worse conditions. The cloud if anything was thicker and the bullfinch was sitting in deeper shade on the lower branches of a tree. ISO 3200, some camera shake at 1/320 sec. About the same sharpening and noise reduction as on the mallard.
Shot 3. The light was slightly better for the gull, but only just. ISO 400.
Shot 4. The curlew came straight over the hide I was in. The viewing slot limited my action, but I managed to keep on it for a few shots. ISO 500.
Shot 5. This was as good as the light got. The mute swan was being its bullying self, but the whooper was having none of it and saw the mute off. ISO 400.
All shots were on Single Point Spot or Single Point focussing and all cropped, particularly the bullfinch, which was rather shy.
Lets hope for better conditions tomorrow.