This was the shot I was after

In yesterdays post ( which you can see here )  I mentioned there was a particular shot I was after when I happened upon the wonderful Chinese Water Deer so when the rain eventually stopped yesterday evening  I went back to my bit of fenland to try to get the shot and I was lucky. This is it below. In truth it’s not quite the way I want it but close enough for now.

The yellow was so dazzling in the low evening sun !

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I thought I’d try a similar one in monochrome too. What do you think?

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If you care to you can read my other blog 1500 saturdays here

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50 thoughts on “This was the shot I was after”

  5. WOW! As if you (we) are flying along this bird… Amazing your are amazing. Great shot. And I loved both of them, they all have their different touches of the impressive flight… Thank you dear Helen, have a nice weekend, with my love, nia

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  6. amazing picture Helen, well done! My dogs will like this very much 🙂 Interesting how the monochrome one looks just like snow.

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  8. I’m with you on the monochrome….And I’m intrigued by how (in this and in yesterdays deer pix) you have got these very definite lines of foreground and background ‘out of focus’ bands…is this just from lens depth of field? and if so (as I suspect it is) what lens, and what were the settings…In both sets the emphasis on the subject is really sucessful.

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  10. the yellow does stand out and hence I like the color version more.

    I think you did not have the time to anticipate and shoot but rather reacted. the placement of the bird at the boundary of land and sky is a bit distracting versus if the bird was against the sky. But again, bird in flight is extremely challenging and I have had my share of griefs !

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    • Absolutely right Abu.. had to just react because I couldn’t see the pheasant until it rose out of the rapeseed and so very fast… although I did have my camera at the ready.. It’s why I have said that it’s not quite the way I want it… but I also did not want to have it too high in the sky because I wanted to capture how it flies very low across the field.. I’ll keep trying 😀

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      • i agree…too much high in the sky and it would have become a tiny spec (unless u had a telephoto).

        I changed my mind (don’t know if i am allowed to) and think the black and white makes a better picture…it brings out the details of the feathers more. It also paints the sky and land into one uniform backdrop against which the bird stands out. Yes, i think i see it better in black and white now 🙂

      • Of course you can change your mind Abu 🙂 I don’t automatically look at every photo in monochrome but there was just something about this one that made me do so and I like it because there is no distraction from the colour and the contrast is better.. you will see from my reply to Stuart above what lens, settings etc I was using.

  11. I prefer the colour version – the pheasant is essentially a colourful bird – and I suspect it reflects more closely what you felt at the time. The detail on the bird is excellent in the b&w version but the picture overall lacks atmosphere by comparison.

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    • Thanks Louis.. I am loving the reaction to these photos 🙂 I have always said I don’t particularly like rapeseed because it’s so garish but when I was out in the fens, between storms, waist high in the stuff ( walking in the tractor lines) and the sky was so brilliant ( more of that tomorrow) it looked quite magnificent. I know the fields are full of red-legged partridge and pheasant. This was my third evening trying to capture a shot.. Not quite got the one I want yet… will keep trying 😀

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      • I agree. The yellow of the rapeseed is not very ‘English’. It is too brash for our landscape. But, like you, I’m beginning to get used to it.

      • Brash is a good word Louis… but somehow when you are in the middle of it…well it becomes quite breathtaking, especially in the evening light

  16. While the colour version is cool, I prefer the B&W mainly because it brings more detail (or did you do that in PP). Also, I think the yellow distracts a tad too much from the subject…my thoughts! Either way, great capture (wish those pesky birds would allow me to capture them)! 😀

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    • I had been trying for 3 days to get one David.. I added just a little sharpness to the birds in both. I was going to reduce the saturation as the yellow is SOO bright but that’s the colour it was in the late and low evening sun. I lean towards the B&W too

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  19. Hi Helen! I’m a great mono fan but the colour has it here for me. And what about trying cropping it to letterbox format, with a small amount of sky above the horizon (well where else is sky going to be???) and an equally small amount of glorious yellow below? You’ll still have space in front of the bird for it to “fly into”, and I think the effect might be worth looking at. OR >>> what about keeping the same expanse of yellow below the bird but severely reducing the amount of sky above, still in a letterbox format? Adrian

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    • I think cropping the sky works best and leaving a lot of yellow and I did think about it after I’d posted.. but too late! It’s quite hard work posting everyday and sometimes you just have to let things go…

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