I was back at Lindsay Parsons yesterday and the morning started off well, with a pastel sunrise and a pair of GBH’s in silhouette.
Things would go downhill after this though. It was a very warm morning, in the upper sixties at dawn. As the sun began to rise I knew I was going to have issues. I was using a 400mm telephoto lens with a 1.7 teleconverter. This gives me an effective focal length of 680mm. It’s great for bringing distant subjects in closer but it also compresses everything else too. Like atmospheric haze. As soon as it got light I could see the haze hanging in the air and I knew it was going to cause issues. The haze makes it harder to focus accurately and even when you do it makes the image look just a bit out of focus. The image below is an example of a hazy image even after I have massaged the image in Lightroom. It just doesn’t have the crispness I expect.
Compare that image to the one below that I took 3 days earlier and you tell me which one looks better!!! It really is all about the light!
But don’t get me wrong. The day was not a total dud. The Spotted Sandpiper stopped to say hi for a few seconds. The light was good but I just couldn’t get him (or her) to turn toward me enough to get a great composition. It’s close but no cigar…..
Thank you all for looking! Now, get out and shoot!!!