Saltees Island

[Sharp]

Hi all.

I went over to one of the Saltees Islands yesterday to shoot some photo's of birds and and in the end I took over 1600 photo's. It's like shooting fish in a barrel over there, simply amazing. Like another planet.

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Image 4

Image 5

Image 6

Image 7

Image 8

Image 9

Image 10

Image 11


Regards.
Sharp.

[Giner]

Nice stuff again, Sharp. Those birds in Image 8 have almost got the formation right - send 'em round again.:D:D

[Stephen]

Wow!
Really nice.
Thanks for sharing those.

[Sharp]

Nice stuff again, Sharp. Those birds in Image 8 have almost got the formation right - send 'em round again.:D:D

Yeah, there are thousands of them on a continuous flight loop only 20ft from your head around huge nesting grounds. I've never experienced wildlife on that scale before and it was so easy to get under their flight path. There must have been 100,000+ birds easily in just one area we were.

People travel from different countries to get to this island, and we are so lucky to only have it an hours drive away.

Regards
Sharp.

[Giner]

You know, wherever we are in the world, we all have beauties of nature all around us, from somewhere like the birds of the Saltees Islands to a spider on a city basement window. It just takes an eye for it, plus the ability to make a great picture. Thanks again, Sharp.

[themusicman2001]

Wonderful images there James, spectacular place, and one I had not heard of. I recently visited Skomer Island, but this place... well it seems a lot busier.

I might even consider a trip there - is there still time this year do you think...? Where do you suggest I stay the day before/after...? All suggestions appreciated.

Ta

PS: What kit do you use for these images...?

[mocando]

You are all fortunate living close to that place. Breathtaking images indeed. I remember watching similar images from likes of Art Wolfe, Michael Reichmann, and the sort. You are very gifted, my friend.

What are you using for those tack sharp shots?

[Sharp]

I might even consider a trip there - is there still time this year do you think...? Where do you suggest I stay the day before/after...? All suggestions appreciated.

Hi John.

It's a 20 minute trip from Kilmore Quay over on the boat so there should be plenty of B&B's & Hotels in the area. Costs 20 euro for the two way trip over and back to the island. As for the best times to go there, I wouldn't be an expert on that but I'd imagine it's good there all year round if you looking to get photo's of them in flight. There's nobody allowed to live on the Island so it's pretty much untouched and owned by the birds.

PS: What kit do you use for these images...?

I have a Sony Alpha a900 and a 70-300mm lens. I'll upload one or two high resolution images later tonight so you can get a proper look at the birds. It's only when you see the size of the images do you really get an idea of how close I was to them. Most of the time you are only a few feet from them.

The gannet colony is as I mentioned earlier huge with easily 100,000+ birds only feet from you and your camera. The nests are just there in front of you on the ground for the most part. Just being there you would know the place is untouched by humans.

Regards
James

[themusicman2001]

Thanks so much for the prompt reply James, much appreciated. I have to say the pic with the Gannets in flight is astonishing, one of the very best shots I've seen of them in flight. I'd love a shot like that, honestly.

I have done some checks of the costs associated with coming over, and the accommodation is very reasonable indeed, it's the darned ferry crossing that's expensive. We're talking roughly £300 return from either Fishguard or Pembroke Dock... could be an expensive trip. Gotta put it on the radar though as the place looks awesome.

Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Incidentally... here's a shot I wanted to post, it has that 'Awwwwwww' factor... our new King Charles Cavalier puppy, Ollie!



rest of the set here.
http://www.reflectingme.com/p1003803316

[Sharp]

You are all fortunate living close to that place. Breathtaking images indeed. I remember watching similar images from likes of Art Wolfe, Michael Reichmann, and the sort. You are very gifted, my friend.

Thank you.
As Giner just said, there is a lot of beauty in the world and all it takes is for people to open their eyes.

What are you using for those tack sharp shots

A Sony Alpha a900 (25 Mega Pixel Camera) with a 70-300mm lens. As I just mentioned to John, I'll upload some full resolution images later tonight to give you a proper idea of how close you can get and the detail that can be captured. It's a magic place.

Regards.
James

[Sharp]

Thanks so much for the prompt reply James, much appreciated. I have to say the pic with the Gannets in flight is astonishing, one of the very best shots I've seen of them in flight. I'd love a shot like that, honestly

I took over 1600 photo's when I was there, and easily 100 of those are with the Gannets in flight like that image your talking about. Your so close to them and they are flying so slow it's near impossible to screw up the shot.

If you do make it over there you will get as many of those type of shots as you want with very little effort indeed.

I have done some checks of the costs associated with coming over, and the accommodation is very reasonable indeed, it's the darned ferry crossing that's expensive. We're talking roughly £300 return from either Fishguard or Pembroke Dock... could be an expensive trip. Gotta put it on the radar though as the place looks awesome.

The ferry is expensive alright. If you want to leave it to next year to come over you can crash in the Studio here and I'll go over to the island with you. I'd invite you over right now only the place is a mess here as we are painting our home from top to bottom and everything is moved out to the Studio.

Incidentally... here's a shot I wanted to post, it has that 'Awwwwwww' factor... our new King Charles Cavalier puppy, Ollie!

Wow... that's priceless. Absolutely beautiful image.
I look forward to checking out that link.

Regards.
James

[mocando]

A Sony Alpha a900 (25 Mega Pixel Camera) with a 70-300mm lens. As I just mentioned to John, I'll upload some full resolution images later tonight to give you a proper idea of how close you can get and the detail that can be captured. It's a magic place.

Regards.
James

Astonishing sharpness. Is a dream camera the 900. They finally realized that a high resolution digital camera need better optics than kodachrome 25. Is the only way to get such detail.

Looking forward for more images, James.

Thanks for sharing.

[Sharp]

Here's two high res images.

Not the full 25M/pixels as I cropped them a little and they have been recompressed to jpg so I could post them. The original files are 30+MB each.

http://www.irishacts.com/misc/DSC5050.jpg

http://www.irishacts.com/misc/DSC5497.jpg

Regards
James

[mocando]

Incredible. Simply astonishing. Every wildlife photographer's dream.

One question on the birds with the fish in their mouth. Since you stripped off the EXIF I cannot see the aperture. I can see you used the get-the-eye-sharp rule of thumb, but It looks to me that stoping down a couple of stops and adjusting the ISO accordingly would have given you a chance to get the whole thing in focus (white feathers are a bit soft).
Maybe it was difficult, since the depth of field should have been very narrow because of the extreme proximity.

Well, in short we are simply pixel peeping, since no one will notice the lack of sharpness on a print. Even more if you do some sharpening on Lightroom or whatever you are using.

We should make a thread about favorite software/pluggins for working with raw, noise reduction, sharpening, special effects, etc.


Thanks, James.