Set Sail...

 Living close to the beach I have been lucky enough to see various activities; kite surfing, surfing, windsurfing, kite buggies and land/sand yachting. When the conditions are right these must be really exhilarating to take part in but they are also a great spectacle and provide some excellent photo opportunities.

Last weekend there was a Sand Yacht Regatta at St Annes on the Fylde coast and so I pooped along briefly to take a look. I only managed to watch one complete race and part of a second but even so I managed to get some really great shots. Freezing the action in a photograph does not always give a true indication of just how fast these chaps are going however when they go through water and create a big splash you can get more of an idea of how quick they are moving and perhaps how hard they work to stay on course. 

Cool Cormorants

As I said the other day I had a go at photographing some birds in flight and I managed to capture a few shots of these cormorants. I know they are not the sharpest images but looking at them I think I can see what I need to do differently next time.

I almost decided against posting these but I thought that in spite of the lack of sharpness one of the features I wanted to capture is the shapes of the birds in flight and these shots show that off well. 

Tracking birds is challenging and getting the focus spot on is difficult especially when the lens is quite slow. In the third of these pictures I think the focus point is on the top surface of the wing and that looks good, it's just a shame that it's not sharp across the whole image.

We Have Lift Off!

Just recently I have been posting just one picture per day but the subject for today deserves the full sequence. 

These pictures of the cormorant taking to the air were shot from a canoe in the middle of Marie Louise Lake. I love the sequence and I love the water droplets falling from the wings in the first shot and the splashes in the others. I am slightly disappointed that the pictures aren't as sharp as I had hoped but I really needed a set up with a much faster shutter speed to freeze the action, however I was actually set up for a Bald Eagle which was sat up in a dead birch tree on the island in the background. But although I didn't get the perfect shot I am still happy and I have learned so much from this trip so in the future I can do much better.