Sea mew in the spotlight

[Pink Dragonfly]

This was taken two days ago, same time, same place as the grey heron with the bad hair day.

Mette

[Dylan8i]

wow thats some great lighting! i love the white sparkling in the water, really adds to the ambiance.

[Pink Dragonfly]

Thanks Yes, I think that's my favourite shot for that day!

Oh, I forgot to say that it's standing on a very thin layer of ice, and the white specks are from a quick little snow shower, just minutes before this was taken. You can actually see the line between water and ice right just inches behind the bird - where the white specks stop.

Mette

[A.M.D.A.]

Beautiful lighting!

Great "crispness" and the bird's reflection is also very nice. There are also almost no distracting elements either - I love this photo - it has a certain "professional" look.:thumbsup:

Seems like you're starting to bring out the full potential of your A700 now. Keep it up!

[Loupey]

The spotlighting effect is very nice.

[scott-devon]

Beautiful lighting and composition, great shot Pink Dragonfly.

[Pink Dragonfly]

Thank you all for looking and posting I value your comments greatly, both the good as well as the "bad" stuff - it's the way to learn from my mistakes! You guys are doing a great job lifting the heritage from the all-time great Mr. Fitz ( :cryin: )...

Mette

[Pink Dragonfly]

And the price I had to pay for this shot? Frostbite in my "trigger finger"!!!

Any good suggestions on how to avoid this from other cold-weather photographers???

Mette

[Loupey]

And the price I had to pay for this shot? Frostbite in my "trigger finger"!!!

Any good suggestions on how to avoid this from other cold-weather photographers???

Mette

Not too many options I'm afraid.

I've tried gloves that leave just the finger tips exposed - you end up with really cold finger tips

I've tried mittens that "break" in the middle to expose all 4 fingers when needed - but the lack of thumb sensation and a too-thick palm make the controls difficult to operate

My current solution - a thin utility glove (about $2/pair) and a carbon fiber monopod.

[Dylan8i]

my suggestion is to go out in cold weather and stick your hands in water, for a few mins, then take them out and hike for a little bit then stick in water again, and repeat all day.... comparitively anything else won't feel so cold.

at least thats what ive done.

[Pink Dragonfly]

Hehe Dylan I can follow your logic, only problem is that the lake is frozen!

I'd actually contemplated getting some of those woolly mittens that you mention, Loupey, so that I at least could keep the fingers warm in between shots, but I was worried about the thumb, just like you said.

I think I heard something about some gel that you could heat up and put in your pockets? At least then it might be possible to regularly regain heat and hopefully avoid the frostbite (which hasn't been that much fun and quite painful and I'm too stupid not to keep going out and keep exposing it!).

Mette

[Dylan8i]

yeah might not be that good of an idea if you ACTUALLY have frostbite. try the heat packets that you shake up and they stay warm for hours, in your pockets, and just keep sticking your hands in pockets when you can.

ive also had a bottle of (boiling to begin with) water in a hoodie pocket that stayed warm for a while and kept my hands warm when needed.

[Canon_Bob]

Do what I did.....Move to Florida :-)

[Pink Dragonfly]

LOL I wish Probably a bit difficult with a Danish passport though...

More than anything else, I wish I could go back to Borneo...missing the egrits sitting on top the water buffalos....

Mette

[paulnj]

So that's a mew gull then? Looks it, but I have never seen one other than images.

I work outside doing treework no matter what the weather and my chainsaw is cold usually. I refuse to wear bulky gloves when running a saw because accidents can happen like that.

My suggestion is thin driving gloves to combat cold, but I use thin rubberised gloves at work in those situations myself.

I use these exact gloves
http://www.gemplers.com/product/PF30...-Rubber-coated

but something more like this may be better.
http://www.onlygloves.com/driving-gl...Driving_Gloves

[Pink Dragonfly]

Yep, straight translation from Danish would be "storm gull". Actually, this is the first I've seen and it was the only one at this lake. I think there is plenty of them here - feel free to come visit - but I have been looking more at birds since Sep 9th than I ever did, before a gull was a gull and I never looked any closer... After this shot, I've seen some more at another lake, I think that they've come from Russia/Siberia, and unlike me, think Denmark is lovely and warm (I guess everything is relative!!!) I'll see if I can get some more shots, I actually think I have another one of this particular bird.

Thanks for the tip with the hot water in a bottle, Dylan, must be a lot cheaper than the gel! And now I know what a hoodie pocket is, took me a wee while.... Here we call them "kangaroo pockets"

Paul, thank you so much for your suggestions! Now I know what to tell Santa I'll try the rubberized utility gloves first, they should be easy to find, I hope, even with my tiny hands. Anything has got to be better than nothing

Mette

[paulnj]

I'd love to visit, but would the US allow me back into my country after leaving..... hahaha

Those gloves are not exactly warm, but add some warmth and should be thin enough to still be able to shoot the camera if they fit well.

[Pink Dragonfly]

I have the US Embassy 1/4 mile away, so I'm sure we can sort out something

Of course we don't have the white sandy beaches of Florida...Well, actually we do - never very far from the sea in Denmark, problem is the climate!!! But it's really nice here in the summer

Mette