The Birds 5

Please look at the picture full size against a grey background. I was asked how the Pigeon project is coming along yesterday by a friend. So this is where I am at. I use a Variable Neutral Density Filter on a 70-200mm lens. There are three exposure variables to control – ISO, Aperture, Shutter speed. With a variable ND filter you can pre-set two of the three constraints eg. I set the ISO to 50  and Shutter Speed to 1/2Read more

The Birds 4

Please look at the picture full size against a grey background. “The Birds 4” is part of my long-term project on homing pigeons in flight. Many hundreds of pictures are taken but only very few are chosen in the editing process. As I have gone along with this project I have become more discerning about the lighting and brightness of the sky as a background. As with all photography the background is just as important as the subject. Another issueRead more

The Birds 3

Please look at the picture full size against a grey background. Not very many people know this (to quote Michael Cane) the average speed a pigeon flies is around 30 mph. More importantly that is 13.4 m/sec in un-christian units. Google was used to find out how fast a Pigeon flies in Mph and what the conversion factor is. I am currently using my first-floor back bedroom as a hide to take the pigeons. My field of view, close upRead more

The Birds 2

Please look at the picture full size. I am creating a set of ethereal and timeless pictures of Pigeons in flight. How long this with take and when it will end I don’t know suffice to say that I see “The Birds” as a long-term project. I have no terms of reference from other works on the subject in the style that I am creating. If you Google pigeons in flight all the examples are of descriptive reality – howRead more