I have already published 10 photos on my Instagram as part of my photographic project “Wildlife – from zero to hero”. I tried to show the progress on my first 9 Instagram photos and describe some obstacles I encountered – the tenth one to such a small presentation of the later work;)
Those who have not read my previous post may probably think why? I will explain it shortly – the project has been going on for a couple of months, but I started dedicated Instagram channel and blog a few weeks ago 😉 – I am trying to catch up now 🙂
The beginning – where to photograph?
The first question I asked myself was where should I go to find some animals – the covid reduced the possibility of traveling so I had to do a quick search in my memory that resulted in a short list of parks in nearby the place I live.
- Oliwa Park
- Oruński Park
- Reagan’s Park
- Dolina Radości
- Trójmiejski Park Krajobrazowy
First photos
I chose the Oliwa Park as the first destination for my photographic escapades in search of animals – partly because it is easy and quick to get to, partly because the animals living there are quite used to people – in theory it should be easier to photograph them and it really was! These things definitely helped me:
- staying quite (it’s quite obvious that it’s easier not to scare birds away without saying anything :))
- staying in one place for a longer moment and trying not to move much (let the birds get familiar with you)
Here are a few photos that I was able to take during this time.
Getting out of the Park
After the first ‘successes’, I decided that it was time for the next one. I decided that from that time I would take my camera for all longer walks with me. I visited the Dolinę Radości, where I found a great place where the Great Woodpecker spotted me (I have found kingfisher there – but ‘hunts’ are still in progress). While visiting Otomin, I spotted the first stork that I managed to capture. You will also see photo of a common chaffinch.
Summary
I finished the whole series with a photo of a cormorant, which I managed to take in Gdańsk Morena – almost in the center of one of the cities biggest district. Looking at how my photos changed over time, I can make a few observations
- I expose photos much better – I know that Sony has super flexible RAW files but its better to relay on the good photo that comes out of the camera, It’s easier to work on it and spend less time on it
- perspective: in short, the lower the better – at the moment I’m trying to be more at the eye level of the object I’m photographing
- the background – I’m not a master in this one – but I started to try not to place the animals of buildings or man-made things
- showing the surroundings – I’m still looking for a perfect solution – whether to zoom in or show a little more of the surroundings – I will try to deal with this topic later, as I get a lot more experience
- camera settings – here I know that I was doing it wrong and I know why. One of the reasons was the lens defect detected… I was assuming the error is on my side, I set the camera not in a way I normally would but I will write about it in the near future.