Sunday 21 June 2009

New Hobby 1: Diving Hardheads


Having cracked the secret of photographing grebes, I thought I'd move onto a different target. Hardheads (Aythya australis) are diving ducks and, like grebes, they usually dive just as you click the shutter. Hardheads are rather average looking ducks (I can say that because I'm pretty sure no hardheads are reading this blog), so they don't make the most engaging subjects for portrait shots. So I thought I would try to get a photograph of a hardhead in action: in mid-dive.

I haven't quite got the hang of it yet. They're quick and the shutter delay doesn't help. I've ruled out using the motor drive, because that's (sort of) cheating. It's my powers of prediction and reflexes against the wiles of a duck. So far the ducks are winning. But I'll get there.

Here are the results of my first attempt. I won't say how many photos included nothing but ripples.