# Photography under cloudy gray skies.....



## Lonnie1212 (May 19, 2020)

Has anyone ever had a bad day in photography?  I took over 500 pictures this morning and I can only show about 10 of them.  I guess it really wasn't too bad of a day, since I enjoyed getting out and driving in the countryside.  But I did exceed the limitations of a new camera lens.  Another challenge was the gray sky.  We have been getting rain for the the past few days.  There is no sunshine only light brownish gray overcast.  Took mostly bird pictures. 

Thanks for listening ,

Lonnie


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## Jeff G (May 19, 2020)

I'm pretty sure your not alone there! A bad day in photography is still better than not being able to get out and shoot at all.


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## Soocom1 (May 19, 2020)

For the record. 
Between film and digital I have probably shot over 48,000 photographs. 

About 500 are worth it.


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## Lonnie1212 (May 20, 2020)

Thanks for listening guys.  I actually enjoyed getting out and taking pictures.  I was outside in a lawn chair by the river.  Had a hot thermos of coffee.  It was all good.  Was experimenting with a 80-400 lens.  It has it's limitations for bird watching.  But if I stay within those limitations.  The photos are excellent.


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## Jeff15 (May 20, 2020)

You could always replace the sky.......


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## K9Kirk (May 20, 2020)

Join the club. What also sucks is when you edit wrong and don't realize it until later. I changed my method just yesterday, I think it's much better now.


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## AlanKlein (May 20, 2020)

500 shots?  If you shot one a minute, that an 8 hour day.  What's there to shoot?  Maybe if you slow down and compose more deliberately, your better shot percentage would improve.


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## K9Kirk (May 20, 2020)

AlanKlein said:


> 500 shots?  If you shot one a minute, that an 8 hour day.  What's there to shoot?  Maybe if you slow down and compose more deliberately, your better shot percentage would improve.



Slowing down and composing more deliberately for birds that are sitting still makes all the sense in the world but what if ......


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## Jeff15 (May 20, 2020)

With wildlife photography, you are shooting in burst mode so its quite easy to notch up the count. I do try to edit as I go as much as possible but even then a day shoot would probably be at least 200 shots.


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## Soocom1 (May 20, 2020)

Trying to compose a moving target can be tough. 
Especially if a setting goes haywire and sideways, then you loose the shot or it doesn't come out the way you like. 


When you run into that situation, its usually a good idea to make sure everything is up to snuff and then go photo-sniper and go slow, use bush craft and hunt your targets.


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## Lonnie1212 (May 20, 2020)

I was trying to photograph swallows flying over flood waters.  They were swooping down and catching insects on the surface of the flooded area.  They are extremely fast!  They are also about 4 to 6 inches in size.


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## Jeff G (May 20, 2020)

Swallows are completely  erratic  in flight, I feel your pain, I've also failed miserably trying to catch them in flight. Think how sweet it's  going to feel when you accidently get the shot!


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## Lonnie1212 (May 21, 2020)

It is good to hear from you Jeff.  As a teenager I learned to identify barn swallows while flying.  I never saw a barn swallow sitting still.  They were always flying and constantly swooping and diving.  These birds were not barn swallows.  But they were shaped like swallows and had the same flying methods and patterns.  They were probably members of the swallow family and lived under the river bridge nearby.


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## weepete (May 21, 2020)

That's a tough subject. I spent a wee while last year trying to photograph house martins in flight which are pretty similar swallows. I never had much success with them. 

We've got a coal tit in the garden that I'm trying to get a shot of in flight, but it's proving challenging!


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## Jeff G (May 21, 2020)

We have the under bridges type of swallows too. They love the freeway overpasses.


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## photoflyer (May 21, 2020)

I prefer a sunny day but sometimes a cloudy day provides nice contrast for bright colors.  Here are three of six different flowers I encounteredd during a cloudy walk this evening. 

Better in the sun?  Sure. But they sure do pop out of the gloom.


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## Lonnie1212 (May 21, 2020)

photoflyer said:


> I prefer a sunny day but sometimes a cloudy day provides nice contrast for bright colors.  Here are three of six different flowers I encounteredd during a cloudy walk this evening.
> 
> Better in the sun?  Sure. But they sure do pop out of the gloom.
> 
> View attachment 191882 View attachment 191884 View attachment 191883



I like the bottom picture the best.  Excellent photography!


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## Lonnie1212 (May 21, 2020)

Jeff G said:


> We have the under bridges type of swallows too. They love the freeway overpasses.



Hi Jeff, 

I just found out that they are Cliff Swallows.  They live under bridges and overpasses and are aerial foragers.  They can fly from 18 to 31 miles per hour.  I successfully got a picture of about 10 on the ground.   They have a very strange pattern of flight and behavior.  They constantly have their wings up.


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## SquarePeg (May 22, 2020)

On days like that you can either frame out the sky or edit to make it more gloomy for drama.


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