SHORT EARED OWLS : Part Two . Wildlife & Landscape Photography

In this video I revisit the Short Eared Owls on a freezing but stunning morning.

I manage to capture some of the flight shots that I had not been able to get two days before (see Part One on my YT channel) and I was lucky with almost perfect lighting and weather conditions.

Just a short film to highlight these amazing Owls that fly from their much colder northern Europe homes to overwinter in the UK (although we do have a few resident birds in places like the Peak District)

My Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/nigelpmorley/

With the Short Eared Owls (SEOs) arriving in the UK between October and about February you have no guarantees of when and where they'll appear but arriving from Northern Europe they hit our east coast first before heading inland and further on to areas like coastal marshes, sand dunes, moorland and fenland that can supply food and shelter for them.

CAMERA SETTINGS: As in Part One I haven't mentioned settings much in the video as all are taken on a 500mm Nikon lens at f/4 or f/5.6 and using Auto-ISO to ensure my shutter speed was at least 1/1000th sec. On this morning the light was so good I didn't have to worry too much about excessive noise from high ISO's.
N.B. In my future Barn Owl videos I do talk more about focusing and metering settings as Barn Owls throw up particular issues given their much paler colouration.

FILMING: With my need to concentrate on the images, I needed a way to effectively film the Owls flying so I used a Gorillapod curled around the barrel of my 500mm to ensure it at least followed the action !! Equally no DSLR I know off can match a proper wildlife camera for moving subjects if they are being shot through a big 500mm given their limitations with focusing and panning but I hope the Canon G7x footage at least gives a feel for the location and the way the Owl hunts and moves.

My website: www.nigelmorley.co.uk (i do sell limited edition prints so please contact me if any images in this video or on the website are of interest)

EQUIPMENT USED IN THIS VIDEO:
Nikon D4
Nikon 500mm f/4 VR II telephoto
Gitzo 3542XL Tripod
Wimberley Gimbal head

FOR THE VLOGGING:
Canon G7x Mark II
Separate audio via Zoom H1 Audio recorder and a Rode lav mic.
Gorillapod
Lowepro and Atlas backpacks

MUSIC: All supplied by Epidemic Sound

ABOUT ME: A long time passionate wildlife/landscape photographer and conservationist, I have always shot different genres of photography but my now my subjects are largely driven by love of countryside and wildlife/landscapes especially in the UK. I have a long term conservation project ongoing involving restoring land that was previously arable farmland back to wildlife friendly set aside with wildflower meadows and zero spraying etc.

Видео SHORT EARED OWLS : Part Two . Wildlife & Landscape Photography канала Nigel Morley