The f Stop

It’s always quoted that opening up the aperture on your camera is the way to throw the background in photographs out of focus. You would want to do this to make the subject of what you’re shooting stand out; more often than not anyway. Sometimes it’s good to break rules but frequently there’s nothing more distracting than a lot of clutter in a photo to take away attention from what you’re photographing.

Sounds simple doesn’t it? Change from f10 to f4 and hey presto the background has a nice blurred effect. Simple.

In fact I feel it’s a grossly over used quote. Sure it will blur the background, but an easier way is to use a long focal length lens and get as close as you can to your subject. Much better effect.

We went out to the coast this week on a photography tour. We managed to photograph quite a bit despite the wind, the rain, failing light and cold fingers. The Black headed Gulls were quite charming. This particular one was my favourite.

Something for a rainy day

A very rainy weekend in Norfolk had Andy and me clicking our heels. We decided to spend a little time within a forecasted weather window down at Cromer Pier. Trying hard to find something of note among the gulls … we failed … as miserably as the weather. Even a loaf of Sharon’s best homemade could not muster a Caspian or a Yellow legged on this dark dank day.

The only things we could find of interest were a Greater Black Back with some odd bill feathering and an adult Black headed that despite being in winter plumage had the subtlest of pink suffusions to its underparts. There’s always something to look at even when it’s raining stair rods.