TJ Hughes Photographer

Friday 17 May 2013

A selection of landscapes

Below are a selection of abstracts and landscapes that I have taken over the past few days. Some are more successful than others.

Textures of this long Marram Grass blowing in the wind

I used a ND filter and dragged the shutter on this to try and capture the extreme wind in this image

Just before the sun went down the moore was bathed in a red warm light. Unfortunately no short-eared owls were to be seen.

Difficult to see but on one of the fence posts highlighted by the sun there is a small wheatear resting

Contrasty landscape with a silhouette of a wading bird near the centre

Couldn't resist a sunset

I am pleased with these shots of a small loch that we have been passing everyday

This was taken on a very calm clear evening. By underexposing I tried to keep it very graphic

The following day there was a heavy mist over the same loch which gave the place a brilliant atmosphere. These were taken at about 5 in the morning.

I tried keeping it simple

I didn't use any filters and only made basic digital adjustments

It was a beautiful morning and this is pretty much exactly how it looked, so I hope it does it justice

At around 7:30am we passed this small reed bed which caught my attention due the harsh lighting and completely still water creating an awesome mirror effect.

Very abstract and surreal image that I can imagine being on an album cover or similar

I tried a range of different compositions

Example of a portrait

The water was so still and reflective it was like a mirror at certain angles

Wednesday 15 May 2013

Now the weather has been getting better we have been in search for Short Eared Owls! They hunt and are more active in low wind levels, and when it's dry. On an early morning shoot at about 5:30the weather was very windy and wet to start with, but as soon as it cleared we spotted up to 7 or 8 in a couple of hours. Due to the past couple of days being very wet and up to 30 mph wind they must have been waiting for any opportunity to hunt for food.

A Red Deer spotted just after sunrise

We were lucky enough to spot a Snowy Owl taking shelter from the wind in the fields. The Snowy Owl is the rarest bird in the UK and is an occasional Winter Visitor to British Isles as it nests in the Arctic tundra of the northermost stretches of Alaska, Canada, and Eurasia. I took this shot with a 600mm and 1.4 tele-converter and then cropped to 100% as we didn't want to get too close.

Short Eared Owl

A selection of shots I got of the Owl hunting over the heathland.

Short Eared Owl

I love the shots above and they would be great if it wasn't for the wire mesh fence in the foreground

Short Eared Owl mid-flight

Face on

A hint of back-lighting

Short Eared Owl

Managed to get a single snap of this snipe which I'm pleased with

Portrait of a Snipe

Monday 13 May 2013

Outer Hebrides

First blog and post so will be a bit messy but here it is...

First day shooting with Andy Parkinson and David Winnard focusing on the birds seen in the Outer Hebrides. At the moment we have been photographing the range of wading birds at North Uist and migratory birds that fly close by the island.


A Oystercatcher flying in front of two bird watchers

Black Headed Gull skimming the water

Gannet flying over the stormy sea

Gannet

A few Grey Seals got curious and came to the surface to see what we were up to...

Curious Grey Seal Bull

Female Grey Seal

A Bull Seal poking it's head out of the water

We were lucky to see a few waves of Pomarine skua's which are rare to see as they don't breed in the UK, but is a pass through as a migrant in spring and autumn