Nature Photos Taken At Heath Lake, Crowthorne.

Nature Photography In Low Light

Nature Photos Taken At Heath Lake, Near Crowthorne.

Low light can add drama to nature photos

This week we visited Heath Lake for some interesting nature photos. Heath lake is a slightly acid lake on the 9 mile Ride Road near Crowthorne, Bracknell Forest district of south-eastern Berkshire UK. Situated in pine forests, this site offers some nice bird life photographic opportunities. To really get quality shots, a zoom telephoto lens is a must.

The only quality lens that I can afford at the moment is a Canon zoom EF 100-400 1:4.5- 5.6 L IS. This is a very good lens but is limited in poor light when photographing wildlife. This limitation can be over come however by maximizing your camera settings. Because wildlife photography is normally photographed using a fast shutter speed the aperture needs to be as wide open as possible to recieve adequate light. The 4.5- 5.6 is slightly limiting. To get the poor light shots the ISO needs to be increased. Other wise the images would just be too dark.

Photo of a Robin taken in poor light conditions using the Canon 400mm zoom

Robin photographed using the Canon zoom EF 100-400 1:4.5- 5.6 L IS. Shooting mode using shutter priority AE. TV (shutter speed) 1/500, AV 5.6. ISO level 200. Focal length 330 mm. White Balance set to cloudy. As can be seen the poor light adds drama to the image.

This forest floor photograph was taken on the same lens using these settings: Shooting mode; Shutter – priority AE. TV 1/500. AV 5.6 with the ISO set on 200. The lens focal length at the full 400mm. White Balance; Cloudy.

The Canon camera range are know to tolerate high ISO levels, so upping the ISO levels does not necessary mean grainy photos.

I find this Canon lens to be quite versatile and very happy with the results. I am able to photograph birds in flight right through to zooming in on small insects. Photographing nature at anything closer than 6.5 meters, remember to switch over to the 1.8 lens setting.

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