Muriwai. Again

As Rob and I both have new toys... me with my Canon 7D mkII and Rob with his new Canon 200 - 400mm lens, we're both much keener to get out and about to test them out.

Rob lives conveniently close to Muriwai beach here in Auckland, so we popped out yesterday to photograph the Gannets & Terns that nest around the cliff faces in the area.

The weather was sunny, but very windy. And the wind was blowing on shore. Made for a cold day. On the plus side though... it brought out a lot of kite surfers.

Looking through the photos I took, I think I ballsed up the first lot as I had left the exposure metering on centre-weighted after Ardmore last weekend. Should probably have been on evaluative. When we went back after dinner, I had change to evaluative and the photos are better (much less blown out, but the evening light is also much softer).

The main thing I wanted to keep trying was the AF and tracking options. In the end... I have no idea what settings relate to which picture. Later in the day I left it the AF with a square of about 9 points active and tracking priority ignoring obstacles. That seemed to work best from what I can tell when working through the photos, but still more reading and practice required (and finding a way to record what settings I change throughout the day!).

Anyway... here is the best of what I got...

Gannets

The wind creating quite the stylish look....

This poor guy clearly landed in the wrong spot.... he couldn't get away quick enough!

 Kite Surfers

Showing off for the camera didn't always end so well.....

Terns

I'm undecided on whether I like this one or not

I have no idea what this guy is trying to do....

And some random stuff....

We stayed around for the sunset. I'd figured the stormy weather overnight/on Friday may have meant a good sunset. I was to be disappointed... still... I played around with the timer of the camera and managed to run out into one shot :)

 No doubt we'll be back out to Muriwai soon to continue to play around with our new toys :)

Still lots to learn!