Photographing Dippers at Dovedale, Peak District

Photographing Dippers at Dovedale, Peak District

Last week we went away for Alison`s 60th birthday for a short breat to the Peak District. This was primarily to get a few landscapes and also to shoot some slow shutter speed shots near Padley Gorge. 

We came home on the Monday, and on the way back we stopped off at Dovedale to try for a Dipper. Arriving at about 9.45am, the car park was reasonably empty which was ideal. We stood a lot better chance of finding an approachable Dipper before the crowds started to arrive. Fortunately we found a Dipper within a short distance of the car park. This is probably the best place to photograph them because it is more open in this spot, and the lighting is better. 

The Dipper obviously had a stretch of the river that it patrolled regularly because it did not venture that far away from this area. Although it did tend to keep towards the other side of the river. 

Using the Olympus E-M1 MkIII and the 300mm F4 lens coupled with the MC14 converter, I could still easily get within range to get some decent shots. All shots taken at ISO 800. Some hand held, and others on a tripod. Shutter speed varied between 1/320sec and 1/15th sec . All shot at F5.6. 

After I had taken a number of shots and felt I had some decent images `safely in the bag`, I experimaented by trying some shots using a slower shutter speed. This was to get some motion blur in the water. The only problem is that you will get a lot of images ruined by the bird `dipping ` up and down constantly. If you persever, you should be able to get one or two that are sharp.  This one was ISO 800. 1/15th sec at F13. Obviously on a tipod. 

For a time it flew up into a tree directly in front on me and sang for about 10mins. 

At one stage it even came on the side of the river where I was standing and I had to back away to get the bird in the frame. In this shot it had caught what looks like a gudgoen. 

After about an hour, more people arrived and it started to become busy. Two couples turned up with their dogs and decided it was good fun to throw sticks into the river for their dogs to retrieve. Once this happened, the Dipper flew away and we decided to call it a day.