Transforming Ordinary to Extraordinary: Wildlife Photography

[@LostMeows]

That last shot was amazing ❤

[@adrianalfordphotography]

Great job on the video and shots Scott. That last shot was a ripper mate 👍

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Thanks Adrian, this maybe one for my wall! My Favourite raptor and in such wonderful light. Oh and the Z8 nailed it as well! Hopefully Nikon will make precapture available for raw soon and then who knows whats possible! All the best mate👌👍

[@pjccox6841]

That last shot!!! ❤ the buzzard is my favourite bird of prey, I’ve been lucky enough to get some good shots 😊

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Thanks for watching and good to have someone else who ranks the common buzzard at the top of there list! You would think that because they are now so numerous they would be easy to photograph but I always have difficulty with them being so cautious. Always a challenge but great when it works out!👌👍

[@tomwhitmorephotography]

Brill video Scott! It’s gotten to the point where I’m not allowed to watch your videos without my wife and Buzzards are one of her favourite birds of prey so she was super excited for this one. 😅 That image at the end is fantastic, wall worthy! Great job

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Thanks Tom, your wife has good taste! Buzzards are such fantastic birds and often overlooked for more exotic species. Hopefully more buzzard videos in the autumn when I try again to get them coming down to road kill!! 👌👍All the best mate!

[@Rob.1340]

Top work Scott. Species elevated ✅ all the best. 👍📷😎

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Thanks Rob, stunning bird and a candidate for my wall. Thanks for watching mate👌👍

[@kontrolla1]

Great video Scott with excellent pics and footage. The last shot is brilliant and definitely belongs on your wall.

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Thanks Paul, I almost recreated one of your sea eagle shots with a buzzard!😂I will be getting this one printed and on the wall, my favourite bird of prey and evidence of my twenty year battle with them!!👍👌

[@johnflanagan44]

My favourite bird of prey would have to be a kestrel spectacular colour and the way they hover in the air. Fantastic shot great vlog again

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Thanks for watching John. Kestrels do seem to have become less common over the last twenty years. Having said that there is one that hunts from the posts on the field behind me that I keep having a go at!👌👍

[@leehanley71]

Hi Scott, a great video in what looks a stunning location 😎 stunning images Mate, love em 📸

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Glad you enjoyed it Lee. At last a cooperative buzzard! Couldn't have asked for better light on the last shot! All the best mate👍👌

[@andreaclark1320]

Not a photographer but absolute pleasure to watch. Thank you. They have been bailing in the field next to us yesterday and my daughter watched 4 swooping for rabbits

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Thanks for watching. Loads around at the minute and they will be exploiting all the opportunities harvest time presents. Glad you enjoyed the video, more to come soon👍👌

[@davidbailey1689]

Lovely vid, Scott. Thank you. I am still amazed by Red Kites, which are now appearing in numbers in Milton Keynes. My wife and I were on our favourite walk in Bledlow, south Bucks, a few weeks ago. We were sat outside a church taking a rest and enjoying a snack when I was suddenly engulfed in feathers and a kite grabbed my wife's banana skin and took off with it, dropping it after having inspected the prize. I understand that this is common practice when the Kites have young (stealing "food"). It had somehow swept down behind us as we sat with our backs to the church and then turned within the half metre gap and grabbed the skin and was gone. Aerial magic. I felt privileged to have been mugged by a kite!

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Kites have only just returned to the Trent valley near me in the last few years. So far only aerial shots for me but would love to have had your experience! I did have a buzzard tap me on the head a few years ago when trail running past a tree where they had a nest, luckily I was wearing a hat!!👍👌

[@EmmasNatureEscapes]

I really enjoyed your video. It has such a peaceful and relaxing vibe, beautifully connected to nature💚 You got my subscribe!

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Thank you so much! Really enjoyed making this one, much more to come over the coming months.👍👌

[@stephaniegraham4896]

That was a lovely film, Scott. Thanks for sharing it. I had a similar experience of getting some close up views and (brief) photos of one myself a few weeks ago- though I had to find a very awkward angle through a low tree to ensure I wasn't spotted. They've always previously been far too distant or if I do happen upon them in a nearby tree, they spot me and take off before I've actually clocked them. It was my local red kites who got me into wildlife photography - and they sometimes feel as numerous as the wood pigeons here now, but they are always amazing to watch and photograph. I love that final image you put up - just simply the dream shot we all envision. Well done!

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Hi Stephanie, thanks for watching! Buzzards are notoriously wary possibly due to so much persecution in the past. I have an ongoing battle with my local ones and similar to you they have so far outwitted me! The buzzard in this film is a youngster so a bit more tolerant! It is only in the last three years that red kites have spread to my part of the country and on most days now I can look out of my studio window and see one sat in a tree across the field, a very welcome addition! All the best!👌👍

[@woodymallory9058]

Your Common Buzzards in the UK look like our Hawks in the USA..great video, thanks

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Interesting! What type of hawks are they? And are the hawks in the USA as wary as buzzards are over here? I have often spent hours in a hide watching road kill, arrived in the dark and I know the buzzard is in the tree above me but he will not come down to feed. No doubt I will try again this autumn!👌👍

[@ferguslass]

Thank you for the video 😊….the Wow picture was definitely worthy of the Wow. Buzzards one of my fave birds of prey. Managed to shoot a pair earlier this year that were sitting close to us on the fence around a pond.

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Thanks for watching! As you probably know I love buzzards but over the years they have managed to avoid my lens pretty well! I can't really complain with this image, the light really did raise it to another level for me! Certainly one I will be printing off!👌👍

[@adrian-l1r5e]

great video and great shots

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Glad you enjoyed it, really enjoyable one to record. My favourite bird as well. Many thanks for watching!👌👍

[@identorx6064]

Thank you for the nice video and story. Just start anew nature photography, here in the Netherlands. I live in an area with lots of farmland and small woods. Buzzards are very common here. I had a couple of opportunities to came across them, but they are very shy, and fly away from a distance the moment you stick your head out the treeline :). Sometimes they sit on a fencepole near the road, and when you drive by, you think: "That would be a good opportunity to shoot that one". Hawks are bit better to catch them. They mostley pray above the fields, and work their terrain.

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Hi thanks for watching, it sounds like your Dutch buzzards are similar in temperament to ours in the UK. The ones behind my house will happily sit on the fence posts in the field and let me walk past, however if I stop and look towards they they fly off, similarly if you raise the camera up! I think I got really lucky with this youngster! Good luck with the wildlife photography over there! 👍👌

[@jonward1987]

Lovely image Scott, I think most photographers are guilty of trying to get the big epic shots of the rarer species and sometimes neglect the more common ones. Your image proves their equally Impressive. Hope your enjoying the Z8. are you getting used to it now? Look forward to your next video. Cheers Scott👌

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Many thanks Jon, have to say I was super excited to get this image. It's the bird that started it all for me and if you have watched my videos for a while you will know I have a continuing battle (pretty one sided really!) with buzzards. I have to be careful what I say about the Z8 because I am aware that I will be comparing it with the Sony A7r3 which isn't a fair comparison but what I can say is that so far I haven't been disappointed. I am just crossing my fingers that Nikon make Pre-capture available for raw images via a firmware update!! All the best mate!👌👍

[@jonward1987]

@scotttilleyphotography Certainly looks like your getting on well with the Z8 fingers crossed for the firmware update 🤞👍

[@CNylundPhotography]

Hello Scott. Im new to youre chanel but i will be back. Eagles are my absolut favorie bird and the one that got me in to photography.

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Welcome to the channel! Do you have any particular eagle? I have photographed White Tailed Sea Eagles on Mull and Skye but would really love to get better images of Golden Eagles👌👍

[@tedshillitto6062]

Really enjoyed this vid Scott. i think we have a lot of fellow wildlife photographer friends who have been in a similar situation but never got as close as you did. I might be wrong but I'm guessing that's a relatively young female ! Your thoughts ?. Glad you're getting to grips with the Z 8 ..I was hoping you might have tried the 4k (100fps ) 2.3 DX ( 1380mm) and then grabbed a frame in NX studio ! A fabulous feature of the camera. Finally I second your request for a firmware update for Pre Capture enabling RAW. Looking forward to your next venture . Ted. Mansfield.

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Yes Ted I am pretty sure its a juvenile. Within a couple of weeks it will be unapproachable like all the rest😂 I am certainly going to try this method Ted. Something i would like to set up on one of the banks to use as needed. I just need to get the time to set it up! Will let you know when I give it a try👍I would love it if Nikon enable this feature for RAW, even if it leads to inhibited performance while your using it (less frames per second for instance) Would be extremely useful in certain circumstances! 👌👍

[@1957uklarry]

Hi Scot I love your videos especially now you have gone to the Z8 because I have just gone to Z8 from the D500. I would like to know where did you get the Camo sleeve for your Nikon Z180-600 lens and does it fit ok, Some I have seen online are very pricey for what they are and it would be nice to know that it's going to correctly and not be annoying. Cheers

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Hi, thanks for watching. I did make do with an old cover on my Sony 200-600 but this time I went for one that fits the lens properly. This one is not cheap (see link) but it fits the lens perfectly and once its on it stays on. Some bits took a while to ease on but worth the investment as it does provide a decent layer of protection. amzn.to/3YZBjZK 👌👍

[@1957uklarry]

@@scotttilleyphotography Thanks Scott It is quite expensive but I would rather have one that fits properly and stays in place. The one I had on my previous Nikon 200 - 500mm had to be kept in place with some thin double-sided sticky tape. Cheers mate

[@Karkawry1970]

Juveniles are much less wary of humans, there is one in my local graveyard this year, still there, I got within 20ft of it. Alas I m sans camera and lens until September, typical!

[@scotttilleyphotography]

Yes, I count buzzards as one of the wariest birds! I have adults in the field behind the house that are fine with me walking past but if I stop and look towards them they are away😂 Not to mention spending days in hides and knowing they are in the tree above me but won't come down to the road kill. Hopefully you get you camera early September!👌👍