Photo of the day: The Drakensberg Rockjumper

May 6, 2011 by Dave | Leave a comment

Today’s photo is of the endemic and endearing Drakensberg rock-jumper (Chaetops aurantius). This little guy lives in the drakensberg mountains in South Africa and can be found, as his name suggests, jumping around on the rocks.

Along the Sani Pass, where this image was taken, they are very curious and even if you encroach on their ‘comfort zone’ they only hop away a bit before coming back to investigate what you are and what you’re doing. Their other name, the orange-breasted rock-jumper, tells you about one of their most striking features. However, I was most taken by the vibrant red/orange eye. This really catches the attention.

Watching them move around the rocks, you wonder whether they actually fly at all – certainly the ones I saw didn’t seem to make any effort towards heading to the sky, instead content to just hop around the rocks foraging for insects on the ground. Overall a most interesting and cute little bird.

Posted in Photos Tagged Africa, Birds, Nature |

Photo of the day: The Dripping Teal

May 5, 2011 by Dave | Leave a comment

Back to Norfolk for today’s photo of the day. This time a Teal Duck. These are such beautiful ducks with fantastic colours, but they are really light dependent – get them in shadow and they just look dull and boring. This one turned to face me into the sun though lighting up that head and the dark eye.

Like the other wading bird shots I’ve posted on the blog, the secret to this one is getting down low so I could shoot along the water level. This gave a nice reflection, put me at eye level with the duck (not easy for someone that’s 6’4″!) and helped give a lovely clear background. OK, almost clear background – that white blob to the top left is a seagull on the shore line in the distance. I couldn’t shoe it away without scaring the Teal, so there it is! I know I could easily remove it in PS as well, but I couldn’t easily write this post on EOS Network and then do what I’ve stood against for a long time. And besides, while it’s a distraction for sure, it’s not (in my opinion) a deal breaker… what do you think?

Reflections tip – If you want to get good reflections, you need light – ideally light falling onto the side you’re shooting. Otherwise you’ll just have shadows and no reflections!

Posted in Photos, Tips Tagged Nature, Norfolk, POTD |

Photo of the day: Dandelion Time

May 4, 2011 by Dave | 4 Comments

Something abstract for today’s Picture of the Day, a real close-up of a Dandelion head. I’ve always enjoyed looking at these heads, but never really set out to try and take a picture of them. There are so many pictures around, since they’re such a cunning subject, that I’ve not felt the urge. However, while I was out shooting the Forget-me-Nots the other day, I noticed this one and decided to give it a go. However, rather than just get up close, I thought a real macro would be more interesting, so out came the macro lens and extension tubes – this is greater than 1:1 (lifesize magnification).

With the hard light that day, I needed to find a way of softening it down, so I used a diffusing panel to shade the subject. Getting it nice and close meant that the light went from being very hard to very soft, helping to create the soft out of focus areas on the left. By using a tripod and live view I was able to focus accurately on the central head, through the white seeds in front to create this dreamy look.

I have a feeling this image may polarise opinions so why not light up the comments and let me know….

Posted in Photos, Tips Tagged Nature, Photography, POTD |

Photo of the day: The Sani Pass

May 3, 2011 by Dave | Leave a comment

Today’s photo is from South Africa. The hawk-eyed among you will have noticed this panorama in the blog post I did on my SA trip a couple of weeks ago, but I decided that I liked the image sufficiently for it to have its own story and showcase.

This shot is a stitched pano of 11 images. On the trip we took up the Sani Pass I’d stopped a couple of times to shoot some panoramas, but I knew the shot I really wanted was at the top of the pass, looking across the valley rather than back down it. Once we’d made the top of the pass, I set off for a short walk along the ridge to find an area I thought would work. Sadly, I didn’t have long as we were due lunch in the Sani Pass pub (the highest pub in Africa) so I had to make a choice about where to shoot quite quickly.

When shooting panoramas like this, the exposure can be very tricky to get right, and using a polariser to bring more drama into the sky is possible but very difficult to do well. As such, the polariser was left in the bag but the Lee Filters were, as usual, brought out to play.

I flipped my Acratech GP ball head over into levelling base mode so I could pan from a level platform, and then set about creating the panorama. The camera was tilted to shoot in portrait mode and therefore gain a greater height in the final image. With a cable release and everything locked down level, I was able to take the shots I wanted to quickly and efficiently – speed is quite important in panoramas… if you take too long between each frame the clouds can move and then they will either not line up accurately or the light will change in the scene.

For the pan, I moved the head 15degrees between each shot. It is possible to work out exactly how many degrees to move the head between each frame depending on the lens in use and the amount of overlap you want between each shot, in fact I wrote an article and excel calculation sheet for it for EOS Magazine a few years ago! However, without much time and without my calculation formula and the Angle-of-View data for the focal length I was using I’ve found that 15degrees is actually a pretty good figure. Sure in some cases you’ll have more overlap, but I’ve yet to have a situation where it’s not enough overlap…

The images were processed in DPP and then stitched using Panorama Factory using the focal length from the image EXIF data to ensure a good stitch.

With that done it was simply a case of cropping the image and resizing for the web.

Posted in Photos, Tips Tagged Africa, Landscape, Photography, POTD |

Photo of the day: Ringed Plover reflected

April 28, 2011 by Dave | Leave a comment

Today’s photo sees us heading back to Norfolk with a long lens to photograph wading birds. This little chap is a Ringed Plover. I spent a good while following his movements along the shore waiting for him to do various things. My favourite shot can be seen in the Norfolk post here where he is pulling up a lug worm to chow down on. However, I like this shot for its simplicity.

The weather, as you may be able to tell, was grey and overcast – not usually the best for photography. However, it does provide very soft lighting and that helps avoid the hard shadows you may otherwise find on the subject. It’s also given the water a very clean, smooth look with only the two stones to break it up and provide a little extra interest.

Animal tip: When shooting animals (and people for that matter) try and get to their eye level, it will enhance your pictures. In this instance, I was flat on my front with the lens resting on a small beanbag on the floor. You should be willing to get down and dirty with wildlife photography, so always wear clothes you don’t mind getting muddy. I’d go so far as to say if you don’t come back from a wildlife shoot with muddy knees, you’ve not been trying hard enough!

Posted in Photos, Tips Tagged Nature, Norfolk, Photography, POTD, Waders |

Photo of the day: Forget-me-Not

April 26, 2011 by Dave | 3 Comments

The image for today is a macro shot of Forget-me-Nots.

This time of year is brilliant for these cute little flowers and indeed, I only had to venture into my garden to find them as they seem to have taken up residence in the paving stone cracks. One of the best things about macro is that you can always find something to photograph – even if the weather is horrid, if you open your eyes and look around, most things can be made to look interesting when viewed up close.

The choice of depth of field in a macro image is, even more than with other types of photography, very personal. Since your DofF is greatly reduced when working close in to your subject, it’s never usually an option to have everything from front to back in focus. However, I find going completely the other way is not always the best option either -though as I say, this is personal and you may feel differently…such is the joys and photography

Equipment:
EOS 5D Mark II
EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Large diffuser panel
Small reflector
Cable release
Tripod

Macro tip: When shooting macro, especially when you get close to life size, a tripod is almost essential. Sure there are times when you can shoot handheld, but if you want to be able to modify your shot in a controlled manner, you need the stability a tripod offers.

Posted in Photos

The Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa

April 14, 2011 by Dave | 3 Comments

It must be post ‘holiday’ blues. I’m sitting here having returned from a week in South Africa yesterday and well, let’s just say I’m not feeling like I want to stay in the UK much longer!

My trip to the Drakensberg mountains in South Africa was to visit a friend who owns a part share in a house there. He, along with seven of his friends, clubbed together and bought some land. In this case, the “some” was 650acres bordering a national park and just a few km from the UNESCO world heritage site of the Sani Pass that runs up through the mountains to the plateau of Lesotho at the top. Not a bad place on which to build a house, so that’s what they did.

There was quite a group of us there and the majority were into both photography and wildlife, so it made for a great collection of people to talk to. Although not a ‘photographic’ trip in the true sense, I did get a lot of time to take pictures – fortunate really as had I not been able to take so many pictures, I’d have been frustrated the whole time! You see, the Drakensberg are stunning. Truly epic, and well worth a visit whether you want to photograph them or not.

Anyway, back to these post holiday blues. It’s not something I usually suffer with. Not that I’m happy to be home, but maybe I’ve just not felt a connection to somewhere quite as strongly and therefore the pain of leaving is reduced. In this case though, it reminds me of my New Zealand trip – I really didn’t want to come home. And now I am home, I’m trying to work out why!

So why was I so smitten with the Drakensberg mountains? For a start, they’re quite impressive mountains. Despite being flat topped (like table mountain) they still have a grandeur and presence to them. No, they are not created by continental uplift like the alps, instead being the result of a slow rising lava flow running over sedimentary rock to create a cap. But even without the jagged tooth-like peaks, they are so vast you can’t help but wonder at them. Secondly, the wildlife is pretty impressive. Sadly I didn’t get to see any of the super-elusive leopards in the area, nor the worlds largest antelope – the Eland. But the bird life made up for it, with Cape Vulture, Crested Eagle, Secretary birds, Crowned Crane, Drakensberg Rockjumper, Bearder Vulture, Jackal Buzzard and Rock Kestrel among many others. There were a few mammals too – Mountain Reedbuck, Grey Rhebok and the endemic Slogget’s Ice Rat were all seen, and in the case of the last two, at quite close quarters as well.

I think the time of year helped too – sure the southern hemisphere is heading into winter, but 23degrees was more than enough for me, and the rains that were present on some afternoons or evenings made sure the scenery was lush and green.

All in, it was a remarkable trip in which the 1 week I spent there was no were near long enough to do it justice. That just means I’m going to have to go back again….and again and again until I feel I’ve captured it sufficiently well enough to do it justice.

So what are those blues about? Well, currently I’m trying to figure out why I live in England….!

Posted in Photos Tagged Africa, Landscape, Nature, Photography, Travel, Wildlife |

Norfolk

March 16, 2011 by Dave | 5 Comments

Well after a little break, I’m back to the blog! I’m sitting here wondering whether I release all my pictures from the weekend on you or whether I drip feed them in. Since I’m in an impatient mood today I’ve decided to compromise – I’ll subject you to some now and some later!

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve spent the last four days with a couple of friends having a whale of a time photographing all sorts of things. This was a purely photographic trip, no holiday with photography, no other half to consider – I could spend as long as I wanted shooting what I wanted when I wanted! What this meant was four days of 5:30am alarm calls and being out until the sun was gone…and then a bit longer.

While we had a plan of subjects we were aiming for (Barn Owls being the main one) I actually had more fun with the waders. And just for the practice, I did a couple of landscapes because I was asked about a technique. Contrary to popular belief among my friends, I don’t object to being asked how to do things or why I do things a certain way – I may be out with friends taking pictures, but I still love teaching and passing on knowledge! Just ask my better half – I apparently have a teacher voice I use when I’m trying to get a point across…!

We spent the four days on the Norfolk coast and I found it great to have the chance at some serious photography over an extended period of time. Our list of interesting subjects seen is really pretty good:
Marsh Harrier, Barn Owl, Kestrel, Buzzard, Avocet, Snow Bunting, Turnstone, Dunlin, Redshank, Greenshank, Teal, Ringed Plover and Hare among many others.

Before heading off, I was fortunate enough to lay my hands on a big lens – an EF800mm f/5.6 IS USM – a stellar lens that once you get used to using is capable of spectacular results. The reason I say “get used to using” is that while you may be used to a 400mm or 500mm, the step up makes things that bit different. Everything is bigger in the frame (D’uh!) but the way you handle the lens is different. You need to think about the 6meter minimum focusing distance (I think Turnstone must still be using imperial measurements; I kept telling them to be 6 meters away, they seemed to think I said 6 inches….) and the slower response time you have while swinging a bigger lens around. Switching back to a 500mm having been using the 800mm really felt like I was missing something – namely the frame filling ‘wow!’ that a long lens can provide. If I could, I’d be tempted to have one in the bag but at the price of a good small car, that’s not happening any time soon, and to be honest, I’m of the opinion that a EF400mm f/2.8L II IS USM with the new EF1.4 and EF2x Mark III Extenders is a more versatile solution – again, still the cost of a small car, not to mention not being available to buy yet.

With one of the landscape shots shown here (the huts with the sunset) it’s a combination of two techniques – light painting and HDR (and some ND grad filters too). In truth, the standard light painted image looks pretty good, but I want to experiment with HDR for landscapes so I figured it was a good one to try it out on. Sure it’s a bit different to my normal “minimal editing” approach, but I like to experiment and try new things to see if they’ll be useful for projects in the future. My view of HDR is that it has a place and can produce great images, but it has to be used with care. Images that look obviously HDR’ed are not my cup of tea.

The light-painted bit was done with three flashguns – two controlled by me and one controlled by my VAL (that’s voice activated light-stand) in this case, the VAL was aka Calum. (Thanks Calum!)

If you are interested in learning more about this kind of photography (both wildlife and landscape) and how to get these kinds of images, as well as getting to see subjects like this, drop me a line and let me know. I am looking at organising a photographic training trip to some of these locations where you’ll get time to photograph as well as help in getting great shots, all while seeing some spectacular wildlife. Send me a mail from this link and let me know, or drop a note in the comments.

Anyway, I shan’t bore you with any more drivel, instead here’s some pictures for you to look at instead – hopefully they’re more interesting than me typing!

Posted in Photos, Training Tagged Barn Owl, Canon, EOS, Norfolk, Photography, Waders, Wildlife |

EOS Network photo walk

February 11, 2011 by Dave | Leave a comment

As many of you will know, I also run a site called EOS-Network which I use for the majority of my training activities. This site is run in conjunction with a good friend of mine and fellow EOS specialist trainer, Brian Worley.

For a challenge, we decided to take a photowalk around London last week and only allow ourselves five items of kit each. Certainly not easy for two people more used to packing everything and the sink! To make it harder, we had to come back with five images each that we were happy with. It’s an interesting exercise for the two of us – we are similar in many ways, but take completely different pictures…. as you’ll see from the results.

We both had a great day out and both managed to get the required five images we were happy with each. To see the route we took, my kit and pictures from the day and Brian’s kit and pictures from the day, check out the blog posts over on EOS Network.

Posted in News, Photos, Training Tagged EOS, EOS Network, Photography |

Costa Rica

February 10, 2011 by Dave | Leave a comment

Towards the back end of last year the better half and I decided we needed a holiday before the end of the year. After a lot of searching and head scratching we grabbed a late minute deal (booking the trip less than a week before departure!) and took off to Costa Rica. Neither of us had been before, and while we have a list as long as my arms of places to visit, with only a week timescale I was reluctant to go somewhere on the list in case a week wasn’t long enough.

I was under strict instructions – this was not a photo trip. It was a holiday and therefore the kit I took with me was to be limited – not my usual “everything and the kitchen sink” approach! This meant a short time period in which to pare down and pack my kit to cover the sort of things I figured I might get the chance to photograph.

What I got when I arrived in Costa Rica I was completely not prepared for. I knew it would be a ‘pretty’ place, but really I was blown away. Where we were, in the Guanacaste region on the pacific coast, was truly stunning – and we’d arrived at just the right time. Up until October, it’s the rainy season and from December it’s the summer season. This shoulder was perfect – no rain but all the benefits of lush colours from the preceding rain – and not yet so hot that the tropical dry forest had become burnt and bare. In short, lush foliage, fantastic colours and great weather! What more could you want?

Ever conscious that this was a holiday and not a photo trip I didn’t take anywhere near as many pictures as I normally would. But still, I managed to take some images every day we were there and come home with two things – a good set of images and an appreciation of the beauty of Costa Rica. It’s somewhere I urge you all to go, and indeed somewhere I’m thinking I might have to organise a photo tour to….

Below is a small collection of some of the images taken during the week there. Comments are always welcome, so light them up and let me know what you think