Entries Tagged ‘One to One wildlife workshops’:

Simplicity is often the key to composing a successful photograph. A well composed image should never look cluttered, and the main focal point or subject should be obvious.

Spring time for me is the best time of year. Wildlife is everywhere and bird song fills the air, even more so over the last several days, waking up to several inches of thick snow which I thought this maybe an April fools too far. A cruel trick of nature where I do hope not to many species have suffered with one of the coldest March’s for many decades. I have been working on my projects in between my One to Ones. Hopefully they will bear some fruit over the coming months and I will update my blog with them fingers crossed.

I’ve just updated the dates for my photo tours in 2013. I have added second dates on my Tigers of India trip as the first dates have sold out. If you’d like to visit and photograph Bengal Tigers in one of the best places in India with a backdrop of an old fort then click on this link for more details. The first ever Tigress I saw, several years back now, will be having cubs next year so again like this year my clients maybe lucky enough to see cubs alongside the Tigers there.

I have also added a new trip called Jaguars of Brazil. You can now join me on this amazing 8 day trip to Pantanal in Brazil to see the beautiful Jaguar in its wetland, woodland habitat, as well as a chance to see this amazing big cat. We will be working on the ground in Brazil with the very best guides to deliver the best opportunities for you to see and photograph Jaguars. Towards the end of the dry season as open water areas shrink, wildlife becomes more concentrated and visible. Areas in the western and northern Pantanal are the best places to see Jaguars in the wild and the chances of success on this tour are very high, click here for more details.

I also have a couple of places available for my Falklands trip next year should you wish to come with me and photograph the amazing wildlife this place has to offer, with amazing light and images everywhere. For more information on this trip then please click here to be taken to the photo tour.

In late August I’m off to Madagascar leading my 11 day photo tour photographing the amazing wildlife that’s unique to this island. I will be running the same trip next October should you wish to join us, again click here to see more information on this amazing 11 day photo tour.

In mid-September I will then be embarking on a two week trip to Sumatra on my own, photographing the Sumatran Orangutans there along with the other amazing wildlife that lives on this island. I will be working alongside a UK charity I fully support and help, SOS- Sumatra Orangutan Society, spending time camping and trekking through the forests of Sumatra in a bid to capture our closest living relative with my camera.

More news on this amazing trip on future blogs. A part of Sumatra, Tripa is in trouble at the present time and if you can help to sigh a petition to help then please click here.

I also offer One to One wildlife workshops, where I take clients to many places across the UK from dawn until dusk. Showing them everything I use in the field, along with fieldcraft, using natural light and capturing images with great impact. These days are very popular, where I enjoy helping people to understand nature, at the same time learning more about the craft of wildlife photography.

I have several projects I’ll be working on in between all of my travels, plus workshops for Calumet Photographic. Email me for further details on anything I’ve touched on or just general advice.

WWT Photography Competition 2011-2012

I have just finished judging the spring round in the WWT Martin Mere photography Competition with just the summer round to go before the overall winner of this brilliant photography competition is announced. A great standard all round and its a pleasure to be a judge, good luck to you all.

Following on from my previous Wildlife Photographic tip ‘Back-Lighting’ which gives your subject a strong outline and adds a great atmosphere, with a great deal of impact to your image, it’s counterpart ‘Side Lighting’ emphasizes a great deal of texture from the use of light highlighting your subject from the side, and when put to use in your image carefully it can produce a wonderful and dramatic image again with bags of atmosphere, giving the image a three-dimensional feel. A word of warning though from my own personal experiences ‘Side Lighting’ gives you the best results when the sun is low in the sky eg. Sunset, Sunrise.

Side Lighting does not work very well if the background is really cluttered or messy with lots of detail and other things going on so keep it as clean as possible, the idea is to isolate the light against your subject with a clear background illuminating your subject from the side bringing out all the texture in the feathers or fur at the same time creating a great deal of depth to the image. Always expose for the sunlit side of your subject, even at the cost of losing some shadow detail.

The way you use light in Wildlife photography is very important for the overall effect you are wishing to capture, Side Lighting is really effective when shooting close up portraits of wild animals and birds. The contours of the face are really well revealed, the texture of the fur and feathers really stand out a great deal more due to this mode of lighting. Try when possible to use the widest aperture you can on your telephoto lens rendering the background blurred, creating a smooth backdrop to your image.

Use ‘Side Lighting’ alongside ‘Back lighting’ as a part of your everyday Wildlife Photography, from the garden to the air, creating two very different images through the use of natural light which is at its very best during sunrise and sunset, illuminating your chosen subject from the side or the back in the case of ‘Back Lighting’.

I hope my photographic tips on ‘Side Lighting’ has helped you understand just how important light can be and how it will change and effect your photography, should you have any questions or queries then please drop me a line here and I will be more than pleased to answer them.  Lighting and how to use this to the best effect is one of many things I go through on my one to ones, where the sole aim is to improve your own wildlife photography. For more information on these days then please click here to be taken to my one to one page, many thanks.

In October I will be running a two day “Beauty of Wildlife” workshop in conjunction with Calumet Photographic, one of the leading photographic suppliers in the UK. It will be the first workshop of many planned with this leading camera supplier company.  The first day will be based at their Manchester branch, where we I will go through camera settings, compositions, setting up of each person’s camera and sharing/passing on my knowledge in order to improve individuals photography.

I will also show you some slideshows, touching on the various different skills needed for wildlife photography, use of light, what to look out for, fieldcraft and lots more. Tea and Coffee will be provided during the day and I’ll answer any questions in regard to wildlife photography that you may have in order to improve or move along your own existing skill level. I demonstrate to everyone that attends my one to ones and workshops what works and cut through all the ‘minefield’ of what’s best and what should I use, which mode etc that can drag people down.

I will replace all of that with a usable workflow that works on the ground, the same as I use, with no secrets, no hidden settings. Once clients have seen this I feel it gives them a more relaxed approach to their own work, knowing full well they weren’t really doing a lot wrong in the first place. I am self taught with over 30 years of knowledge of wildlife, which is the real key to wildlife photography.

The second day, unlike the first which will be classroom based will be in the beautiful Peak District. As a wildlife photographer the great outdoors is my office, a place in which I capture the beautiful images I am blessed in seeing. The beauty of photographing wildlife is that it is always changing and evolving, encountering the unexpected. In this environment the photographer must learn to work with these changing environmental conditions and behaviours, and the result cannot always be predicted.

My images represent an event that occurred in the wild, something that I witnessed and recorded with my camera. Learning to get close to wildlife without disturbing the life of the animal is the key to my work and this approach enables me to get close enough to capture the animal’s beauty and behaviour which both feature strongly in my style of photography, showing a wild animal within their natural habitat being the foundation to my work today.

Fieldcraft is the most important tool in a wildlife photographer’s box I believe, because if the animal is not use to human contact, isn’t tame or use to you putting food out, then they will be very difficult to get close to in the absence of hides.

Learning fieldcraft skills will improve your photography, as a subject going about its life, free from human contact always makes for the best photographs. I feel you cannot learn real and true fieldcraft from anything other than a wild animal, in the wild. I have never worked with captive or tame animals as their behaviour is too contrived for me and is as a result of contact with man.  I will show you simple and key elements to fieldcraft on the second day where you’ll greatly benefit from the wonderful wildness that is the moors of the Peak District and its wildlife.

Many clients who attend my workshops all go away with a better understanding of photographing wildlife, where it’s not about what you have but how to best use your equipment to obtain those lovely images you see with your eyes. Things change very quickly in the wild and I will give you ideas and a workflow that empowers you to capture and improve your own work. Seeing an image takes time, this skill can be learned by watching your subject and understanding its behaviour.

The Red Grouse by nature is a very elusive bird, always hiding away and making best use of the habitat in which to disappear, as shown in this wide angled image of a Red Grouse hiding, blending in very well.  They will see you long before you see them.

We will start early to capture the beautiful wildlife as the sun rises against the backdrop of the Peak District which will make for some amazing images. During our day in the Peak District we will be concentrating our efforts on Red Grouse among the autumn/winter landscapes and Mountain Hares, the only place outside of Scotland where there is a healthy population of these mammals.

We will also have the opportunity to see Short Eared Owls and many other birds which stay in this area all year, and don’t migrant like alot of other birds.  You will need to provide your own photographic equipment or alternatively you can hire equipment from Calumet Photographic, Manchester and we will meet in Buxton train station car park.  It will be a great day, where you will learn alot more about the ‘wild’ in wildlife photography, capturing images that will be around you, gaining subject awareness which again is key to capturing a wild animal’s character and behaviour.

So if you would like to book onto this wildlife workshop then please click on this link, which will take you to Calumets website. If you would like to hire any camera equipment for the day of which I will help and go through with you on the first day then again just ask at your time of booking. I look forward to seeing you in October and should you have any questions or queries don’t hesitate to contact myself or Calumet Photographic Manchester.

Over the last seven days I have had four one to ones. Two in Norfolk photographing Barn Owls and Waders -thank you Ian and Daniel.  Then travelling onto the Peak District for two days of one to ones photographing Red Grouse, Dippers and Watervoles with repeat customer Andrew, many thanks for your company gents. The weather was testing at times but I hope you all got everything and more from your one to one days with myself and look forward to seeing you all in the future. Many thanks.