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Magical Marjoram

Gardening was on the agenda this weekend but I also managed to take the opportunity to photograph some of the garden visitors.
We have a marjoram plant that has come into flower and is proving to be a real hit with the gatekeeper butterflies. I was able to get fairly close while they busied themselves feeding.

It wasn't just butterflies that were enjoying the flowers, this Greenbottle was also doing so.

Photographers on Safari

One of my Christmas presents was to go on a Photography workshop specifically aimed at nature photographers. In the end I chose a day at the Wildwood wildlife park in Kent, this was arranged with Photographers on Safari.

Wildwood is a great place to visit it's a great environment in woodland with the collection focussing on British and European wildlife, they are also heavily involved in conservation work.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side with strong sunshine creating high contrast lighting and heavy shade.
John Wright a professional photographer who organises these courses started off by giving a short summary of what to expect and how to get the best out of your camera.
Throughout the day John was on hand to provide one to one instruction where required, and had some great tips on how to make the best of the conditions presented to us.
We visited a wide variety of animals and enjoyed privileged access allowing us to get right next to boundary fences  which would normally be out of bounds to the general public. This made it much easier to take photos through the wire as you could out the lens right up against the fencing. In each case the animals were treated to some snacks when we arrived to encourage them to hang around or our visit was timed to coincide with their normal feeding time.
It was a wonderful opportunity to get up close to some wonderful creatures and I would highly recommend it.

Below are some of the photos taken on the day, a few more can be seen in my Flickr photostream: Photographers on Safari (Set)

Biggin Hill 2010

A bit behind on my posts but the weekend before last Biggin Hill hosted it's annual air fair. This year is a special year as it is also the seventieth anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
It was a packed program, the main downside from a photography point of view was the weather as usual. It was very hot so there was quite a heat haze to contend with, also not long after the flying started a layer of cloud settled into the background.
Then after about midday the sun started to shine from behind the aircraft, still enough excuses I still managed to get some shots I liked so all in all a good day!

Some more photos from the day can be found on my Flickr Photostream: Biggin Hill Air Fair 2010

Register your Bombus hypnorum sightings

BWARS (the Bees, Wasps & Ants Recording Society) are asking for sightings of a Bumble Bee - Bombus hypnorum in the UK. A relative newcomer to these shores they look to be expanding their range.
The bee is fairly distinctive with a ginger thorax and white tail as can be seen below.
For more information visit Eyes open for Bombus hypnorum

Blue Tit Family

We have been very lucky in the garden with a number of interesting visitors. The last couple of weeks has seen the arrival of Blue Tit family.
The youngsters are very bold and can be approached pretty closely, even the adults didn't seem to mind.

Damselflies

At the beginning of may I finally put a project into action of building a small garden pond. The hope was to attract some more wildlife into the garden, and what do you know it paid off!
At the weekend the pond received visits from a number of Large Red Damselflies who chose the pond as a place for the next generation to grow up.

'Studio' Macro

I thought I would try something this weekend and would try and create a studio effect for some macro shots.

The first weevil announced his presence by crawling up my arm while I was lying on the grass. I grabbed him and transfered him to my 'studio' which consisted of a plate in the dining room. Lighting was from a canon MT-24EX Twin Lite.

The last weevil had gone for an unplanned swim in the bird bath so I fished him out and transfered him to the 'studio' to dry out.

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Macro Flash Diffusers

Taking inspiration from No Cropping Zone a great site for anyone interested in Macro photography, I have been building some new diffusers for my MT-24EX Macro Twin Lite.

The main diffusers are two 'puffer' type diffusers designed for use on onboard flashes. These have had there arms shortened and have been taped to a sto-fen style diffuser with the front cut off which acts as a frame to hold the diffusers in place.

To finish off two pieces of foil covered card where put at the top and bottom of the diffuser and the whole thing was gaffa taped together.

I will be trying these out and if all goes well I will try and come up with a more permanent solution using less sticky tape! 

Early spring flowers

A few flowers have started to bloom in the garden, an ideal opportunity to try out my new macro lens. The lens in question is the Canon 100mm L IS Macro lens, a corker of a lens. These shots were taken hand held. The image stabilization was a real boon.

  

Kelsey Park Herons

A great place to watch and photograph Grey Herons is Kelsey Park in Beckenham, Kent.

There is a thriving Heronry with a number of nesting birds. At the moment a number have chicks, they are in the middle of the main lake so there is no chance of disturbance although you will need a reasonably long lens.
Although most of the nests look pretty substantial the parent birds are topping up the nest, good opportunities for Herons in flight carrying branches.
Here are a few photos I took this weekend.

A Good time for Wrens

With Spring kicking in it is a great time to photograph Wrens. These birds usually spend their time in hedgerows and are often quite elusive.
However, now that their hormones are kicking in the males are setting up breeding territories. In order to define and protect these the male will sing and usually does so from a high vantage point. This means they are more often in the open, also as they are preoccupied with singing I find they are more tolerant of a closer approach.

Below are some photos taken recently a local nature reserve.

Alamy QC Outcome

Received some good news, all of the images taken with the 7D have passed Alamy's quality control. This was the acid test as one of the main reasons for buying the camera was the larger file size.

Canon 7D

Carrion Crow taken with Canon 7D

After much deliberation and internet research I took the plunge and bought a Canon 7D.
I read lots of comments about image quality and noise which were of concern but after downloading some RAW files from DP Review I was happy that this was the camera for me!

My main reasons for purchasing were:

• Approx 100% viewfinder, amazing how different this is.
• 19 cross type AF points - the more the merrier!
• 18MP I upload some images to Alamy and this will mean I no longer have to upsize them.

 There are numerous other functions that are really useful as well but these were the main ones driving my decision. I have only been out with the camera a couple of times but I am really happy with my choice.

I shoot in RAW and then post process in Lightroom so far I have seen no evidence of soft images that I cannot attribute to me messing up the shot.

I have sent a few images to a Alamy and an awaiting their quality control to see if the unsharpened files pass.

On display

On display
Originally uploaded by Richard Parker

One of my Up Helly Aa photos was chosen for use as part of an 'Intangible Cultural Heritage in Scotland' stand at the Scottish Parliament.

More info on ICH in at www.ichscotland.org

Canon 100-400 f4.5-5.6 L Field Test

The weather has been pretty good for the last few days so I was able to manage a trip to the London Wetland Centre in Barnes and a local nature reserve, South Norwood Country Park.

Over all I have been extremely pleased with the lens. It handles well, the AF tracked well in AI servo and seemed bang on in one shot modes. As for the sharpness at the long end I have no complaints at all.

Below are some images taken over the last couple of days, these have had some Lightroom processing but no sharpening at all. If you click on the image I have included large jpegs.

Canon 100-400 + 1.4x Extender

560mm, 1/250 @ f11 ISO 250, Manual Focus

Canon 100-400

400mm, 1/250 @ f8 ISO 200, AI Servo tracking on eye

Canon 100-400

400mm, 1/160 @ f6.3 ISO 250, One shot AF

Canon 100-400

400mm, 1/500 @ f7.1 ISO 250, One Shot AF

In my opinion it's a great lens, as to whether I will buy one that's a tricky decision. As the shots above will testify I was mainly shooting at 400mm or longer so although the convenience of the zoom is tempting I am not sure that I can justify the outlay if I will only be using it at a focal length I already cover.