Nature in Macro Talk

Nature in Macro Talk 

This talk shows how I go about photographing the wide assortment of butterflies, moths, damselflies, dragonflies and other insects that we have in the countryside. It also covers reptiles, amphibians, wild flowers, orchids and fungi. 

In the talk I explain what equipment I use, and how I go about  photographing each of the different types of subjects. It covers focus stacking, aperture, depth of field, and shows how to get sharp pictures when conditions are difficult. It also shows how to get close to subjects and also how to find them.  In the second part of the talk, there is a quiz where the members have to pick out of 10 images which image was taken under controlled conditions in a studio set up. 

The following are shots from the talk. 

Camera Club Talk Update - Latest Images 2020 - Why I Switched

 Camera Club Talk Update - Latest Images 2020 - Why I Switched 

Whilst being in the first lockdown, it gave me plenty of time to update and rework some of the talks that I present to camera clubs/photographic societies. I put together two  brand new slide shows. The very latest one is called :

Latest Images 2020 - Why I Switched 

It covers a wide range of subject matter - Sport, Natural History, Landscape, Portraits and Photojournalism.  Whilst clubs are still in a case of limbo, I will do this talk as a digital presentation, but when things are back to normal, it will be a print presentation. 

The `Why I Switched` part of the title explains why I switched from being a full frame Canon user to the Olympus Micro Four Thirds system. I explain the huge advantages of the system, and show that you can move to a smaller senor size and still produce incredible results. 

Below are a few images from the talk. 

First Zoom Camera Club Talk to Ware Camera Club

First Zoom Camera Club Talk to Ware Camera Club 

Yesterday evening I gave my first `Zoom` talk to a Ware Camera Club. I have to confess being a bit nervous beforehand, which is strange considering I never get nervous when talking to a camera club with a live audience. 

It was the technical side that was worrying me, but apart from a small glitch right at the start, it seemed to go down reasonably well. Difficult to say really with these sort of talks because you cannot see what sort of reaction you are getting. 

This was a new talk I had purposely put together with a zoom presentation in mind. It is a talk that not only showed some of my best images, but also a lot of  `how I set it up to get the result` type of  shots as well. The following are a few images from the talk, - Photographing Garden Wildlife.  

Photography In Our Garden - Part 5 - Using a Moth Trap

Photography In Our Garden - Part 5 - Using a Moth Trap. 

One thing that I have always enjoyed photographing are insects, butterflies and moths. Since the lockdown, I have run my Skinner Moth Trap on three separate evenings, and although the nights have not really been warm enough to have large numbers of moths, I have still managed to attract a few on each occasion, so this has given me some interesting subjects to photograph. 

The interesting thing about using a moth trap is that you never know what you are going to catch. Early in the morning I take the trap into the garden shed and slowly take it apart to examine what species I have caught. If you do this early, - at about 6.00am,- the moths are quite cool and easy to transfer onto plants, twigs and branches, so you can photograph them without much difficulty. Once they have been  photographed, the moths are released unharmed. 

The following are a few images of some of the moths I have caught recently in out garden since the lockdown. All taken with either the EM1X or the E-M1 MkII, and the 60mm F2.8 Macro lens or the 40-150mm F2.8 + MC14 converter. Some are single shot images and others are using the `in camera focus stacking` on the Olympus cameras. 

Popular Hawk Moth 

Earl Grey Moth 

Swallow Prominent Moth 

Close Up Head shot of the Swallow Prominent Moth. This was taken on a tripod using the Olympus EM1X , 60mm F2.8 Macro lens and extension tubes. It was a 15 shot `in camera` focus stacked image. 

Dark Sword Grass Moth 

Cinnabar Moth on bracken fond 

This is my Skinner Moth Trap 

In the bottom of the trap are cardboard empty egg trays/boxes. These are like aa `maze` for the moths. They find there way in but cannot find their way out. They will just sit in amongst the egg trays quite happily. 

Puss Moth 

Treble Bar Aplocera Plagiata Moth 

Muslin Moth

Photography In Our Garden - Part 4 - Fighting Starlings and Video on the EM1X

Photography in Our Gardens - Part 4  - Fighting Starlings and Video on the EM1X 

Over the last few of weeks of the lockdown, I have managed to get some reasonable shots of Starlings in flight, using the garden shed as a hide.  Over the last week I have been photographing Starlings fighting as they fly into to food on a small post. Because the post is quite narrow, you can only really get one bird on at a time. Consequently when another bird flies in to try to get the food, they will often fly up in the air and squabble. Using Pro Capture on the EM1X and the 40-150mm F2.8 lens I have been reasonably successful getting some nice action shots, as I hope these few images show.

I also had my first attempt as shooting video on the Olympus. Not quite sure what I am doing yet, but having fun learning. This is a link to a short 1min 30 sec YouTube video I did showing the Starlings fighting. Clicking on the link on `blogger` does not direct you to the YouTube video,  so you will have to copy and paste the link to access it.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTdfOreHlyw&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0WCZ7nRrpAXsNFMaBedeTjkIm1Tgitf7RteNtbKYzR-PJ_RsuGTKh1Snk