A Return to Gauntlet, and three weeks of Phoenix

Earlier this summer, I took Yol to the Gauntlet Birds of Prey centre for a birthday treat, and for my birthday she returned the favour!  Yol had booked me onto a half-day photography workshop, which took place on the morning of Sunday 9th September, and here I am three weeks later still smiling about it!

The course was split into three sections, the first of which was photographing birds on outdoor perches.  There were about seven or eight snappers taking part in the session, under the guidance of a Gauntlet bird photography expert who was giving tips and advice to anyone who wanted it.  The first bird out was, by pure chance, the first bird that Yol had handled on her Owl Experience - Yoda, the Little Owl! 

I was shooting most of the outdoor shots with my 70-300mm lens, at the far end of the scale.  The advantage in using that amount of zoom from a relatively close distance was that the depth of field was pretty shallow, as demonstrated in the shot above.  At first I thought I could shoot with my 18-105 lens, but that didn't give me enough zoom even from that close range, so I went to the 70-300 and got some results that I'm particularly chuffed with!

The second part of the session was indoors, and utilised flash heads and model lights.  Once again, I was 'reunited' with one of our favourites from Yol's Owl Experience - Humph, the White Faced Scops Owl!:

To say that I have a soft spot for Humph is an understatement, he's excellent and so sweet too!  Although he did spend a great deal of time during the photoshoot seemingly fascinated by something on the ceiling...

Humph was under the model lights, which are constant light sources rather than flashes.  The first bird under the flash heads was Roy the Harris Hawk, a rather magnificent bird:

He was followed by Frodo, a baby Malaysian Wood Owl who was taking only his second turn in front of the cameras.  Still with some of his baby feathers, he looked simply adorable!

Slightly less adorable, but just as fascinating, was Frank, the Saker Falcon, who was having his dinner under the model lights:

Shooting the birds under the model lights required the use of a tripod to get the best results, as I didn't want to push the ISO up and lose quality in the images.  So I used a remote trigger to limit camera movement, set up the tripod, and shot that way.

The third part of the session was the trickiest - shooting birds on the wing!  This took place outside, and the photographers were invited to take shots from wherever they wanted between and near the two take-off and landing points, so I shot from a variety of positions to get some alternative shots:

For any photographer with an interest in shooting wildlife, I'd thoroughly recommend Gauntlet.  I had an absolutely thrilling time, and came away with some shots that I am truly proud of!

The full set can be seen on Flickr here: Gauntlet Photo Workshop

That day also marked the start of the Phoenix's home campaign, with a visit from the Steeldogs for the second leg of the War Of The Roses.  Having shot in Sheffield on the Thursday, I'd sort of found my hockey-shooting legs again, albeit from ice level, so this was my first chance to shoot from the stairs and re-find my mojo!

Shooting with the D90 is an absolute blessing!  My trusty D40 got me some very nice results, but having the D90 has given me an extra set on the ISO scale, which in turn means less post-producing and better noise reduction.  Also, I can shoot at a higher shutter speed and get clearer shots.  Plus, having two camera bodies now means that I can be one of those poser pillocks who carries two cameras! But at least I can legitimately do it!

A few weeks back, my photo buddy Lauren Freeman and I shot the portraits for the team, and a couple of weeks ago we shot the volunteers too.  Thanks to Lauren's expert lighting (and Yol's patience) we were able to get some cracking photos of the people who make the match nights work at the Phoenix, and in amongst those shots we naturally had to capture the likenesses of ourselves!

The Phoenix match nght photos can be seen on Flickr here: Manchester Phoenix Flickr feed

Cheers all!

Yol's Feathered Friends, and a Sneak Peek at the Lauren Shoot

This past Wednesday, Yol turned 40 and we celebrated in traditional style with good food, good wine, and good company!  One of the presents that Yol received was a voucher for the 'Simply Owls Experience' at Gauntlet Birds Of Prey in Knutsford - a two hour owl handling and flying experience.  Yol loves owls, so it was a natural choice for a birthday present, and it also gave me a spendid opportunity to try my hand at shooting new subjects in a new environment.

The first thing I'll say about Gauntlet is that it's an amazing experience.  The staff there are so friendly and knowledgeable, their love for the birds is plain to see, and the birds seem to be so happy!  Yol's 'Simply Owls Experience' was scheduled to start at 1pm, so we got there at 12pm, nice and early, and were treated to the spectacle of the noon flying display.

To see the birds flying in such close proximity is a truly breathtaking experience, with the flying area going over the heads of the spectators to give an all-encompassing view of these beautiful (and some not-so-beautiful) creatures!

Yol's 'Simply Owls Experience' started with an indoor lesson in basic handling of smaller owls.  Yol was with two other people doing the 'Experience', and I was there along with another spectator snapping away as Yol and her companions were issued with handling gauntlets, learned how to tie line knots, and then met three of the inhabitants:  Yoda, Julia and Humph!

After the introductions, it was time to start handling and flying the owls.  Yol took to it straight away, handling Yoda and flying Humph.  Yoda is a Little Owl, and chirruped his way through the encounter;  Humph is a White Faced Scops Owl, and was emitting a sound not too dissimilar to a coffee percolator!

Photographing the owls inside was a real challenge.  Indoors shoots of any kind mean relatively low light, which in turn means that high ISO numbers are the order of the day.  My Nikon D40 only goes up to ISO1600, so the shutter speeds had to be kept relatively low; this in turn meant that getting sharp shots of flying indoors was very difficult!  Once we went outdoors, the sunny weather meant that low ISO and higher shutter speeds made life a little easier:

However, even with the advantages of the brighter weather (which clouded over from time to time, but never for long), the big challenge was factoring in the speed at which these birds fly!    To get a sharp shot requires not only a fast shutter speed but also a quick focus.  A large depth of field would have made it easier but that would equate to a lower shutter speed, so finding the compromise point proved very tricky, even with the brighter conditions.  No matter how quick your autofocus is, it won't be able to keep up with these speedy fliers either, so that makes things even trickier!

After the Experience, we were treated to the second flying display of the day, and had the wonderful sight of eagles, storks and kites taking to the skies.  Shooting against the bright sky means that it's time to go down the 'light HDR' route when it comes to processing the shots, and this gives results such as this shot of a Kite:

The full set of photos from our trip to Gauntlet can be seen on Flickr here: Gauntlet Birds Of Prey photo set

For more information about Gauntlet, this is their website: Gauntlet Birds Of Prey Eagle And Vulture Park

In the last posting, I gave a little 'behind the scenes' look at a studio shoot I'd done with my great friend Lauren Freeman, where Lauren stepped out from behind her camera to shine in front of mine!  I am still working on the shots, as we took around 2200 on the day and covered a variety of themes, but I can give you a sneak peek on how some of the shots are coming along:

Keep watching this space!