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!
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