nature - Paul Miguel Wildlife Photography

The Importance of Being There

Paul Miguel Landscape, Nature 2nd August 20162nd August 201617-40mm lens, canon 1d mark iv, cokin, composition, image, induro tripod, landscape, light, mist, nature, nature photograph, photo, photography, shade, visualise, weather 0 Comment

It’s barely past 5.00am and I’m standing ankle deep in water next to my tripod, waiting patiently for the sun to climb above the tree-lined horizon. Already I can tell that I’ve made a good decision: the predicted early morning mist is clinging to the shallow pool and swirling in the soft breeze; the sky is largely clear but with the added touch of low cloud straight ahead. My composition is wide, to encompass the urban surroundings of this fascinating place. I’m happy with the foreground – the low sun will highlight the plants, revealing texture and form. I take a test shot before the sun rises but know the resulting image is flat; lifeless. It needs the light. The light will transform everything.

Gradually the sun begins to break, shining through the mist and casting its warm glow upon my carefully composed scene. I continue to shoot for the next ten minutes watching minute shifts in light and shade and subtle changes to the moving mist. Quickly it becomes too bright to continue and I know that the first exposures were the best. I pack up my gear and search for different photo opportunities in stronger light.

There are many ingredients that create a successful nature photograph but perhaps the biggest is actually ‘being there’. This does not mean simply turning up and shooting – it means a careful, considered approach to put you in the right place at the right time. With enough research you can visualise your image and arrive at the perfect hour in the best weather conditions. I often think how many nature and landscape photographs I have on file, but how many are truly good ones? It’s almost always the case that the most compelling of images are those that were carefully thought, crafted and executed. A little effort can go a long way…

Technical info: Canon 1D Mark iv; Canon 17-40mm lens at around 20mm, 1/6 second at f14, ISO 100, Cokin strong ND grad, mirror lock up, Induro Tripod

Birds of Prey Photography Courses

Paul Miguel Birds, Photography Workshop, Wildlife 28th May 2016barn owl, bird of prey photography workshops, birds, birds of prey, captive, courses, fiight photography, merlin, moorland, nature, oxenhope, peregrine, photo, prey, red kite, SMJ Falconry, yorkshire 0 Comment

A great way of getting into wildlife photography is to practice on captive subjects such as birds of prey. I don’t consider this as ‘cheating’. In the wild you often have to react quickly and know your settings inside out to get the best out of any given opportunity. Bird of prey workshops offer you the chance to learn the skills necessary – in natural surroundings and often with variable weather conditions. Working with SMJ Falconry in Oxenhope, Yorkshire we have access to wonderful surroundings including moorland edge with gritstone boulders and heather.

The male merlin is one of my favourite birds. This particular merlin is incredibly relaxed around photographers and often preens for us.

We also like to make use of prey. This peregrine was photographed with a quail. It soon ripped into the bird with feathers flying, making for images with real impact.!

Flight photography is always a test – not just of the photographer but also the equipment. Our barn owl is perfect for straight flights and we can usually repeat this a good number of times.

Willow, the female red kite is quite a star. We usually let her fly around the valley before photographing as she comes in to the food. The beauty of this location is in being able to get flight shots against the hillside rather than just sky.

If you are interested in joining one of theses Bird of Prey Photography Courses get in touch: paul@naturephotographycourses.co.uk Further photo workshops can be found at www.naturephotographycourses.co.uk All the birds at SMJ Falconry are in remarkable condition and it’s obvious that this family run business put a lot of effort into the birds’ welfare.

What’s Good for the Soul…

Paul Miguel Macro, Nature 4th May 20168th May 2016buds, catkins, close up, contrast, creativity, galls, images, light, macro, nature, oak, photography, soul, spring, trees, unfurling leaves 0 Comment

Such is my love of photographing wildlife that when I turn my attention to other subjects it can feel like a complete shift in mind set. But there’s no doubt that this can be a good thing. I’d purposefully set out early to concentrate on macro images close to home with a few ideas in mind. I find close up photography is often led by my own instinct and it takes me while to ‘get my eye in’. When first approaching a flourishing stand of Oak trees I found it difficult to separate the buds and to see the best photo opportunities. But, fifteen minutes or so later, after carefully searching through the branches I was beginning to satisfying my own creative intent.

Light is a key driver in all photography and certainly in macro work. Working in partial shade I could capture good colour in the freshly unfurling leaves. Within half an hour contrast was increasing rapidly due the rising sun and I was unable to capture the detail effectively as at first light.

As contrast increased I moved further into the shade, finding a beautiful Oak gall – a colourful and interesting shape.

Stepping back I could see the galls and leaves were creating a nice pattern, so I switched to a wider shot and composed vertically.

I continued to search, using my instincts. The catkins drew my attention, not only due to their stunning shapes and colour but also the way they stood out from the clean grey background. For this shot I got in even closer, increasing my aperture and taking a number of shots to ensure a pin sharp result.

Realising that it was now becoming too bright to do justice to any more macro images, I looked for some different views of the Oak branches against the blue sky.

I was happy with the images I’d taken in a short space of time. But more importantly I felt like I’d done something purely for me. And this is the best part of photography – letting your creative juices flow, unshackled by necessity; direction led not by what I ‘should’ be taking, but rather by what my soul ‘needs’.

www.paulmiguel.co.uk

Photographing Autumn Woodlands

Paul Miguel Autumn, Landscape, Nature 3rd May 20164th May 2016abstract, autumn woodland photography, nature, photo, photography workshop, west yorkshire, wood 0 Comment

It’s during late October and early November that I try to squeeze in an autumn woodland shoot. For my style of photography I find this time to be the best as it usually coincides with more gaps in the trees and more leaf litter on the woodland floor. This particular woodland in West Yorkshire is one that I have visited once before – back in the days of film! When visiting a relatively new location I find that it pays to keep an open mind and not be too rigid in your picture-taking.

The majority of the afternoon consisted of overcast conditions which suited me fine – it made things much simpler and I could record wide scenes without too much contrast.

The low light inevitably meant slow shutter speeds and this was perfect for creating movement in the water. I personally love the effect of these long shutter speeds.

For all the images I used a polarising filter. The effect can be surprisingly striking: even in heavily overcast conditions a quick twist of the filter and the colours really leap out – with both greens and oranges becoming equally vibrant.

This was particularly true when photographing this magnificent beech tree by the water’s edge. I kept checking the effect of the filter, rotating it a few times to make sure it was having maximum effect. Exposure wise, the meter was fairly accurate. If anything I underexposed slightly for some shots.

As a professional photographer I often have specific markets in mind and whilst this is generally a good thing, it can stifle creativity. When I finally checked on the time I realised I’d been in the wood for nearly 2 hours. My first thought was how quickly the time had flown, but then something else gradually dawned on me. In all that time – I hadn’t really thought about the picture-taking. Sure, I’d considered the composition and all the technicalities of maximising sharpness and depth of field, but in all that time I hadn’t consciously thought about what I was photographing or why. Everything I had been doing was simply guided by instinct; intuition. All those little tweaks of position, angle; the play of light – they were all done with feel – as I strived to create something that satisfied me, and nobody else. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is when we achieve our most rewarding images.

Now that I felt I was getting ‘under the skin’ of this special place I turned my attention towards the water and let my instincts work on creating more abstract images.

The leaf colour by the water was stunning and I worked on some closer images using this clean backdrop.

The leaves were barely staying still due to the light breeze so I deliberately used a slower shutter speed to create movement and much more abstract image of autumn colour.

Another abstract but this time allowing the scum on the water to record as streaks whilst the autumn trees remained still.

My last shots of the day were of the weir surrounded by autumn colour. By this point the light was failing and it was becoming too dull for good rendition of the colours.

This woodland is a truly stunning location for autumn colours and I’ll be adding it to my list of Photography Workshops for 2016. More courses can be viewed at Nature Photography Courses