May, 2016 - This Website is Currently Under RECONSTRUCTION

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.

Gannets in the Mist…

Paul Miguel Birds, Photography Workshop, Wildlife 4th May 201616th May 2016bempton cliffs, bird photography, birds, coast, courses, east yorkshire, flight, fog, gannets, guillemots, kittiwakes, photography workshop, razorbills, sea mist 2 Comments

I recently led a Photography Workshop at Bempton Cliffs on the East Yorkshire coast. Upon arrival we were greeted by the thickest of sea mists with terrible visibility. I was pretty sure it would lift by the afternoon, but the fact is – it didn’t! So, rather than complain about what could not be changed, we persevered with our bird photography. It certainly gave opportunities for something different – which is never easy to do at Bempton. The histogram for our images was almost in one place due to the short dynamic range.

The most difficult part was focussing. Regardless of lens speed, autofocus was having an absolute nightmare trying to lock onto wishy washy targets against a wishy washy background. I found the juvenile gannets slightly easier as the camera was able to lock on better due to their mottled plumage. The wind was also a real challenge. A strong easterly breeze kept the birds buffeted about and throwing sea spray onto our lenses. Yes, this was definitely a challenge!! As always its a case of keep trying and we all managed some reasonably sharp flight images including the additional guillemots, razorbills and kittiwakes.

A little closer to our cameras was this lovely pair of razorbills. Occasionally the sea fog thinned enough to capture some detail in the birds as in this shot here. A nice change from the constant grey fog.

Thanks to my clients Louise and Martin who braved the conditions and embraced the challenge. It would have been all too easy to give up entirely..! As it happens I’m actually quite happy with some of the images and certainly gives me ideas for the future. If you’re interested in joining me on future workshops check out my Photography Course at Bempton Cliffs

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