Autumn Walk – ISO 400; 166mm; f/5.6; 1/180 sec (click image to view larger size)
What to do when you find a nice (quiet) location but you think having a person in view would help add something to the image? Put the camera on a tripod, set your 10 second timer, step into the limelight and become the star of the show. Although, it’s not always quite as easy as it sounds, as I found out recently!
This fight was over in about 5 seconds!
This is a short post purely to share some images.
I’ve spent several mornings in Richmond Park over the last six weeks or so, mainly to photograph the deer during the autumn rut – the time of year when red deer stags and fallow deer bucks fight for dominance and the right to mate with the female hinds and does respectively.
Autumn is taking hold and colours are changing, so I thought I would post a few of the images I have made over the last few weeks from visiting several local woods.
Back Off! – ISO 200; 196mm; f/4; 1/800 sec (click image to view larger size)
A couple of us were enjoying photographing some red deer towards the end of a photo walk in Richmond Park when I took the image above.
We’d had dull conditions to start, no sign of the sun at sunrise, quite windy and a heavy downpour during which we had to shelter under the trees, but the sun appeared eventually giving us some better light. There had been a lot of deer activity with this being the Autumn rut – plenty of bellowing and running back and to, with the larger stags fending off the younger males who were trying marauding tactics, running into the group of hinds to try and split them up and take a few away, some with success but mostly not. The odd hind slipped away by themselves, tempted by the bellowing and strutting of another male nearby, who would quickly run over to round her up.
A tick in place on my thigh
Photographing the deer (or anything else) in Richmond Park in the warmer months presents a few (very) small challenges – namely ticks!
If you’re squeamish about creepy crawlies (especially the ones that feed on you) then click away now!
Daffodil – ISO 400; 60mm macro; f/11; 1/125 sec (click image to view larger size)
In English, Happy St. David’s Day!
Being Welsh, I thought I would mark St. David’s Day with an image of a daffodil, the national flower of Wales. After all, I can still remember having a daffodil pinned to my jumper before heading off to school in the 1960s!
I didn’t want just any type of image though, I wanted to try a technique I’ve known about for a long time but never managed to get around to using before – creating a black background without actually using a physical background.
This technique uses nothing more than the absence of light. It’s quite simple really, once you understand the principle. You don’t need a studio or any fancy lighting gear (I certainly don’t have any), just a flash that you can fire off-camera.
Mist Over The Punch Bowl – ISO 800; 14mm; f/5.6; 1/60 sec (click image to view larger size)
I’ve paid two visits to The Devil’s Punch Bowl at Hindhead over the past two weeks, firstly on a scouting mission for walking routes and secondly to conduct a 1-2-1 workshop which was then followed by a 2-hour stroll to scout out some more trails.
Giant Owl (Caligo telamonius memnon) – ISO 1600; 60mm macro; f/2.8; 1/160 sec (click image to view larger size)
This week I paid a visit to the RHS gardens at Wisley in Surrey, where up to 6000 butterflies will be flying around inside the glasshouse. Officially opening on Saturday 14th January, I went a few days early after a tip from a fellow camera club member that they would be in place before the opening and hopefully not so busy. It certainly was fairly quiet and they may not have had all 6000 in flight, as I imagine most are still to be released into the glasshouse, but there were enough to provide a challenge at photographing them!
Stag or Stick? – 135mm; ISO 400; 1/25 sec; f/5.6 (click image to view larger size)
One evening last week I took a stroll with my camera in Richmond Park, hoping to find deer in a pleasing woodland setting with some nice late sunlight. It was a venture destined with failure!
Autumn in the Woods – (ISO 400; 250mm; f/6.7; 1/350 sec – click image to view larger size)
The day was October 2nd 2011. I can remember it as if it was yesterday. Which is strange, as quite often I can’t remember what I was doing yesterday!
It started off just like any other photography outing. I was in Richmond Park before sunrise, a routine I had become well accustomed to.
47 Photography by Martin Griffett 