Planning to get some shots.

I am planning to go to Rutland bird sanctuary to try and get a shot of a hawk finch.  I am going there next weekend to have a look where the bird has been seen.  By going onto the Internet and doing some research I now know that the bird has been seen.  So I intend to go and see for myself, and I shell take the gear with me so I can hopefully capture the bird.  But if I don't then I will arrange another weekend to try and get the shot that I require.


This is going to take sometime to capture as first of all I am going to have to see the bird and fined out its habits first.  Then I shell come up with a plan of how to get the photo's that I want.  These are very shy birds and I will have to careful how I go about this task as not to disturb anything or any body.


I went Rutland at the weekend 3rd April in search of the Hawfinch but, did not see it.  I also asked at the centre if anybody had seen the bird but they have not seen them yet.  Brought a new card for the camera but, put it in when I got there and it didn't work.  Wasted journey really  but, had a good walk round to see if anything was worth looking at.


The Macro side of things are taking shape now, i managed to get a bee shot but, looking to get a better one looking to get a wasps head and eyes.  Good fortune there just happened to be a wasp in the office and have captured the shot I was looking for, so happy with how things are going with the the macro side.   Like the theme of the eyes I am doing I do have two shots of close-up flowers if I get the opportunity  I will try and get some more eye shots depending on the time scale.


I plan to go to Cakle Abbey on a regular basis, as I do not live far from there and I can look out for things to photo on the macro side.  I go most Sunday mornings, just looking and taking in the atmosphere checking things out to photograph.  Just basically observing things that are going on and that I could eventually photo.


I have also set my hide up in my garden, so that I can be ready to take a shot of something if I need too.


The technical side of the camera comes when you change the aperture, so you can control the depth of field. which means you can blur the back ground out and keep the subject Sharp.  This comes in very handy  when shooting wildlife.


By setting yourself an aperture of say F2.8 on a nice and sunny day this would give you a fast shutter speed allowing you to capture your subject in flight, and be nice and Sharpe.  Using the controls of the camera is whats its all about, you should be controlling the camera.  By doing this you control the depth of field, or blurring the back ground out, but, if you use an aperture of say F22 it is just the opposite.  This should make the the picture Sharpe front to back providing you use the camera correctly.  By doing this with an aperture of F22 you would need a tripod as this could give you a slow shutter speed, depending on the light and what effect you are after.  To make a very slow shutter speed you could use filters, warm ups, graduate, and Polarizer filters which gives you some fantastic  affects if used properly.


For this type of photography that I intend to do I shell what my 500-mm lens along with a good tripod for this to rest on, along with my D200 which will fire at 5 shots per second.  I shell set the camera at 4.5 aperture as the large lens does not go any further than that.

all my units

Statement of intent Macro photography.

The photography that I have chosen to do is Macro.  I intend two produce 10 images of good quality.

I have been interested in Macro photography for some years now, and decided to do this on the course that I have enrolled on now.

The equipment that I will use is as follows A Nikon D200 body with a 50mm Macro lens.  Along with the flash unit for the macro lens that goes with it and can be attached to the camera and the lens.  I will also be using a small and large tripod for stability.  As well as a bean bag.  These items will allow me to get in close and stop any camera shake, this stopping blurred images.  I shell look at the light that will be available when taking the shots as this could determine the aperture and the ISO speed at the time the shots will be taken.

The photography thyme for this will be insects and flowers, so this is going to very close up photography.  I am thinking of getting eyes of a subject but this may alter depending on the subjects that I pick, but, I will go for the eyes of the subject.

Light could play a major part in this, I will try and get natural light were it is possible.  As I would rather work with natural light then artificially light.  I will play about with the ISO if the light fails along with the + and - compensator.  The flash unit that I will be using will be to close as I only have a 50mm Macro lens so this means me getting in close to the subject, so the flash will not work properly.  I intend to use the ISO more than the flash but, I will use photo shop to the minimum.

All heath and safety will be considered while taking photographs.  Also when entering conservations areas that I stick to the paths and observe the country code at all times.  If I set any hides up that I have permission and that it is put up in a safe way observing any plant life and anything of that nature.

The environment and the country side is to be respected, there are certain things that you cannot photograph without a licence if I come across anything like this I will seek advice and get the proper paper work put in place.  I shell seek the right authorities to gain the right licences.

Stuart Goodwin's Close-up Macro pictures.

Some selections of close-up and Macro photographs.  These are shots that I have taken while doing this course, some have not quite made the grade for the top ten , but some have.  I am trying to put a thyme together for the ten shot, which is eyes, but, this all depends on what I can do in the time scale that I have.

So some of these will be chosen but some will not but, I hope the ones that are not, are still very good photos.  The aim is to take  good quality photo's  and it is in the setting up of the camera and the actual shot that counts.  

These were taken at Calke Abbey in the Autumn, very pleased with the shots as they are nice and colourful.