Wildlife Photography across the Water: And so it begins

Wednesday, 9 November 2011

And so it begins

After watching the floodlit garden every night for 10 nights i felt it was time to test the water and get the flashguns out, Now i was not expecting much, 1 image was the goal to see how the animals would react to the flashguns, Every animal will react differently, Some take little notice and some are gone before your eyes have had time to adjust, The opossum as been out around 9pm but the night before i saw it at 7.30 so i set up early, 5.45pm to be precise and at 6.45pm i heard a movement in the nearby trees and then a small dark shape passed by and went to the closer of the two feeding areas, it was perfect and with the 600 lens i could get a nice portrait which is what i was after, Unfortunately i had been sitting still for an hour and as i moved towards the camera i got cramp in the hips and had to move which spooked the opossum , i cursed but sat it out hoping that i would not be too long before it returned, It was about 30 mins or so before it returned and went to the further feeding area, I watched it through the viewfinder for a couple of minutes to let it relax and feed then as it looked my way i pressed the shutter which was set to quiet mode and with a pop of the flashguns i had the first image in the bag, The opossum turned around and walked off into the woodland and i took the opportunity to grab the gear and go back indoors, The 1 image was all i wanted and i didn't want to put pressure on the animals by waiting and getting more images, Slowly but surely and the results will come, I would be interested to see what you think about the composition, I put the tree base large in the frame which is quite unusual but i liked the result, It gives a sense of scale to the animal, The tree is not big as you can tell by the size of the bark, I would really have liked to get a full face close up but that will have to wait for another time, Along with the D3s and tripod mounted 600 i used 2x SB600 flashguns triggered by a SU 800 on the cameras hotshoe

Dave

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Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.