Wildlife Photography across the Water: swallowtail

Saturday, 31 July 2010

Garden Visitors

When you read this i will be in California, I wrote this a couple of days ago as i will be busy hopefully shooting sea otters and ground squirrels, My wife got up early to get ready for work and left me in bed to get over the jet lag from the UK trip when all of a sudden she started to call my name, I rushed down stairs to find her in the garden, She said that something was eating her tomato plants and on closer inspection i found a large green stripy caterpillar-what a beauty so i instantly started to get some images,It turns out that it is called a Tomato Hornworm, I moved the plant into the middle of the garden to get a better background and noticed more, In total i counted 8 on 2 plants, I kept an eye on them and throughout the day got images, the light was bright so i waited for the sun to go behind the clouds, Tomato plants are scruffy looking plants and the backgrounds were not as clean as i would have liked so i got some white paper and used that as a background, Not very natural but it made the caterpillar stand out and this kind of photography is becoming popular and is used many times in magazines so who knows, I ended up shooting with white paper in one hand and balancing a reflector with my leg and pressing the shutter button with the other hand, By the end of the day i had around 200 images to choose from so here are a few

Keep your eyes peeled when checking your flowers and veg patch, It may hold many suprises and make your day just like these did for me
All images shot with a Nikon D3s and Sigma 180 macro at F11 or F16
Dave

Friday, 14 May 2010

Local report-Raleigh

Lots of stuff to shoot at this time of year, The lakes have young chicks on them-notably Lake Lynn has mallard and Canade Goose chicks that are easy to shoot, Falls lake has Osprey with chicks on the nest as well as Herons with very large chicks, Reports there of water Moccasin (Cotton mouth) so be careful when near the waters edge,I have been to Falls lake for the last couple of days taking a look around, There are lots of Cliff Swallows nesting under the bridges so yesterday i spent a couple of hours there trying to get them as they flew to the nest-no luck or at least not what i had hoped for, The light was low under the bridge so ISO's between 800 and 3200 were in order along with flash, They are soo fast that even a shutter speed of 1/1000 didnt freeze them, I did get a couple of shots as you can see and as i only spend 2 hours there i guess they are ok, Ticks seem to be a problem this year-at least for me, Last Saturday i noticed one when i was having a shower buried where you really dont want one and last night i had 2 more on me but loose not buried, So keep an eye out after you have been in woodland or long grass, These can be dangerous as they can transmit limes disease which if left can be deadly,I put a bird box up in my garden a couple of months ago and last week we had a pair of Bluebirds investigating the box but they were constantly chased off by another pair and since then its been quiet, I have now put the hummingbird feeder up in hopes of getting a shot or two this year, Last year was very quiet by all accounts and we only had 2 coming to the feeder, The butterflies have started to arrive with quite a few Swallowtails hanging around my garden, Wish the Buddlia would hurry up and bloom, Last night i watched a Grey Fox in the garden and the night before a Raccoon so lots to shoot in the way of wildlife, I did notice some nice wild flowers along the road at Falls lake as well

Dave

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.