Outdoor Photography

80 Outdoor Photography February 2018

WHAT TO SHOOT THIS MONTH...

Laurie’s February highlights

Murmurations of st arlings (Sturnus vulgaris) describe the beautiful

winter aerial disp lays where large numbers of birds fl y around in close

formation at dusk before sett ling down to roost for the night in the cover of

reedbeds, wood or scrubland. Some gatherings comprise of tens, or even

hundreds of thousands of birds, but smaller ones of just a hundred or so

st ill off er fantast ic opportunities for some creative photography.

Nikon D3S with Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens at 85mm,

ISO 800, 1/50sec at f/5, handheld

The recovery of red kites (Milvus milvus) in the UK is a great news st ory

and the est ablishment of the many feeding st ations dott ed around the

country has certainly provided opportunities for nature photographers.

All feeding st ations will have a set feeding time (usually by mid-aft ernoon),

but it is worth gett ing there much sooner to take advantage of

photographing the birds ‘queuing up’ by perching in nearby trees.

Nikon 1 V3 with Nikon 500mm f/4 VR lens and Nikon FT-1 adaptor (eff ect ive

focal length 1350mm), ISO 160, 1/40sec at f/7.1, tripod, remote release

With so few wildfl ower sp ecies blooming this early in the year, it is

unsurprising that snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) are very well photographed.

Try shooting skywards from beneath the plants, using an extreme wideangle

or even fi sheye lens (blue skies rather than grey ones are best , as they

reduce exposure problems). Thin beanbags can be used to support the

camera, and refl ect ors can illuminate the underside of the fl owers.

Nikon D3X with Laowa 15mm f/2.8 macro lens, ISO 400, 1/50sec

at f/16, beanbag

I know that I have writt en before about the pleasure and potential of

fi nding and photographing items scatt ered around our shore while

beachcombing, but one refi nement to simply photographing subject s

lying on st ony or sandy backgrounds is to think about working with ones

along the interface between water and land. Photographing on a rising

tide can work best because it gives you time to locate your subject and

think through a composition before the water st arts to fl ood the scene.

Nikon D300 with Nikon 60mm f/2.8 AF-S macro lens,

ISO 200, 1/60sec at f/16, handheld

80-81_WHAT_TO_SHOOT_227_SW.indd 80 11/12/2017 15:25