April: month in review
Each month I aim to pick an image that, in my mind at least, captures the flavour of that month. It might not be the best image from the month, or the most spectacular of subjects; it just needs to illustrate something about the month.
Red Squirrel, Ardfern
Sony A9ii | 425mm f/6.3 1/3200s ISO1250
What’s this month’s image? It’s a red squirrel being photogenic, as red squirrels are wont to do.
Did you do anything to it? This is a pretty straight capture and didn’t anything doing to beyond the usual tweaks to contrast, shadows and highlights. The sunlight was pretty strong, as you can probably see, but the camera has managed to handle the dynamic range quite well.
What’s it doing here? I had the great pleasure of spending a day with Philip Price of Loch Visions on a woodland safari workshop, where the stars of the show are definitely the red squirrels. When they make an appearance they’re incredibly photogenic and an absolute pleasure to watch. It really is a joyous spectacle!
The key word in the previous paragraph though is ‘when’. The set up is excellent and reflects the time and energy that has been put into the location, but nature runs to its own schedule. Much of photography is waiting, be it for the perfect light in landscape or the decisive moment in street, action or sports. Wildlife is no different, so there is a large element where the best tools you have are patience and perseverance.
That said, the tools you carry in your bag also matter. There’s no escaping the fact that having the right kit vastly increases the chances of getting good, sharp images when the creatures do eventually appear. I’ve recently acquired a Sony A9ii and, compared to previous Canons and my current Fuji, the autofocus is just a revelation. The squirrel in the shot above only posed for a split second, but that was enough for the focus to pick up the animal’s eye and lock on. Having that level of technology means that you’re not fighting the camera and can instead concentrate on composition and framing.
That said, it’s not all about the technology and sometimes the traditional techniques win hands down. The leaping squirrel shot below, for example, was taken by manually focusing on the branch and timing the shot to catch the jump - no autofocus required…
Overall I had a great day and picked up a couple of great tips - I’d highly recommend the experience. A handful from the day are in the gallery below.
Have you been up to much else? Overall it’s been a much busier month than anticipated. I started the month photographing the kayaking at Grandtully, caught a couple of games of rugby and managed a trip to the Scottish Deer Centre on the way back from St Andrews - a location we’ve driven past dozens of times but never visited.
Coming Up
May sees the start of the motor racing season, so there’s at least one trip up to Knockhill in the diary. We’re also heading down to Greenwich for a couple of days which should be fun.
