John Williams Photography Blog

Landscape Photography ( Brighton, East Sussex)

2010-02-12T20:03:00.001Z

Recently, I have been concentrating on two areas of my photography, British wildlife (mostly birds and wildfowl) and landscape, therefore most of the time I spend taking photographs is spent outdoors. In the cold snaps of weather we keep having it can be very easy just to stay indoors but with many opportunities when the sun does break through or we have one of those crisp, cold, clear days, it's worth venturing out either at sunset or sundown for some great winter landscapes.

I have never really photographed the area in which I live and although I have snapped away at some of Brighton’s very well photographed tourist attractions, the West Pier and Royal Pavilion for example, both of which can offer some interesting shots, I was keen to get out of the city and explore the surrounding area. N=Close to where I live there are some nice walks with vantage points looking down towards Brighton and Hove and on clear days you can see for miles along the south coast. I have taken to this higher ground on a couple of occasions of late, first when it snowed heavily and it was just too beautiful to miss and the second time I was hoping for a stunning sunset as it was a clear day with a little cloud here and there.

Landscape photography is something that I have dabbled with but never really focused on, it's always interested me but it seems that it can be difficult to do it well and do justice to the scenery and the beauty of the light. However, I was determined to give it a go and got my tripod, polarizer and lens hood assembled and went off to experiment. I set my camera to 'M' or 'Manual' mode because I wanted to have complete control over my exposures and also to bracket a bit so that I could account for the difference in the brightness of the sky and the land. By doing this I gave myself the option of combining images in post production should it be necessary. I found that when the light was good that I could capture detail in both the sky and the land but once the sun started to go down the land can become very dark and underexposed, which sometimes isn't a bad thing if it's the sky you are most interested in.

There are a couple of solutions to this problem that I know about, one is to do what I did and take two exposures, on metered and correctly exposed for the sky and another correctly exposed for the land/foreground, then combining the two in post production. To do this it is essential that you have taken both shots from exactly the same spot with the camera on a tripod or the two won't align properly. The other, and dare I say less time intensive, way to accomplish a more even exposure is to use a Grey Graduated Filter that will reduce the difference in brightness between the sky and the ground, typically a 2-stop difference.

The next thing on my list of things to try is the use of a Neutral Density Filter to slow my shutter speeds right down to achieve motion blur effects such as running water or fast moving clouds.

Got Your Valentines Day (Sun 14th Feb) Gift?

2010-02-01T18:07:00.001Z

It's that time of year again, Valentines Day, it's fast approaching and even though we know it a lot of us leave it until the last minute to buy a special gift for that special someone. So this year why not get in early and surprise your lover with a romantic photographic print with a custom message (optional), available here - Valentines Day Prints.

Order by Monday 8th Feb to make sure you get it in time! (UK only)

Goldfinches Fighting Over Food In The Snow

2010-01-18T21:39:00.001Z

This was one of those rare occasions when I was in the right place at the right time with my camera and 100-400mm lens, poised and ready to snap away. I had been watching Greenfinches, lots of them, all battling it out to get to a seed feeder, but two or three Goldfinches attracted my attention and I turned my lens towards them. At first I got a couple of photographs of one of them perched on a branch in some snow, and then, unlike the Greenfinches, the goldfinches tend to be a bit more polite and seem to take it in turns to feed. However, in the frozen temperatures when the ground is too hard for the birds to find food all hell breaks loose and its bird eat bird, so to speak. Even though there was a spare perch on the other side of this small Niger seed feeder the Goldfinch on the left obviously wanted it all to himself because he seemed determined to get rid of the one on the right, of course it could have been a rival male. Anyway, I captured this image as it happened and a couple of others that were no good, heads hidden behind wings or blurred with motion as they fought, it was a relatively dull day so I couldn't get very fast shutter speeds (as you can tell from the slight blur of the wings) and was already using the largest aperture available.

Hopefully the sun will show its face more often soon and I can continue with some more bird photography.

Snow In Brighton

2010-01-07T17:46:00.000Z

I'm sure those of you that live in th UK are well aware that we are having a very cold and snowy winter, and here in Brighton it's no different. These are a few shots I took looking down towards the centre of Brighton, doesn't everything look so much more beautiful like this?

Photographing Birds In Snow

2009-12-19T18:26:00.000Z

The snow arrived here in the UK yesterday and since this means our birds have to work even harder to find food it was a great opportunity for me to photograph some in my garden. I put some extra feed out and waited, and soon enough down they came, and with the snow and the sunlight it made for very interesting bird photography. Here are some of my favourite shots including a Dunnock, male Chaffinch and Starling.

I was finding that each shot needed to be overexposed by about 1 or 2 stops simply because the snow is so bright and reflects so much light that the camera is fooled into thinking there is more light than there actually is. Shooting using the camera's meter reading underexposes a snow scene and makes for very grey murky images, and there is also the white balance to consider too. Automatic white balance is usually pretty good but on the day I was shooting the sky was clear and blue which results in the snow appearing very blue, therefore I tried the cloudy setting which was better but found that I needed to set a custom white balance using the white of the snow as a reference.

Blue Tit In Early November

2009-11-22T18:16:00.000Z

Well for those of you living in the UK you'll have noticed that the weather hasn't exactly been in the photographers favour lately, so any bird photography has been minimal for me in the last few weeks. So, whilst I hold out for some dry weather on a day I am able to get out there with my camera, here are a few images of a cheeky Blue Tit that visited my garden about three weeks ago and was a most cooperative little bird and stayed around for a few minutes, enough for me to photograph him anyway.

Pigeon In Flight & Magpie

2009-11-06T15:57:00.000Z

I have not had much experience photographing birds in flight so this is something I thought I would have a go at when the next opportunity arose. I was visiting the WWT centre at Arundel when I noticed loads of pigeons swooping back and forth from the roof of the visitors centre as seed was thrown for the various wildfowl in the ponds/lakes. So I turned my camera on the pigeons and waited for them to make another pass, which the soon did, and I tried this several times with a mixture of results. Two of the best shots from this attempt at 'birds in flight' photography are shown here, and although the exposure is a bit dodgy on the wing of the bird in the first image, I am still satisfied that this is a good starting point to build upon.

Magpies are such beautiful birds and although they are not the best loved of all British birds I think they make great subjects for bird photography, they are charismatic and large enough that you have more time to capture them as they fly by or hop along the ground. This shot was taken when the sun was fairly low in the sky which makes for a warm and bright image with the magpie framed by the greens and yellows of the leaves on the tree.

Various Bird Photographs

2009-10-23T19:58:00.001+01:00

Over the last few weeks I have photographed a fair few birds near my home and here are a selection of the best. At the top we have one of Britain's smallest birds, a Wren, then a colourful Greenfinch, the hugely popular Robin and at the bottom is a male Chaffinch.

Chiffchaff...More Bird Photography!

2009-09-27T22:11:00.002+01:00

I was delighted to find that I have attracted another new bird to my garden that I have never seen before, this time a Chiffchaff. Before I got a good view of this well camouflaged little bird I had mistaken it for a Greenfinch, however, once I got a good view of it I soon realised that it was not only too small but also had a distinctive green flash through each eye. I looked on the RSPB website and in a reference book of British birds and found it to be a Chiffchaff. I didn't get many shots but am pleased that I have been able to photograph a different garden bird and have seen him once since so hopefully there will be more and more now they know there's food and water available.

Nuthatch On A Peanut Feeder

2009-09-20T19:52:00.001+01:00

I went back to the WWT Arundel a couple of weeks back and came away with some decent shots. Having wandered around for a while I finally settled in a small hide that has dozens of bird feeders that attract loads of small varieties of birds and on the day I spotted Blue Tits, Great Tits, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Robins, Sparrows, Coal Tits and Marsh Tits to name but a few. Pictured here is the Nuthatch, which until I took these photographs, I had never set eys on before so it was an exciting moment when he darted in and settled on the peanut feeder for a few moments.

Photographing A Male Model In The Studio

2009-08-21T20:03:00.004+01:00

I was in the studio recently photographing an amateur model shown here in two of the best shots from a couple of hours I spent photographing him. We sat and discussed some ideas for a while before the shoot and the brief really was to take some head shots, portraits, not too close up, mostly head and shoulders, in order to give him a taste of a photographic studio. Understandably he was nervous at first, having never been in front of the camera in this way before, but after a while I think he relaxed and that's when we got the best images.

Studio Macro Wildlife Photography

2009-08-04T18:34:00.004+01:00

I have recently become interested in macro photography and have been shooting bees and other insects in the garden, but when I found a dead wasp in the house I noticed that it still looked as vibrant and beautiful as it had when it was still alive. This idea fascinated me and so I collected a dead woodlouse and moth and took them with the wasp in to the studio. I had thought about ways in which to photograph these beautiful insects and tried various approaches, however, the images you see here are the ones that really stand out for me. The idea was to photograph as if cataloging them for a museum archive or something similar, although I did add some colour by placing a piece coloured card behind each one in an attempt to increase the intensity of their colour. Therefore, even though these little creatures are no longer living, their intricate detail and natural beauty is still more than evident.

Photographing Bees In The Garden

2009-07-24T20:43:00.006+01:00

Now photographing insects is something I have never done before, however, I have noticed a fair few bees and wasps in my garden recently and although I don't have a macro lens I thought I'd give it a go. Obviously I couldn't get too close with a telephoto lens but with this in mind I tried to capture not only the creature itself but also an interesting composition around it. Using a large aperture o give me a shallow depth of field I was able to create blurred backgrounds so the main focus remains with the bee and the flower it is collecting from. To add a little impact and more colour I was able to use the grass behind the subject as a backdrop to help the purple flowers and colour of the bee to stand out even more, and with the bright sunshine this has enhanced the composition nicely.

Later in the week I was able to borrow a macro lens and although I had to wait for the rain to clear and the sun to shine, I was able to get a handful of very close up photographs of this bee, and as it was my first attempt I was quite please with how it turned out.

John Williams Photography Website Redesign Launched

2009-07-14T16:36:00.005+01:00

I have just completed and launched the new redesigned version of my photography website John Williams Photography. The new design is more user friendly, has more photography than before and includes a Wildlife photography page too. More exciting new additions coming soon!

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RSPB Reserve - Pulborough Brooks

2009-07-09T19:40:00.007+01:00

A few weeks ago I took a day trip over to an RSPB reserve, Pulborough Brooks in West Sussex, armed with my camera and praying for a bit of sunshine which luckily I got on and off throughout the day. Previously I have only visited a couple of RSPB sites and not only loved them for their natural beauty and the chance to be out in the country, but also because of the wide variety of birds and other animals that you can see with a bit of patience. So not knowing exactly what to expect I arrived at Pulborough Brooks and set off into this rather large and very beautiful reserve, stopping almost every few steps to watch birds, butterflies and rabbits, and also to try and snap a few of them too. Unfortunately I am somewhat restricted by my 100-400mm telephoto lens as it mean that I have to get closer to the subject than is often possible, particularly from the hides that are, in this instance, set back from the wildlife. This is to be expected to an extent because the RSPB aims to preserve and protect our natural world and I respect that. So despite my technological restrictions I made the best of the day and had the opportunity to photograph some birds I haven't so far, along with deer and rabbits which was a welcome surprise, and also to learn more about being out in the field. I realise that it would have been exciting to be able to zoom in even closer but for one of my first field trips I am pleased to say that I did get a few decent shots and will be continuing with wildlife and bird photography and hopefully developing my skills further.

In these photographs you can see a Song Thrush perched on a branch and chirping, wild rabbits and a grey heron in flight that was some distance away but I took some shots nonetheless. The top image is of the view that greets you as you arrive at the visitors centre at the reserve, for more information about Pulborough Brooks RSPB nature reserve CLICK HERE.

Photographing Lilies

2009-06-28T15:18:00.004+01:00

These lily photographs were taken in the studio on my Canon 450D digital SLR as test shots for some more shots on black and white film I had planned to take later that same day. The great thing about digital photography is that you can see your results instantly and adjust any settings accordingly, but as you know it is a very different story when using film, which is why I used my digital camera to test the lighting and composition before starting to shoot with film. I opted for 120 roll film and was using a Mamiya RZ67 medium format camera, I will be printing these in the darkroom but will aim to photograph one of the prints and post it here when I have.

Crow Pulling Branches For Nesting Material

2009-06-08T13:56:00.005+01:00

Well we actually had some hot sunny weather here in May and early June which meant that photographing birds is a little easier seeing as though they often move so fast, particularly the small ones. However, with larger birds it can be easier to avoid motion blur, and here I have a shot of a crow perched on a tree near my house. It seemed as though he was searching for nesting material as he was trying to pull small branches off and eventually he got one, as you can see.

for me, another great thing about photographing birds in bright sunlight is that the background can be so vibrant and colourful.

Abstract Photography

2009-05-18T11:57:00.001+01:00

These two images are actually from last year but back then I didn't have a photography blog up and running, and I wanted to include them because abstract photography is not something I've explored much to date. I had great fun playing around with lighting and focus to create these abstracts that I really like due to their bold, colourful and graphical qualities. In many ways they look like a coloured spotlight, then when you take another look you see something else, perhaps a brightly lit out of focus plant stem? Of course I know what they really are but that would be telling!

Dancing, Football & Karate In The Studio!

2009-05-09T16:22:00.007+01:00

Well I've been busy in the studio and spent almost an entire afternoon photographing a dancer in various costumes, and a young karate kid and football player. With the dancer there were certain jumps and positions that we wanted to catch on camera which meant fast shutter speeds to freeze the action like this shot of her jumping up with her legs behind. Then there were the other portrait shots more close up to show off the hair and make up as well as details such as the tap shoes.

In between costume changes I photographed the next karate kid as he demonstrated various moves and poses, again often capturing movement, but I was using flash anyway. Also getting some shots of him with his four belts to date and various other portrait photographs like the one here with the football.

Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust Day of Photography

2009-04-28T18:25:00.004+01:00

Mallard Males Fighting

It seems like a distant memory at the moment but the fact is we did have some gorgeous hot sunny days in the last month, and so I took the opportunity to visit the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust in Arundel. Armed with my digital SLR and long lens I arrived there fairly early and was fortunate enough to have to sun with me all day as I spent around 6 hours photographing more species of wildfowl than I can remember. These are some of the best shots from the day, the results were varied but as you can see I did get several great images also considering it was my first time out in the field so to speak.

Mallard

Mallard Female

At first I set about getting some record shots and probably got a bit carried away photographing every bird in sight, whilst still trying to get good shots, however I really wanted to try and capture some of the birds behaviour and after the initial excitement I knuckled down to business and had to have plenty of patience to wait for the right time to release the shutter. My patience paid off and whilst I did get some great record shots I also got some much more interesting action shots.

White-headed Duck

Wigeon

A Single Red Rose With Water Droplets

2009-04-15T10:18:00.004+01:00

This is one of my favourite and most beautiful flower photographs to date. Shot in the studio using flash and soft boxes I spent a lot of time setting this up and making sure everything was just right. First I used a spray bottle to create the small specks of water you can see, then to create the larger droplets I used a pippet and placed them where I wanted them, all the while trying to make it look as natural as possible.

Lenses For Bird Photography

2009-04-02T19:56:00.006+01:00

I have noticed a lot of click-throughs to my blog from the search phrase 'lenses for bird photography' so I thought I might make some suggestions and recommendations based on my experiences as a bird photographer so far.

If you have read this blog before you may know that I only took up bird photography at the end of 2008 and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I started with my Canon EOS300 35mm film camera with the 70-300mm zoom lens and quickly discovered that this lens would not be long enough to get as close up as I would like. I got some results shooting larger birds but not small garden birds, which I found to be an ideal place to start building up experience and knowledge on how best to capture these quick little creatures.

Having yet to switch to digital I decided that if I was going to be serious about photographing birds I would have to invest in some new equipment and so with my limited budget I purchased a Canon 450D 12.1 mega pixel digital SLR with 18-55mm lens and a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. This lens has so far served me very well as I am able to get fairly close to my subjects, the robins, blue tits and finches that visit my garden to feed. There are of course limitations and to get extremely close you could try adding an extender, but with this lens you lose auto-focus and this is an essential as you don't have enough time to manually focus and will miss shots. If your budget will allow I would suggest the Canon EF 500mm f/4.0L USM IS that will retain auto-focus with the Canon EF 1.4x II extender increasing your reach to 700mm, or the Canon EF 600mm f/4.0L USM IS that will give 840mm with the 1.4x extender. Of course we are talking about several thousands of pounds above the £1100 I paid for my 100-400mm for either of these but they are regarded as two of the best lenses for wildlife photography.

It is important to know your subject before you buy any new cameras or lenses, for example, with my 100-400mm I can only get moderately close to garden birds because they are particularly small. However, for larger birds and wildfowl I have found the lens to be perfectly adequate and it is lighter and smaller than the two I mentioned before.

For my full article please go to Which Lens For Bird Photography.

Brave Blue Tit Close To The Window

2009-03-28T20:43:00.006Z

Talk about right place at the right time! I was at home scrolling through some images on my cameras screen when all of a sudden a blue tit landed on a branch close to the window, so being careful not to move to quickly I raised the camera up and managed to get about three shots. I am delighted to say that this is one of them and is probably the very best image I have of a blue tit so far. Any other time I would have missed it but I just happened to have my camera in my hands at the time.

Song Thrush

2009-03-19T20:35:00.004Z

I was looking through and reviewing some of my recent attempts at bird photography and came across this image of a Song Thrush, a bird that is not a very frequent visitor to my garden. However, on this occasion I followed his progress around the flower beds as he searched for snails, which when found would be smashed open against the brickwork and devoured, it was fascinating to watch. Anyway, this image reminded me of another couple of shots I got of the Song Thrush during the snow we had in February. I had a look through them, since I hadn't got round to viewing them properly before, and found that I had a got a few decent images.

Jewellery Photography In The Studio

2009-03-06T20:20:00.004Z

These studio shots are form last year before I started my blog so I thought I'd include them now. The jewellery is by Shelley Sanderson Jewellery and each piece is handmade. We took a lot of time to pay attention to every detail according to each piece, and when it came round to photographing the tiara it just didn't work on a black background somehow, whereas all the other predominantly silver jewellery had. So quickly rethinking I grabbed for a thick piece of rich red velvet that I had knocking around and as you can see the results are striking, vivid red and makes the tiara itself really stand out.

Below is one of my favourite pieces I photographed on the day and there are more examples of the work and photography on the designers website (click link above).