Saturday 23rd October 2021
Course location: Wildlife photography in countryside near the towns of Dunster and Lynmouth
Times: 10am to 5pm
Price: £95 per person
This wildlife photography course consists of a day spent tracking wildlife on Exmoor. The first half of the day will consist of the tracking and photography of red deer, and possibly fallow deer too, in countryside near the town of Dunster.
This will be followed in the afternoon by photography of Dippers, an attractive river bird, on the fast-flowing waters of the East Lyn River, near Lynmouth.
Success with wildlife photography is never guaranteed, of course, but in these locations we have a very high chance of success with both.
What I’ll be teaching
This wildlife photography course will aim to teach the following skills:
● How to look out for, track and behave around wildlife;
● The use of telephoto lenses for wildlife photography;
● Catching the moment with a quickly and erratically moving subject;
● Controlling and making use of the balance between shutter speed and lens aperture to gain the best exposure, plus controlling depth of field (ie the amount of the image that is sharply in focus);
● How to use some of the camera’s most important features, such as semi-manual modes, in particular shutter-priority, in order to help you to get away from ‘auto-everything’, as well as the ISO settings, image histogram and exposure compensation;
● Executing the image, using positioning, perspective, focus control, use of light, and lens focal length to create simple, strong compositions.
Participants should have:
● An understanding of what shutter speed and lens aperture mean, plus a knowledge of how to operate their own camera in order to get at least basic images.
● You will also need to have a reasonably powerful telephoto lens, a minimum of 300mm (preferably longer) if using a DSLR, or an equivalent zoom range on a compact or bridge camera.
● Enthusiasm, an open mind and a readiness to learn!
Note: Since we’ll be working outdoors, what we are able to do during the day is very weather-dependent. Weather conditions may make it necessary to vary the itinerary.