Craig Denford Photography

I've been trying for so long to photograph these lovely little birds! As an irregular visitor you can never predict when they may next turn up, so my best chance is just to keep an eye out and then sneak into the garage and hope they stick around. On this occasion they hung around for around 20 minutes. Light levels were low and so getting something sharp wasn't easy. This was 1/25th sec, ISO 400. The rain added a nice mood to the image.

It’s been a pet project of mine over the last couple of years to document the birds that visit our garden. We’re fortunate in that our garage window looks out across the garden, so I can sneak out the front door and into the garage without being seen. With the window open I don’t go to any great lengths to hide myself, but try not to make any sudden movements. The birds, I’m fairly sure, are aware of my presence, as I have numerous shots of birds looking straight down the lens, but very few fly off as a result.

Here's my set up, with the 'hide' (the garage) on the right and various feeders on the left. The perches and feeders are in shadow pretty much all day, so it's far from perfect, so I've just had to make the best of it.

To tempt the birds in I’ve set up a number of feeders opposite the garage. What I’ve found is that pretty much all the birds love the sunflower hearts. Although you’ll often hear that Goldfinch prefer Nyjer seed, in our garden at least they prefer the sunflower hearts. We do still have a Nyjer seed feeder, and it proved very popular with the Redpolls and Siskin when they visited. We also have a nut feeder, and the Blue Tits and Great Tits seem to like these occasionally as a supplement to the sunflower hearts. In the winter, the suet blocks have proved especially popular as the birds try to retain bodyweight. It’s been especially effective at attracting the Long Tailed Tits this year, but pretty much all the birds have been queuing up in order to fatten up. We also have an apple tree at the end of our garden that has managed to retain some fruit right through into February, and has managed to attract the Jay in to feed on it amongst others. It’s also very popular with the Blue Tits, Long Tailed Tits and even occasionally a Blackcap.

The first year in our new house we didn't see these at all, but this year they arrived en masse in the summer, feeding predominantly on sunflower hearts. Whilst we haven't seen them in such numbers over the winter, there are still a couple that still regularly visit.

An exotic visitor to our garden! They visited regularly over the winter of 2011, but unfortunately haven't seen them this winter. Fed mostly on the nyjer seeds.

I’m using a Canon 500D with a 100-400mm L Series Lens. Pretty much without fail I’ll have the 1.4x convertor fitted, and with the lens at full extension this gives me 560mm focal length. At full extension I’m restricted to f8, but this is fine as at f5.6 the depth of field I find is just too shallow. In the summer I’ll push it to f9 to give me just a little more front to back sharpness. These days I never go over ISO800, and more often than not I’ll be using ISO400 to keep the noise down. I’ve managed to get sharp shots using as little as 1/25th second, but as a general rule 1/100th second or above ensures a far better chance of success. I tend to use Aperture Priority most of the time and dial in 1 or 2/3rds exposure compensation depending on the lighting conditions.

A moulting Blue Tit on a nice lichen covered perch I half inched from a campsite at Cheddar Gorge. It was just too good to leave behind! The wife looked on quite disapprovingly as I smuggled a dirty twig into the back of the car.

A Dunnock on yet another lichen covered perch. Along with the Robins these are perhaps the easiest birds to photograph as they keep still for seconds at a time and aren't as nervous as some birds.

To begin with I set up a perch below one of the sunflower heart feeders, and with the camera tripod mounted I would switch to manual focus, and pre focus on the perch and wait for something to land on it. For the perch I’m using a nice lichen covered branch I found in a nearby wood. Unfortunately the birds eat the lichen so I’m soon going to have to replace it soon. I removed any unwanted branches behind the perch, and the leaves create a nice, reasonably clean background. It’s not ideal, our garden is south facing, and with the garage on the right side of the garden, the sun is in the wrong place, with the camera pointing into the sun. Short of moving the garage there’s very little I can do, so it’s a case of making the best of a bad situation.

Not one of the most spectacular birds, but the wet ivy leaves and a nice bit of feeding behaviour make for an interesting image.

As I’ve progressed I’ve now dispensed with the tripod, choosing instead to rest the camera on the window sill, and then brace the barrel of the lens against the window frame. This gives me the freedom to quickly adjust position if necessary as I’ve sought some variety.

A very infrequent visitor, but due to the very cold spell they were drawn in by the apples that had clung on to the tree right into February. I was hoping he'd get drunk so I could capture some unique behaviour but alas it never happened!

Thanks to the holly bush in our front garden we were also lucky enough to be paid a visit by a large number of Redwings this year. I’d been trying to photograph these birds for a few years now, as they used to turn up at our old house, but hadn’t had any real success. We didn’t see them at all last winter, but this year they’ve finally found our holly bush. The best place to shoot them turned out to be the bathroom window and I managed to get a number of nice shots on a very crisp, bright morning. Quite what the neighbours thought is anyone’s guess.

It was -4 on this particular morning, hence the lovely frost coating on the leaves, which along with the movement of the wings, really make the picture for me.

I’ve now captured just about every visitor we have, the only one that still eludes me is the Blackcap. Hopefully one day soon I’ll manage to get it, persistence is perhaps the most important factor in successful bird photography. I hope this article is of some help, and would welcome any comments and experiences.

To see the full collection click here

Beech Wood, near Newlands Corner, Surrey

Photographically speaking, 2011 has been an incredible year for me. I made a real committment to myself at the turn of the year to get out as often as I could, to set the  alarm and get the hell out of bed and take the kind of photos that had existed only in my head for the last few years. Purchasing the Canon L Series lens further strengthened my committment to improve my wildlife photography, and I think I can say that I’ve seen a huge improvement as a result.

The beginning of the year was characterised by my time with the Grebes. I had a certain amount of beginners luck, and got arguably my best photos of them on my first visit to the canal on a beautiful misty morning in March. I had a great trip up to the Midlands in April to photograph Kingfishers using Mark Hancox’s hide and got some shots that I was very happy with. I took a break over the summer but come late September/ early October I had a wonderful couple of mornings at Richmond Park photographing the annual Red Deer Stag Rut. One shot in particular has been very successful, appearing first in the Surrey Advertiser ‘Picture Surrey’ supplement, before then appearing on the cover of Surrey Life magazine, which had been one of my goals for the year.

On the landscape front I had great success photographing the bluebells at Micheldever Woods in April. The shot made it onto flickr Explore, and to date has had close to 2,000 hits, with almost 250 marking it as a favourite. It then went on to win the Forest Stewardship Council Summer Photography Competition, so I’m now an award winning photographer! I also finally got to photograph the Thames Barrier, something I’d been meaning to photograph for a number of years (don’t ask why). October was a particularly furtive time. In addition to the aforementioned Stags I also managed to get a couple of nice shots at Longstock and Lepe Beach, and the Longstock shot then featured in Hampshire Life, although they did manage to chop the shot in half.

Thames Barrier, London

I think I’ve achieved all I set out to with my Guildford project. It was very gratifying to have a couple of my Guildford shots published in the Surrey Advertiser and Surrey Life magazine. Particularly pleasing was my most recent outing to Newlands Corner. I’d spied a great Beech Wood just down from Newlands Corner the previous Autumn that I thought with the addition of a bit of mist would make a great shot. So although I had to wait a full year for everything to be right, come early November the conditions came good and I managed to get a shot that exceeded my expectations.

Pathway, Newlands Corner

2012

So what does 2012 hold? Well I hope to build on the success I’ve had this year and keep the momentum going. I’m keen to continue photographing locally, and in particular championing the wildlife on my doorstep. Close to home there are two heathland sites managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust that are home to the Dartford Warbler, so I’m going to make it my mission next year to capture one on camera. Nearby Papercourt Meadows in Woking has been host to a number of Short Eared Owls, so I’m also keen to capture those. Neither task will be easy but I think I need to take on more challenging projects to further stretch myself. Very close to home, in my own backyard, the Long Tailed Tit still eludes me, I would love to get a decent shot of these infrequent visitors. Also very much hoping that the Blackcap makes a return, as he too proved very difficult to photograph last winter.

Further afield, I’d like to make a trip up to Gigrin Farm to shoot the red Kites, I saw a few whilst in Theale a month or two ago – awesome birds. I’d also like to get back to Skomer Island to spend some more time with the Puffins.

From a landscape perspective I’m keen to expand my Guildford project to encompass the whole of Surrey and Hamphire, there’s a couple of locations in particular I’m keen to visit. In return for redesigning Doug Chinnery’s website I have a couple of workshops in the pipeline. Very much looking forward to those. I also can’t wait for construction of the Shard in London to complete, from what I’ve seen so far it looks awesome, and I’m sure will make for some great photos.

Right now I’m praying for snow, mainly because I love snow, but also because there’s a couple of places like Windsor Great Park and Bracknell Forest that would make for great subject matter with a layer of the thick white stuff. It’ll be interesting to see just how many of my aims will be be achieved next year, we’ll just have to wait and see!

It just leaves for me to say thank you for passing by my site, I hope some of it may have been helpful, and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Surrey Life Cover, November Edition

I’m very proud to say that my photo of two Red Deer Stags Rutting has made in onto the cover of the November Edition of Surrey Life magazine. It’s the realisation of one of my goals so I’m extremely chuffed. It’s the first time they’ve featured a ‘reader’s photo’ on the cover, so it’s nice to be a part of a little bit of history! The image appears again inside as part of Surrey Life’s ‘Beautiful Surrey’ feature, containing photos sent in from their readers.

It also featured in the Surrey Advertiser ‘Picture Surrey’ supplement, both on the cover and repeated again inside, so this particular image has done very well for me!

Bluebells, Micheldever Woods

I’m very pleased and proud to say I’ve won the Forest Stewardship Council UK Summer Photo Competition! My photo of the Bluebells at Micheldever Woods one fine misty morning may have fallen at the first hurdle at the Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards but its finally come up trumps!

You can find out more information about the FSC UK and the other competition winners here.

Longstock, on the River Test

OK, so the squirrels weren’t smoking. But they were very fast. Ever since visiting Brownsea Island to photograph the terns a couple of years ago I’d been keen to get back there. In particular I was keen to photograph the red squirrels. October is supposed to be the best time to see them as they’re very busy foraging for nuts on the ground. So the date was set and my lovely wife gave me the green light (and the car) for the day.

I decided to set the alarm for 5 o’clock and go visit Longstock on the way down. I’d seen a few photos of the fishing hut there and was keen to go have a look for myself. Driving through the pitch black country lanes at half six in the morning was quite eery, and the thick mist just added to the atmosphere. As I parked up and got out the car a couple of owls pitched in with a few ‘twit twoos’ just to put me further on edge. But as the darkness lifted I was treated to a beautiful pre dawn light that made it all worthwhile.

I was keen to get down to Brownsea so didn’t wait around for the sun to come up, but as I drove through the country lanes just before Stockbridge I had to stop the car and capture the scene below, the light and mist were too good to pass by.

Fields in the Mist, Stockbridge. A bit of a grab shot, I was in a hurry!

I managed to get down to the Sandbanks at Poole in good time for the first ferry over and began my search for the little red furry things. I had my first sighting in the first 5 minutes, and it set the pattern for the whole day. He was off like a light, not resting until he’d cleared open ground and found the safety of cover. Clearly no one had explained to him that the low light levels under the tree were no good for photography.

I decided to visit the hides overlooking the lagoon to try and photograph my other target for the day, the Avocet. I think these are very impressive birds, especially in flight, and hoped to maybe catch them flocking. As I entered the hide it was obvious that flocking shots were out of the question, but there was one very obliging Avocet feeding near the hide and I was able to get a number of shots as he waded in up to the top of his (very long) legs. Aside from the Avocet, there were also a number of Spoonbills in the Lagoon, which caused quite some excitement amongst the bird watchers in the hide. I also spotted a couple Egret, but well out of range of my lens.

Avocet feeding at the Lagoon, Brownsea Island

I then headed to the Visitor Centre at the Villa where the squirrels hang upside down on the nut feeders, but it still proved very frustrating getting a decent shot. As soon as they’d got what they were after from the feeder they shot off, and didn’t pause until they had the safety of cover. I must’ve spotted 15 or so squirrels throughout the day, but all were too damn quick. That and the fact my lens was playing up, letting me down at a couple of vital moments.

It wasn’t until the end of the afternoon that my luck changed. Walking along Beech Valley I noticed a very preoccupied squirrel, and so I was able to creep up without being noticed. I lay down, and behind the cover of a tree stump was able to get a couple of ok shots. Not world beaters, but at least I had something to show for the day.

Red Squirrel, Brownsea Island

Sensing the sudden awkwardness he felt compelled to leave. This photo appeared on the BBC Autumnwatch website for a day!

All of a sudden the squirrel was startled and shot off up a tree. I looked behind and some buffoon was walking up behind me, keen to cash in on all my hard work. Grrrrr!! I gave him my best glare so he was left in no doubt how I felt. By this time I was getting pretty tired and made the way back to the ferry port.

I’d felt a little short changed, and my mood wasn’t helped by my failing lens getting progressively worse. I’m feeling pretty certain at this point that the warranty ran out about a week ago (always the way), and the thought of the repair bill was weighing heavy on my mind. Wanting to end the day on a high I decided to make my way back via Lepe Beach and photograph ‘The Dolphins’. There was cloud forming over the Island and I was hopeful for a nice sunset. However, as I got nearer to Lepe all the cloud disappeared and once again I was faced with a featureless sky. I thought I’d take a few shots anyway, and resolve to come back some other time.

The Dolphins, Lepe Beach

It had been a very long day, and I’d packed a lot in, so I was very glad to get home, crack open a beer, and put my feet up!

or…how I fell fallow of the law(!)

Stags in the Mist

Much as I enjoy bird photography I felt I was in danger of being pigeon-holed (sorry), so thought I would get myself along to Richmond Park to photograph some deer for a change. Although the rut isn’t supposed to peak until mid October I thought it would be a good idea to get some practice in and with the promise of good weather I thought it was too good an opportunity to miss. I set the alarm for 5 o’clock and headed up the M3. The mist rising from every field I passed was incredible. I got to the gates at 6.30, and as they weren’t letting cars in until 7 o’clock I decided to have a little wander round and capture the very first sunlight of the day, as the sky turned pink.

Old Branch in the Mist

Then I headed back to the car as soon as the gates were open and started the search for deer. It didn’t take long, within a minute or two I’d found two Red Deer rutting.

Two Red Deer Stags Square Up

The Winner! I think that might be the sheepish loser retreating over to the left.

In my haste though, I’d parked the car at the side of the road and looked round to see the Met Police whacking a fine on my car. With the sun just peaking out from behind the trees I had to wrench myself away to go park the car somewhere sensible. Like a car park. I hot footed it back to the spot, feeling like I just couldn’t get there quick enough. It was like those dreams you have when you’re running on the spot and can barely move. There was about half hour of beautiful golden light. Think I successfully managed to miss most of it. I did however get this chap as he crossed my path, so every cloud and all that.

A Stag in the orange light of morning

More rutting fun. The fella in the background was an added bonus.

As I crested the brow of the hill the light was pouring through the trees creating a wonderful atmosphere, and that’s when I got the shot at the top of the page. As the sun rose higher in the sky the mist soon burnt off, and as the clouds rolled in there was a far more subdued light. I went in search of other opportunities. A number of stags were all trying to out do each other with their calls. I found the guy below giving a good account of himself in the bracken.

Stag in the Bracken

The loudest however, by some margin, was the fellow below. A very deep, booming voice, a bit like Brian Blessed.

The King of the, er, Park

After this he then went in search of some adornment for his antlers. I’m sure that would’ve impressed the ladies no end.

With a full card and flat light I resolved to return again at the first sight of a clear day. Thankfully the following week saw the hottest October on record, and so I again made the journey up the M3. The weather was perfect, with a thick mist to begin with, so thick in fact that it was difficult to find where the bellowing was coming from, and then as the sun came up there were some beautiful conditions with light filtering through the trees. The mist eventually burnt off and we were treated to some beautiful early morning light. When I say ‘we’ I mean myself and the other 200 or so photographers in the park! There were a crazy number there, and at times keeping them out of shot was quite a challenge.

This guy passed right in front of me, a little too close for comfort.

The rut really was in full swing, quite a contrast with the week before when things were just warming up. The air was thick with the sound of stags bellowing all around you. The majority of the action was taking part in a clearing, with photographers lining the edge, all vying for position.

The nice warm light I'd been hoping for. Nice pose too.

I got a few in the bag and then moved on to try and find opportunities elsewhere. As I made my way back to the car, I had the Stag below blocking my path. He seemed to have quite a nark on, and so I stopped in my tracks and waited. And then set the camera up. Hell, if he was going to charge I was at least going to get a decent shot. Eventually he seemed to calm down, as did my heart rate, and I returned to the car happy. And without a parking ticket this time, which was nice!

He's got a right nark on!

You can’t.

The Iconic Clock, Guildford High Street. This appeared in the Surrey Advertiser 'Picture Surrey' Supplement

Over the last year or two I’ve set myself a little project to photograph Guildford, a town I’ve worked in on and off for almost 9 years, and have always had a bit of a soft spot for. I hoped to show as many different facets of Guildford as possible, and hopefully reflect something of its unique atmosphere.

You have to hand it to the gardeners at the Castle, they always do a fantastic job.

While I’m never going to produce the kind of stunning images that I might in say New Zealand or Canada, I think that there are still many opportunities to be had, its just a case of having to look a little harder to find them. And by forcing me to look a little harder I should become a better photographer. That’s the theory anyway.

Guildford Cathedral taken from The Mount

I’ve heard people questioning on flickr as to whether Guildford is photogenic. My feeling is that there’s any number of opportunites;  the cobbled high street, the iconic clock, the castle and its grounds, the cathedral, the River Wey and so on. With the right light they all make for good photographs.

Guildford Castle with the beautiful gardens in full bloom

Guildford Cathedral. If I were a religious man I might give this the title 'All light leads to where you are', or something. But I'm not. So I won't. This shot appeared in a couple of local publications, Surrey Life Readers' Gallery, and another Surrey Advertiser 'Picture Surrey' supplement.

Guildford High Street in the Snow. I nipped out from work 'for milk' with tripod under arm and grabbed this shot. Fooled no one.

The great thing about working in the centre and living close by is that you can return again and again to get the shot you want, or shoot the same place in a different way. A good example is one of my favourite spots where the canal boats are moored up on the River Wey. After the large downpour of snow we had at the end of 2009 I popped out at lunch and captured a muted snow scene that has since become one of my favourites.

Canal Boats on the River Wey in Winter, Guildford

Then returning to the same spot one lunch time last autumn when all the leaves were changing colour I noticed how good it looked and thought I would have to have another go. So that weekend I got down early and caught the early morning light, and luckily for me, a very still river.

Canal Boats on the River Wey in Autumn

Two very different images from the same location. Or so I like to tell myself anyway.

I also discovered a good stretch of the Wey I’d previously never explored. So come the first proper snow of 2010 I was down there again for a late lunch and got some lovely winter shots to add to the collection.

River Wey in the Snow, with Guildford in the background

Reflections on the River Wey

I’d struggled on a couple of occasions to photograph the Old Boathouse. I really felt it had potential, but I hadn’t encountered the right conditions. On walking back from the riverside shots I thought I’d have one last look at the Old Boathouse, and this time it looked perfect so I finally managed to get one in the bag. Persistence always pays off in the end!

The Old Boathouse with The Boatman Pub (aka The Jolly Farmer) on the right

I was also blissfully unaware of the existence of St. Catherine’s Chapel, a little further up from these River Wey shots. I think I only became aware of its presence when seeing it on flickr (another reason why I love flickr!), and then was able to locate it from there. You can access it via the A3100 to Godalming, but there’s also a path from the River Wey that leads up to it, so its actually very accessible. The views across the whole valley from here are great, well worth a visit. The shot below was my second attempt, my first was a dawn shoot with quite the most featureless sky you’ve ever seen! It’s always quite galling to get up at 5.30 in the morning only to find its a complete waste of time! Not even a hint of mist! So I figured that maybe an evening shot would be better, at least you get the late evening sun on the building. I had hoped for a beautiful pink sky, but you can’t have everything.

Overlooking the whole Valley, with the River Wey directly below via a pathway, and the Castle and town centre just off to the left.

Just outside Guildford is Newlands Corner with beautiful views across the Surrey Hills. I’d always thought it would be quite difficult to get a decent shot here, and felt the best chance was with mist filling the valley. So it was with that in mind that I set the alarm and got here early for the sunrise. No mist unfortunately, but I was treated to some nice colour in the sky, which more than compensated.

Newlands Corner Sunrise

Beech Woods in Autumn Mist, Newlands Corner

I’m now hoping to expand the project to encompass the whole of Surrey, but that’ll be the subject of another post!

Handheld at 400mm, f8, 320th sec.

I’ve owned this lens for almost a year now and so thought I’d put down a few thoughts I had on the lens in the hope it may be helpful to anyone thinking of purchasing it. First off, I know that being a zoom the quality won’t be up to that of a prime, but having said that my initial reaction when first using it was WOW! I’ve used Canon’s 500mm f4 L Series and yes, it is an amazing lens, but the 100-400mm isn’t that far off! The image stabilisation is incredible and has enabled me to get pin sharp images handheld at 400mm with little problem.

Prior to owning this lens I’d been using no more than a Sigma 72-300mm zoom with a Sony Alpha 200, but I realised that in order to continue my progress and make the step up I would have to get a far more capable lens. To be fair, I had managed to get the odd decent image, but sucesses were far less frequent than I would’ve liked. The Canon 100-400mm gives you a far greater chance of success.

Robin, shot at f9, 1000th sec with 1.4 Extender, camera resting on window ledge.

Shot with 1.4x Extender fitted, resting camera on a window ledge. This shows perfectly sharp images are possible with the extender, just so long as the bird keeps still!

One thing I don’t think is an issue with the Extender is the loss of a full stop. I’ve found that at f5.6 the depth of field is just too shallow. For instance, focusing on a birds eye at f5.6 will render the feet out of focus, so I always find myself using f8 with or without the extender. More recently I’ve been experimenting with f9, and I seem to be getting more reliable, and sharper, results. In summer you can get away with an ISO of anywhere between 200 to 800, but come the winter 1600 or even 3200 ISO is more likely, and then you have the problem of noise. Add a little sharpening in post and it only makes it worse. I’m currently looking at Noise Reduction Solutions, and NIK Software’s Dfine looks pretty useful.

Shot at f9, 1/400th sec., ISO800 with extender fitted. f9 seems to give just that little bit more depth of field that ensures better front to back sharpness on the bird.

On the plus side, the flexibility of having a zoom comes in very useful at times. I do still dream of owning a 500mm, but there would be times when the weight and inflexibility would have meant losing shots. The ideal solution of course would be to own both! Unless I win the lottery however it’ll remain just a dream.

One thing that seems to have been made a large fuss of is the push/pull mechanism. I have to say it really is much ado about nothing, it very soon becomes second nature. For the majority of the time you’re using it at full extension anyway, its not too often your subject gets TOO close as we all know.

Tripod mounted, with 1.4x Extender fitted, cable release.

To extend or not to extend?
The downside is of course the maximum focal length. 400mm is still often just not long enough, hence why I bought the 1.4x Extender. When I first purchased the kit I did a fair amount of practising in the back garden with the birds. With extender fitted, tripod mounted and a cable release, prefocusing on the perch I was able to get some sharp shots. Over time, and with a little practice I’m now able to dispense with the tripod and instead rest the camera on the ledge and still manage to get very sharp images. However, when photographing the Grebes for instance, when prefocusing is out of the question, the success rate rapidly diminishes. Because I’m using a 500D body I lose the autofocus and image stabilisation with the extender on, and so in these instances I would say go without extender and crop in post if needs be. With autofocus enabled, and set to AI Servo you’ll have a much greater chance of capturing the moment. Its also important when using AI Servo to use centre weighted metering rather than spot otherwise you’ll get some wildy differing exposures when firing off several frames in quick succession. I almost without exception set the camera to Aperture Priority and then under expose by around 2/3rds of a stop.

In summary I would most definitely recommend this lens. At just over a grand it is far more affordable than the 9 grand or so for a 500mm. I also think I made the right decision buying the zoom over the 400mm prime, although similarly priced, without any image stabilisation it negates much of the advantage of superior glass.

f9, 1/400th sec, ISO800. Check out the detail on the lichen!

Handheld at 400mm, f8, 250th sec.

Anyway, hope my two pennies worth helps anyone who may be undecided.