Welcome

I am Rod Wynne-Powell, and this is my way to pass on snippets either of a technical nature, or related to what I am currently doing or hope to be doing in the near future.

A third-person description follows:
Professional photographer, Lightroom and Photoshop Workflow trainer, Consultant, digital image retoucher, author, and tech-editor for Martin Evening's many 'Photoshop for Photographers' books.

For over twenty years, Rod has had a client list of large and small companies, which reads like the ‘who’s who’ of the imaging, advertising and software industries. He has a background in Commercial/Industrial Photography, was Sales Manager for a leading London-based colour laboratory and has trained many digital photographers on a one-to-one basis, in the UK and Europe.
Still a pre-release tester for Adobe in the US, for Photoshop, he is also very much involved in the taking of a wide range of photographs, as can be seen in the galleries.

See his broad range of training and creative services, available NOW. Take advantage of them and ensure an unfair advantage over your competitors…


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Showing posts with label Demoiselle butterfly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Demoiselle butterfly. Show all posts

Wednesday, 20 May 2020

Riverpark, Bedford — What LockDown?

I decided that although I was very much aware that almost anywhere I chose to visit would be crowded, so would require careful navigation — there were two possible Bedford locations large enough to make keeping my distance acceptably straightforward. On this occasion, that destination was Riverpark. Close by the car Park, was a quiet enclosed area which naturally drew me in! Though my camera was  to hand, the reaction of a Muntjac is way faster, especially for a mirrorless camera, but despite my speedy reaction, it had disappeared from view way faster than I was capable, I did marginally better with a rabbit a while later, but rear ends of most animals fleeing are rarely of great note! But, I kept the two shots of its exit.
An overflying light aircraft gave the chance to practice my skills at shooting distant, moving subjects when out and about with this mirrorless LUMIX FZ10002. The most serious handicap with this camera is focussing in fussy scenes, or more detailed backgrounds behind a small or diffuse subject. I need to speak to someone with an understanding of how to set up custom controls so I can speedily alter apertures to define the depth of field I might need.
Other subjects that I managed at least some shots were damselflies and Demoiselle butterflies, ducklings, goslings, Swans and Jackdaws, and an overflying helicopter, which is testament as to how versatile is the LUMIX with its fixed zoom lens. I enjoyed the exercise, and it was good to see that all the youngsters behaved well with the birds and their young, and everyone I came across were very respectful of distancing at all times.
There are numerous well-shaded paths, that wend their way around small lakes, and I spent quite some time sitting on a conveniently sited stone by one of those small lakes capturing shots of the activity in amongst the reeds. When I next venture out I will likely visit the river Great Ouse, but walk in the opposite direction to the one I took on my last a fortnight or so back.

Saturday, 24 August 2019

Marston Lake – Flying Insect Life

Once again I was out with the EOS R, and the newly-purchased 2x Converter. I had recently made up my mind after much use in different activities that this would definitely be an asset with a good range of uses under differing categories of work. I had wondered whether the addition for instance to my 60-600mm Sigma Sports lens might hamper autofocus, but the experience has been heartening. I think I forgot to consider that the smaller apertures might actually  give me greater leeway rather than be hampered by the lesser amount of light.
The pixel density is greater with this full frame chip, so the impact of higher ISOs is lessened, allowing me to use a higher ISO with the long length of this lens, which benefits stability, which has meant that for those occasions where I need the extra throw, there is no negative impact from adding the converter, and the 60mm end becomes 90mm which is close to half the length I experienced with the earlier 150-600mm lens.
Recently I have also been using the Tamron 150-600mm and a monopod when the need to travel light is essential, so the transition to this body has been a positive, especially after a firmware update which was a great improvement for autofocus.
On this afternoon, I arrived to a well-attended lake by anglers as many prepared for a long stay extending over the Bank Holiday weekend, and my first destination was to check out whether the woodpecker was in the trees to the right of the junction of the two trackways that circle most of the lake, and since that seemed unlikely as there were no sounds of a woodpecker at work, I headed to the right unencumbered with a heavy tripod.
It proved to be the correct decision as there were no sightings by any of the anglers, and no tell-tale sounds, so I returned to my car and set up the camera on the tripod and took a walk just a few swims down where I spent some time with one angler, before heading in the opposite direction to investigate the far side of the lake. Dragonflies turned out to be my main subjects, and on the far side I even managed two shots of one in flight, which is always rewarding, as they change direction so rapidly.
The short distance to this lake was fairly rewarding despite the lack of Grebe and the woodpecker.
My next sortie – without the long lens will be to a Concert in Aylesbury.