There was a time when I was very sceptical of Facebook and Twitter and far from convinced of their usefulness. But I took the Facebook plunge a couple of years ago and I must admit I am now something of a convert. So I thought it was now about time that I gave Twitter a go too. If anyone is interested, I can be found via @cole2matt
Monday, 7 October 2013
Saturday, 5 October 2013
Ross Hoddinott's Macro and Close Up Photography Book
Anyone who is keen to learn more about macro and close-up photography would be well advised to purchase a copy of Ross Hoddinott's latest book entitled Digital Macro and Close-up Photography. The book covers all aspects of macro photography, from the kit required, to techniques and post processing. It also provides specific advice on a number of macro subjects including insects, amphibians and plants. The book also has a lengthy chapter on lighting to which I was very pleased to contribute text and images on topics such as the use of fill flash, choice of flash guns (e..g. twin flash, ring flash), flash diffusion and a specific section on creating an outdoor studio (i.e. the Meet Your Neighbours style of image).
In addition to a few of my own images, the book is packed full of Ross' superb images. These serve as an excellent source of inspiration for both beginner and advanced macro photographers and set the standard to which we should all aspire.
The book is available from Amazon by following this link and is currently available at the bargain price of £11.55 with free delivery (normal price £16.99).
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
Blogger is Now 'Auto-Enhancing' Images
Just a short post for fellow Blogger users to point out a recent change that some may have missed. When you upload images to a blog post Blogger will now automatically enhance the image by adding saturation and contrast (and quite possibly other changes too).
I'm not certain when this change took place but it can quite dramatically affect the look of some images. It seems to me as though images featuring blue skies change quite noticeably, perhaps because there is a boost to the saturation of blues. The effect on other images is less noticeable. The bottom line though is that most photographers do not want their images 'auto-enhanced' in this manner and I was quite dismayed when I first noticed it was happening.
The good news is that you can turn off this feature. Basically, all images uploaded to Blogger now sit in a Picassa web album. If you log into your GooglePlus account, then select Settings and scroll down to 'Photos' you can uncheck the 'automatically enhance new photos' box. Needless to say I have now done this.
I'm not certain when this change took place but it can quite dramatically affect the look of some images. It seems to me as though images featuring blue skies change quite noticeably, perhaps because there is a boost to the saturation of blues. The effect on other images is less noticeable. The bottom line though is that most photographers do not want their images 'auto-enhanced' in this manner and I was quite dismayed when I first noticed it was happening.
The good news is that you can turn off this feature. Basically, all images uploaded to Blogger now sit in a Picassa web album. If you log into your GooglePlus account, then select Settings and scroll down to 'Photos' you can uncheck the 'automatically enhance new photos' box. Needless to say I have now done this.
Sunday, 29 September 2013
Marbled White Butterflies
Earlier this summer I paid a visit to Ryton Woods in Warwickshire specifically to photograph the Marbled White butterflies. It was forecast to be a very warm day and hence an early start was necessary if I was to be able to photograph them before they became too active. I arrived on site around 6:00 AM and, although it was already quite warm, I did manage to find a few Marbled Whites that had yet to warm up.
The vivid blue sky meant that I was keen to take some wideangle images showing the butterflies in their grassy environment. The following image is probably my favourite from the session, taken with my Tokina 35mm macro lens.
I was also keen to take some backlit images and took the following against a dark backdrop of trees (taken with my Sigma 150mm lens).
and here's a more traditional portrait for good measure;
The vivid blue sky meant that I was keen to take some wideangle images showing the butterflies in their grassy environment. The following image is probably my favourite from the session, taken with my Tokina 35mm macro lens.
PLEASE CLICK TO ENLARGE IMAGES
I was also keen to take some backlit images and took the following against a dark backdrop of trees (taken with my Sigma 150mm lens).
and here's a more traditional portrait for good measure;
Monday, 9 September 2013
Black Ants and Aphids
A previous post from a couple of years ago explained my interest in photographing the relationship between ants and aphids and described my technique for photographing them. Last year I had no opportunities to photograph this relationship but this year I was pleased to find some clusters of aphids on several foxgloves in my garden. As ever, the Black Ants (Lasius niger) were in attendance and feeding from the sugary honeydew secreted from the aphids.
It's worth pointing out that Black Ants are tiny, typically 3-5mm in length, and hence much smaller than the larger Wood Ant and many other types of ants found outside the UK. As a result of their size, Black Ants are very difficult to photograph, not helped by their reluctance to keep still. After a fair amount of perseverance I managed a few images, of which the following 2 are those I'm most happy with:
As I mentioned in the previous post, an image I've been trying to get for years is of an ant actually drinking a globule of honeydew. This has always proved very difficult as the globule is typically consumed by the ants the second it appears. The image below, which is far from perfect, is the best I managed this year.
It's worth pointing out that Black Ants are tiny, typically 3-5mm in length, and hence much smaller than the larger Wood Ant and many other types of ants found outside the UK. As a result of their size, Black Ants are very difficult to photograph, not helped by their reluctance to keep still. After a fair amount of perseverance I managed a few images, of which the following 2 are those I'm most happy with:
PLEASE CLICK TO ENLARGE IMAGES
As I mentioned in the previous post, an image I've been trying to get for years is of an ant actually drinking a globule of honeydew. This has always proved very difficult as the globule is typically consumed by the ants the second it appears. The image below, which is far from perfect, is the best I managed this year.
Thursday, 5 September 2013
'New' Jumping Spider
Jumping spiders are one of my favourites subjects for 'high magnification' macro. The most common jumping spiders in the UK are the Zebra Spider and a similar looking spider called Sitticus pubescens. These are both tiny spiders commonly seen on rocks, walls etc, particularly if the they are warmed by the sun. Like all jumping spiders, they have an impressive set of eyes which gives them real character when viewed through a macro lens.
Over the years I have photographed the 2 species above on many occasions. However, this summer I was lucky enough to stumble across another species of jumping spider that I had never seen before. I've since found out that it's likely to be Heliophanus flavipes, or possibly Heliophanus cupreus.
For comparison, here's a Zebra Jumping Spider:
and here's Sitticus pubescens:
Over the years I have photographed the 2 species above on many occasions. However, this summer I was lucky enough to stumble across another species of jumping spider that I had never seen before. I've since found out that it's likely to be Heliophanus flavipes, or possibly Heliophanus cupreus.
PLEASE CLICK TO ENLARGE IMAGES
For comparison, here's a Zebra Jumping Spider:
and here's Sitticus pubescens:
Saturday, 24 August 2013
Staged 'Wildlife' Images in the National Press
The national and international press are always on the look-out for eye-catching and unusual images and in recent months they have printed a large number of images of 'wildlife' in 'humorous' poses. The image below of the frog sheltering from the rain under a leaf is a good example. It seems to have been reproduced everywhere from the Guardian to the Daily Mail to the Huffington Post.
Photographer: Penkdix Palme
Anyone with any experience of wildlife and photography would know this is a highly staged image, despite the photographer's claim that he observed the frog sheltering from the rain in this manner for 30 minutes. This frog does not want to be there and it is not in good condition. The leaf doesn't match the aloe vera stem that it's sat on, the rain is too even and is either coming from a hosepipe/watering can or may even have been added in post processing and, to top it all, the photographer even has other images of frogs sheltering under different leaves. So it is very sad to see so many picture editors paying this photographer for this horribly fraudulent image.
There have been many other recent examples and, for some reason, many are the work of Indonesian photographers. I was very pleased to see the blog post below exposing some of these images:
http://heejennwei.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/pseudo-nature-photographers-of-indonesia.html
Increasingly the reality behind these images is being exposed and so I can only hope that picture editors and news agencies will start to ask a few more questions and to remember the maxim that if a photo seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Edit: A few more examples to illustrate my point. All showing totally unnatural, staged behaviour.
the common themes in these 3 images are the Daily Mail, Indonesian photographers and animals balanced on top of other animals. However, a final example breaks that first common theme but not the other two. It's featured in the Daily Telegraph's news pictures of the year 2013. Yes, really.
note the mention of the 'rare moment' captured by the photographer.
The only question I have is whether picture editors are themselves very naive and gullible and genuinely believe these images are natural, or whether they know damn well that these images are staged but are working on the assumption that most readers are naive and gullible.
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