Check out this article that I have just had published in the Australian Photography Society's Monitor Magazine, page 32.
It showcases one of the fabulous trips I do in conjunction with Mark Rayner of Trekabout Photography fame.
Enjoy
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How cute are these Tawnys? It is unusual for Tawny Frogmouths to raise three chicks to fledging stage. The parents have been kept very busy keeping their bellies full! I posted this image on social media and got some great responses from Instagram and the Facebook page; Australian Nocturnal Birds run by Matt Wright I: Matt@faunagraphic. Matt is a very ethical bird photographer and has some great tips on interacting with our birds of the night. Infrared torches are the best to use whilst spotlighting birds and animals of the night and I use and recommend the Wolf Eyes XBeam Red LED Torch as it allows your camera to Autofocus without disturbing the wildlife.
www.wolfeyes.com.au/xbeam-red-also-green-led-torches
Also, limit your use of flash to one or two images of each bird so as not to disturb them too much. If you see any signs of aggression or distress to the birds, walk away and leave them in peace.
Two artists have contacted me wanting to use this image to paint them. The most exciting of all was a message from Liam Carroll , creator of "The Tawny Frogmouth " magazine to be launched to households on the northern beaches of Sydney on the 22nd November, 2020. Liam expressed an interest in using this image in his magazine. The birds represent very strong family values and ties and also environmental awareness that can be a lesson to us humans to preserve their habitat, even in the suburbs.
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Apologies for the absence of anything new for a while. Lynn and I have been on an awesome photography tour of India with Wild Walk Tours, focusing on birds, tigers and of course the obligatory Taj Mahal. More to come on this later.
My Northern Territory Tour to Darwin, Kakadu and Katherine is getting closer, as August is not far around the corner. To get an idea on what you would be doing if you choose to join me on this tour, is best said by reading the follow article that I have just had published in the Australian Photographic Society's Digital Division Online Magazine. Also visit our Tours and Retreats page for the full itinerary for the August 2017 trip.
Click on the link below to read the article on Page 10:
NT Bird and Nature Photography Tour
I look forward to meeting you there.
Dick Jenkin
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I came across this new bird app recently after reading an INSTAGRAM post from an American Photographer that had successfully tracked back through all her unidentified bird images and was able to identify them from the photo using the MERLIN software. AMAZING!!
I knew there was such technology on the horizon but didn't realise it was actually available. It currently only works with the 650 birds of North America but one day the WORLD!
This is great news for photographers that want to know the name of the species they have captured an image of, and also very useful for birders wanting to identify a bird they have photographed for twitching, lists etc.
An excerpt from the MERLIN website is quoted below, followed by the link, MERLIN , direct to their website.
"About Merlin Bird Photo ID
Can a computer identify bird species in photos? Researchers at Cornell Tech and Caltech have partnered with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to train Merlin Bird Photo ID to recognize 650 of North America’s most common bird species based on images.
Sometimes Merlin gets it right, just like magic. Other times, Merlin gets it wrong–sometimes way wrong. What’s going on behind the scenes–and how can you help us keep improving Merlin’s accuracy?
The challenge: Asking computers to identify bird species is a challenge not only because some species look so alike, but also because their shape varies from moment to moment. On top of that, photographs of birds often include complex backgrounds, and the birds may be far away or blurry.
The solution: Computer vision researchers create “convolutional network” systems that use patterns in data to train the computer and improve its performance. These systems require massive numbers of images as well as accurate image labels such the type of object, and where the object is in the image. Fortunately, bird watchers are renowned for taking lots of photos and for contributing millions of observations in citizen-science projects. Thousands of people have contributed photos and tagged them to teach Merlin to recognize birds."
Happy Birding and Photographing ,
Dick Jenkin
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Squatter Pigeon approached slowly and keeping low. Eastern Reef Egret shot into the sun early afternoon in Darwin.
This is the first in a series of blogs I am going to write in order to share the ways in which I approach my wildlife ( particularly birds) photography. I will cover a series of topics, the first of which is on the way I approach wildlife with my camera in hand and also some links to some ethical considerations, which I strongly believe are necessary to protect the welfare of the birds and animals that we are photographing. By adopting these guidelines and approaches we can share the experience with others with minimal disturbance and impact on our subjects.
BUSHCRAFT SKILLS AND ETHICS- 10 TIPS
1. Wear neutral clothing, you don't have to make a fashion statement!
2. Keep as quiet as you can, patience is a virtue.
3. Move slowly, observing the bird as you go, backing off if it looks agitated.
4. Take some initial shots, adjust your settings and improve as you get closer.
5. Assess backgrounds, if looking too busy, move until you get a cleaner background.
6. Check the light, preferably it is behind you or side on. Move if you have to. Shooting into the light can also be good if you are wanting to create a silhouette effect.
7. The best time for wildlife is early morning, up to 2-3 hours post dawn. Most birds and animals have to feed first up after the night before. Late evening is second best, 1-2 hours before dusk. Overcast or misty days are next best and can also help to create some nice images.
8. Try to get eye level with the subject – go low, go slow if they are on the ground or water.
9. Walk away and look for another shot if it is not working.
10. Approach nesting birds with care- see APS and Birdlife Code of Ethics.
http://www.birdlife.org.au/documents/POL-Ethical-Birding-Guidelines.pdf
http://a-p-s.org.au/index.php/nature-code
http://a-p-s.org.au/index.php/birds-at-nest
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Hi all,
We had a great weekend at Riverwood Downs for our recent "Birds and Nature" Photography retreat. The weather was kind, the birds were plentiful and the country hospitality ensured our bellies were full of wholesome food to give us the energy to tackle the outdoors.
Many birds were at various stages of breeding, from building nests, to feeding fully-fledged young, providing us with plenty of chances to capture some great images.
A huddled party of Superb Fairy-Wren warming up in the early morning sun and demanding magpie and galah babies, with soft morning light falling on them, were our first signs that the breeding season had been successful. Some kids had found a juvenile Eastern Koel that had fallen out of a fairly low hung nest of a pair of Noisy Friarbirds and they enlisted the help of one of the workers to "fork-lift" the youngster back to the nest. We came across a pair of Olive-backed Orioles on a nest, only after the pair had chased off a Torresian Crow that must have ventured too close. The attached photo shows the shortness of the brooding birds tail from being squashed in the nest.
The highlight for me though was a pair of Cicadabirds that were consistently hanging around the same area. After observing the male collecting lichen from a tree branch and flying to a River Oak where the female was, there was a hint that nest building was taking place.
A newly fledged Rufous Whistler was nearby as well. A pair of Magpie-larks had 3 babies bursting out of a nest near reception.
Scarlet Honeyeaters and Eastern Spinebills proved to be a challenge as they were constantly being chased from the nectar filled flowers by the bullying Red Wattlebirds and Noisy Friarbirds whilst the Rainbow Lorikeets seemed oblivious to all the activity around them. Busy Yellow Thornbills, Brown Thornbills and a single Spotted Pardalote also allowed us opportunities to develop the skills required to track small, erratically moving birds through the changing light conditions of the foliage.
The bizarre behaviour of the weekend went to a party of around 30 Tree Martins that were constantly landing on the ground and picking up white objects and flying off. We initially thought they must have been ant larvae but they looked a bit big for that. After rattling off heaps of photos we went for a closer inspection only to find small piles of slim-line cigarette filters. We hoped they weren't eating them ( or smoking them!) and can only wonder whether they were using them as a nest lining. They were also visiting sites of old camp fires on the grass and presumably picking up small pieces of charcoal. Has anyone seen this sort of behaviour before?
I have attached a very overblown shot of a Tree Martin in flight with the said filter. It was taken in low light at a distance, but you get the idea!
A combination of being outdoors photographing and then indoors in the heat of the day whilst Lynn ran some workshops on Lightroom and Photoshop was a good balance.
We are running another one mid-week in March 2017, starting with a meet and greet on the evening of Monday, March 13th and finishing at lunch time on Wednesday 15th. It would be great to see some more interested people coming along and we are offering an early bird package of $299 ( up to 13th February), normal rate $350. Check out our Tours and Retreats page for more detail or click on the direct link below.
Cheers
Dick
RIVERWOOD DOWNS-NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY RETREAT
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An AMAZING nature photography adventure to Africa for Lynn and I during June. This was our second time and it has recaptured our hearts and souls. This time we revisited South Africa (more of that later) but also extended our travels into Namibia and Botswana.
Our Namibian journey concentrated more on landscape photography than on animal photography. Much of the southern Namibian Landscape is reminiscent of Australia with its extreme dryness but their seems to be something even deeper that tugs at you, that connection to our own evolution perhaps. We drove down into the depths of Fish River Canyon, second largest in the world, and soared in a balloon over Oryx running on the red sand dunes of Sossusvlei. In the difficult light of dusk we watched Aardwolf come out to hunt and young Bat- eared fox come out to play.
Leaving the Namib desert we traveled to the altogether wetter environment of the Okavango, Botswana. The waters were starting to come into the system so there was plenty of activity but the roads were still dry allowing us plenty of access to areas that can be tricky in the wet. We glimpsed large herds of female elephants and youngsters and certainly heard them but our close encounters were with the large number of males (mostly) peacefully grazing or bathing. We had hoped to see Leopard as one of our group had not seen them before and were blessed with some glimpses but not truly satisfying sightings. Our greatest interactions were with Hyena and Vultures as we were able to spend a lot of time over a few game drives watching and photographing them devour a large Cape Buffalo carcass. Arriving as the early morning sun was streaming through and bathing everything in a deep orange light enabled some interesting back lit photographic shots of the Hyena and Vultures together.
And then it was on to the Kruger, or more specifically the Timbavati region of private concessions that sit along the edge of the National Park. The private concessions are vital to the management of the animals, greatly increasing the land available to them and are carefully managed by the land holders. And it was here we finally got good looks at Leopard. In fact we missed seeing leopard on only one out of nine game drives. Leopard spotting in the Kruger is aided by the skilled treeing of game, so you are able to look up and see them, where the Okavango Leopards seem more inclined to leave there kill in the dense undergrowth under thorny bushes which makes them much harder to see unless they are out and about. We were able to capture some amazing Leopard photos.
As usual our friend and guide Dave Pusey used his great experience both as a guide and photographer to make sure we were in the right place to capitalise on the light and composition (with the constraints of land management - you cannot just drive anywhere). It makes a huge difference when your guide understands what you need without having to be asked - you can concentrate on taking photographs and admiring the animals and birds. We realised that we simply cannot not go back to Africa regularly and how much we enjoyed sharing it with our friends we traveled with. We want to share it with others too
So much so, that we have organised to do annual trips with our friend, professional guide and
photographer, Dave Pusey, from Leo Vantage AND we are inviting interested like minded people to join us.
MORE DETAIL [email protected]
The Lechwe family photo, taken by Dick, has just been accepted into the Australian Photographic Society's 41st National Exhibition, and along with two other images accepted (Bushman of the Kalahari and Vietnamese Baker's Hands), will be exhibited at APSCON.
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I wrote an article for the Australian Photographic Society's Digital Division' on line newsletter, MONITOR, for the month of July and the link is below:
I was excited to have one of my photos selected for the front cover.
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Lynn and I attended the screening of the Maitland International Salon 2016 exhibition on Wednesday night. It was fantastic to see all the prints and digital images displayed on a big screen. There were some amazing shots there and it created an inspiration to get out there and take more photos.
My image, "Puffin in the Mist" , a Tufted Puffin taken on one of the Russian Arctic Islands, received 13/15 from the judges and is attached below.
It was the middle of a bright sunny day and the mist rolled in from the sea and rose up the cliff. Ten seconds later the bird disappeared in the mist.
Other than cropping , very little was done in post processing, gotta love that when it works. I shot it with a CANON 7D MarkII with a 300mm f2.8 CANON lens , ISO 640,f5.6 and 1/1250 shutter speed.
Dick
After entering our first official photo competition, the Maitland International Salon of Photography Competition, we received FOUR awards between us.
The Maitland competition is the largest international photo competition in Australia , this year attracting over 4200 entries from 51 countries around the world.
Watch for our award winning photos being available for sale on the website. The Cape Grassbird, pictured below, is already there under the World Birds category. This shot was taken in Capetown , South Africa.
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Christmas day, snow floating down whilst lying on the ground in the mountains photographing White-bellied Seedsnipe -- priceless!
A magical encounter with a Rufous-legged Owl , observing the poetry in motion of a pair of Hooded Grebes , the rarest Grebe in the world, were among the many wonderful encounters.
Breathtaking views of Dot-winged Crake, Red and white Crake and Austral Rail, the elusive and declining Yellow Cardinal, a majestic pair of Magellanic Plover and the list of birds goes on and on.
Endless hours of photo processing ahead !
Dick
]]>Our passions for travel, birds, horses and wildlife have taken us to some magnificent and interesting places. Now we have finally come to grips with going back and looking through what we have accumulated with a more critical eye. Searching for those old gems we know are somewhere on some backup disc, hiding in a drawer or a cupboard. Adding work from new trips. Something we would never have had time for in the past. This is an ongoing experiences, being a photographer, and every day represents some new opportunity to learn and we hope you will enjoy that experience with us, our way of sharing the world through our eyes.
Lynn and Dick
