I’ve been a professional wildlife photographer since 2008 and for all of that time I’ve been trying to take pictures that will invoke an emotional response with people. In my experience, there is nothing that does that quite as well as baby animals. It’s probably got [...]
A rufous-tailed hummingbird in Costa Rica Back-light is, as you might expect, where the light on the subject is predominantly from behind. What this does is produce a dramatic effect, outlining the subject in rim light. All the more stunning if that light is warm in [...]
I don't know how other photographers describe texture, but I always think of it as visually representing what you would feel if you reached into the photograph and touched the surface of the subject. By the way, don't do this to an elephant! Speaking of elephants, [...]
A good photograph must grab the viewer's attention. That usually means that the subject of the photo mustn't have to fight with a lot of other distracting stuff in the frame. If there's one thing that kills a photo immediately, it's having a cluttered background. The eye likes things [...]
Another fantastic day at the Farne Islands yesterday! Thank you to my lovely workshop clients: welcome back to old friends and welcome aboard to new ones! Here are a few images I took during the trip: Sunset gannet taking off from a feeding frenzy [...]
I'm writing this article because I remember the mixture of excitement and bewilderment at tackling my first African photography safari in 2008. What to take? What to leave at home? What to prepare? What clothing, money, insurance, visas? All these questions and more I'll attempt to answer here. Going away on [...]
Auto ISO is something that, until I wrote this article, I simply didn't use. Now I find it indispensable: the ability to use ISO as a third control (in addition to aperture and shutter speed) that automatically adjusts based on the available light - particularly in manual exposure mode - [...]
In this short article for Landscape Photography Magazine (when it had a wildlife photography section), I contemplate whether pro gear really is worth the money. You can download the PDF for free here: LPM Is Pro Gear Really Worth The Money? The latest pro-specification DSLRs are bristling with features that [...]
Landscape photography is all about short focal lengths for wide vistas and wildlife photography requires gargantuan lenses that can pick out a grain of sand on Mars. There you go, photography neatly segregated. In this article for Landscape Photography Magazine (when it had a wildlife photography section), I explored the use [...]
A while ago I wrote a piece for Landscape Photography Magazine exploring the reasons that sunrise and sunset mean so much to us as photographers and how to get the best out of photographing in the fantastic light available at these times. "I think I have turned into one of [...]
