Fly agaric mushrooms

Even though my tripod goes to ground level, it still wasn’t low enough to create the vantage point I wanted. Ordinarily I would have used a beanbag but Ididn’t have one with me on this occasion so I used what I had. Gloves, hat, filter case and a lens cap! 

Nikon D300, 12-24mm @ 14mm, iso 200, 1/8 sec f16, tripod, mirror lock-up, angle-finder.

A little further on I came across this attractive little area of birch and bracken and spent the next while shooting a panoramic which consisted of 5 upright images stitched using PTgui software. One of the biggest problems encountered when doing this work is parallex error and unless you have a head which corrects this you will be restricted to the closest you can be be to the nearest point of focua. The one I use is made by Nodal Ninja. Beautifully engineered, lightweight and compact, it makes the whole process that much more enjoyable.

I ventured deeper into the woodland, off the beaten track, and there were pictures all around. The colours were breathtaking. The task was not as simple as I first thought, to make sense out of nature’s chaos!

Nikon D300, 70-200 @ 98mm, iso 200, 1/6 sec f8, tripod, mirror lock-up.

The sun threatened to burn through the mist but it never did. Sometimes, it would clear marginally, but mostly it remained so.

Another panoramic. Sometimes, there is no other format that will do the scene justice. In order to gain the perspective I was after (telephoto “stacking” effect) shooting with a wide-angle then trimming the top and bottom wouldn’t have achieved this so, several upright images stitched was the only answer. Quite a simple composition yet, typically me, I still managed to make a mountain out of a mole hill and spend close to an hour taking it. It’s a good job I work alone!

Parasol mushroom

The two below were taken in woodland in a nearby village. A break from the computer was in order and fortunately I live near such places. As the previous image, the panoramic format lent itself to the two scenes, especially the last one when mist becomes more pronounced the more you shoot through.

Beech tree in coppiced woodland.

With the marshes being but a short distance away, they are never far from my mind. Such a dry autumn resulted in dry marshes and the result is there were few birds within photographable range. That doesn’t stop me from going over there however and on a morning such as this, who can blame me!

I arrived at the campsite late in the afternoon, 2 days before the workshop. It was raining. That incessant, drizzle where you can see no end in sight. I got out of my car and surveyed the site looking for a suitable place to pitch my tent. The site was on a slope so clearly the lower fields were out of the question since these would become progressively waterlogged and, of course, somewhere flat! Most importantly of all was not to be too near to other tents but there was no fear of this as on the whole site there could have been only around half a dozen. I found where I wanted to pitch, got back inside the car and again, waited. It wasn’t going to stop so, with a sigh, I got on with it. There is no fun putting up a tent in the rain especially when you have one where the inner has to go up first! Who, in their right minds, designs a tent where you put up the inside first?!  

North Lees campsite, Hathersage.

I don’t camp often, perhaps only a few times a year (mainly in the early spring and autumn, when campsite’s are most quiet and the countryside is at its most photogenic) and, although it may seem like a cold, inconvenient way to spend 6 days, I am always glad I did. You not only save yourself a fair bit of money but you can eat as and when you please and not endure finding somewhere to eat after you’ve had a long day shooting. Instead, I can return to my tent, prepare dinner and put on the radio or read a book. The best part, if you have chosen your campsite well, is that you can just lay there and listen to nature. I always choose those sites with the most basic of amenities and far from shops etc. This invariably stops families with children, barking dogs and teenagers and attracts hardened hill walkers with a respect for their fellow campers. I may sound like an old misery but really, who wants to spend the night in the tent in earshot of chattering families or hoots of laughter at 2 in the morning! Instead, I had a pair of vocal tawnies and pheasant in the adjacent woodland.

On my first morning, I headed for Curbar Edge in the hope of shooting a misty sunrise. I arrived at dawn and spotted a stag and hind just 50m away. It was still too dark to take pictures but wonderful to see, all the same. The sun did appear, at intervals, and the mist/fog cleared and thickened for the next hour or so. 

View from Curbar Edge towards Baslow Edge, at sunrise.

Silver birch in mist

I scouted a couple of other locations and that evening walked up to Higger Tor. It was a relatively clear evening and shot until dusk. I also bumped into a couple of other photographers and chatted about the kind of things photographers talk about, cameras and the weather! 

Higger Tor

View from Higger Tor

Photographer on Higger Tor at sunset

The following day’s workshop went very well with, unfortunately, periods of more cloud than sun! As we met, we were greeted with the sight of a lenticular cloud overhead. It was a great day and the group were really good fun.

Lenticular cloud

The morning after, I returned to Higger Tor in the hope of a decent sunrise but the fog put pay to any landscape work. Places such as this, in this kind of weather, take on an otherworldly character and as I wandered amongst the heather and boulders, I took this image of a carrion crow.   

The fog didn’t look as though it was going to budge so waterfall and woodland photography it was going to be! I drove to the north east of the Dark Peak region where, earlier in the year, I stumbled upon an incredibly photogenic area where, it seemed, not too many others were aware of and this is where I stayed for the next 3 hours. I was looking for something different other than the usual waterfall shots so I turned my attention to this pool which had “captured” fallen leaves that slowly swirled within. It was barely visible to the eye but with the aid of an ND filter and resulting  shutter speed of 8 seconds, the motion was exaggerated. With images such as this, it really is a matter of trial and error to get the desired effect. How time flies when you are immersed in photography as I spent close to an hour and half shooting these three compositions.

I rarely change the WB, preferring to do this in the post-processing stage but, on this occasion, I tweaked the setting in cloudy to accurately replicate the colour of this dark, peat-stained water.

Wanting to reach another site some distance away, in time for sunset, I slowly walked back to the car and noticed the play of light on the rocks and water produced by the late afternoon sunlight on a distant hill side.

I then drove to Curbar edge and enjoyed an hour of glorious red light.

Once the sun had set, I laid on a soft patch of heather, with not a soul to be seen, and took in the silence. The sound punctuated, only, by a Train of Jackdaws flying overhead.

The following day was forecast as being cloudy so once again, into the woods I headed. This time it was to be Padley Gorge. The colours of the beech were amazing and I spent an enjoyable few hours shooting foliage and waterfalls.

On my final morning, with clear skies forecast, I visited Mam Tor which has wonderful views across the Hope Valley. I arrived in the dark, stars overhead and walked to the summit full of optimism. But, as dawn broke, I breathed a heavy sigh as the landscape was clothed in heavy fog. I stayed an hour in the hope it would clear but alas, it never did completely.

I headed back to the car and began the drive to the campsite to pack up when I noticed this view. I was drawn to it by the graphic lines of the stone walls and subtle shades of autumn colour. A nice end to a thoroughly enjoyable and productive trip.

I will be leading a 2 day workshop in Autumn next year to the Dark Peak region, taking in some of the places mentioned here. If you would like to attend, please register your interest by contacting me at rmcanis@msn.com or tel: 07939 117570. Numbers will be limited to just 6 participants.

Female glow worm glowing. Nikon D300, 105mm Micro Nikkkor plus Nikon 3T close-up filter, iso 400, 15 seconds, f16, manfrotto 055 tripod, mirror lock-up, cable release.

She was photographed at a local nature reserve, here in North Kent, where I have been an assistant warden since it’s conception in 1990. They only appear along one particular path which we have aptly named, and not terribly creatively, The Glow Worm Path! So, I spent a number of evenings this summer looking and “trying” to photograph them. They are extremely small and especially tricky to do justice to as you want to illustrate the glow while at the same time, provide just enough illumination to show what she looks like as she has the most beautiful pink markings.

After spotting one in a favourable spot (i.e. not in a thicket!) I then, over the next 30 minutes set up the camera and experimented with shutter speed times and flash output and angles. This is the one I preferred the most as it was as much about the shape of the leaf and lighting as it was about the insect. I hope you like it too.

This first image of a wood anemone was taken at 07.20 hrs at a local nature reserve called Cromer’s Wood where I have been assistant warden since it’s conception in 1990. I had this shot in mind and so it was ‘simply’ a matter of looking for the right specimen. If only you could see me dashing up and down the pathway, bending down, laying down, searching! As the sun rose, I shielded the flower from the sun to retain detail and also to obtain this contradiction of hues of the coolness of the anemone  with the warmth of the background. I used a wide aperture of f4 to throw everything except for the lip of the flower out of focus with the resulting shutter speed being 1/25th sec. The same technique was also used for the bluebell image, several days apart but along the same path.

Wood anemone

Bluebell

Prior to the above image being made, I visited a beechwood just a few minutes away to get some pictures of the rising sun bursting through the trees illuminating this swathe of bluebells.

Bluebells in beechwood

I deliberately chose not to add an ND Grad to the image, below, since I didn’t want any detail in the trees. As I composed it I thought it had a rather heavenly, dreamlike quality so left as it is.

To round off the session in this particular wood I shot this young bracken surrounded by the bluebells.

Bracken and bluebells. Nikon D300, 200mm, iso 200, 1/40th sec. f5.6, Manfrotto tripod.

Our earliest flowering woodland orchid, the early-purple.

Another early morning flower shoot. This time of a common dog violet. I just can't get enough of them dewy mornings!

I do photograph other things other than flowers….honestly! A few evenings were spent laying close to a rabbit warren in the hope of capturing the youngsters. I only had fortune on my side the first evening but will continue to shoot (pardon the pun!) them throughout the spring and summer.

Rabbits outside warren

Young rabbit. Nikon D300, 300mm f2.8, 1.4x teleconverter, iso 400, 160th sec. f5.6, beanbag, full camo clothing.

Male pheasant displaying. It doesn't matter how often I photograph this behaviour, I just can't help myself. Although an introduced species, I cannot imagine the countryside without them. It would be like losing the cuckoo though sadly, if one were to disappear, it would most likely be the latter.

Cock pheasant displaying

Although suffering a rapid decline, corn bunting's are still, thankfully, very common throughout the North Kent Marshes.

Warm days followed by cold nights are providing wonderfully atmospheric conditions in which to shoot in at the moment and since the mist reduces the sun’s harshness for another half an hour or so, this in turn extends my photography a little longer. This brown hare was captured a few days ago as it nibbled on some grass.

Brown hare at sunrise. Nikon D300, 300mm f2.8, iso 800, 1/2500th sec. f5.6, beanbag.

These yellow flag irises were spotted a few days prior to shooting them and was fortunate enough to have great cloud formations, something which simply cannot be guaranteed. Positioning the tripod was the biggest problem here with two of the legs in water and another at quite a peculiar angle in which to move the camera slightly overhead. I was careful not to leave it unattended through fear it may well end up in the drink! Due to the exposure range I used two ND Graduated filters. A 0.3 (1 stop) at a 45 degree angle covering the sky and ditch and a 2 stop (0.6) covering just the sky since this was brighter than the water in the ditch.

Yellow flag iris at sunrise

It’s easy to for us to take this season and all that it offers for granted thinking “well, there’s always next year to photograph them.” As a recent personal event reminded me, there may not always be a “next year” so we have to grasp every opportunity and, indeed, make a concerted effort to enjoy this very special time of the year.

Baslow Edge

 From here I walked down to it’s base to shoot the stone walls, taking advantage of Nikon’s self-timer function!

Curbar Gap

The other place I wanted to check-out was Derwent Edge. There didn’t seem to be a “short-cut” to the top so after a fairly lengthy trudge with backpack and tripod, I found myself looking over the most exquisite view.  I arrived a couple of hours before sunset to familiarise myself with it and decide upon a suitably photogenic outcrop.

Hurkling Stones

Hurkling Stones, Derwent Edge.

As is so often the case with this kind of work, you spend long periods of relaxation and contemplation waiting for the light, only to dash around like a blue-arsed-fly when it’s at it’s optimum!

Shooting in the late afternoon enabled me to take advantage of the low, warm sunlight.

To retain detail both in the sky and boat, I took 2 images and exposed one for the sky and the other for the land, then merged them in photoshop. No different to using an ND Grad really other than that unlike a grad, you retain detail in the boat.

And then sunset gave me innumerable photo opportunities. I would have liked more cloud cover to add more atmosphere and drama and I can imagine that even on the most uninspiring, grey days, strong images are more than possible, especially in black and white.

Painting with light at twilight can be great fun but requires you to stay on until at leaat 30 minutes after sunset. You can use either a torch or flash light and in this instance I chose the latter. A 6 second exposure gave me just enough time to fire 3 bursts along it's length. The image was composed to also show the nuclear power plant in the distance.

On another day I re-visited Romney Marsh. a wonderfully atmospheric location which I had the pleasure in being commissioned to shoot for Country Walking magazine. Please click on the link to read the article on my Publications page. 

Fairfield Church, Romney Marsh.

I’ll be running a short, late afternoon workshop at Dungeness for Rye and District Camera Club over the next few months and have plans to run others. Should you be interested, please register your interest by contacting me at either rmcanis@msn.com or Tel: 07939 117570.

Those of you that follow me on facebook (that’s where you will get my latest news on projects and workshops) will know that for the last month or so I have been attempting to photograph barn owls. A permanent wooden hide is in position and so far my efforts haven’t been rewarded as much as I would like. Activity at present is quite sporadic so I’m hoping that with the possibility of young to feed in late spring and summer, I’ll have stronger pictures to show here. 

Lapwing numbers are incredibly high at the moment reaching several thousand strong on the marshes. Courtship displays have already begun and once again I am sure I will endeavour to record this aspect of their lives. Due to all the rain, breeding condititions are good too with lots of pools and flooded areas throughout the area.

Northern Lapwings in flight

Lapwings will take to the air and form long, tightly packed flocks, gradually gaining altitude if approached by a bird of prey such as a marsh harrier or peregrine falcon.

Reedbed

Shortly after sunrise on a perfectly calm, misty morning, I began shooting general views and close-ups of a reedbed.

A small pool behind provided a clean backdrop.

In order to retain detail in the highlights and obtain a high contrast, graphic image, I exposed for the background then stopped down 1 1/2 stops.

All these reed images were taken hand-holding a 300mm f2.8 lens, something I don't often do when photographing plants as I prefer to use a tripod. But, due to their location, rapidly changing light and the fact I could activate the vr, I was confident of securing sharp images.

On the way back I noticed a pair of swans and lay on the ground with the 300mm f2.8 resting on a beanbag. It was still quite misty which not only injected atmosphere into the scene but cut down the overall contrast.

Barn owl

Although barn owls can be seen quite regularly throughout the North Kent Marshes, their movements are rather unpredictable, preferring large expanses of rough grassland and marsh as opposed to following the predictability of a reedbed. Indeed, many of the top barn owl images you see today have been taken in Norfolk where their population densities are greater than here in Kent. 

Over the last week I have secured permission from the land owner to place a couple of permanent hides on the site so, with Christmas and New Year out of the way, normality can resume and I can start work on attempting to get some half decent images of this beautiful bird. I’m not sure I can produce anything better or significantly different than what has already been done but I’ll certainly have fun trying! Over the last few months I have seen short-eared owls regulalrly use this site as well as marsh harriers and hen harriers so I look forward to spending many cold mornings and afternoons in my hides.