Ophrys Photography Blog

Ophrys Photography exhibition

2006-05-30T13:04:00.000+01:00

Ophrys Photography was exhibiting at the Eynsford Festival of Photography exhibition at the John Roper School on the 28th and 29th May 2006. In the picture below, John is discussing a monkey orchid picture with Tom Hart Dyke - who opened the exhibition. Tom is well known for his recent TV appearances in connection with the world garden at Lullingstone castle and also a documentary on his search for a new species of tropical orchid to name after his grandmother.

The next image is of a young photography buff casting a critical eye over the Ophrys Photography stand.

Kent on Sunday Review magazine

2006-05-22T18:49:00.000+01:00

Ophrys Photography was featured on the front cover and pages 3 and 5 of the Kent on Sunday Review magazine. To read the article click on the following link and look at the 7th May 06 edition of the on-line magazine.

Bird showcase gallery

2006-03-16T21:06:00.000Z

I have added a new showcase gallery of my favourite bird images to the Ophrys Photography website.

click here to view the bird showcase gallery

Digital Workflow and RAW Conversion in Photoshop CS2 - Tutorial

2006-03-08T09:54:00.000Z

Photoshop CS2 has brought improvements to the way images are viewed and processed over it's predecessor Photoshop CS. The main change is the introduction of "Bridge" - which replaces the old File Browser, and enables RAW processing to be carried out in the background while working on other images in Photoshop itself.

In this tutorial I illustrate all the steps in the digital workflow from RAW image to finished TIFF file. In so doing, I will cover reviewing and ranking your images using the slideshow and star ranking method, I explore the RAW conversion advances over CS, and cover batch processing, batch renaming, and saving in the new dng format.

I hope you find this tutorial useful!

Please click here to view the Photoshop CS2 tutorial on digital workflow and raw conversion

Please click here to view other Photoshop tutorials

Ophrys Photography awarded Website of the month!

2006-01-11T17:31:00.000Z

In the January edition of the prestigious magazine "Outdoor Photography" we were awarded the title of website of the month.

The site attracted a rarely awarded 5 "stars" and was described as simply perfect! Praise indeed.

To visit the website, please click here...

Ophrys Photography

British Butterflies - some images from 2005

2005-12-14T18:16:00.000Z

SOME OF THIS YEAR'S BRITISH BUTTERFLY PICTURES

Heath Fritillary - Nr Canterbury Kent

Gatekeeper - Nr Maidstone Kent

Comma - Nr Maidstone, Kent

Swallowtail, Norfolk

Red Admiral, Dungeness, Kent

Another Heath Fritilary from Kent

For more Pictures of butterflies, click here

For a tutorial on photographing butterflies click here

WIldlife Photography hints and tips - Preventing and dealing with dust on the digital camera sensors

2005-11-30T13:23:00.000Z

This is an enlargement of a portion of sky in an image which shows the effect of dust on the sensor of the camera. Does this look familiar?
Camera manufaturers do not recommend using sticky cleaning pads, and having a camera professionally cleaned is an expensive business, but is all totally avoidable if you follow a few simple precautions that I have described in my wildlife photography hints and tips.

To learn more please click here:
Removing and preventing dust on digital camera sensors

PHOTOSHOP CS TUTORIALS - Use of the clone stamp tool and healing brush

2005-11-30T13:10:00.000Z

I took this shot of an iceberg in a small boat in the Arctic. Unfortunately, somebody got their red sleeve into the picture just as I took it. Also there are marks in the blue sky caused by dust attracted to the digital sensor in the camera.

I have prepared a tutorial which explains step by step how to use Photoshop's clone stamp tool to remove the unwanted sleeve from the picture and the healing brush tool to repair the sky.

To read my step-by step tutorial on the clone stamp tool and healing brush please click here

To read about other wildlife and nature photography Hints and tips please click here

To read my other Photoshop tutorials for wildlife photographers please click here

Tutorial - Adjusting levels and understanding histograms in Photoshop

2005-11-23T11:21:00.000Z

Do your images look washed out and lacking in contrast ? Chances are you need to adjust "levels" in Photoshop to correct them. Do you understand what the histogram is which you can both see on the back of your camera or in Photoshop image>adjustments>levels ? This is one of the most important tools in the digital photographer's armoury. To view the Ophrys Photography tutorial on Levels adjustments and understanding histograms please click here:
Levels adjustments and histograms
To see other photoshop tutorials, click here :
Tips and Tutorials

Tutorial - Basic image adjustments in Photoshop - Adjusting hue/saturation

2005-11-23T11:17:00.000Z

Another tutorial - this time in adjustments to hue and saturation in Photoshop. I cover both global and selective colour saturation enhancement using a real worked example of the image above to illustrate the procedure step by step.

To see this tutorial please click here:
Hue and saturation tutorial

Ophrys Photography hints and tips - Photographing Orchids in the Wild

2005-11-14T19:53:00.000Z

Photographing British wild orchids has been a passion of mine for many years. So this is really my speciality - an area where I think I can impart a lot of knowhow to you!

Orchids are certainly not the easy subjects that you might be forgiven for thinking that they are - after all, they don't fly away like a bird does do they ! However, to achieve shots in the field that could compare with something taken in a studio under controlled conditions is a real challenge as the wee devils constantly nod in the slightest breeze and this movement spells disaster if your aim is a really close up shot. At high magnification this movement looks alarming through the viewfinder!

I have prepared an article under the hints and tips section of the website in which I explain many of the pitfalls and give practical solutions to resolve issues like movement in the wind, camera shake, isolating the subject from the background, making a bland subject have more impact etc.

To read the article please click here:
http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/pages/hintsand%20tips2.htm

For the Tips and Tutorials index click here:
http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/pages/tipsandtutorials.htm

Tutorial - Sharpening images in Photoshop using the unsharp mask filter

2005-11-11T20:27:00.000Z

I have added a new Tutorial to the main Ophrys Photography website which covers the use of the USM filter. I have avoided complex technical descriptions of what the sliders do and instead have provided a foolproof method for achieving great results.

To view the tutorial click here:

http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/pages/unsharpmask.htm

To view other Photoshop Tips and Tutorials click here:

http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/pages/tipsandtutorials.htm

Removal of " red eye " in Photoshop - Tutorial

2005-11-03T19:39:00.000Z

"Red eye" - or often "green eye" in the case of many animals occurs when on-camera flash is used at night. The subject's pupils are widely dilated and the light from the flashgun reflects off of the retina at the back of the eye.

Tis is quite straightforward to remove in Photoshop. I have prepared a tutorial describing how to deal with red eye in 5 steps plus some tips to help prevent it in the first place.

To view the tutorial please click here
http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/pages/redeye.htm

To view other tips and tutorials please click here
http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/pages/tipsandtutorials.htm

The art of raw conversion in Photoshop - Tutorial

2005-11-01T17:36:00.000Z

What is a raw image ?

Many modern cameras have the ability to shoot "raw" images. A raw image is frequently likened to the digital equivalent to a film negative - it is raw camera data and is unreadable unless you use a special programme to access it. The Photoshop software or other raw convertor such as Pixmantec Raw Shooter, Breeze Browser, Capture One etc are examples of such software.

Raw conversion offers much more control over processing of images than jpegs which are automatically processed within the camera parameter settings.
Instead of letting the camera decide settings, you can make much better judgements yourself in the Photoshop raw convertor, which is an integral part of Photoshop CS onwards.

Raw conversion is used by most professional digital photographers, but many people shy awy from using raw because they think it is difficult and offers no real benefits. By working through a real example step by step, I aim to show that the process is not difficult and the benefits are considerable.

I have prepared a detailed tutorial on the main Ophrys Photography website entitled "The art of raw conversion" to describe the steps in converting a real image from a raw file up to a finished image ready for printing.
The subject is a rather cute white-footed sportive lemur peering out from it's hole in a tree. I will assume that you have Photoshop CS or CS2 or are using the raw plug-in in Photoshop 7. You may need to download the latest camera software from the Adobe website if you have a very recent make of camera which is not supported in your version of Photoshop .

In the tutorial I will show you how to take the image from this raw file .....

To this image ready for printing...... step by step.

To view the Tutorial "The art of Raw conversion" click here

To visit the Ophrys photography main website please click here

To visit tips/tutorials please click here

To visit a tutorial on raw workflow using the photoshop cs file browser, please click here

For more images of Madagascar - including lemurs, animals, scenery etc please click here

To see my favourite images of lemurs in Madagascar please click here

Ophrys Photography in Madagascar

2005-10-31T10:05:00.000Z

We had a fantastic trip to Madagascar in the first half of October 2005 in search of lemurs and other animals. It was very tiring physically, as it is a long flight, we travelled around continually usually on poor roads and almost all of our party suffered stomach trouble throughout the trip.

Days were long as we were up early for birds and late to bed due to doing nightwalks in the forest as some species are strictly nocturnal.

Despite this we enjoyed ourselves immensely as the wildlife was spectacular and the people very friendly. We saw around 17 species of lemurs plus many rare endemic birds such as Pitta-likeground roller and Madagascar Pygmy Kingfisher.

Other animals of interest were the Madagascar civet (Fanaloka) the chamaeleons, which range in size from the huge Parsons (which can grow to two feet long) to some the size of a grasshopper.

For a slideshow of animal images including chamaeleons see : http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/slideshows/madagascaranimals/index.htm

The lemurs were just wonderful. The mournful calls of the Indri early in the morning were haunting and unforgettable, you can see why legends grew up about them being the souls of dead ancestors. We managed to track them down by there calls which can literally be heard for miles. They reminded me of clarinets being played out of tune!

Photography was really challenging as the rainforests are very dense, and it is difficult to get unobstructed views of the animals. The forest canopy makes for very low light levels, and I frequently had to make use of my flashgun for fill-in purposes, I fitted this with a Lastolite reflector to soften the light and reduce the chance of "red eye" - or "green eye" in the case of some lemurs!

The Diademed Sifakas were another favourite as they were so beautiful, we had two brief encounters with a troup of six leaping through the trees in late afternoon sunshine in the rainforests of Mantadia. I love the backlighting on this shot below. Taken on the Canon 1D mk II with 100-400 is lens.

The Verreaux's Sifakas at Berenty were really comical as they leap around in an upright posture when changing trees. They have been called "Dancing Sifakas" and you can see why - they look just like John Travolta posing in his Saturday Night fever white suit !

Photographically, getting shots like the mother and baby below, are quite a challenge. I used the Canon EOS 1D mk II camera on 8.5 fps motordrive set to AI servo - all 45 autofocus points selected and panned the camera with a shutter speed of 1/250 sec. I used a Canon 70-200mm IS lens set to an aperture of f5.6

The camera locks on pretty well after a second or so of following the subject, but it is still pretty frantic stuff trying to get a nice sharp image that still portrays some movement.

To see some of my favourite images of lemurs please visit the lemur showcase gallery on the main website at..
http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/pages/lemurshowcasegallery.htm

To see all of my lemur pictures and other general images of Madagascar please visit the Madagascar gallery on the main Ophrys Photography website at..
http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/pages/madagascar.htm

For more information on camera equipment please see:
http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/pages/equipment.htm

Digital Workflow in Photoshop CS - Tutorial

2005-09-30T12:40:00.000+01:00

Digital Darkroom Workflow using the Photoshop CS File Browser

I always shoot raw images on my Canon Digital SLR cameras. I find this gives the maximum in image quality as no "lossy" compression system (such as jpeg) has been used - also, it gives the potential to correct white balance, exposure, high-iso noise in the shadow areas on the raw data before it is converted for opening in Photoshop.

Getting captured raw images from the camera onto the computer, saving them into files, selecting which ones to keep and which to delete, processing them into TIFF files, editing, naming, saving and back-up etc are all parts of the digital workflow.

I have produced a tutorial on the main Ophrys Photography website which describes the workflow method that I use in Photoshop CS - using the excellent File browser window that this version of Photoshop introduced. I have called this tutorial "Raw Workflow in Photoshop CS" please click on the link to visit.

To view the tutorial on Raw workflow in Photoshop CS please click here.

To visit my main Ophrys Photography website - click here http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk

To visit a tutorial on raw conversion please click here
http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/pages/rawconversion.htm

To visit the main tips and tutorials page, please click here
http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/pages/tipsandtutorials.htm

What is an ophrys ?

2005-09-28T17:26:00.000+01:00

An ophrys is a type of wild orchid which resembles an insect such as a bee or wasp.
In the UK there are four species of Ophrys orchids : bee (Ophrys apifera) , fly (Ophrys insectifera), early spider (Ophrys sphegodes) , late spider (Ophrys fuciflora).

I have been passionate about wild orchids since I was a young boy and it seemed fitting to name my wildlife and nature photography website Ophrys Photography in their honour. The company logo is a late spider orchid - chosen because it only grows in the UK in the county of Kent - where I live.

The main website contains galleries of orchid images which are available for purchase as prints or photo stock for publication.

The web address for Ophrys Photography is : http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk

The orchid showcase gallery contains some of my favourite images: http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/pages/orchidshowcasegallery.htm

The general gallery contains all the other orchid images, and includes some rare subspecies, variants and hybrids.
http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/pages/britishorchids.htm

As I travel, I am beginning to add a collection images of of European species
http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/pages/europeanorchids.htm

and tropical orchids:
http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/slideshows/tropicalorchids/index.htm

Osprey siting in Kent UK

2005-09-28T16:18:00.000+01:00

An osprey appeared in Hythe, Kent on the royal military canal in September 2005.
The bird was probably on migration to Africa.

Fortunately it was very approachable and after 3 days of watching it catch fish I managed to get a series of shots. This one ended up on the front page of Kent on Sunday newspaper.

The picture was taken with a Canon 1D mk II
and 100-400 IS lens. 1250 iso, 1/250th sec at f5.6.

To see more images in the series visit :

http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/slideshows/ospreys/index.htm

To see the newspaper article click:
http://kentnews.co.uk/editions/frontpage.asp?Edition=2005_09_25