Tag: birds

New Camo & Spring Bird Photography

New Camo & Spring Bird Photography

In lockdown earlier this year, I spent some time taking photos in the garden. I’d set up some netting and was shooting from underneath it to capture some great photos.

As spring has now arrived, I wanted to try and get a different angle on the birds and set up some ground feeding areas beneath my blossoming apple. Now, to get close I had to rethink my camouflage and decided to start creating my own gear for my lens, camera and eventually tripod.

So having made my first couple of pieces, I started putting it to the test.

Wearing a green fleece, I blended in too. The birds were quite happy to land a few metres in front of my on the lawn.


It wasn’t long before they also started landing in the tree.


I’m not saying my new covers are magic, but they seem to work well enough for the birds to be comfortable with the camera being disguised enough to come down and feed.

I need to finish making the camera cover, then I plan to create a tripod cover.


I think I need to make a ground cushion/kneeling cushion as its quite uncomfortable sitting on the ground for hours.


It will be very similar to the bean bag support I’ve made.

I am hoping to make these to sell them. When I’ve done this I’ll give an update and how you can buy them.

Photoshop – Blurring Background

Photoshop – Blurring Background

I offer a range of tutoring options for individuals and these are always tailored to your needs.

In this example, I covered background blurring. This lovely photo of a Jackdaw, was sitting on a perch that was one a couple of feet from the hedge. It gave a nice green background, but I wasn’t happy with the DOF in the photo. Ideally, the perch should have been further from the hedge, but thesis not always possible.

Like many photographers, I prefer to do it in camera if possible, but these days, many many photos are edited, so it’s good to know how to do some of these things.

In Photoshop, I have cutout the subject from the background and used Content-Aware Fill to fill the space, then used field blur to add extra blur to the background.

I think the result is better than the original but has kept a natural look in the photo.

I now offer remote tutoring for anyone interested in learning Lightroom & Photoshop, this is easier than having to deal with Covid issues and also doesn’t limit the distance of the learner. If you are a Mac user, no extra software is needed either!

Please use the link below to find out more.

Even more Success

Even more Success

Today some Starlings visited the bird table, the new food most be working!!

I got this great close up of one of the Starlings

Starlings may be regarded as nuisance birds, but their colouring is really quite amazing

New Bird Species

New Bird Species

Another new species has been discovered, this time a bird. I find it great everytime a new species is discovered. Its good to know there are still species out there that are still unknown to science.

This time it’s a small bird discovered in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh.

The Cambodian tailorbird (Orthotomus chaktomuk), as it has been named, was first spotted in 2009. Tailorbirds are in the warbler family, and get their name from the meticulous preparation of their nests, weaving leaves together.

From detailed tests – from the birds’ plumage to their songs and their genes – it has shown that O. chaktomuk is in fact a separate, new species.

Because of the small and shrinking nature of the birds’ habitat, it has recommended that the bird is listed as “Near Threatened” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.

There have been other discoverys of other new birds species in recent years aswell. In 2008 a new Warbler was discovered in Vietnam and in 2006

and very rare bird was discovered in India, only 14 were known to exist.

read more Warbler (BBC News)
read more 2006 discovery (BBC News)

info & images from bbc site.