I'm just a guy with his camera documenting wildlife and sharing my passion in a hope others will learn to love wildlife as I do. Most videos incorporate 'Pops' my father who also is my teacher, inspiration and hero! So make a brew, sit back and come along with me and Pops on a photographic journey.
If you want to buy Pops and Me a coffee, feel free to visit my 'Buymeacoffee' page link below: www.buymeacoffee.com/dwphotgraphy
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Another superb video again Dan. Managed to see the Cranes earlier in the year and was fantastic to capture them. Two good sites to visit are RSPB Greylake and Catcott nature reserve, both on the Somerset levels and excellent for winter birds. Rob Arundell.
Great stuff again Dan as always. Always grateful to you for sharing your settings with us. Gives us something to experiment with at the side of our own. 😃👍
Good to hear how you take your shots , how about a video/explain about how you edit your work. Lightroom etc ? . It's always interesting knowing how others get there photography done.
Awesome video and a good understanding of the settings which a lot of beginners don't get the knowledge of ! For the weather forecast (which also we need), the best app I use is the one on the iPhone (And I believe the weather on the others is just as accurate).
Another great video, Dan. Try over the road from Ham Wall I.e Shapwick - they have a few hides there. It’s one of my local reserves and a few weeks ago was in the Mere Heath hide and the Hobbies were flying across about 30m in front of the hide regularly.
Hello Dan, I am with you on people talking very loud in hides, I find school holiday (as you will know) can be the worst. I remember going to a small hide at Fountains Abbey, and one set of adult continually shouting at there(I think) children to be quiet, this making far more noice than the children, we end up just leaving, for a coffee and cake near by. Some great image once more. You are so right about modes especially in this mirrorless age. I shoot with the Z8 and Z9 they are amazing bits of kit but there are so many modes all of which have there place, but finding one to suite your own style can take time. You end up watching so many youtube video were photographers say one thing and other say something ells. I know you have to take the time to lean wat is best for your individual work flow. you know I do more writing comments now than I have ever written. But I do love your work.
Some great images. That is reserve I must visit. I shoot 95% of the time aperture priority with ISO minimum shutter speed, and auto ISO. The other 5% it will be full manual. I like using ISO minimum shutter speed, as the camera will then automatically increase shutter speed when ISO gets down to 100, rather than over exposing. My minimum shutter speed is usually 1/1000 for mammals, 1/2000 for larger birds or 1/4000 for small fast birds. I may occasionally risk going down to 1/500 if light is poor. Otherwise the camera will automatically slow shutter speed if ISO reaches 12,800 which I do find still fully usable with modern denoising software.
Great shots of the Bittern in flight. That's not an easy bird to photograph. I had no idea there were Cranes in the wild in the UK. Good to see you knocking about in a t-shirt. Fingers crossed the weather stays like that. This time next week I'll be eating steak pudding, chips and mushy peas. 👍
Hi Dan I was at hamwall about a month ago lovely site saw plenty of bitterns very helpful with camera settings thanks for the help .Are you going to the bird fair would be great to meet you Clive
Cracking foties and video Dan. Your presenting skills and editing of your videos has really come on leaps and bounds since the early days. One tiny point, those were greater reedmace and not bulrushes that the kingfisher was perched on. A common mistake that lots of people make. Keep up the good work. ❤❤❤❤
Wonderful stuff Dan! I'm sure that you cleaned your sensor just after this adventure. I hate to get home to find out that I had that. Thanks for letting me tag along. Keep up the great work!
There are so many wonderful places here on the Somerset Levels, other great reserves to visit are Greylake, Catcotrt Westhay. . I find the best opportunities are away from the reserves. I hear cranes from my village. During the winter when they come into roost I’ve seen as many as 72 fly in
A great video as usual Dan, nice Sunday night viewing, don’t know if you noticed but your sensor or lens needs a clean, there’s a mark showing up particularly in the sky in flight shots 👍📷🦅
@@danwillis_photography by the way Dan your set up in manual with auto ISO and exposure compensation is exactly the same as the set I use for both wildlife and aviation, I also have my histogram set up in viewfinder to help avoid blowing highlights, an almost perfect set up 👍
@@danwillis_photography it’s a no brainer Dan, I’m a Canon user and you can have a small version that doesn’t interfere with the view and I’ve found it invaluable in judging how much I need to alter the exposure compensation to avoid under or over exposure, you’ve nothing to lose by trying it 👍📸🦅
Dan, thanks for the excellent vlog. Planning to visit London this October and hoping to shoot some London's wildlife. This video helped me a lot to plan out my visit. Thanks again.
Hi Dan, have followed you from early on, totally agree with your comments that most of the hides here at Steart are not generally conducive for photography, its only an hour or so away from me but generally the birds are usually so far away and not much better at high tide, its crying out for some scrapes in front of the hides not just for photographers but for everyone to enjoy the birds close up.
I completely agree with you Stephen, those two hides would massively benefit from that not to mention the wildlife as well. Thanks for following the channel and all the very best 👍🏻
G'day Dan. I must have missed this one. It is interesting to see the difference between the quality and content of this one from two years ago and your current videos. Thanks to your videos, I'm less than two weeks away from heading to the UK and have quite a few spots earmarked to visit while I'm there Just keeping my fingers crossed for some decent weather. 👍
Thanks very much John, I'm glad that you can see a difference in the videos I appreciate that. As for the weather in Blighty.......We've had a couple of days of sunshine so that's probably our summer finished 😂 no I hope it is nice for when you get here mate 👍🏻
Hi Dan, great to see you out and about, looked hard going there for a while, with little going on. Much the same here unfortunately, especially on my favourite hide at St Ouens Pond as it is so overgrown at the moment. Fantastic photo of the white egret, in what can only be described as a bleached background, the bird looks fabulous. Thanks also for the camera set up detail, regarding exposure and aperture, that's so helpful. We don't see Avocets here in Jersey very often, but when we do they are a delight. Thanks Dan, look forward to the next one. Andy
Thanks very much Andy, always appreciate and enjoy reading your comments mate. Jersey is definitely on my list of places to visit so I may be asking your advice for locations in the future 👍🏻
That's a great question. On my older DSLR camera I would take some test shots and then review the image to see if the exposure was correct. On the newer mirrorless cameras, you can switch on live view, this reflects your settings in the viewfinder so when negative EV is applied you can see the effect in real time through the viewfinder which is so much easier and time efficient.
Great video Neil, I live near Colchester and the local Essex Wildlife Trust reserve of Abberton reservoir on the causeway part of the reservoir you photograph Spoonbills, Egrets and a pair of Cattle Egrets. In the last few weeks there has been a male Garganey duck. If you are ever in the area well worth a visit.
We were there a couple of weeks ago and there were a couple of Cattle Egrets near the River Parrett hide plus Great Tits were in and out of the nest box on the end of the hide. Just noticed on your Facebook page that you're a friend of Chris Smith, I worked with Chris at Street Crane!
Hi Dan, and popps have inspired to get out to one of my local set of hides. I was told that they had Avocets (I did not see one) but they had Egrets, Lapwings, turns, Herons, oystercatcher and more. Some of the hides are closer to the water and others. From owl box with barn owls. and more. So in North Yorkshire at staveley nature reserve. I think I will go there more. You are so right about these hides been to heigh
Thanks very much for sharing this John, I’ve not been to Staveley nature reserve before but it has definitely peaked my interest with your comment. All the best mate 👍🏻
Such a great morning out! Thanks so much for letting me tag along. I'm sure that you get tired of everyone asking about Pops when he's not with you, so I will just say that he missed out... LOL!!! Have a great week!
never had much success at Steart, subjects too distant, last time I was there it looked promising on drive in to car park, saw a red fox and then a barn owl flew along side of car as i was driving but then everything disappeared soon as i got out of the car.
Steart is best on a high tide when the marsh is flooded. There are also the hides at the end, which are good for seabirds on a high tide and a north westerly wind.
As the reply has stated I definitely think that this is a destination that is feast or famine and is greatly affected by the tide. If it’s local to you it may well be worth a return visit when the tide is high. All the best 👍🏻
Another fantastic video Dan and Pop’s keep up the great work lovely photos of the Osprey I was up at the loch of Loews last week shooting the ones there. Take care the both of you Mike.
