Group Visit to Peckforton Castle-Cheshire- Birds of Prey Photo Outing.

WOW-WOW-WOW.... What a truly FANTASTIC way to spend a Saturday afternoon with the 21st Century Technology & Camera Group. 

We had some 20 people turn up for quite a chilly afternoon at PECKFORTON CASTLE (well it is quite high above the Cheshire plain wink emoticon).
I took some 350 photos, yet to be properly viewed and post processed, but I have NEVER EVER had the opportunity to be up close and personal with birds that normally live in the wilds, in various parts of the world. Must be one of the BEST PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES for camera lovers EVER.
The bird handler was most experienced, very knowledgeable and made it very easy for Barbara to enjoy her outing with wild birds that she has waited for, for a very long time.
The GROUP will no doubt be going to this wonderful place for photos at any time, but with the BIRDS.JUST WONDERFUL and so real.
Here are a few of the ones I took for others to enjoy, and I now look forward to seeing the TOP TEN of all the members who took time out to have just ANOTHER GREAT DAY OUT with the 21st Group smile emoticon smile emoticon smile emoticon
Thanks to everyone that turned up, and hope you have now thawed out smile emoticon

Looks like SUNDAY is now BIRDS of PREY Processing Day :) :) :)

Cliff

Flying High 2



NEW Group A5 Size Flyer

Hopefully, we will have the above A5 size flyer for member use, and will be available for the Group Meeting at the Willowmere-Middlewich on the 18th February. They will also be circulated to many public places in Cheshire, as well as on-line in order to gain more members to the group.

They will be placed in the coffee / tea area with the group business cards, where members can take few to pass out to friends and their own local shops to encourage new members.

A similar format, but different design in A4 size, will be completed soon by our group member Mr Antony West, who has agreed to take on the job of flyer design for the group. These will be used to market the groups monthly meetings, topics, photo outings etc.

Cliff

Flying High! (Peckforton Castle-Camera Settings)

Photo by Ken Rane

 

Photo by Andy Boardman

This next Saturday afternoon, 7th February, the group have arranged for something quite different for the "Instructional Photo Outing" and with the weather being light cloud, and NO RAIN :) we are likely to get some very good photo opportunities. NO MATTER WHAT CAMERA YOU PLAN TO USE :).

Anyhow, from about 2.00 / 2.15 pm Barbara Astles will be seated in the centre of the grassed  inner court yard of Peckforton Castle, hoping to get some training on being a bird handler with a number of different, and perhaps large hunting birds. 

This will the time for group members to get their own ACTION Photos as Barbara does her bit for England with these birds perching on her arm, flying to the Castle Ramparts / Walls, and with luck, flying back down again to rest on her arm.

I will be in attendance (close to) with Barbara to try and get some close ups and action shots as the birds do their bit. IF, you also wish to be a "spectator" eg closer to the action, this will cost you £ 5.00 per person, and you are all welcome to do this if you wish. You have to pay your £ 5.00 at the Bird Centre before 2.00pm. Otherwise, you can still get some good shots of the birds from the edge of the grassed area and this will not cost you anything :).

Basic guide for hand held Compact Cameras.

This type of camera will get you very good shots of the birds when they are static, ie sitting on Barbara's arm, or there will also be some at the bird resting area at the rear of the grassed area.

For any action shots, ie birds flying you will need to set the camera to SPORT mode, or similar. This again will get you some good shots of the birds flying. Take as many shots as you can, some will be good, some great and some you will delete. But all good fun and experience.

Basic Guide for the BRIDGE cameras.

Bridge cameras are so called as they are between the Compact Camera where you view the shot from the rear screen, and the DSLR camera. With the Bridge camera you look through (normally) the camera view finder to get the photo. There are very many different types and makes of Bridge cameras, and the more you pay for these, the more options you get, from say fully auto mode to being able to set the camera to MANUAL. Mainly, use TWO settings, one set for SPORT mode, for the birds when they are flying, and one for say PORTRAIT photos, for close up shots. If you have manual available to you, then the settings below will best fit the subjects and day (cloudy, no rain).

Basic settings when you have a fully MANUAL camera available to use on the day.

Firstly, you will have on the camera a SPORT or ACTION setting on the camera, and this will do for MOST of the photos you can take on the day. The lens on DSLR cameras tend to be better than the two types above, but not always :(.

Anyhow, this is how I will have my Canon camera set for taking shots of the birds when flying.

Shutter speed...............1/1000 sec.

f setting.........................f 5.6 or lower if you wish. (A lower f will blur out more of the background).

ISO setting....................As it will be cloudy (no sun about) I will set this to ISO 400. or AUTO ISO as the 

                                     birds will be set against the sky, or sometimes with the castle walls in the 

                                     background. Hence Auto ISO.

Focusing........................Now this will be IMPOSSIBLE for any manual focusing when the birds are flying.

                                      Set this to AUTO Focus. It will also do when taking static shots as well.

Focusing points...............When doing this type of photography I ALWAYS USE the CENTRAL SPOT, in 

                                       the CENTRE of the viewing area of the camera. This is done so I ONLY get                                                shots properly focused on the BIRD, not the surrounding trees and castle :)

Focus moving objects.....The Canon has a setting called A1 Servo and most DSLR cameras have a similar 

                                       setting,  not A1 Servo, but a similar name. Anyhow, it is MOST IMPORTANT 

                                       that you use a setting of this nature when taking photos of moving objects.

                                       Why?  A1 Servo keeps focusing (with button fully pressed down, and taking 

                                       shots) and RE-FOCUSING as long as you keep the moving object selected in 

                                       the centre of your view finder.

Shooting, slow / fast.........Set the shots per second either at SLOW CONTINUOUS, or FAST 

                                        CONTINUOUS. Use what best suits the camera technology, the type of                                                     memory card being used etc etc. 

Note:- The faster the memory card, eg bits per second, the faster the image shot will be transferred from the camera to the memory card. CHEAP memory cards of all types, will be SLOW bits per second. 

The more you pay for the memory cards, the faster they perform particularly, when you need it :(

Make sure batteries are ALL FULLY CHARGED (TRISH )so you will not be disappointed on the day.

The more skilled photographer using a DSLR camera will no doubt have similar but slightly different settings.

Hope all attending have a GREAT DAY OUT !!!

IF in doubt about your own camera, make sure you ask, or you will NOT get the shots you wish for.

Cliff

Member Info Update.

Photo by Cliff Astles-View across the Cheshire Plain towards Liverpool, Pierhead and Docks beyond

 

Photo by Cliff Astles-Cliff View side of Beeston Castle-just as the morning sun hits the sandstone cliffs

 

At this next months meeting I have arranged for all members, when signing in at Willowmere Reception, to place a small stick-on "Name Tab" label to their lapel, and somewhere similar suitable for ladies. There will be maker pens at reception for members to place (in large capitals please) their first name onto the label. 

We have arranged to do this as we are very fortunate at having many new members joining the group. It is intended to help all members to at least when being introduced, to note member names without the need to keep asking.

When the group has sufficient funds it is intended to provide all members with a more professional name badge, so in the meanwhile we would like all members to use the new labels, please.

Cliff

Member photos for the Feb 18th Member Photo Presentation.

 

We are now getting quite a number of member photos coming in to myself of the TWO photo topics for the Feb Group Meeting, as you can see from the examples provided above. 

Top one GHOST pictures and the bottom one is for our FEATHERED friends.

Make sure you let me have your own contribution, before SATURDAY evening 14th Feb to give me sufficient time to get them all into a MS PowerPoint Presentation. Please keep them less than 500k in size.

Cliff

Group Monthly (February) Photo Topic Update

 

Hi, realised, hope not too late, that my photo Topic for the month of February is somewhat MUCH TO EASY for members to test out their own new found photography skills and improvements L

GHOST images are not too easy to find in Cheshire, with all the new building that has taken place, and when members find them, it is much too easy (photography wise) to get a clear shot of them.

Therefore,  to ensure that members are more taxed at using their new found skills, I have decided that as well as GHOST images for submission of photos to myself for the FEB Member Photo Presentation, we should extend this to cover “BIRDS of the FEATHERED VARIETY” as well as the GHOST ones.

The bird photos can be of ANY kind, i.e. close ups in your garden, which are not too easy to get, but would much prefer to get members to get photos of BIRDS FLYING, as well as those just sitting, or paddling, or even DUCKING below water. You will see these in all of the local ponds and lakes, with Shakerley Mere being locally and of note. Great crested GRIBE, there are a few, but single HERON and Seagulls are in a plenty.

So there you are GHOST, and BIRD shots a plenty to me ASAP, no more than 500k in size, and no more than 3 to 5 photos. Send more if you cannot chose which are your best, I will select the best 3 to 5 for you.

These will be placed onto the MS PowerPoint-Member Photo Presentation as normal and the Photo.

Presentation for the Group Meeting, Wednesday evening, 18^th February-Willowmere-Middlewich.

This meeting is quite an important one for the group, as all being well and no sudden calls from HMG we will have the Middlewich Town Crier in attendance, in FULL LIVING COLOUR (nice for photos, so please bring your cameras), the Middlewich Town Council Mayor, and Consort, and the MP for Congleton Mrs Fiona Bruce.

All surely impressed with what we have achieved in such a very short time, as a NEW Cheshire Community Group, with now more than 100 plus, group members. We can impress them even more if we manage to get as many members and visitors as we managed at the last group meeting (more than 30 people).

Therefore, please make sure you get ALL of your photos to myself before end SATURDAY 14^th Feb to ensure I have time to put a decent presentation together for the night, and place your name down on the Facebook EVENTS for that night so we can also ensure of correct staffing (particularly at brew time) so my wife and her helpers can get the tea and coffee hot and steaming to you ALL.

Unless, I am helping L as she said last time “we manage much better without you being involved”, just hope she means the tea time L, but you never know L

We need to make the right impression, so numbers involved are important, and with Owen Lloyd, of Owen Lloyd Photography showing the way ahead, with his presentation on the basics ( and much more) of creating GREAT PHOTOS we will again have a GREAT NIGHT for members and friends.

As ALWAYS, HELPER and CARERS attend for FREE. Both at meetings and member photo outings.

Cliff. 

Banging the drum for the group!

(Photos:- Civil War re-enactment Battle in Nantwich in 1643, Saturday January 24th)

WAVE THE FLAG

BANG the DRUM

Cheer on the WINNERS

Considered it most important to let the whole group know that we have achieved  more than 100 group members, in LESS than 10 months of the group being formed.

I now feel that I can approach Cheshire East Council to say a big thank you for their help and funding in being able to get to this number so quickly, and see if they can help the group to hold an Open Day, to show others just what we have achieved, and hopefully, get even more new group members.

Middlewich Town Council have also played their part as they were the first to provide group funding, and have also with the Town Mayor Paul Edwards and his wife Sonya visited the group to view progress.

We are getting  new members each month so it is also important that members have offered their help so we are best able to keep up this initial momentum, so for our new members are the names of group members who are willing to take on particular group tasks in order to shed the load, and move even more ahead.

Therefore, at meetings and group photo outings the below people will also provide help and assistance.

Melody Smith....................Group Webmaster....Designing and Creating the Group Web Page.

Brian Roberts....................Committee Member....Brian has a many tasks and is normally on the door.

Les Oakley.......................Meet & Greet at the main entrance door, and during meetings / outings.

Mal Wetton.......................Meet & Greet at the main entrance door, and during meetings / outings.

Mal Wetton.......................Is the first contact for technical and camera setting information / guidance & help.

Peter Cross........................Peter will help to organise the group meeting room before and after meetings.

Barbara Astles...................Committee Member, main entrance registration of members / refreshments.

Ken Rane..........................Ken is reviewing the photo software needed on the Training Laptop.

Antony West.....................Antony has offered to create all future marketing Flyers with Cliff Astles.

By spreading the administration and group organisation we believe this is the best way to help the group develop, and more of this type of spreading the load will happen as the group develops. 

Members with time and energy available to give to the group can make contact with myself via the group mail so I can offer "jobs" to members as they occur.e-mail is 21stctncg@gmail.com.

I hope that all members can continue to attend our monthly group meetings at the Willowmere-Middlewich as this is the ONLY ( apart from Grants) WAY in which the group can be sustained in the future.

The TRAINING LAPTOP will be purchased during the next few weeks and will be a high specification Laptop and will have installed on it as much of the latest photo post processing software we can afford to buy, plus a number of other photo related software packages. A person will be needed to be responsible for the use of this expensive group facility. Exact use to be finally decided by group discussion.

Cliff Astles

Group Chairman & Organiser.