Deer

We have 6 types of wild Deer in the UK and many others in collections. Most photographers will have photographed some deer and some of us, more excited about wildlife photography, will have taken many more photographs of these interesting animals. There are also large numbers in deer parks that allow free access and in some cases you just pay the parking. This week we have an article looking at Photographing deer, covering everything from how they come to be here, the different types and how to find them. We also have a listing of major places throughout the UK where you can go to photograph deer and be nearly sure of being able to get something, this includes deer parks and areas of woodland where they are likely to be able to be seen,  plus some location guides on some of the places listed, giving far more details.  We also have individual pages on each of the 6 species found in the wild within the UK.  To tie all this and a range of other articles from camouflage to wildlife photography that may be of relevance to photographing deer we have an overall topic page on deer as well.

Identifying Locations and Geotagging

We have an overall article on methods to identify the subject or location and a smaller article on in camera labelling. These look at the needs, or reasons and at a variety of other solutions that may prove useful. In addition we take a good look at Geotagging.

Geotagging is something that is still fairly new to many, although its been around a little for some time. The concept is simple, you add into the photo data location reference that allows the place the photo was taken from to be easily seen and point on a map found. It started off with a cable that was inconveniently connected to a satnav unit in your pocket, but now there are small add on units that can be put on the camera or camera strap. There are also a range of other ways to geocode images without needing to connect anything to the camera. In this weeks article looking at Geotagging we look at all the methods we can identify to do this, and several different types of devices. We look at the problem areas and after you have the information, what you do with it, and the practicalities of using the data to get to a point on a map. This is quite a long article and we have some follow up articles on specific aspects planned and part done.

Some cameras are starting to appear with Geotagging built in, and in the future all are likely to have this facility. At the moment I use a small unit, about the size of a matchbox, that sits on the flash holder on my D300, D200 or D2x, and Geotags my photos at the point they are taken.  I don't use it all the time, but I could transfer this to the camera strap and use it far more. There are a number of interesting developments in this area including a separate device, that's just over £50, that keeps track of when and where you have been and you take your card out of your camera and put it into the device, and this adds the Geotagging information into each photo, based on the time it was taken.

Photographers Diary

This week we have the next section of the Wildlife and Nature Diary covering October to December, this completes this series.

Normally at this point we would be changing over the pointer and adding another month to the main photographers diary. We are still firming up a few links so this is delayed for a few days. We will get this done asap, so probably Monday, we won't wait for next weeks full issue.

Photographs in articles and location guides

If you have been back to look at previous weeks, you will have noticed that many have additional photographs. In order to get the newsletter up on time it's often necessary to put pages up without edited photographs in them. During the next 24 hours we double check all links, add hot links to the bottom of all pages so that those who want to link directly to them have a quick reference and we also add in more photographs. We also add in more index links within the main indexes to new items, so as you can see work doesn't stop when the newsletter goes up. It's therefore always worth taking another look in the middle of the week as well as going back to see previous weeks. You can get to all previous weeks issues from the Recent Editions button on the menu bar on the left.

Identifying the subject or location

Geotagging

In camera labelling

Photographing deer

Red Deer

Fallow Deer

Muntjac

Sika

Chinese Water Deer

Roe Deer

Where to Photograph Deer in the UK 

Deer Topic Index

Photo Skills' FREE digital photography course became available last Saturday. This is a three year course, completely online, with no cost or registration required. The first month, providing a greater introduction to the overall course and explains how some of the 12 major projects are going to work. The training and exercises in this first month does not use a camera at all, but instead looks at the subject of composition and improving 'your eye', what you notice and how you set up the pictures. Exercises involve using mirrors and cut out cards to see the images, in effect they are teaching people first be the art director, before introducing them, from next month, to the technical side. Take a look and see what you think.

Two related news items, the Federation of Photography Training and Experience Providers, has been formed and all involved in providing photography training, putting on experience days here and overseas or running photography related holidays, have been invited to join. If you are involved in any of these fields, or would like to be, and haven't had an invitation then let us know and we will get a copy of the invitation sent to you. This organisation has many objectives around working more closely together and developing this market, and one of these is the development of the areas covered, and their first expedition will take some of its members, who may be interested in putting on overseas events out on a budget trip to Ghana, West Africa. Ghana is English speaking, safe and has a lot of wildlife and nearly all the old forts and castles that were built in Africa. This expedition is being led by Camera Images, so you may well see some combined training and practical breaks appearing soon. Budget air fares to this area are available from just over £200 return, and time only 1 hour difference, so weekends in Africa photographing wildlife and heritage, learning, on a modest budget and no jet lag is a serious possibility.  Watch this newsletter for updates, we will also be adding location guides to places in Ghana, as this starts to come about. Other expeditions to develop more exciting places to go and take photographs are planned.

Ashton Court, Bristol  

Bradgate Park, Newtown Linford, Leicestershire  

Dyrham Park, Nr Bath, Gloucestershire

Gosford Forest Park, Markethill, Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland  

The Highland Wildlife Park, Kincraig, Inverness-shire

Margam Country Park, nr Port Talbot, Glamorgan

Plantasia and Maze World, Atherstone, Warwickshire