Processing
It has been more than 15 years since I last spent time photographing kingfishers. Setting up a small canvas dome hide by the side of a local river, I spent many long hours watching and photograhing a pair of these beautiful little birds whose terriory was on this stretch of the river. This was one of the first wildlife photography projects that I worked on after leaving my career as a corporate lawyer to become a full time wildlife photographer. It is fair to say that many things have changed over these 15 years in the world of wildlife photography, including the number of images of kingfishers (real or AI) that are publised on social media on a daily basis. After such a long break, with the hawthorn starting to flower at the beginning of Spring, the time had come to spend a little more time with another pair of kingfishers not far from my home.
Male and female kingfisher engaged in courtship behaviour. Nikon Z9 and Nikon Z 400mm f2.8 TC VR S Lens at 400mm: f8, 1/250 second at ISO 1800 with -0.3EV.
Over the last 15 years, there have been many improvemnents in digital camera technology and the quality of the images we can now make. However, one of the downsides of these improvements is that with the increase in frame rates that the latest digital cameras can shoot at, I find that I am making far more images than before. Whilst this results in more images of a higher technical quality, it does mean more time spent in front of the computer sorting through these images and processing them. This can result in less time spent with nature watching and photographing wildlife. I now have over 5,000 images of this pair of kingfishers to process!
Male kingfisher perched on flowering hawthorn. Nikon Z9 and Nikon Z 400mm f2.8 TC VR S Lens at 560mm: f4, 1/1,000 second at ISO 1000.
But it is not just the images of this pair of kingfishers that I am processing at the moment. Over the last couple of years, I have been going through the adult assessment for autism and recently recieved my diagnosis confirming that I have autism. As an adult, this has given me much to process and to reflect upon. Whilst I am just starting to undertsand my autism, I do know that spending time with nature has a very positive benefit.
