birds Archives - Page 2 of 15 - Craig Rogers Photography

Crested Tits Around The Quinta

26th March 202126th March 2021Craig Rogers

The birdlife this year has been great around the Quinta, particularly the smaller birds and whilst I was having an afternoon chilling in the garden, I could hear Crested Tits calling to each other. It has been a strange day and although the Golden Hour was approaching (the great light before sunset and after sunrise) a deep haze filled the sky so not great for photography.

However, I couldn’t help but grab the camera, as you can see, I even managed to get a shot of a male “courtship feeding” a female a caterpillar.

Flamingos In The Mist

25th March 202125th March 2021Craig Rogers

Sometimes it’s great to go over old photos and process ones that you never got around to doing. In a bizarre train of thought, I was talking to a lady who wants to attend a Digital Photography Fundamentals Workshop once they are back up and running and she told me that she was photographing Flamingos near Faro. It had also been foggy here in the Algarve hills that morning and it reminded me of this photo I shot back in 2019. So I dug it out and processed it.

It is available to purchase in print in the Web Shop.

(Click to view in Lightbox)

Female Kestrel With Her Dinner

5th January 20215th January 2021Craig Rogers

2021 hasn’t been a great start for me personally, with the ANAC delaying the EU-wide Drone regulations and then the issues surrounding shipping products to the UK. However, here is something that certainly cheered me up.

It’s a fresh edit of a shot of a female Common Kestrel with a mouse that I shot back in 2015 in Worcestershire, England. With processing software becoming far more advanced in the last 5 years, I took a new approach at processing this image.

I’m sure you’ll agree, she’s a stunner! Fancy her on your wall, then she is available to purchase in print.

(Click to view in Lightbox)

Does Equipment Matter?

5th June 20205th June 2020Craig Rogers

Yes, of course it does……

That’s that then. Well, no, not really. Let’s first talk about Motorsport, if you watch F1 and get excited about the thrill of the drivers balancing the physics of a finely tuned piece of engineering, does that mean that you can’t enjoy a Sunday drive through the countryside in a Ford Fiesta? Of course you can. For me it’s the same with photography.

I’m not going to pretend that shooting with Nikon’s fantastic D850 DSLR paired with a Nikon 500mm f/4 doesn’t make life much easier for me as a photographer, of course it does, but that doesn’t mean that you need this level of equipment to capture stunning photos. Anyone who has attended one of my Digital Photography Fundamentals Workshop will remember that I talk a lot about that although professional equipment offers superior quality, it doesn’t mean that you cannot shoot stunning photographs with level-entry equipment, far from it. I quite often get told “It’s easy for you with your camera”, yes, it’s easier, but doesn’t mean that photography is impossible without expensive equipment.

This morning, it got me thinking about this so I grabbed a Nikon D3100 that I use as a loan camera on my workshops and attached my Nikon 80-400mm lens to it. Yes, ok, some of you are going to spot that this is a professional grade lens, I don’t own a “long” telephoto lens that isn’t. However, it’ll still be possible to get great photos with a much cheaper lens attached.

The Nikon D3100 is a level-entry camera with just 14.2 megapixels and was released back in 2010. Ten years in the world of photography is a long-time!

It didn’t take long until a pair of juvenile Eurasian Nuthatches we have in the garden showed up on an old dead Oak Tree. So here you go, I think you’ll agree that these are quite nice shots of them.

If you work with good light, shoot at the correct angles and of course dial in the correct camera settings then great photography is available.

Currently, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, my “Open” Digital Photography Fundamentals Workshops are suspended, however, private sessions are available. These workshops are a great way to learn to take control of your camera.

If you feel like really getting your teeth into photography, a great way to go from beginner to great photographer is to book some Personal 3 Hour Photography Workshop Sessions. These sessions can take you right from the start through to post-processing in Adobe Lightroom at a pace that suits you and as many or little sessions as you wish, these can be done in the comfort of your own home!

European Rollers Of The Lower Alentejo

29th May 202029th May 2020Craig Rogers

I remember being in South Africa in 2010 and spotting my first ever Lilac Breasted Roller, a stunning bird, so you can imagine my excitement when I found out that the European Roller breeds in the Lower Alentejo, just 30 minutes from the Quinta.

Although I’ve now lived in Portugal for almost 4 years I have never planned to go and photograph them. They are not great around humans and they are certainly one species of bird that I don’t want to interfere with. Although worldwide they are successful, they are an endangered species here in Portugal. The Liga para a Protecção da Natureza (LPN) centre near Castro Verde has certainly helped with their survival and has a dedicated nesting building for them. The lower Alentejo region has many abandoned and ruined farm buildings which makes it perfect for these birds to nest. Many buildings have been equipped to help too. Where you find the European Roller, you often also spot Lesser Kestrels as they use the same buildings to nest.

They always remind me of a colourful Jackdaw as their size, stock and beak shape is very similar.

I have been monitoring them at a site on two occasions over the last few weeks and yesterday I decided to head to the location before sunrise. I arrived at 5:30am and everything apart from the distant noise of early morning Crows was silent. I headed to a spot I had planned which was in thick overgrown flowers and crop, crouched down under the a camo net and waited. They were soon flying around making their really loud Crow-like call. Soon enough I had the chance to photograph a few. As you can see in the first photo, I have named this one (difficult to determine the sex as they are both identical) Scruffy due to the lose feather. I assume this will fall out so won’t be able to ID it next time. It spent most of the time I was there chasing off the Lesser Kestrels. Even after just one session, I can already see some different characters.

(Click photos to view in a Lightbox)

European Roller - Coracias garrulous - Rolieiro-europeu

Morning Dog Walk: Spotted My First Golden Oriole Of The Year

17th April 202017th April 2020Craig Rogers

There has been a Starling mimicking a Golden Oriole all winter but last week I heard not only a song but a call and knew there was at least one Golden Oriole back.

This morning I heard a song near the river and it was far too good to be a Starling, soon after I heard the call. Even though the males are bright yellow, they blend in with green leaves very well. However, his continued song and call gave his location away and I managed to grab a quick record shot of him. There was two and I suspect the other was a female which is much more greener and even more difficult to spot.