Posted with permission.
Do you enjoy taking bird photos and would like to improve? I’m sure you’ve heard of Steve Parish and seen his magnificent nature photography. I attended one of Steve’s workshops in Melbourne last November and got so much out of it.
I thought you might also like to know about his workshops. Steve is running a Photography Seminar in Darwin on 14th July and a photography tour in Kakadu National Park 14-19 July. Full details can be seen at http://www.tracyryanphotography.com/steve-parish-events-july-2013 where you can also make a booking.
My bird photography improved a great deal after doing his workshop last year and if you're into photography I'm sure you'll benefit too.
Edited
Peter
Thank you, Peter - those were my thoughts too! I was reading his (Steve Parish's) blog and found his tips quite helpful and I can imagine a workshop or tour would also be informative. Steve, IMO, does do the real thing!
Alison
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"the earth is not only for humans, but for all animals and living things."
Aussiedavid, Steve has hundreds of thousands of images in his library. He has publications Australia wide and beyond. He's introduced thousands, upon thousands of people to the nature of Australia. You go inside Post Offices, tourist shops, newsagents and elsewhere and see postcards, picture books, story books and others filled with photos he's taken. He has an amazing background of experiences and has helped put Australian nature on the map.
Perhaps his style of photography doesn't appeal to you but it certainly does to many others. I think what he has achieved speaks volumes. He puts lots of hours into teaching children at photography workshops to give them a start in their life as potential photographers. If I could do just a portion of what he does as a photographer, I'd be very happy indeed.
After doing his workshop last November, I've kept in touch with him. He's always had time for me, either on the phone or by email. He's rung me after I've emailed him for advice on various things. And when I was at the workshop last year, I found he was the same with many of the other photographers there who had had previous experience with him.
Kathiemt
Selby, Victoria
A question to pacman are you really saying that you believe everything that you read on the internet, newspaper & see on television?
Kathie...that is my exact point...he shoots for the publisher, not for himself. Indeed look at those images you can see the $$$s NOT the heart.
That he provides you help beyond the workshop is indeed a credit to the man & lifts my opinion of him as a man.
His photography does not inspire me. ad
Obviously doesn't inspire you ad and you don't have to go to his workshops
I can tell you that lots do though. And I don't agree about the dollar. I believe the man does have heart and have had several conversations with him over the past few months. Several of us also went to dinner with him on the first night of the workshop and he was quite open and at times, quite moving, about his experiences and his passion for what he does, and how he wants to open the eyes of Australians to the nature that surrounds them.
Kathiemt
Selby, Victoria
Peter
That is correct, Steve doesn't own Parish Publishing anymore. His focus these days are to educate people about the nature in our country and show others how to capture that nature with their own cameras. Hence, the workshops. He has a real passion for preserving nature and for educating others what is out there.
Kathiemt
Selby, Victoria
OIS ad
Kathie,
You indicate Steve no longer owns Parish Publishing...he now works for Pascal Press...who purchased Parish Publishing...you can make your own interpretaton of his words below I still stand by mine. ad
Quote: (http://www.pascalpress.com.au/Steve-Parish-Australian-Photography-Books-s/809.htm)
After forty years in the publishing industry, there is one thing I must say that I find particularly exciting and that is the two C’s — challenge and change!
I am thrilled with the most recent change of being brought into the fold of Australia’s largest independently owned educational publishing house. Pascal Press is a company with enormous positive energy and, most importantly, a willingness and capacity to embrace change.
What about me personally? Well I am now challenged to work with an exciting new group, in a comprehensive reinvention of who I am, where I am going and how I am going to get there. And the focus? Just the same! Discover and learn about Australia and be inspired along the way.
ad, obviously you don't like Steve so why don't we leave it at that? I don't have to defend him. It says in the info above that he's working with them - he doesn't own them.
All I was doing was letting people know about a workshop he has coming up (not being run by Pascal Press but by Steve himself) as I enjoyed, very much, the one I attended in Melbourne last November. There are others here who would like to improve their photography and if they enjoy his style of work, then why not benefit from that? You don't have to go nor do you need to keep rubbishing him either.
Kathiemt
Selby, Victoria
Kathy, I would LOVE to know what he actually covered in his workshop.
A lot of things really. Approaching birds and how to get the best shots. Talked of his experiences. Shared on other things he's done and how and why. His background. The link above I believe gives an outline of what he's going to talk on. He's got other workshops too and you can see the list at http://www.nature-connect.com.au.
Kathiemt
Selby, Victoria
Thanks. Definitely don't need to attend a photography workshop on wildlife photography, I was just curious. What do you know about exposure? What has he taught you about that?
There were 3 photographers in the course. Steve Parish, Darren Leal from Adventure Tours and Mark Galer from RMIT - he's a lecturer there for PhotoShop and Lightroom.
Funnily enough, all three encouraged us to use the A or S settings on our camera and not worry about the manual settings. They advised that birds move around so quickly that it's best to have a standard setting that will adjust with the lighting so we can get the action. And then Mark showed us ways to process the images using Lightroom 4 (which I went and bought only a week or so later). Steve talked about walking up to birds and other wildlife. Darren spoke about photography tours, landscapes, etc and Mark mostly on image processing.
I'll have to find my notes so I can dig them out for you. There were other settings they talked about too.
Kathiemt
Selby, Victoria
Interesting. As long as the photographer understands the camera's metering system, it makes no difference what mode they use. I used Aperture Priority for seven years and recently switched to full manual mode. I rarely get a really poor exposure, even with fast action. Whatever the mode one uses changing light conditions mean the exposure has to be compensated for. In Aperture Priority mode I can use the wheel on the back of my 1D to compensate plus/minus or in full manual mode I can use the same wheel to change aperture (which changes exposure as long as I don't change shutter speed) or change shutter speed (which changes exposure as long as I keep aperture the same) and do exactly the same thing. The most important thing is to understand metering, the histogram (get the most out of digital sensors in other words) and how to compensate. Once the basic of getting a good digital exposure is understood, the rest of the techniques can be worked on.
It's simple, understand the metering system, the exposure scale inside the viewfinder and know how to compensate, irrespective of shooting mode, to get the best digital exposure. Did you learn anything about the histogram at all? Not just what's dark and what's light, but about what the sensor actually does to record an image? It's the single most important aspect in using a digital camera. I've come across so many people that have not got a clue or an understanding of this principle.
I don’t want to offend anybody, but “in my opinion”, I have given that kind of advice for a long time, without taking money of people.
(I remember going on a shoot with Kathie, telling her about all of this, using AF and how to get close to the birds
)
I know how to approach birds, no secret here, have been talking about it for years.
No great secret either, “birds fly fast”, great insight
For many years I have said AF and Sports Mode is great to take photos of fast moving objects.
Isn’t it funny, how experts come around to the same conclusion? As for creating and manipulating photos later, I’m still not prepared to do that… But then again, who am I? I “only “use Sony gear", it’s almost like living on the wrong side of the street? (just watch out for Sony, great cameras, great lenses)
I don’t pay money to people who know it all (?), I think, practice, practice, making mistakes, asking questions and working hard to improve will get results.
What suddenly is recommended by the "experts", I have been doing for a long time now. Have I made any progress
?( Some might say my photography is crap). If not, at least I haven't waisted any money
M-L
There was a lot more to it but, as I said, I'll have to pull out my notes. If you look at the site you'll see what type of things he'll be covering.
For the record I've always been using sports mode but now swap to these other modes, depending on what I'm doing and viewing.
While some are prepared to spend time practicing, practicing and trying different things out, others do want to hear what professionals have got to say and hear about their experiences too. I would love to go out on a photography workshop on the land with Steve and hope to attend one of those when he's back in Victoria. The one I attended last year was a classroom one but we did have some practical aspects and were broken up into groups to try different techniques out.
At any rate, I posted the original information for those who are interested. For those who are not, that's fine.
Kathiemt
Selby, Victoria
@dna you say in another thread "Knowledge IS power as far as I am concerned". Then you show, IMHO, a complete lack of knowledge by your comments above.
No, I don't remember them talking about the sensor. They did talk of the histogram. While they gave some mechanics of digital cameras they covered our posture, how to stand, using a tripod, other gear, subject matter, showed examples of things they'd done and explained how they got those shots, etc.
Kathiemt
Selby, Victoria
Thank you for your very humble opinion David Sharp. Keep up the good work...
Hi Ákos sorry I messpelt your name in the PM. On the humble it seem one needs to include it in comments here as well as opinion. To me seems rather needless. On the use of my name feel free to use & advetise it, I make no effort to hide ANY thing on this or any other forum & my websites are easy to find as am I. Cheers & have a good evening David.