HIDE AND SEEK

Wildlife pro Paul Fowlie delivers a masterclass in capturing eye-catching portraits of birds and woodland creatures in challenging conditions

PRO PAUL FOWLIE

CAMERA: CANON EOS R5 Paul has been a pro wildlife and landscape photographer since 2010.

He's based in Yorkshire and runs workshops in the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales, Scotland and Scandinavia, and is also the author of A Year with Nature: A Photographic Guide to Wildlife. We met up with him to visit some of his scenic bird and wildlife hides, to see what wildlife we could shoot on an unusually rainy summer's day. To book one of Paul's workshops and see his inspiring images, visit his website at https://bit.ly/3NNxKA4

APPRENTICE TOM

LECHTHALER CAMERA: CANON EOS R5 Tom is a keen amateur photographer who's based in Manchester.

He loves the outdoors. and when he's not working he loves to spend his time photographing landscapes. While he's become a capable landscape photographer, he's also keen to improve his wildlife photography. and is hoping Paul can give him some pointers on how he can capture high-quality images of birds and other creatures in their natural habitats.

TECHNIQUE ASSESSMENT

Paul showed Tom how set up his camera to shoot in Manual mode with a high frame rate to capture better animal portraits

MANUAL MODE

Tom shoots in Manual mode when photographing his landscapes and Paul recommended he stay in this mode for wildlife shots too. The weather was rainy and overcast, so the light levels were fairly constant throughout the day. Paul suggested starting with an aperture of around f/8 for good sharpness when shooting the owls, and boosting the ISO until he had the desired shutter speed. Generally, 1/2000 sec is a good choice for wildlife, but with more stationary subjects around 1/400 sec is usually fast enough.