Some long time readers will remember the story of the ill-fated Studio Werkz project. The brainchild of several photographers as we wrestled early in our ‘careers’ to establish a multi-facted studio operation. Like many ‘great’ ideas the cold hard light of day came crashing in with reality and of course we all went on to follow our different paths.

But I’ve always liked the name, and often when the light is right, the subject working and the muse is bubbling along Studio Werkz comes to mind.

Such was the case the other morning working with the recently fledged Black-shouldered Kites. I was working with a polarising filter attached to the 500mm lens and the birds were pretty much on the very important angle of polarising light and it kept the sky rich and bought out the details of the feathers.

Front light is one of my fav lights for working with bird, and infact any colourful subject. What I lose in drama I make up for in rich detail and intense colour and the polar screen only enhances that.

I also came across the other day on the Topaz Labs Software site a link to one of their blog posts on “5 Tips for Amazing Wildlife Photos” by Bill Maynard.
We all know this stuff (I hope), but Bill’s points are quite succinct and his reasons for each is well shown.
I hope provides some good thinking about the photos we make as we wrestle to bring out the best of the character of our feathered subject(s)

(Be careful as its on the Topaz site, so the Topaz software will be featured-but I’m not in the business of recommending it, so just read over that if necessary)