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This level of

detail wouldn’t

have been
Ben Hawkins

With over 19 years
as a photographic possible without
journalist, Ben is
an experienced
competition a super-fast
judge, picture
shutter speed,
editor and writer.

and high ISO

Starling in flight
by Roger Hance

I used my garden shed as a hide
and hung camouflage netting in the
doorway, poking my lens through to
Chris Parker photograph the birds. I then nailed

PP’s deputy a small plastic pot on top of a post
editor is a and filled it with soaked bread and
qualified teacher, lard. Using Olympus’ Pro Capture High mode,
landscape I manually focused 2in behind the pot – this mode
photographer and takes 14 frames in a continuous loop, but doesn’t
videographer. write them to the card until you fully press the
shutter. To freeze the bird’s wings, I pushed ISO
to 800, which gave me a very fast shutter speed. numerous tiny beige spots that tell us roughly
rogerhancefrps.com when this picture was taken – early spring.
This level of detail wouldn’t have been possible
Ben says: We often see starlings as pests, but without a super-fast shutter speed, and for
have you ever listened to them sing? A single bird this, Roger had to push ISO to 800, though you
can whistle over 30 different tunes and they can wouldn’t know this by zooming in on the image.
even mimic other species and sounds. They also There’s only the faintest trace of noise, and you
display some striking colours, as Roger’s lovely really do have to squint to see it. Of course,
‘bird in flight’ portrait shows – just look at those aperture plays its part too, and shooting at f/2.8
iridescent greens and purples around the eyes and meant that Roger had to be very accurate when
Adam Atkins neck. That such a dynamic image was captured focusing, which is why his setup was so cleverly
PP’s features in a back garden, with nothing but basic fieldcraft conceived. This also explains why the background
writer is an and a little ingenuity, just shows that you don’t is so blurred and the starling leaps out of the
accomplished need to look far for amazing wildlife subjects. frame so well. Add Olympus’ Pro Capture mode
professional Roger’s solid technique means that we get to to the equation (see panel) and it’s not hard to
sport and travel study a freeze-frame moment that we wouldn’t see why Roger was so successful. This is a very
photographer. see with the naked eye, and its pin-sharp clarity attractive wildlife image that should give all
reveals a wealth of feathery detail, including the would-be garden photographers renewed hope.

62 PRACTICAL PHOTOGRAPHY