About the event

Explore the beauty of wild birds through photography. Bring your own DSLR or mirrorless camera and learn how to take beautiful photographs of birds. Birds are fascinating creatures to watch and taking photographs of them with their quick movements is challenging but rewarding. This workshop will teach you how to use your camera settings for bird photography (including birds in flight) and the techniques to take stunning photographs of birds in their natural surroundings. After the indoor session you will get a chance to practice what you have learned by taking photographs around the Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve (near Ringwood) before returning to the classroom to take part in an informal and constructive review of the images at the end of the day.

Please note: This workshop is unsuitable for compact cameras/phones.

Is this course for me?

This popular and long running workshop is great for improvers - you do not need bird photography experience but you should be familiar with using your camera on your own custom settings. You will need a DSLR or mirrorless camera to attend this workshop and a lens of 300mm or longer would be helpful. If you are not familiar with taking control of your camera and have been running it on automatic settings only, please also book on to the "Wildlife photography - BASICS" photography course, held at Blashford Lakes on Saturday 1st June. This will give you the knowledge to attend and make the most of this bird photography course. It is a small group, with a maximum size of 10.

When and where?

Saturday 8th June 2024 9:45am to 4:15pm

Blashford Lakes is in the New Forest, situated to the north of Ringwood.

Before booking, please ensure you read the Course Booking - Terms and conditions

What do I need to bring?

• DSLR camera or ‘bridge’ camera
• A camera support (e.g. tripod/beanbag).
• An empty memory card in your camera
• A spare, fully charged battery
• Teas, coffees and biscuits are provided but please bring your own lunch.

Tutor - John Combes

John has been interested in nature and photography for over 40 years. A business studies lecturer for 31 years, since taking early retirement he was then self-employed as a wildlife photographer and lecturer for 20 years, concentrating on giving presentations to local clubs and societies as well as running photographic workshops/courses. He does his own wildlife sound recording and music production as part of his presentations. Early interests in nature photography were concentrated on close-up work with insects and flowers, but he now covers all aspects of UK wildlife as well as landscapes. Visits to the Canary Islands and Cyprus have added to his range of talks but he mainly concentrates on nature in the local area with the New Forest and Purbeck Coast providing a constant source of inspiration. He now uses both Micro 4/3 (Panasonic Lumix G9, Olympus OM1) and Full frame (Canon R6, R5) cameras and sees the benefits of both systems.