Here's a testimonial from someone who recently attended one of my one-day Bird Photography Workshops:
"Mike Atkinsons photo workshop is a must for the enthusiastic bird photographer wishing to take his results to the next level. The course is very comprehensive, covering equipment, field techniques and post-processing and the student should be able to make real improvements very rapidly. I can fully recommend the workshop to anybody who looks at professional bird photos and says how do they do that? here is the answer !!"
I've developed a full-day Bird Photography Workshop that can be run on a one-to-one basis (i.e. private tuition) or for small groups of up to four people. The aims are to transfer as much of my knowledge as possible about the whole subject and to move your bird photography to the next level.
For one-to-one days, we can cover anything you want, but most people are happy to more or less use the following Workshop format, which is designed to cover the three vital areas of camera equipment skills, field skills and image processing skills.
The morning session starts by finding out where you are up to at present, and which aspects of your photography you are the most keen to develop. We'll then spend some time indoors covering topics including:
selecting the best equipment for your budget
understanding and choosing camera settings (including a check of all your current settings)
getting sharp, well-exposed images
designing and composing great images
mastering light
shooting techniques.
Having learned the theory, we then get out and put it into practice. I will show you how to use your own equipment effectively and give you an opportunity to use my equipment as well (including my Canon 500mm f4 IS lens). We will look at practical field techniques such as:
how to 'read' and 'work' a location depending on the light, the weather and the birds present
how to visualise and realise great images even with ordinary subjects and settings
how to read and react to birds' behaviour to get close to them and time your shots perfectly
how to capture both portrait and action shots, including the ultimate challenge: flight shots.
With some real photos on our memory cards, we'll head back indoors to load them onto the computer. We'll then look at:
selecting computer equipment and software
transferring and managing your images
cropping, resizing, correcting and retouching images
sharpening and noise reduction
developing an efficient workflow
giving your images real impact!
Finally, we'll touch on ways of using your processed images, including printing, web publishing and selling them for profit.
I would normally run my Bird Photography Workshops at a location in Cheshire,
England, where I have taken many of my published images.
I think a unique feature of my workshops is that I am prepared to share - and train you to use - the detailed step-by-step workflow I use for my image processing, right down to the exact Photoshop techniques, settings, etc.
Many photography workshops will cover image processing techniques in general, but I will give you a printout covering all the detail you need to be able to get exactly the same results at home. This workflow, now in its
23rd edition, embodies nearly 20 years' experience of processing digital bird images and is not available anywhere else.
Another key feature of my workshops is that I won't abandon you at the end of the session: I'm happy to continue to answer questions and provide coaching in the weeks afterwards to ensure there are no remaining obstacles holding back your bird photography.
If you're interested in attending one of these (weekend) Workshops, either on a one-to-one basis or as a small group,
contact me and I'll send you full details.
Alternatively, if you'd like to arrange a chat by telephone or online, see my advice page.