It’s time to get outdoors

Guy Edwardes inspires you to get up and out early on photo missions with your Canon camera gear

Manipulate midday light

The sun climbs high in the sky at this time of the year, causing harsh light that’s not great for nature photography. Look for subjects in the shade and use a mirror to bounce sunlight towards it from an angle. I carry an eight-inch square mirror tile for this purpose. It works particularly well for backlighting your subject with a powerful burst of reflected sunlight, but can be used for front and side lighting as well.

Parallel, parallel, parallel!

With macro and close-up shots getting the whole subject sharp with limited depth of field is never easy. The most critical thing to remember is to make sure the back of your camera is parallel to the plane of your subject, which could be the open wings of a butterfly, or a pair of orchids side by side. You need to choose your shooting angle carefully to ensure the most important parts of the subject (or subjects) are in perfect focus.

The early bird catches the worm

Even if you’re shooting in your own garden it’s still worth heading out nice and early, as that’s when interesting subjects can be most approachable, and the first light is at its best, and beautifully soft. Cool, still mornings are a great time for insects, too, as they need time to warm up before they’re active, enabling you to get really close with your macro setup. Often the wind will be lighter around dawn, so there’s less chance of subject movement spoiling your photographs.

Hire a BIG lens!

Not everyone is lucky enough to own a big fast telephoto lens, but you could consider hiring one for a week or two to get closer shots of your local wildlife. Lenses for Hire offer an excellent service with a great selection of lenses to choose from. The Canon EF 500mm f/4l IS II USM is probably the best compromise in terms of weight and magnification, but remember you’ll need a tripod or monopod capable of handling it! In lower light levels, increase your ISO so you have a shutter speed matching your focal length, so 1/500 sec for 500mm, for example.