Accessories
APERTURE –
thousands of pounds. Compact cameras are small, light and relatively cheap, but in terms of ability to keep up with fast-paced action and giving you the ultimate in manual control they are often lacking. Bridge cameras are a halfway house between compacts and DSLRS, with better handling and performance than the former, but without some of the features of the latter. Smaller than a DSLR, they often have large optical zoom lenses that are equivalent to a huge bag of lenses for a DSLR and offer an excellent range for bird photography. DSLRS are the ultimate in terms of customisable performance and image quality. With great autofocus, dynamic range and low light performance they are the professionals’ choice. But you’ll need a host of lenses, too, which can be heavy and bulky. For the best performance and overall image quality, though, DSLRS are unsurpassed. When choosing a DSLR you’ll be faced with a plethora of models, ranging from £300-£5,000. Each have all the basic features of manual control, changeable lenses and so on, but of course with the increase in price you will see additional benefits, such as better weather sealing, faster autofocus and sensors that offer better ISO performance for low light image production. A few additional accessories are worth picking up. Extra batteries and memory cards are essentials, and a tripod is something every photographer should invest in. A decent bag would also be high on my recommended list. A few to throw into the bag include a see-through shower cap (perfect rain cover) and a bin bag for keeping you out of the wet when sitting on the ground! The importance of exposure – and what can go wrong – is shown here in the histogram Using larger apertures such as f2.8 we can use very minimal depth of field, rendering much of the image out of focus, drawing the viewer to only see our intended subject