Fowl play on the water

Digital Camera APPRENTICE

Fowl play on the water

The Apprentice with Andy Rouse

One reader, one pro… we visit the Slimbridge Wetland Centre with top wildlife photographer Andy Rouse

Welcome to Digital Camera Apprentice, where we pair a reader with a professional photographer for a day of shooting together. The concept is simple: the pro acts as a photographic mentor, sharing their expert insights to help the reader improve their favoured genre of photography – it’s like having a one-to-one workshop, but a wider audience gets to see what happens. This month, we’re back outdoors to catch the afternoon feed at one of the UK’s leading bird reserves. The Slimbridge Wetland Centre, near Stroud in Gloucestershire, is one of the best locations in Britain for wild birds and wildfowl, which is why it’s a favourite haunt of top wildlife photographer Andy Rouse, who has offered to mentor keen photographer Connor Hill for a day. An ecologist from Hampshire, Connor is looking forward to spending a day out photographing our feathered friends, with the bonus of being able to glean some expert insights from one of the top pros on the wildlife scene. Slimbridge’s winter feeds take place daily at 4pm on Rushy Lake from November to February; before today’s feed, Andy is going to show Connor the best places to photograph wintering birds at Slimbridge.

The Pro

Name: Andy Rouse

Camera: Sony A1 II

Photographer, author, educator and workshop leader, Andy Rouse has been one of the UK’s leading wildlife photographers for 25 years, having won 34 major international awards to date. He also travels the world with his photographic safari company, Wild Bunch Expeditions, sharing his love of wildlife and expert insights with fellow enthusiasts. www.andyrouse.co.uk

The Apprentice

Name: Connor Hill

Camera: Sony A7 IV

An ecologist who lives in Hampshire, UK, Connor is passionate about conservation and enjoys photographing birds and reptiles. Self-taught, he has invested plenty of time and money in his photography and jumped at the chance to be able to learn from a leading wildlife pro photographer and get instant feedback on his image-making. Instagram: @connor.wildlife

Expert insight Backgrounds

The sunny conditions during our visit may have been preferable to the endless rain in January and February, but they caused extremes of contrast, which had to be taken into account. The cloudless skies didn’t make the most inspiring background for flying birds either.

While the vegetation on the opposite side of Rushy Lake provided a varied backdrop for lower-flying birds, and shooting at wide apertures defocused it, any higher-flying birds had to be captured against a featureless blue sky.

No matter where we were at Slimbridge, backgrounds were important and Connor had to find ways of working with them. This involved searching for shafts of sunlight on the water for ducks to move into, or being proactive and adjusting his position – standing or kneeling to best incorporate a decent background in his photos.