With Summer bring’s life and colour to photography! But sometimes you have to look for something smaller

On July 31, 2025July 31, 2025 By Adrian DayIn #365 project, Adrian Day, art, camera basics, camera settings, digital art, editing, Instagram, landscapes, learn photography, Macro, photographer, photography basics, sony A7, wildlife2 Comments

The last few weeks I’ve been limited to the distance I can go due to health, so creating landscape photography content has been a little challenging and sparse.

So i challenged myself to take something a little different, with a cheap lens that’s not made for the job in hand..

Don’t get me wrong, I have some beautiful locations to photograph on my doorstep but locally there’s a vast number of photographers taking photographs and sharing all very similar images.

Now this isn’t going to be macro at its finest. But the intention was to show, you don’t need the best macro lens or best camera body … to create some macro inspired content. And Head out into the wild and capture some wildlife, well, the small creatures that are out this time of year.

Now, this would have been made simple with a macro lens but sadly last year I broke my lens and due to other factors health wise and money wise I’ve not been able to replace it. So this is the perfect chance to do this challenge.

Also I set myself a few obstacles. Had to be in walking distance of my home, Lens and camera choice had to be light and able to fit in my hoodie pouch.. so I opted to take my Sony ZV-E10 camera body a 24 mp crop sensor camera and use a 16-50mm lens f3.5-5.6 PZ this made a perfect pocket sized mini kit. Not sure it will make for perfect critter capturing, but we’ll see.. keep reading 😉

So with the kit set I headed out for a short stroll to the local nature reserve. It’s about a five minute walk from my house so perfect local location.

It’s not a big place in fact the part I headed to you can walk around it in about ten minutes there’s a bigger part you can walk that would take about an hour round trip but as I say I just wanted to head out for a short stroll.

With the mixed weather we’ve been getting the last few weeks the vegetation and plant life doesn’t know if it’s coming, going, been or gone.. so I thought this could be a wasted journey but I was pleasantly surprised.

I walked through the metal gate to be greeted by long grass and lots of colourful, dare I say flowers.. vegetation and a lot of buzzing sounds. Could I be lucky and capture some bees about their business.

Well I took the camera out and just as I did a buff-tailed bumblebee buzzed past me and landed about five feet from me on a beautiful magenta plant – could I get an image in the bag this quick.. so I set the camera to 50mm (75mm as crop sensor) f9 1000/s and because of the f9 had to use a 1000 iso .. and took a chance I got down low and took the shot..

Looking at the back of the camera I was surprised, I had captured a very clean and pretty decent looking shot. Here’s that picture !

Don’t think it was too bad for the first shot of the day.. and as he took off right after I clicked the shutter leaving me with only a single shot . Some might say a fleeting moment captured…

Now to get up and look for more. When you enter the “nature reserve” you have about ten feet of entrance and then you’re greeted by a hedge with two openings kind of an in and out so to speak.

The hedge blocks your view of the rest of the small reserve. Annoyingly, the last time I was there the grass had been cut and there wasn’t much in the way of a meadow, but as I rounded the dividing shrubbery I was greeted with a meadow of greens, yellows and magenta blooms, a number of butterflies and because of the medium sized pond that’s engulfed in reeds and long grass there were a few breeds of dragonfly fleeting about. There were also a lot of honey bees and even more buff-tailed bumblebees .

If I’m honest this type of photography doesn’t come easy for me. I don’t have the steadiest of hands at the best of times hence why my settings are high when it comes to shutter speed. That and with the speed some of these critters move I thought it would be best to shoot fast.

Let’s get back to walking around the nature reserve. So, where was I?

Having been happy to see that there was life and a flowering meadows I started walking and looking for more opportunities which thankfully didn’t take too long before something caught my eye. Something I haven’t seen much of on my travels the last few years.

Numbers of butterflies locally have been pretty low.

This butterfly was eye catching in fact it wasn’t alone, this picture will definitely tell a thousand words and don’t think I need to say more about what they were getting up to.

I’m sure that you will agree these common blues have a beautiful pattern really something eye catching.

While I was praying to the camera gods ( down on my knees ) I noticed there was a honeybee just to the left of me. Only it was not staying in one place for long, so knew this could be like my first image a fleeting shot if I even manage to get it..

I had to change the settings because of the light kept changing. So these two although both different brightnesses were shot using 1/800s still at f9

There must be something about these magenta flowers if you know what these might be leave me a comment, I can’t seem to find what they are.

Next stop for me was waterside, I wanted to see if I could capture a picture of a dragonfly of some sort, and add to the days captures.

It took a little while of sitting by the water – probably about fifteen minutes or so when a small emerald damselfly (believe that’s what it’s called) started playing about over the water so maybe my luck was in.. but no such luck, it soon took off never to be seen again..

So there I sat for a while thinking this will be a bust not going to get one and then I see one ..literally two feet from me blending in behind a red twig .. a two inch long metallic emerald green dragonfly. It must have been there all along – now if I move am I going to make it fly away?

I twist moving the camera very slowly, I’m sure it sees me because it moves around the back of the twig (the little bugger is playing hide and seek) so the next shot, you will see what I mean – it’s like it’s watching me.

Now to play games with it, I want to get a better shot of it.. really isn’t easy because of its location and flowers in the way.. time to move a little round the side and get a side view.. this shot is what I managed to take by holding the camera out to one side and keeping my butt fully planted so not to make the grass or twigs move..

Zoom in and let me know what you think!

I’m pretty happy with it as it shows lots of detail and those colours are like multi coloured tinfoil. At least I managed to capture a picture of a dragon fly ..

I won’t hold you too much longer! On my walk away from taking the last few shots I managed to capture a few other beautiful butterfly images so will finish with a few of them.. there was so many on the other side of the tree (pictured previously )

What do you think of these.. these are a few I’m definitely proud of.. again beautiful detail and who knew that there would be so many types in one place.

And lastly

My conclusion even though having a macro lens and a full frame camera and so on will always take things to the next level.

I feel sometimes you don’t always need these things to still get creative and get up close and personal with a subject..

Even with some of the cameras from two or three years ago you can still get some cracking shots, let me know what you think,do you agree?

Do you like what I captured?

I’m no macro photographer and I’ve only done this sort of thing a handful of times.. but I’m sure you will agree theres something about each of these images that makes them stand out !

Until next time! Thanks for reading, now stop wasting time and go take some pictures 😉 😉 😉

Free digital download. Cinematic photography cheat sheet

Been working on a few projects over the holiday season! And also been given a little time to think about is there something that I can give my followers as a thank you for all their kind support.

So I come up with a few ideas one of which has gone live on my ko-fi page..

I have created a kind of cinematic landscape photography cheat sheet. It’s free or if you like to it give the option of leaving a donation of you choosing. But it is free if you want it for free. You just have to leave a few details and click download. Details are just so that I know people are downloading. You won’t be pestered by 101 emails from me.

The sheet is printable please don’t print to give away just send anyone you think would be interested this page link and tell them to download it.

It helps me know I’m helping others and also lets me know if I doing something right 😉

So without further ado! Here is the link!

Click this image to be taken to our ko-fi download page.

On January 4, 2025 By Adrian DayIn Adrian DayLeave a comment

New Siriu product video live on my tiktok

On September 9, 2024 By Adrian DayIn #365 project, Adrian Day, business, tiktok post, togblog, video, vlogging, YouTubeLeave a comment

Hey guys and girls short post tonight asking for your support and kindness over on my new tiktok page!

Would really appreciate it if you have tiktok that you pop over and show some support. By watching sharing liking my new video.. linked below (click the image)

Come and support our new YouTube channel and join our journey

On April 14, 2024 By Adrian DayIn Adrian DayLeave a comment

This is only going to be a short post ! So a quick read 😉

We have a new YouTube channel that we are starting to help photographers. Be that phonetographers 😉 or DSLR /mirrorless photographers.

It’s just starting out and only the introduction video and a few editing videos up and shared so far as been testing out how it works ! New to posting video content. But would really appreciate if anyone who reads this new post could take a second to go take a look and if it’s something you want to follow please do would love to have you along for the journey !

The first real video should be going live this week! And will be about angles .. with a few shorts about simple things like iso aperture and shutter speed being posted just to show case what the basic function is those will come out over the next month.

So if you have a moment please hit the link below (picture) to head over to my new channel .. share the love and hopefully we can catch up and get creative together !

Click here to go to my new YouTube channel! — **Click the image to go watch the latest video 🙂**

Low light photography! A few simple things to know and understand when working in low light conditions.

On January 17, 2023January 17, 2023 By Adrian DayIn #365 project, Adrian Day, art, Artist, boudoir, camera basics, camera settings, digital art, editing, flash, Gel boudoir, how i got the shot, Instagram, lighting creative, nikon to sony, photographer, strobes, togblog, weddingsLeave a comment

Low light photography can be a challenging but rewarding experience. It requires a combination of technical knowledge and creative thinking to capture beautiful and unique images in dimly lit environments. In this essay, we will explore some tips and techniques for getting the best results from your camera in low light situations, and how to avoid common pitfalls that lead to blurry

images.

The first step in low light photography is to understand the limitations of your camera. Most cameras perform best in bright light, and as the light level decreases, the camera’s ability to capture sharp and detailed images also decreases. This is because the camera’s sensor needs a certain amount of light to function properly, and in low light situations, the sensor may not be able to gather enough light to produce a clear image.

To compensate for this, you will need to use a longer shutter speed, which allows more light to reach the sensor. However, using a longer shutter speed also increases the risk of camera shake, which can result in blurry images. To avoid this, you will need to use a tripod or some other form of support to keep your camera steady. Additionally, you can use the self-timer function on your camera to avoid camera shake caused by pressing the shutter button.

Another way to increase the amount of light reaching the sensor is to use a wider aperture. Aperture is the opening in the lens that controls how much light reaches the sensor. By using a wider aperture, more light can enter the camera and reach the sensor. However, this also affects the depth of field, which is the area of the image that is in focus. A wider aperture will result in a shallower depth of field, which can be useful for creating a sense of depth and separation in your images.

Another important aspect of low light photography is ISO. ISO is a measure of the camera’s sensitivity to light. The lower the ISO, the less sensitive the camera is to light and the less noise in the image. However, in low light situations, you may need to use a higher ISO to get a well-exposed image. But, as you increase the ISO, you will also increase the amount of noise in the image, which can be unsightly. So, it’s a balance between having a well-exposed image and having noise in the image.

In addition to adjusting these technical settings, you can also use creative techniques to enhance your low light images. For example, you can use a flashlight or other light source to illuminate specific areas of the image. You can also use long exposures to capture the movement of light in the scene. This can create interesting and dynamic images that are not possible in bright light.

In conclusion, low light photography can be a challenging but rewarding experience. It requires a combination of technical knowledge and creative thinking to capture beautiful and unique images in dimly lit environments. By understanding the limitations of your camera, using a tripod or other form of support, adjusting the aperture, ISO and shutter speed, and using creative techniques, you can get the best results from your camera in low light situations and avoid the common pitfalls that lead to blurry images.

Working on a project – new magazine – photo glam magazine

On January 5, 2023 By Adrian DayIn #365 project, Adobe, Adrian Day, art, Artist, beauty, birds, boudoir, business, business card, camera basics, camera settings, christmas card sales, digital art, drone, editing, Instagram, Instagram marketing, instapostLeave a comment

Working on a project – new magazine – photo glam magazine

More info Mondays- a new weekly section on the blog welcome to ‘episode 1’ free reference card download for every reader

On October 18, 2021October 18, 2021 By Adrian DayIn #365 project, Adobe, Adrian Day, camera basics, camera settings, editing, how i got the shot, Instagram, Instagram marketing, instapost, lighting creative, new, photographer, sigma 150-600, togblogLeave a comment

This weeks ‘More Info Monday‘ is about the shot I took last week (Friday 15th October) free reference card download with this post

Back story!

While I was taking a well earned break from writing new scripts for the New YouTube Channel

I was sitting in the bay window, Drinking a very hot coffee and munching on custard creams ! While watching the better half outside filling up the bird feeder .. on her new bird table,

Now if you’re a photographer like me this sparked the mind into capture mode. See I’ve taken a few weeks away from people photography.. ! So I’m missing the thrill of the shutter .. I thought ‘Let’s try and capture a starling’

Now you’re probably like most people and asking why a starling! There’s so many other birds like robins and blue tits ..

Well I love looking at starlings, there’s something about their plumage this time of year thats just beautiful! Now when I post the images below I hope that you will see what I’m getting at! . Also to me everyone seems to neglect the starling family and always head right for the money shot with a robin .. it’s too normal for me 😉

Main story

So I headed to the camera bag unzipped it and took out the camera of choice the Nikon D7200.

Again I bet there’s a question 🙋‍♂️ why the D7200 and not your Sony gear! The answer is simple .. the Nikon D7200 is a 24 mp Crop sensor not a full frame 24pm like the Sony bodies I have .. see the way I see it is I’m pretty close to the bird table and with the crop multiplying the lens choice by 1.5 ish this will give me a nice close up shot. while still being in a warm house with my coffee ! (Can’t forget the Coffee! )

Now lens choice was questioned as I do have a bunch of lenses for the Nikon one being the sigma contemporary 150-600mm but being close to the table I thought better of it and decided let’s use the 55-300mm Nikon lens, remember this on the D7200 is equivalent to 83 – 450mm due to the crop!

Perfect ! All set..

.. so once the good lady come back into the house I perched myself by the window (pardon the pun ‘perched’ ) did I mention that’s where the coffee was 😉 I opened the window and waited !

And waited …..

I could see and hear the birds but they wasn’t coming to the feeder because I was to close .. I could see them on the roof opposite my upstairs window ! New plan leave the comfort of the bay window and head for the bedroom window ..

New plan of action.

See when I was in the bay window there was a close wall as a backdrop the setting I would have used would have been pretty simple .. ISO 100 f6.3 and at least 1/250 as these bird would be standing pretty still .. and maybe I could get some wing movements .

Now I’m up in the bedroom I have a different backdrop .. the birds are on the roof and tv aerial so I have sky to deal with .. I want detail in the blue sky.. so I need to find a good balance between bird detail and sky brightness. First test shot I started with was iso ..

ISO. Native 100 to get the best for low noise .. I wanted a lot of light coming in so the widest aperture of the lens F 5.6 was best I could do.

Now this time the birds are moving a lot so needed a faster shutter speed and there was clouds so didn’t want to blow them out wanted some detail. So shutter speed 1/1000 I snapped a few shots and no detail in the birds and dark sky

I forgot to mention this is 5:30 ish pm evening setting in .. but still some sun behind the clouds . Giving lovely soft but bright light ..

A few winds later the shutter speed was set to 1/640s looked out the window and realised every starling was gone!

All but one ! The one you will see pictures shortly! He / she was stunning ! Beautiful colours .. deep black tone and speckles on it’s under belly.. I couldnt ask for a better looking starling .. though it was perched on the tv aerial it did look great with cloud and blue back drop.. but the distance was about 5 metres away could be a little far for perfect detail knowing this lens .

I pointed my camera at the sky a quick test shot and sky perfect lots of detail and perfect white clouds

Now’s my chance bird still alone .. I pointed the camera at the starling zoomed the lens to best fill the frame … focused and started reeling off shot ! About twenty total .. now I’ve worked with models but this bird was such a poser ! 😉 head up head down tilt to the side even a one leg pose !

I got a little carried away and,

Forgetting I didn’t take into account the bird deep tones before reeling off the shots I quickly pressed the review button and to my surprise pretty much perfect ! Just a tad under exposed on the bird but lovely detail, lovely tones and nothing a little post production couldn’t fix !

So in post all these images had done to them was. Simple adjustments in lightroom .. my normal

Shadow lifted , highlights dropped, detail clarity vibrance +10 and a little tone curve adjustment ..

Now this is the finished product .. well five images .. I’ve also done a card with shot details on that if you’re on a phone you can screenshot so that you have it so that you can try the settings to capture a few starling shots of your own..

If you do please tag me in the images on Instagram be great to see what you managed to get and how you got on..

Also if you liked this post and want to see /read more of how I got the shot.. settings so on.. please follow the blog I would love to have you along on my journey.. and more will be coming in the future like presets and review /news

Okay here’s the pictures and under that the card download file for reference.. let me know what you think !

Reference file free download Download

What would you like to learn about photography?

On October 3, 2021October 3, 2021 By Adrian DayIn #365 project, Adrian Day, Artist, camera basics, camera settings, editing, flash, Gel boudoir, Gel shoots, Instagram, Instagram marketing, lightroom, lockdown, nikon to sony, photographer, togblog, Twitter, video, vlogging, YouTube2 Comments

Been a while since I’ve posted a full blog post!

Now you all know I’m first and foremost a photographer .. a portrait and boudoir photographer predominately.. but over the last year I’ve been taking time out to gain skills in landscape and nature photography..

Also having won a number of competition with my landscape work I feel I’m doing pretty well! Like having my work shown at the fujifilm print life stand at the Birmingham photography show.

Now I know I’ve been doing short posts and running this is because I’ve been doing so many things I’ve not had time to do deep messages and long posts!

Well I’ve just started to add to that! Even more!

With a new section to my website and my Adrian Day YouTube channel this is going to be where I post tips, tricks and reviews of photography products and ideas to help all you guys and girls become better photographers and to enjoy the craft and the creative side of the industry.

But before I start posting videos and blog posts about this I would love to hear from others as to what you would like to see! .. I know what I look for but that’s me ! I don’t just want to post what I want to know .. I want to post at the needs of others !

See this could be anything for creative tips like using a prism or coloured lighting. Or it could be what I suggest to be the best lens for portraits or landscapes

It could be that you want to know about editing and how I edit my images using Adobe Lightroom or photoshop.. and what you want to learn specifically like colour toning or black and white conversion

Maybe you only have your phone to take pictures and that’s a perfectly great option as they say “the best camera is the one you have with you!” and want to know the best apps I use to edit the questions are endless!

But please feel free to comment below with your questions and I will write them all down and create future posts to answer your questions !

Also coming soon to help users of lightroom I’m going to start putting together downloadable products Things like brushes for photoshop and presets and Lut’s for both Lightroom and photoshop

These will be priced at silly prices ! So anyone can obtain them on the smallest of budgets to help them grow and learn faster! I currently have over 50 presets from colour to black and white! Ready to go! Just sorting out the website over the next few weeks to make them downloadable for you all!

There is so much more to come ! So if you have read this far please hit the follow button so that you can be notified when I post.. and as I say please leave a comment below if you find this page helpful and have a question you want answering!

Once again thank you everyone for your support and sticking with me over covid months ! It’s much appreciated!

BTW WHEN LEAVING A COMMENT .. YOU DONT NEED TO ADD EMAIL ADDRESS OR OTHER DETAILS BUT PLEASE LEAVE A NAME SO I CAN RELATE THE POST BACK TO YOUR QUESTION.. .. BUT PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT BE GREAT TO CONNECT TO YOU ALL!

New posts coming tonight 12pm gmt

On January 12, 2021January 12, 2021 By Adrian DayIn Adrian Day, Artist, camera basics, editing, Instagram, Instagram marketing, instapost, lockdown, pinterestLeave a comment

Hey all happy new year !

wow it’s been a tough start to January! Business has been a little bit! how can I say? all over the place!

But it’s time to get back to the regular schedule and start posting on a regular basis! Showing what we are doing! How you can do it! And honestly connect with all of our amazing followers

So tonight 12 pm GMT there will be a new post coming ! This will be a second part to one of 10 things new photographers may not know section!

So please keep your eyes out for the next post! And if you’re reading this post, give it a thumbs up and hit the follow button so that you don’t miss it

Also head over to our Instagram! We have some amazing new images coming as we have just started a #365 project where I’m going to be posting a minimum of one new edit every day for the year! We are currently on day twelve, of this year and already posted fourteen images !

Instagram

This is just a few of the images coming in the next 30 days !

Black and white photography covid lockdown edits with jack

On April 23, 2020April 23, 2020 By Adrian DayIn Adrian Day, Artist, beauty, camera basics, camera settings, fashion, flash, Gel boudoir, Gel shoots, Instagram, Instagram marketing, lighting creative, male model, new, nikon to sony, photographer, pinterest, sale, sony A7, strobesLeave a comment

Here are a few images from the back stock of a shoot with Male model Jack

Do like shooting males and editing the images in black and white it gives a depth to the images unseen by colour images!

If you like what you see please show these images a little love!

Small selection of mini photo shots from back stock covid lockdown

On April 19, 2020 By Adrian DayIn Adrian Day, Artist, beauty, fashion, flash, Gel boudoir, Gel shoots, Instagram, Instagram marketing, lighting creative, new, nikon to sony, photographer, pinterest, sony A7, strobes, togblogLeave a comment

Here are a few more images from the back stock collection.

These are just a few images created for clients over the last year or so!

I hope that you like what you see!

Mini portrait sessions – images from the covid-19 backstock

On April 18, 2020 By Adrian DayIn Adrian Day, Artist, beauty, camera basics, camera settings, fashion, flash, Gel boudoir, Gel shoots, Instagram marketing, lighting creative, nikon to sony, photographer, pinterest, sony A7, strobes, togblog, UncategorizedLeave a comment

These images are from the covid-19 back stock love these mini sets setting images out like this I find works for showing images to clients as a first impression set!

If this is something that stands out to you please show these images and posts some love.