Technical Details of Images
All the pictures on the site are from SLR digital camera files, or are scanned from film, and of very good quality and suitable for printing at A4 or A3. The pictures all have a zoomed view (switchable on or off via "Show Zoom" or "Hide Zoom") of part of the picture, so that the level of detail is apparent. Some of the pictures are cropped, so there is a wider area than is shown round some of them. Many of the landscape format images would also be suitable for using in portrait format, and vice versa.
The photos on the site are jpgs made from Adobe RGB scanned tifs, or are converted from Canon or Nikon SLR raw files, from cameras ranging from the Canon D60 (6 megapixels) which we started with in 2003, to the 30 megapixel 5D Mark IV and mirrorless EOS-R and EOS-R5 cameras.
Most were taken with Canon L lenses such as the 24-105 f4 for scenery shots, 70-200 f2.8 for low light shots, 100-400 f4.5-5.6 for flight shots, and many distant shots with prime telephoto lenses - 400mm or 500mm Canon L lens, sometimes with a 1.4x extender, to avoid disturbance.
Only images sharp enough to be enlarged to create large files suitable for publication appear on the site.
The mirrorless EOS cameras allow autofocus at F11, so it is now possible to put a 2x extender on a 100-400mm lens, and get autofocus at f11 at 800mm!
Provided the sun is out (even in Scotland in winter!) and with a reasonable ISO setting (e.g. 800 or even 1600) this gives a fast enough shutter speed to stop most movement.
The latest cameras also make it possible to use a 70-200mm f4 lens with a 2x extender, and have a very lightweight SLR kit suitable for bird photography, (even lighter with the EOS-R).
In duller light or for flight shots, the 1.4x instead of the 2x extender is better. A 1.4x extender allows you to follow bird movement more easily than the 2x, and autofocus is faster.
Most of the plant and insect shots are taken hand held with an image stabilised Canon 100mm macro lens and a ring flash, to fill in any shadows which would otherwise be produced by having the lens close to the subject.
The images scanned from film are grainier than the digital images, and more contrasty, but should still be acceptable for most purposes. Digital is now superior in quality to film, and David is glad he made the switch in 2003. He didn't use his EOS3 film camera for several months after that, then finally sold it after it had become virtually worthless!
His father's photographs have been scanned mostly from 6cm x 6cm Ektachrome transparencies, some from large black and white negatives, some from 35mm slides and some from 10" x 8" prints, where that was all he could find. All these files are of good quality. Many of the colour scans (from 6x6cm transparencies) are 45 to 50Mbytes.
6 megapixel jpgs of 3072 x 2048 or similar size, which should easily print to A4, are available immediately of all images on the site. Images can be provided as sRGB or Adobe RGB tifs, jpgs, or as unmounted or mounted prints as needed.
Work proceeds as time is available to add to the site's content. There are many photos still to be edited and added, so please ask if you can't see what you want.