If you do not already have this

http://photoephemeris.com/

then I suggest downloading it. It costs for iphone and Android devices but is free for PCs and Macs. It is very useful for sussing out good locations for sunrise and sunset shots.


In London I'd suggest the Thames path. One route could be Tower Hill station, over Tower Bridge and then follow the Thames path to Westminster Bridge, then Trafalgar Square and on to Covent Garden. This is a bit over 4 miles.

Also anywhere in the City is interesting – a good mix of modern architecture and some of oldest buildings in the country.

Out of London - the Lee Valley Park. Quite a lot of it is outside the M25 but it is varied and some parts are well served by public transport There is a lot of info on their website

http://www.visitleevalley.org.uk/

There is also a links to other suggestions for walks -

http://www.visitleevalley.org.uk/en/content/cms/outdoors/walks-walking/


Dave

Could be wrong, but I doubt you'll be able to see or photograph ISON now. At present it is very close to the Sun and will be lost in the glare. I did see a photo taken on the 22nd which was very good but was taken from the Canaries under perfect conditions.

If it survives the journey around the Sun it could look good in December and January and for a good while will be visible all night.

IMO the best and also visually attractive way of seeing where ISON (and lots of other celestial objects) will be is the free Stellarium -

http://www.stellarium.org/

It can be set to your own lat. and long., so can be tailored to your location. I think it now downloads with the ISON data included, but if not, there is an ISON plugin.

Dave

Apologies if this has been mentioned already but DxO Pro 6 and Film Pack 2 can be downloaded for free from here -

http://www.dxo.com/de/digitalphoto

If you provide an email address they will send activation codes for both which makes both fully functional.

The site says the offer expired at the end of June but it was still working this morning.

Dave

There are some odd tips but also some reasonable ones.

Depending on the size of the garden 300mm may be too short, but a tripod and a radio trigger could solve that. If you went down that route remember birds use just about anything as a perch and when they perch they often ......

A few other thoughts.

Birds take time to find a new source of food. Unfortunately now is not the best time to start to attract birds. There are some having second broods but most of it is over so the pressure to get food is a less and there is still a lot natural food available. I'm not saying you won't get any but there may be fewer than you expect.

The best seed food I've found are sunflower hearts. Almost all the garden birds will eat them. To get some birds (eg robin, great tit, blackbird,song thrush) very close the best food is probably live mealworms.

Getting to know the habits and tolerances of the birds helps. The tit family tend to feed by flying in, grabbing and going, and also move very quickly - many of my attempts at photographing a coal tit results in a nice shot of some seeds. The finches, in contrast, tend to sit and eat.

Some birds are much more tolerant of humans than others. The obvious one is the robin but I've found coal tits and blackbirds to be fairly tolerant too. It is also easy to get close to ducks and geese in parks and gulls in some towns. Magpies, jays and woodpeckers tend to be very wary so a more difficult to capture.

Dave

Only one way to do it, Mike. You have to go and try some pairs. What suits me or anyone else may not suit you and £150-£200 is a good bit of dosh to spend on anyone say so.

High magnification is always attractive but (a) high mag binoculars won't be small and (b) they will, unless you have very steady hands, be difficult to hold still. I'd suggest 10x magnification as the maximum. The more light binoculars gather the better so big objective lens are, in theory, the order of the day. However, big objectives mean big and heavy binoculars so, unless there is a specific need, there has to be a compromise. There are some useful pairs in the region of 8x32, 8x42 or 10x42 which are compact.

Dave

Thanks Russ. It is always good to hear of someone's experiences. I have just this morning order an adaptor ring, filter holder and filter from here http://www.srb-griturn.com/index.asp so I'm hoping to have a go soon too.

Any shots ready for posting here yet?

Dave

Another vote for TPE.

TPE and the OS map (either paper or on line (via Bing Maps)) for your chosen area (or whatever is the equivalent of OS if abroad) are a great combination in finding the direction and time of the sunset and rise and possible interesting locations for photos - hills, buildings, rivers, harbours, woods etc.

Dave

Another vote for Red Snapper. I used the alloy RS324 with a pan tilt head with a K5 and a 200mm lens (not really anywhere near the tripod's limit) and also an 80mm scope with no problems; it is very stable.

The carrying case is also handy though the foam padding around the legs is good enough to allow it carried easily over the shoulder.

Dave

I do not know if this repairer does the sort of repair you need, Bjolester but it may be useful in case you need it.

http://www.ajjohnstone.co.uk/

Dave

I don't enjoy the rain much, but if I'm well kitted out it is not a problem.

Dry and cold, now that is something else. It is marvellous. The visibility is often very good and the sun is never very high in the sky so the light tends to be good too. If it is below freezing then walking in many upland area is just so much easier - no sinking in or taking detours to avoid the bogs.

Dave