Curd & Godber Double Bill

First, Terry – who specialises in wildlife photography – showed us twelve bird pictures and twelve animal pictures.

Terry pre-selected these pictures last year as his likely contenders for 2023-24 competitions.  He explained that, taking a shot, he is aiming for definition and detail in the creatures, as well as something to elevate the shot beyond just a record shot.

Terry also showed us his kit.  A Canon 5D, with a 500mm lens and a 1.4 extender (a hefty combination), and a Canon 5S, with a 100-500mm lens.  The Canon 5S is his preferred kit these days.  It is a full frame mirrorless camera with a 45 megapixels sensor and so images can be heavily cropped without too much damage.

He uses only one camera for any particular session.  And virtually always hand-holds – “a tripod is not a lot of use in the back of a jeep”.

Terry’s subjects (see below) are often at some distance, sometimes static but often moving or erratic.  His aim is to be ready, react quickly, and get the shot.  Time and patience are essential.

He uses continuous focus with manual shutter speed setting.  He typically sets shutter speeds of 1/1000-/2000s, looks for apertures of F5.6-7.1, and lets the ISO ”float” up to 5400.  He sets “centre-weighted” metering to best deal with any changing light conditions.

Terry’s stunning pictures of birds were taken in Kenya (Masai Mara), Spain (Cordoba), India, and the UK.

They were

• Bonelli’s Eagles,
• Blue Rock Thrush,
• Red Necked Spurfowl,
• Little Egret,
• Eurasian Bittern,
• Martial Eagle,
• Little Owl,
• Indian Robin,
• African Wattled Lapwing,
• Sardinian Warbler,

Terry does most of his post-processing of his RAW images in Lightroom.  He “de-noises” early on.  Where necessary he de-focusses the background and foreground (separately) to get some separation between the subject and its surroundings.  He might also “make some exposure tweaks” and deal with any colour cast issues (usually caused by tinted glass windows in hides).  And he lifts the shadows to bring out the detail.  For a white bird it might also be necessary to reduce the contrast.

Terry’s gorgeous pictures of animals were taken in Kenya (Masai Mara),and India.

They were

• Lions,
• Lioness,
• Water Buffalo,
• Wildebeests (with Oxpeckers),
• Leopard,
• Spotted Hyena cubs,
• Cheetah and Cheetah cubs,
• African Bull Elephant,
• African Elephant and calf,
• Black Rhino,
• Indian White Rhine.

Along the way, Terry described his usual shooting techniques and, with “before and after” versions, the main post-processing techniques applied to each image.

Next, John – who specialises in insects – told us all about the life cycle of the cicada and showed us wonderful pictures of winged adult cicadas emerging from their nymph forms.

While many insects develop through “complete” metamorphosis, cicadas develop through “incomplete” metamorphosis.  Complete metamorphosis consists of four stages – egg, larva, pupa, and adult – as exhibited by, for example, butterflies, moths, wasps, and ants.  Incomplete metamorphosis, however, consists of just three stages – egg, nymph, and adult or imago – as exhibited by, for example, cicadas, dragonflies, grasshoppers, and cockroaches.

Cicadas start life as eggs on tree branches.  When they hatch as nymphs, they promptly head underground where they feed on the juices of tree roots.  In due course, when the soil temperature rises to a sufficient level, they come back above ground and climb a convenient vertical surface so that the adult can emerge from the nymph.  After its wings and exoskeleton have hardened, the job of the adult then is, as John put it, “to eat and have sex”.  The female then lays the resulting eggs in slits in the bark of tree branches.

John had his “Close Encounter of the First Kind” with cicadas at a campsite in France in 2007 where he was able to capture the emergence of an adult cicada from a nymph on his tent guy rope using a film camera loaded with Fujifilm Velvia 50 ISA film (despite not having a tripod).

He had a “Close Encounter of the Second Kind” in 2018 and a “Close Encounter of the Third Kind” in 2023.

Most cicadas have an annual cycle.  But some North American species, known as periodical cicadas or “magicicadas”, emerge from their underground nymph phase only every 13 or 17 years, depending on species.  Nearly all individuals in a local population are developmentally synchronized and so they emerge at the same time in the same year.

In 1907 a US entomologist, Charles Lester Marratt, published a paper in which he postulated the existence of 30 “broods” of periodical cicadas.  There are now considered to be just three 17-year broods and four 13-year broods remaining.

John’s talk was especially timely as two large broods of nymphs will emerge simultaneously in the USA in late April to early May this year.  Brood XIII (the “Northern Illinois Brood”) is a 17-year brood and Brood XIX (the “Great Southern Brood”) is a 13-year brood.  These two broods last emerged together in 1803 when Thomas Jefferson was the US President.

The emergence of these two broods is expected to produce – literally – billions of cicadas.  The media are predicting “cicada-geddon”!

By way of a bonus, John also showed us some images of other insects, namely

• Bee fly,
• Blue striped damselfly,
• Yellow spotted emerald dragonfly,
• Bathroom moth midge (or Drain fly),
• Buffalo Treehopper,
• Preying Mantis.

These two excellent presentations comprising the Curd & Godber Double Bill were memorable for the superb images, the two engaging and entertaining speakers, and the passion that they have for the wildlife they photograph.  This was a most educational and enjoyable evening.