Welcome to Shutter Notes, our weekly community feature. Shutter Notes gives you the chance to get to know our community members a bit better. Each member will share a little bit about themselves and their chosen image.

Steve Thackeray is a retired IT Project Manager and a keen hobbyist photographer. He has been an active photographer for over 30 years.

Steve Thackeray
Nikon D500 DSLR, Sigma 105mm 1:2.8 DG Macro HSM, 105mm, ISO 200, F11, 1/400 sec

Why and how Steve created this image

Steve captured this feather in a park close to his home in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom. He would describe this as an image of one of the many wonders of Mother Nature.

He chose to share this image because “a feather is such a wonderful structure. Birds have different structures of feathers for different duties. This downy feather is mainly associated with keeping the bird warm, but others are concerned with the dynamics of flight or even providing a waterproof coat!”

This is a macro photograph and is typical of Steve’s favorite type of photography. Any small subject from the natural world is fair game for him.

There was a bit of post-processing done, a slight crop and an increase in the color saturation. He does mention that there is an annoying piece of grass in the bottom left of the shot that I would prefer not to be there, but he is a firm believer in shooting as he finds.

During this process, Steve learned that with macro shooting it is important to get down low and close to your subject. For this feather, there were no particular problems in doing that. However, when trying to shoot macros of insects or spiders, this can require enormous patience and care. Waiting for the correct moment to shoot is also important, allow for any movement caused by a breeze to subside before hitting that button.

By sharing this image Steve hopes that you will take a careful look and be awed by the wondrous details to be seen in nature.

Please join us in the Photofocus Community and find the complete description and instructions on how to submit your image for consideration here.

Please only submit one image at a time and for now only one submission per person. We’ll ask for more at a later date if we need them. If you have any questions, comment here or send me a message within the community. We look forward to your submissions.

If you have any photographer friends you know would enjoy or benefit from being in the Photofocus Community, be sure to invite them!