Aug 18, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
O’Reilly’s in the the Australian Rainforest, flash has been an essential tool to bring color alive! The Regent Bowerbird is a prime example (above). The male takes 3-4yrs to have that satin black nd yellow plumage, a color combo you can’t help but see. But in the overwhelming dark and green light of the rainforest, without flash kissing it, the colors would be lost to the camera and out photographs.
Here’s a before and after of an Australian King Parrot to help illustrate my point. I’m not using flash because the ratio of light is harsh (I’m not fillin shadows). I’m using flash to bring to life the amazing color and in some part control the background. Shooting with the D5 / 800AFS / SB-5000, I have dialed the exp comp in the body down to -.7 and in the flash, -3 stops! I don’t want you too see the flash, I want the background to be a elegant stage for my subject. We need to meld the light, ambient and flash, to make our subject pop and tell it’s story. The flash in this case is right in the hot shoe of the camera. Not the most ideal spot but putting it on any kind of bracket sticks it up in the air further catching it on limbs and vines. But since the flash is just kissing the subject, it’s not creating any shadow so placement works fine using the shot shoe. The one thing I can’t rave about enough though is just how simply and beautifully the D5 / SB-5000 work together producing such a beautiful light. It’s so gorgeous, you can’t see it as it brings out deep forest color.
Australian King Parrot
captured by D5 / 800AFS
Aug 16, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
Superb Fairy-Wren
captured by D5 / 800f5.6 AFS
Our first twenty-four hours at O’Reilly’s has been simply brilliant! Now part of the giggle is the top photo is of a male Superb Fairy-Wren which is one of my all time favorite birds! And the first day we had a whole bunch of opportunities with them. Why do I like them? Just look at that head! Seriously and that’s not even using a flash, that’s just how they look. Brilliant, simply brilliant!
Grey Wagtail
captured by D5 / 800f5.6 AFS
The cool thing about the Superb Fairy-Wren is you can be out chasing some other bird and if you are getting skunked, the Wren appears to save the day. I came to Australia with a list of birds I wanted that, well, I didn’t do so well with on my last visit. The Grey Wagtail is one of those. The one thing that has become so overwhelming obvious to me is the amazing improvement of the gear since my last visit. This is a prime example of how the D5 / 800f5.6 AFS grab focus so bloody fast in the lost light situations. That’s not important just for the obvious reason, sharpness, but permitting you to find the subject in the viewfinder and follow it until you want to go click. Both of these birds are about the size of your thumb, incredibly small. Both are real fast little dudes and that along with size makes them a real &%*#)@ to find and follow through the viewfinder. But that’s the fun and makes the reward just that sweeter when you make the click. There are so many stories already, dying to get them all out. The challenge is finding the time and internet to get them out. mtc.
Aug 14, 2016 | Landscape Photography
After 23hrs of travel, we arrived without a hitch in gorgeous Australia to O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat high up in Lamington Nat’l Park. This was the view off our porch this AM as we headed out to shoot. Eighteen species of birds photographed already, so much mtc!
Aug 11, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
You’ve heard me say it many times, backgrounds are everything. In wildlife photography, we should be aware of that background for its pluses and minuses. The background is the stage we create to show off the star, our subject, and use the background to tell its story. That’s a real challenge and a lot to ask from something, show off something and not get in its way in the process. It’s one reason why wildlife photography is so challenging because we can’t control the subject to put it in front of the best background when we want it. This whole issue intensifies when we narrow our subject down to birds. This is when you start hearing, darn that twig!
Just like all wildlife photographers, I run into this same issue. When I started out 40yrs ago the only option was to get it right in the camera. I still rise to that same level of perfection which is why I shoot with the D5 / 800f5.6 AFS. Optics to control the background. That was the solution I found I liked best and still like best for controlling the background. The 800mm and its very narrow angle of view, especially when you add its 1.25x teleconverter and you go out to 1000mm. But guess what at times, I still say, darn that twig.
I’ve put up four photos here that show those times when you might say, darn that twig. So after you get that long lens to control the background and your start understanding that even with that long lens, there are times you’re still going to say, “darn that twig,” you gotta ask yourself, “what’s wrong with that twig anyways?” Seriously, who made the rule that you can’t have a twig(s) in the background? Isn’t that twig part of the subject’s world and if you’re telling the subject’s story, is not having that twig changing its story? Yes, I have made some bad jokes when I see a photo with a twig “skewing” a bird because in that case, the twig is simply not helping the storytelling. But there is a happy medium which is why I posted these four images when it comes to twigs in the background. So what I’m suggesting is that you don’t freak out about twigs, don’t feel you need to resort to Photoshop or peer pressure to remove it, and use it instead to tell your story. Because you might then say in an enthusiastic voice, darn that twig!
Jul 19, 2016 | Landscape Photography
At 04:00, forty folks were at the door ready to board the bus for our morning shoot. I can’t remember the last time we shared such a gorgeous morning with so many folks! We totally avoided the heat and had as you can see, a memorable sunrise. We were out in the desert outside of Vegas until the light got hard then headed inside for a few hours of digital darkroom time. The folks were real troopers! Hard to stay awake listening to Photoshop lessons when you started the day at 0400, but they hung in. Can’t thank all you folks who joined in enough. You made it a great start to the day and Photoshop World for us!
And just a reminder … those at Photoshop World this week … I have FOUR, new Moose Peterson / Mind Shift Photopacks to giveaway! There will be one at each of my classes, Wildlife, Aviation and Landscape and one at the closing ceremonies. And to find out how you can win one, you’ll have to see the entire classs :-) I hope YOU get to take one home!
Jul 11, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
The silhouette is a dramatic and romantic way to tell a story about your subject. But just like everything else in communicating, the amount you say helps the viewer understand the story. The silhouette is by its very natural a dramatic image because of the character of the light. The most common silhouette comes in the early morning or late evening when we can so easily take advantage with its color. You can suck in everyone to look at your photograph with that red (make sure you’re shooting in Cloudy WB). We all are drawn to red so in using that you’ve done the easy part, grabbed the viewer’s attention. The hard part is telling the story once you’ve got their attention. That’s where knowing how much silhouette you need in the photograph. What we’re competing with are folk’s life experiences and perceived ideas. For example, a palm tree, everyone knows that shape so you don’t have to show that much for all to relate to the shape as being a palm tree. When you use something more obscure like in this photo of Pronghorn, you need to show more so the public can relate. So how much do you need? The answer comes from your understanding how recognizable the subject is in silhouette form. The more recognizable the less your can show, the less recognizable the more you show. Then again, mystery taps the imagination and that is always a good thing too!
