The Power of the Photo Essay - by Dave Waddell

    A photo essay sometimes gives me the ability to see something that i have never seen before. In assembling photos for a photo essay, i will sometimes come across a series of photos that show me something unexpected, despite being there and aware.

    Usually a few days will go by before I realise the photos i have taken show something interesting. I have also noticed that the photos are almost always taken in a burst of shots. 

    If you take a lot of photos and throw away all of the photos that do not meet the criteria of greatness that most professional nature photographers subscribe to, you will definitely not see much of an animal's character, behaviour nor day to day activities as they meet the almost insurmountable hurdles of their short lives.....but meet them they do and it is that they live fully for the time that they have, that I hold my deepest respect.

    In the above 4 photographs taken way back in 2008, I seem to have recorded in the space of 8 seconds,  a series of shots of 2 Hoverflies that are doing something interesting on 2 different wildflowers so synchronously that it is just too noticeable to be written off as coincidental behaviour given the fact that they are at different levels, one almost directly above the other. To me it seems possible to think of 4 or 5 different things that might be going on here....but as i am not an expert on insects perhaps you will tell me what you think.



So here are some things that i think might be going on in these photos;

    1) This is normal behaviour (counter-clockwise search)  to locate food...... and there is a 50% likelihood that this is true.

  
2) This is just competitive behaviour (somewhat like a large group of European Starlings that land and check out the ground only to suddenly take flight when one,  perhaps the leader,  jumps back into flight.... only to fly a short distance and land.  And when they spread out, each bird will constantly be searching and at the same time be watching others who look more successful than themselves.  To whom they run because they think they have a more productive location for food) ......and there is a 50% likelihood that this is true.
  
    3) Courtship behaviour.........i think this is unlikely for i think they are both males...again...consult an expert as i just don't know but i would say there is a 0% likelihood that this is  true.
  
    4) Some kind of insect communication is going on here.  I think there is a good possibility that these 2 Hoverflies are in communication of some sort for to be out of each other's sight as definitely these photos show and to behave as they do in what looks like synchronous behaviour speaks to that.  For behaviours that are "good" and help maintain the "health and vigor" of  their society are indeed a worthy end in that enviable direction. And the likelihood,  i personally think, in this event is very high.

A simple conclusion to this article is that a series of photos is a valuable tool in constructing a Photo Essay which provides considerable weight when one tries to convince others of the merits of a particular point of view.

......and to all of you.....

Keep your camera running hot and be cool.

Cheers.....  Dave Waddell

The Art of Critique by Alfred and Fabiola Forns

Some of the beginners have a hard time offering critique or
evaluating an image.

Let’s do a general guideline on the aspects of a photograph
that we look at when we are viewing as critics:

1- Exposure
2- Composition
3- Sharpness and detail
4- Subject

Now, elaborating on each of them:

1- Exposure-
Formal definition: exposure is the total amount of light allowed to fall
on the photographic medium(film or image sensor) during the
process of taking a photograph.

What do we look for? Highlights and shadows in check, meaning
you will see detail in both light and dark areas.
Whites should not look solid white (referred to as burned or clipped)
and blacks should not look solid black (we called them blocked)

Whites should not look muddy (underexposed), darks should not
look washed out (overexposed).

If the whole image looks too light or too dark, it may
not be correctly exposed.

2- Composition-
Formal definition: composition is the placement or arrangement of visual
elements or ingredients in a work of art.
This may be more complicated than exposure and very elusive to some.

Basics:
Do not frame too tight (subject bigger than 75% of the total frame),
especially for printing. Web presentation can be tighter.
Rule of thirds: Divide your frame into thirds, both vertically and
horizontally, and try to place your main subject on or close to the
intersections. Horizons or frame divisions work well in thirds. Centered
placing worksbetter in symmetrical compositions and in vertical format.

Leave room in front of subject rather than behind. If the body
is facing one way and the head the other way, try and leave room in
front of the face. Avoid distracting elements, especially big blobs
of white or black, they take attention away from your subject.

Consider perspective when choosing your angle of view. Eye
level is more intimate and appealing. Branches or lines shooting
out of the corners emphasize the rectangular or square shape of the
frame and are to be avoided.

Some strong compositional elements are diagonals, patterns and textures.

3- Sharpness and detail-

Formal definition of sharpness: Having clear form and detail.
It is just as easy to over sharpen when you are preparing an image
for the web, as it is to go the opposite way, referred to as soft. Soft
images do not appear crisp. Over sharpened images have lines that
are too crisp and look frozen.

4- Subject-
Formal definition: The dominant element of a composition.
It is important to have a clear subject. In avian, wildlife or macro,
this is easier that it may be in landscapes. We need a main element
that holds the viewer attention. If you have two subjects, it is
best if they interact. Subject placement and space was discussed in
composition.

Subject cropping should be done carefully, and it is
preferable to cut half a wing or leg, rather that just clip. You cut as
composition. You clip as mistake. In the case of live subjects, a nice
specimen will always be better than a less fortunate one, unless you are
trying to illustrate a point.

Ex: Butterfly with broken wings, flower with decaying petals.
Eye contact and catch light are positive elements. Eye contact
meaning looking at you or if two subjects, looking
at each other. A catch light implies life and vibrancy.

Head angle is important for two reasons: It looks more intimate
when the subject is looking at you, rather than away from you. And,
when the subject (bird or mammal) is giving you a profile, the
eye and tip of bill or nose are on a different plane in regard to the
sensor, depending on the size of the subject, this may mean
not enough depth of field to get both eye and tip in focus.
A slight turn towards you will improve the situation.





Using the sun behind you in the most common and easiest light,
followed by the sun in front, side light being the most difficult
to handle. Try for clean, un-obtrusive backgrounds. Shooting
wide open or close to it, is a good way to get this. You may
have to walk around the subject, stand on your tip-toes or
get on your knees looking for that all green or all blue
background, but when you do it, you will be
more pleased with the results.

Eye level whenever possible. This would give a feeling of more
intimacy to your picture and it may take you flat on the ground for
some animals, provided the terrain permits it.

It is much better when the animal is looking into the picture
instead of out of it. In other words, there should be more distance
from the tip of the bill to the edge of the frame, than from the tail
to the opposite edge. The subject should not be too
tight, no more that 75% of the image.

For flights, the bird landing towards you with the sun to your back is
ideal, when he’s flapping parallel you may get unwanted shadows in
the wings, which get to be real harsh when the sun is strong.
The upward and downward strokes are more attractive than
the gliding “pancake” look and the wing position
can improve or kill a picture.

Bird small in frame should go close to the corners, unless the
composition calls for it, stay away from totally centered positions, and
the bird should be coming at you, not going away from you.

These are all general guidelines, you can stir away sometimes
and it may work or not work. Experimenting is a great tool
for improvement, and practice makes great, if not perfect!

Alfred and Fabiola Forns

Entering the World of Nature Macro Shooting - by Ashley Hockenberry

As I scan through literally thousands of online photo galleries, I see all types of images and collections from very skilled photographers- many more skilled than me - wildlife, bird, landscape, portrait and the like. But often conspicuously absent are macro images.

I suppose a lot of photographers have mixed feelings about macro photography. Some perhaps think it is too much trouble or that you have to have too much special equipment. Others may feel as if it is not ‘real’ photography. Still others may give it a try and get frustrated with the results. And then there is the ever-present problem of getting your little teeny subjects to cooperate with you and stay still long enough for you to set up and squeeze off a shot.

The classic definition of macro photography is where the reproduction ratio (the subject size on the film plane / image sensor to the actual subject size) is greater than 1:1, although there is now a more loose definition which I adhere to which involves photographing smaller plant, animal and insect life with either a macro lens or a traditional zoom lens which may not be a 1:1 reproduction ratio

Equipment

There is a mind numbing array of gizmos and gadgets for macro photography – everything from ring flashes and extension tubes to focusing rails and various types of reversing rings and special clips and tripods – all of which have a role to play- but I like to keep things simple and mainly shoot free hand without the aid of all these devices or may simply use a tripod and a remote switch. 

I guess the simple question is this – why invest in tons of gear for an art form that you may not be totally sold on? My suggestion is to start small – invest in a good macro lens and also a good medium focal length zoom lens with a sturdy tripod. A remote switch will reduce camera shake. I will assume if you are a serious photographer that you already have an external flash. If not, invest in one and more importantly get a simple flash diffuser which you can buy from any camera store. Now you are ready to go.

Note: A good macro lens will cost some money. Try not to compromise here because your image quality will suffer. This is the one area where you don’t want to cut corners.

Subjects

My favourite nature macro subjects are insects, spiders, butterflies, dragonflies, reptiles and frogs. Also, there are flowers, plants, fungi and lichens.

Approach

When approaching anything alive I try to move slowly and keep a certain distance and wait until the insect or dragonfly, for instance, has landed and then start to set up my shot. It is a common mistake to start blasting away with the camera only to have the subject get spooked and fly off never to be found again. So try not to get in too much of a hurry.

ISO

I like to keep mine as low as possible, say around ISO100; however, there are exceptions to this like anything but macro images will show up noisy, grainy backgrounds and artefacts pretty easily so be careful – if you need more light you can bump up the ISO but I do not like going beyond ISO400, unless it is really cloudy.

Depth of field

This can be tricky. I find that the ideal depth of field is f/10 or smaller however, this can be hard to achieve when there is minimal light or you need a faster shutter speed but to overcome this you can use flash. It is possible to shoot 1/200 second with a flash and have f/16 or f/18 and you get the best of both worlds – depth of field and light.

Stationary subjects

The ideal situation is to get out very early in the morning and photograph butterflies, insects and dragonflies while they are still on their night perch and sitting quietly waiting for the temperature to rise. Now you can use your tripod and take your time. You can set up for a long exposure with a small aperture. Again, use a remote switch for best results.

Flash

I have an aversion to flash for a lot of reasons. First of all, I prefer natural light and will do whatever I can to work with it no matter what. However, if situations demand it, then I will bring out my flash and set up accordingly, but it is not my first choice. Flash should not be overdone and used just enough to illuminate the subject and fill in the shadows.

Shutter Speed

Your lighting conditions will dictate your aperture which will limit your shutter speed. Lots of light can make for great shooting conditions and allows for the greatest flexibility. I try to shoot as fast a shutter speed as I possibly can and will vary the aperture to get different results which will allow me to move to the fastest shutter speed possible, especially if the subject is moving a bit – such as a butterfly. Try to preset your aperture whenever possible with your 

Focal Points

I have learned the hard way on this one. I know my 3 camera bodies’ focal points pretty well and use them very carefully. Setting the focal point is critical to have an ‘in-focus’ shot. Sometimes I use a pattern of focal points and at times I will use a single focal point. If you are photographing a snake or a frog you will typically want a single focal point focused on the head or more specifically the eye. 

Background

I have become almost obsessive about this. The background is almost as important as the subject. This means doing what you can to set up the shot and shooting from different angles to avoid unnecessary glare, reflections, and visual distractions. Try to aim for a clear, clean background without anything else competing for attention with the main subject. A blurred background is preferable in some situations, and of course for this you need a greater depth of field. Depth of field can be achieved literally with distance or by using a smaller aperture.

Posing subjects

Yes, I have posed snakes, frogs, insects, flowers and so on. Some may object to this practice, but I am always gentle and do this because I prefer one background to another and sometimes find a preferred subject in a less than desirable photographic setting. But each subject has a limit to how much they can be handled so my advice is to limit this and move on to the next subject. After all, we want to respect nature.

I hope this has helped and if you have not tried macro shooting in nature that you will give it a try. You may be amazed at your results. But remember it takes a lot of practice.

Good luck!

Ashley Hockenberry

No Light!! by Raymond Barlow

(Click on the images for larger views)

Birds in flight photography is difficult enough during the best of conditions., we all struggle to get sharp images.  for the most part, I do not even bother trying unless the conditions are pretty close to awesome.

Since I never use flash, and I refuse to crank up the iso unless the situation is so cool I can't resist, this past weekend (Oct 1st and 2nd, 2011) were definitely challenging. Very low clouds, and heavy!

We were shooting at the Canadian Raptor Conservancy, two workshops, (with several guests cancelling due to poor conditions!) so the bunch of us that turned out gave this our best "shot!".

Depending on the bird, its speed, the background, etc., I shot mostly manual exposure, wide open aperture, and iso 640 - 800.  These perimeters left me with shutter speeds anywhere from 1/400 - 1/1000 sec.  Using the D300 and my 200-400 at f4, I was looking forward to cleaning up a bit of noise, but it really wasn't too bad.

A bit of noise on the background is easy to clean up, separate the bird with the quick selection tool, and blur the background.  I applied no noise reduction to the the birds in these images.  The key to getting sharp images is good panning, and a steady hand.  also, proper AF settings.

Af continuous with the Nikon Cameras, and AI Servo with Canon is a must., many times, with high contrast backgrounds, I use single sensor., and try like heck to keep it on the bird.  also, one key setting is to close off the shutter AF actuation with the front button, and use AF ON button for all focusing activation.  Separating these two functions is critical.

There are many other factors, and setting for birds in flight photography., I try to teach all this during my workshops, and hope to release a CD soon.

Each type of bird, background, flight pattern, location, distances, size in the frame, tones, etc requires a different approach, all of which will be explained in the CD.

This CD will sell for $24.95, and will be released on December 1st, 2011, just in time for Christmas!
Pre-orders are available for $20.00 USD, just email me here...

  ray@raymondbarlow.com or raymondjbarlow@yahoo.ca