Oct
16
Digital Wildlife Photography Tutorial - Getting the Correct Exposure
Filed Under Digital Photography | Comments Off
Ben Juby, Ph.D. asked:
The exposure of a digital photograph is affected by the camera’s aperture, shutter speed, sensor ISO rating, and of course the amount of light in the scene being photographed. An incorrect exposure will turn an otherwise well composed wildlife image into something mediocre and at worst completely ruin a shot.
All digital cameras have an automatic exposure setting, so it may seem that exposure is something that is best left up to the camera. It’s certainly true that in some situations your camera’s automatic exposure system will produce properly exposed shots, but there are also many situations where it will not.
Automatic exposure systems only tend to work well when a scene and the subject animal consist mainly of mid-tones. This is because automatic exposure averages out the exposure of the scene as a whole, achieving an overall exposure equivalent to if the scene was a uniform mid-tone grey. Since virtually no real world scenes consist of purely mid-tone grey, this can mean that your wildlife photos may end up incorrectly exposed if you rely purely on your camera’s default exposure settings.
Scenes that consist of mainly very pale colours will come out underexposed (such as a pale animal in the snow) and scenes with very dark colours will come out overexposed. Furthermore, pale animals against dark backgrounds may be overexposed and dark animals against pale backgrounds may be underexposed. Animals with pied markings such as puffins or magpies will usually have their white areas overexposed. Therefore it is often necessary in wildlife photography to adjust your camera’s default settings to correctly expose your shots.
Exposure Settings
Prosumer and DSLR cameras have three main light metering modes available:
* Multi-Segment or Matrix - this is a camera’s default automatic exposure mode. This divides the image into a number of segments and averages out the exposure for the scene as a whole. This mode can work well for frame filling close-ups of animals and for wider shots of scenes consisting of mainly mid-tones, but as explained in the previous section, this mode will often produce incorrectly exposed images when the scene has significant areas of extreme light or dark.
* Centre-Weighted - like multi-segment metering this takes an average of the scene as a whole, but in this mode more importance is given to the centre of the image in the averaging process, meaning that the camera tries to ensure the centre of the image is correctly exposed. This is another good setting for wildlife photography that unlike spot metering is less sensitive to variations in scene brightness. As centre-weighted metering still uses as form of averaging it can still however produce incorrect exposure if the centre of the image contains extremes of light or dark.
If you find your camera’s metering doesn’t produce good results for a given scene (e.g. when your subject animal is very light of dark) you can use the manual EV Compensation (Exposure Value Compensation) setting on your camera to adjust the exposure it will use. For example, without EV compensation a spot-metered or centre-weighted picture of a white swan is likely to come out underexposed (as the camera tries to achieve a mid-tone grey for the swan’s white plumage). By setting your camera to a positive EV Compensation (you may need to use a little trial and error to find the exact amount of compensation required) you’ll be able to get a picture where the swan’s plumage is exposed correctly.
Another trick you can use to get the correct exposure is to use the exposure bracketing function on your camera. In this mode the camera takes three shots at different exposure settings, one at the camera’s recommended exposure, one slightly underexposed and one slightly overexposed, increasing the likelihood that one will be correctly exposed. It should be noted that as bracketing takes multiple exposures it is not particularly suitable for shooting animals in action since the animal is likely to move between exposures making each bracketed shot different, and unless you are very lucky, the best exposed shot might not be the shot with the animal in the best position.
Checking For Correct Exposure
You may be tempted to try and check the exposure of a picture after you have taken it by viewing it on your camera’s screen. While this may give you rough idea, it is not very reliable as a screen’s brightness can vary and the ambient lighting conditions can affect how an image appears on the screen. A far more reliable way of assessing exposure is to look at your camera’s histogram. The histogram is a graph showing the distribution of tones from light to dark in an image. For most shots you want a bell shaped histogram with the majority of pixels towards the middle of the graph, although this does not necessarily hold true for pictures that have significant light or dark areas.
Another feature most cameras provide for checking exposure is an image playback mode where the massively overexposed parts of the image flash on screen. Massively overexposed means a region of an image is so overexposed that it has gone to pure white - this is referred to as clipped or burned out.
Overexposure to the point where significant portions of the image are clipped is something you should avoid at all costs in your digital photography. Once a portion of an image is clipped all information in that part of the image is lost - nothing can be done in tools like Photoshop to recover it. It should be noted here that it is fine to clip specular highlights, for example caused by the sun reflecting in the animal’s eyes, but clipping large areas of detail should always be avoided.
The problems associated with clipping mean that it is generally safer to slightly underexpose a digital image than it is to overexpose it, as this will retain more detail in the highlights. Underexposed images can be corrected easily in tools like Photoshop, but if an image is significantly underexposed the corrected image will have an undesirable grainy texture called ‘noise’. Slight overexposure can also be corrected in Photoshop but only when clipping hasn’t occurred.
JOSE
The exposure of a digital photograph is affected by the camera’s aperture, shutter speed, sensor ISO rating, and of course the amount of light in the scene being photographed. An incorrect exposure will turn an otherwise well composed wildlife image into something mediocre and at worst completely ruin a shot.
All digital cameras have an automatic exposure setting, so it may seem that exposure is something that is best left up to the camera. It’s certainly true that in some situations your camera’s automatic exposure system will produce properly exposed shots, but there are also many situations where it will not.
Automatic exposure systems only tend to work well when a scene and the subject animal consist mainly of mid-tones. This is because automatic exposure averages out the exposure of the scene as a whole, achieving an overall exposure equivalent to if the scene was a uniform mid-tone grey. Since virtually no real world scenes consist of purely mid-tone grey, this can mean that your wildlife photos may end up incorrectly exposed if you rely purely on your camera’s default exposure settings.
Scenes that consist of mainly very pale colours will come out underexposed (such as a pale animal in the snow) and scenes with very dark colours will come out overexposed. Furthermore, pale animals against dark backgrounds may be overexposed and dark animals against pale backgrounds may be underexposed. Animals with pied markings such as puffins or magpies will usually have their white areas overexposed. Therefore it is often necessary in wildlife photography to adjust your camera’s default settings to correctly expose your shots.
Exposure Settings
Prosumer and DSLR cameras have three main light metering modes available:
* Multi-Segment or Matrix - this is a camera’s default automatic exposure mode. This divides the image into a number of segments and averages out the exposure for the scene as a whole. This mode can work well for frame filling close-ups of animals and for wider shots of scenes consisting of mainly mid-tones, but as explained in the previous section, this mode will often produce incorrectly exposed images when the scene has significant areas of extreme light or dark.
___________________________________________________________________
* Centre-Weighted - like multi-segment metering this takes an average of the scene as a whole, but in this mode more importance is given to the centre of the image in the averaging process, meaning that the camera tries to ensure the centre of the image is correctly exposed. This is another good setting for wildlife photography that unlike spot metering is less sensitive to variations in scene brightness. As centre-weighted metering still uses as form of averaging it can still however produce incorrect exposure if the centre of the image contains extremes of light or dark.
If you find your camera’s metering doesn’t produce good results for a given scene (e.g. when your subject animal is very light of dark) you can use the manual EV Compensation (Exposure Value Compensation) setting on your camera to adjust the exposure it will use. For example, without EV compensation a spot-metered or centre-weighted picture of a white swan is likely to come out underexposed (as the camera tries to achieve a mid-tone grey for the swan’s white plumage). By setting your camera to a positive EV Compensation (you may need to use a little trial and error to find the exact amount of compensation required) you’ll be able to get a picture where the swan’s plumage is exposed correctly.
Another trick you can use to get the correct exposure is to use the exposure bracketing function on your camera. In this mode the camera takes three shots at different exposure settings, one at the camera’s recommended exposure, one slightly underexposed and one slightly overexposed, increasing the likelihood that one will be correctly exposed. It should be noted that as bracketing takes multiple exposures it is not particularly suitable for shooting animals in action since the animal is likely to move between exposures making each bracketed shot different, and unless you are very lucky, the best exposed shot might not be the shot with the animal in the best position.
Checking For Correct Exposure
You may be tempted to try and check the exposure of a picture after you have taken it by viewing it on your camera’s screen. While this may give you rough idea, it is not very reliable as a screen’s brightness can vary and the ambient lighting conditions can affect how an image appears on the screen. A far more reliable way of assessing exposure is to look at your camera’s histogram. The histogram is a graph showing the distribution of tones from light to dark in an image. For most shots you want a bell shaped histogram with the majority of pixels towards the middle of the graph, although this does not necessarily hold true for pictures that have significant light or dark areas.
Another feature most cameras provide for checking exposure is an image playback mode where the massively overexposed parts of the image flash on screen. Massively overexposed means a region of an image is so overexposed that it has gone to pure white - this is referred to as clipped or burned out.
Overexposure to the point where significant portions of the image are clipped is something you should avoid at all costs in your digital photography. Once a portion of an image is clipped all information in that part of the image is lost - nothing can be done in tools like Photoshop to recover it. It should be noted here that it is fine to clip specular highlights, for example caused by the sun reflecting in the animal’s eyes, but clipping large areas of detail should always be avoided.
The problems associated with clipping mean that it is generally safer to slightly underexpose a digital image than it is to overexpose it, as this will retain more detail in the highlights. Underexposed images can be corrected easily in tools like Photoshop, but if an image is significantly underexposed the corrected image will have an undesirable grainy texture called ‘noise’. Slight overexposure can also be corrected in Photoshop but only when clipping hasn’t occurred.
JOSE
Aug
19
How to Experience the Fun of Wildlife Photography From your Home
Filed Under Digital Photography | Comments Off
Muna wa Wanjiru asked:
If you were in the animal natural habitat along with them then you would get photographs of a different sort. But life’s full of little compromises and going to the zoo when you’re unable to visit these animals in their natural habitat is a great alternative.
That was my very first experience at wildlife photography and although I didn’t get too many great shots background-wise I did get many a candid shot of my dog who was admittedly curious at first of this new toy in my hands, and then latterly very long suffering. It got to the point that he would run under the table to get away from me and my camera because I had been hounding him so much (again, sorry for the pun).
I did however get some great portrait shots of him which I appreciate very much as it shows his long suffering expressions very well. There are other ways you can get wildlife shots from your home and they don’t all have to be of your dog, your cat, your pet hamster, iguana or any other type of pet.
Although I have to say that a snake as a pet might yield some interesting results.
But if you have a pond at home then you can maybe try for the fish, or the frogs that are bound to be attracted to your pond. You have all manner of insects to photograph not to mention such things as butterflies and ladybugs. And if you look hard enough there are always a myriad of birds hopping in and out of your garden as well as squirrels, chipmunks and maybe even raccoons. And if these don’t catch your fancy then I say go after your dog again, you can’t lose out with that!
RANDOLPH
If you were in the animal natural habitat along with them then you would get photographs of a different sort. But life’s full of little compromises and going to the zoo when you’re unable to visit these animals in their natural habitat is a great alternative.
___________________________________________________________________
That was my very first experience at wildlife photography and although I didn’t get too many great shots background-wise I did get many a candid shot of my dog who was admittedly curious at first of this new toy in my hands, and then latterly very long suffering. It got to the point that he would run under the table to get away from me and my camera because I had been hounding him so much (again, sorry for the pun).
I did however get some great portrait shots of him which I appreciate very much as it shows his long suffering expressions very well. There are other ways you can get wildlife shots from your home and they don’t all have to be of your dog, your cat, your pet hamster, iguana or any other type of pet.
Although I have to say that a snake as a pet might yield some interesting results.
But if you have a pond at home then you can maybe try for the fish, or the frogs that are bound to be attracted to your pond. You have all manner of insects to photograph not to mention such things as butterflies and ladybugs. And if you look hard enough there are always a myriad of birds hopping in and out of your garden as well as squirrels, chipmunks and maybe even raccoons. And if these don’t catch your fancy then I say go after your dog again, you can’t lose out with that!
RANDOLPH
Dec
12
A Look at the Crucial Steps in your Wildlife Photography
Filed Under Digital Photography | Comments Off
Muna wa Wanjiru asked:
When I first thought about doing wildlife photography I was a bit stuck for inspiration. I was in the middle of the city with no wildlife in sight, unless you counted the people milling all around me, and I wasn’t due up for another long vacation for at least a few months yet. So obviously wildlife photography in the wild was out, but someone very helpfully pointed me in the direction that I’m about to point you in now. What about the wildlife at the zoos? There was more or less all the wildlife that I could want just sitting there bored in their cages watching people make funny faces at them. (Sounds a bit like what a baby has to go through doesn’t it?)
But I still had to wait for the weekend for that and I was chafing at the bit to get into my stride in wildlife photography, when the second suggestion struck me as being the answer to all my troubles. Wildlife photography from home! I could get started immediately I went home, and if nothing else I could always go after the dog. Now that we’ve sorted out where you can take your wildlife shots, maybe we should now think about what kind of wildlife photography you were thinking of doing.
This is a crucial step in your wildlife photography but not something that you might want to look into just yet. You might still want to get your hands into everything to decide exactly what it is about wildlife photography that you like. Is it the thought of capturing on film the big cats like lions and tigers? Or maybe you want to photograph elephants. What about hippos, or zebras or even rhinos?
In the wild is where you get all the action, all the heart pounding terror of being in the wild along with the animals, knowing that you’re in their home court and that your advantage depends entirely on the guide who’s leading you around. This then is what many of the greatest wildlife photographers yearn to do and where they end up anyway. Whether the reality meets their expectation of the dream is another matter entirely.
They’re there, in the wild, with the ability to get up close and personal with their wildlife subjects. Nothing at all like the zoo back home, but then again what did you expect right? However, it’s also true that wildlife shots, are natural, don’t only have to be shots of the big game animals. Wildlife shots can be of anything that is considered wild. Take my dog for instance. I consider the shots that I took of him to be wildlife purely for the reason that there isn’t a tame bone in his body. He bounces and bounds around like nobody’s business and defends his territory with deep menacing growls. The fact that he wouldn’t hurt a fly is another matter entirely.
So although in-the-wild wildlife shots are great and look amazing, I would take whatever I can get, at least in the beginning. In the wild is preferably where you might like to take your wildlife photographs, but sometimes you just don’t have the choice or the ability to do that. In that case I would recommend that you start your sojourn into wildlife photography at the zoo. Going to the zoo will offer you the opportunity to catch some of the fiercest wildlife, if not in their habitats, then at their best and their worst. It’s a bit like catching a movie star in their baggy sweat pants with absolutely no makeup on them! It’s fascinating and you won’t necessarily get the chance for such candid shots if you were in their natural habitat.
ISSAC
When I first thought about doing wildlife photography I was a bit stuck for inspiration. I was in the middle of the city with no wildlife in sight, unless you counted the people milling all around me, and I wasn’t due up for another long vacation for at least a few months yet. So obviously wildlife photography in the wild was out, but someone very helpfully pointed me in the direction that I’m about to point you in now. What about the wildlife at the zoos? There was more or less all the wildlife that I could want just sitting there bored in their cages watching people make funny faces at them. (Sounds a bit like what a baby has to go through doesn’t it?)
But I still had to wait for the weekend for that and I was chafing at the bit to get into my stride in wildlife photography, when the second suggestion struck me as being the answer to all my troubles. Wildlife photography from home! I could get started immediately I went home, and if nothing else I could always go after the dog. Now that we’ve sorted out where you can take your wildlife shots, maybe we should now think about what kind of wildlife photography you were thinking of doing.
This is a crucial step in your wildlife photography but not something that you might want to look into just yet. You might still want to get your hands into everything to decide exactly what it is about wildlife photography that you like. Is it the thought of capturing on film the big cats like lions and tigers? Or maybe you want to photograph elephants. What about hippos, or zebras or even rhinos?
___________________________________________________________________
In the wild is where you get all the action, all the heart pounding terror of being in the wild along with the animals, knowing that you’re in their home court and that your advantage depends entirely on the guide who’s leading you around. This then is what many of the greatest wildlife photographers yearn to do and where they end up anyway. Whether the reality meets their expectation of the dream is another matter entirely.
They’re there, in the wild, with the ability to get up close and personal with their wildlife subjects. Nothing at all like the zoo back home, but then again what did you expect right? However, it’s also true that wildlife shots, are natural, don’t only have to be shots of the big game animals. Wildlife shots can be of anything that is considered wild. Take my dog for instance. I consider the shots that I took of him to be wildlife purely for the reason that there isn’t a tame bone in his body. He bounces and bounds around like nobody’s business and defends his territory with deep menacing growls. The fact that he wouldn’t hurt a fly is another matter entirely.
So although in-the-wild wildlife shots are great and look amazing, I would take whatever I can get, at least in the beginning. In the wild is preferably where you might like to take your wildlife photographs, but sometimes you just don’t have the choice or the ability to do that. In that case I would recommend that you start your sojourn into wildlife photography at the zoo. Going to the zoo will offer you the opportunity to catch some of the fiercest wildlife, if not in their habitats, then at their best and their worst. It’s a bit like catching a movie star in their baggy sweat pants with absolutely no makeup on them! It’s fascinating and you won’t necessarily get the chance for such candid shots if you were in their natural habitat.
ISSAC