Wildlife Photography across the Water: Techniques-on board Flash for wildlife continued

Friday 3 April 2009

Techniques-on board Flash for wildlife continued

Following on from Martins post yesterday I thought I would show my way of using flash with wildlife photography, Martin prefers the Manual exposure method whereas I like the AV method, When using flash in Manual the flash becomes the main light source whereas in AV or TV its just 'fill' lighting so where Martin needs to balance the flash with the ambient light to stop having a black background i simply need to compensate on the flash to stop over lighting the subject,When i used film/slide cameras in the past I found that by dialing in -1.7ev it gave perfect fill lighting,just enough to remove shadows and give a glint in the subjects eye,Today's sensors are more sensitive than film and i find that -2 1/3 is about right,obviously subject distance plays a part but at normal shooting distance like 6 metres with a 600mm lens this setting is good, At normal distances like this its not necessary to use a better beamer but i like to as it concentrates the light onto the subject,

Its a powerful tool and you will need to practice with it and keep an eye on the histogram, Flash is good but too much flash where it is obvious can also ruin an image,
I am off to the Great Smokie Mountains next week and hope to get some wildlife,macro and landscape shooting in, I am leaving Sunday so will be spending the day travelling but will leave a few words on correcting colour casts for Martin to post

Dave

3 comments:

Peter Edge3 April 2009 at 18:15
Dave, Martin
This is probably a dumb question but here goes.
If I use the better beamer for fill flash ie using AV will the background be thrown more out of focus than without flash or will it be exactly the same as without flash.
Thanks
Pete
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Dave4 April 2009 at 15:02
The camera will deal with the focus so that wont change but the bird/animal may appear to 'pop' more giving that effect

Dave
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Peter Edge5 April 2009 at 19:47
Thanks dave
Pete
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Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.