Wildlife Photography across the Water: Tips and Techniques-To Flash or not to Flash

Wednesday 17 June 2009

Tips and Techniques-To Flash or not to Flash

When i was in Colorado i had an opportunity to shoot the lovely Stellas Jay, Its a bird i have seen in California but one that i have never managed to get a good image of, In Colorado we found a very willing subject,Obviously used to people and landed in front of us seconds after getting out of the car, Stellas Jays can be very difficult to shoot as have a very dark head and a black eye,Unless you can get the light right the eye disappears into the dark head and the image is useless, So i decided that flash would be the way to bring the eye 'out' the other difficult part was that the blue feathers reflected the light but the dark head absorbed the light, If i used enough flash to bring the eye out the feathers on the body looked 'overflashed' I decided to shoot with the flash but have the camera in continuous high mode so if i took a couple of quick shots the first would have flash and the second shot wouldn't,That way i could choose which to use, Here both are usable but many i shot only the flashed image worked, The flash was used with a better beamer as i was shooting with the 600F4,The images are unprocessed except for a small amount of sharpening-The first image has the flash and the second doesn't

1 comment:

Peter Edge24 June 2009 at 09:03
Is there some way you can HDR them and get the best of both worlds?
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.