Wildlife Photography across the Water: Tips & Techniques

Tuesday, 16 June 2009

Tips & Techniques - Lighting Control

A couple of nights ago I went to the Orchid site to get some more images. One of the things I wanted to do was to share the results of using full sunlight, with and without fill flash and diffused light, with and without flash.

For consistency I set the camera up on a tripod, with the 1Dmk111, used the Canon 100f2.8 macro in Av mode at f9.0, and the metering set in Evaluative mode. All images were set to -1/3 EV comp and the subject distance was 0.69m.

I have just straight processed the RAW file - no tweaks, and just resized to 600pixels, and one light stage of sharpening just for the web and the colour space converted to srgb. Camera was set to AWB and unchanged in the RAW conversion.

For the flash shots, I used the Canon MR14 ring flash, set to ETTL mode. For the diffuser I used a large circular Lastolite diffuser that was hand held over the subject.

Click on the image to enlarge to see in better detail, and then hit the back button to get back as the images don't open in a separate window unfortunately

Full sunlight - no flash

Full sunlight with fill flash set to minus 1 EV

Hand held Diffuser - no flash

Hand held Diffuser - fill flash set to zero EV compensation

Hand held Diffuser - fill flash set to minus 1 EV

It would be good to get your feedback and comments as to what you think provides the most pleasing and natural image, and why you think that.

So over to you.

Martin

8 comments:

Old_Stan17 June 2009 at 09:51
I like the hand held diffuser - no flash best.

Stan
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WPATW17 June 2009 at 13:15
Thanks for the comment Stan.

Martin
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Anonymous17 June 2009 at 17:13
Hi Martin,
hand held diffuser no flash ,natural colours,
fill flash set to compensation minus ev gives it vitality,this is the third viewing perhaps my untrained eye finds it difficult.
What an amazing flower
Cheers Terence Smith
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Elliot18 June 2009 at 09:27
I agree with both comments that the diffuser on its own gives the best result. Close behind would be the diffuser with flash at -1.
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WPATW18 June 2009 at 12:16
Thanks for the comments Terry and Elliot - much appreciated.

These views concur with my own in this context

Martin
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norfolk.enchance18 June 2009 at 19:44
Martin, it has to be Hand held Diffuser - no flash for me. Better colour saturation and a much more natural light.

Ross
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Lez24 June 2009 at 09:44
Hi Martin

Prefer the Hand Held diffuser too, gives a more muted BG too.

Lez
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WPATW24 June 2009 at 15:32
thanks for the responses Ross and Lez - always good to get feedback on here. Your views both coincide with my won

Martin
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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.