Wildlife Photography across the Water: High ISO

Sunday 26 July 2009

High ISO

Technology never stays still and camera bodies are getting forever more complex and complicated, One thing that has improved wildlife photographers life has been the new bodies with better processors and better quality pixels, This has allowed us to use ISO's that we could never have dreamed of a few years ago, My Canon 1D MK2 was good at ISO 200 and OK at 400, this changed with the 1D MK3 which was good at 400 and OK at 800 and even 1600 in some circumstances was usable-by this i mean no clean backgrounds like sky, Nikon went another step forward by offering a camera with a full frame sensor but with only 12 mp so each pixel was big allowing lots of light to be grabbed and the use of high ISO to be used and usable, being old school and being bought up on film/slide i still try to keep the ISO as low as possible but by having the use of the D3 it has meant that where i would normally be packing up through lack of light i can now carry on by increasing my ISO and still get very usable good quality images, In June i shot late one evening when a marmot sat next to the road,the light was dropping fast and i ended up shooting at ISO1600, i had a clean background and was very careful to make sure that the exposure was as good as i could get by looking at the histogram,This is very important in any shot but more so when you are using a high ISO, any playing around in photoshop to sort the exposure will bring grain out, I was amazed at the results-perfectly clean and no grain,i know that there are noise reduction software out now that are very good but i cant use these for shots going to agencies and i don't really like to use them on fur or feathers, Canons new 5D MK2 is also getting a good name for using high ISO and has nearly twice the pixels-very impressive,but it doesn't matter what you use-if you are going to use high ISO its very important that you get the exposure right in camera and not rely on PS to help you out

Dave

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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.