Wildlife Photography across the Water: Analasis of an image

Thursday, 16 February 2012

Analasis of an image

When was the last time that you took one of your images and had a good long hard look to see what you have done and how it could be improved?

Take a look at this fox image for example taken with a D7000 with a 200-400 on a tripod and 3xSB600 flashguns providing ALL the light, 2 in-front and 1 behind

Firstly whats good about it
1.The exposure looks pretty good, The flash is even and there are no blown whites in the fur, The rear flash giving some light behind the fox to add some depth

2. Sharpness is good no doubt to the use of a tripod and the flash has helped Freeze any movement

3. Good point of view due to the low eye level set up

4. Good background for editorial use-dark header for script etc

So what could be improved?

1. Better eye contact

2. The front left flash needs to be moved as its caused a shadow from the tree onto the fox, This images could have been bettered by the use of just 2 flashguns or 3 if the 2 front were on the right, 1 high and 1 low along with the 1 at the rear

3, The leaves in the foreground, I placed these there to hide the food morcels and give a more woodland feel to the image, I think that there are too few and would be better with more in the background.

The image is usable but can easily be improved upon, In my first session the fox approached the tree to my left where i had put some food down and had approached the trees carefully and slowly and poked its head around to get some food, It looked great and its an image that i thought would look good, I should have waited a bit longer to get the eye contact better but thought that the shot that i wanted would happen sooner rather than later and theres always another time (i hope)

Its always good practice to have a good look at your work and see what can be improved, Surely that's why we put images up on forums for critique

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.