11/6/2015

Nature Photography

Why Bother With Nature Photography?

Today Fundamentals: Tech Stuff

 Some Fundamentals Underlying Objectives:  Birds and Wildlife

 Insects: Butterflies, Dragonflies, Bugs 1. Get best image quality practical

 Landscapes 2. Increase the percentage of “keeper”  Flowers and Plants shots

Tradeoffs, tradeoffs, tradeoffs

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RAW vs JPG Tech Stuff

 Exposure • Usually manual or Av • MUST adjust speed/aperture or exposure compensation • Set histogram always on for display  Autofocus • Single point or single + surrounding pts • Back button focusing with continuous focusing (AF Servo)  RAW (vs. JPG)

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Fundamentals Birds and Wildlife

 Light • Quality • Direction

 Composition

Critical but we’ll only touch on today in some of the genre sections

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Birds and Wildlife

A Key Problem

Getting close enough

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Two Ways to Get Closer

 Stalking  Use a blind

Use your car as a blind when convenient

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A Key Way to Get Closer: Effective Focal Length Equipment

Camera/Lens Sweet Spots:  400mm on a Canon 7D crop DSLR

 Super zoom compacts 400mm x 1.6 = 640mm full frame equivalent  Crop DSLR using 400mm f5.6 lens • Canon 100-400mm L • Tamron 150-600mm (newer)  Canon 7D using 600mm f4 lens • Sigma 150-500mm (newer) + 1.4 teleconverter (making it f5.6) 600mm x 1.4 x 1.6 = 1,344mm  DSLR using 600mm/500mm f4 lens + teleconverter

The Well- Equipped Bird Photo- grapher Geek

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Default Set-Up For Birds Light

Turn on camera and start with:   Manual, esp. for birds in flight (sometimes Av) Quality of light  1/1000  Direction of light  f/8  ISO 400-1600 depending on amt of light  Fill flash  High speed continuous drive (unless using fill flash)  Handheld; occasionally tripod (with loose head for moving • For catchlight birds) • To supplement low light Have binoculars and field guide

Consider using Better Beamer and fill flash set to -1 to -1.7 flash exposure compensation

Take test shot and adjust from there

Quality of Light

Early morning or evening

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Harsher mid- day light

Direction of Indigo Bunting harsh light Light

-Side -Front -Back Lighting

P.S. Get Low

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Deep woods: Let your fill flash be your Fill Flash fast shutter

1/320 Fill light + F6.3 ISO catchlights 1250

340mm

Flash 600RT With Better Beamer

Exposure can be critical - check your histogram Wildlife Photography Rule of Thumb

When you get a good shot, shoot.

When you get another good shot, shoot again.

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What you didn’t see

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Best Place To Start?

Your backyard

And your pictures gradually get better

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Then add some tricks

Create backyard blinds

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Or use an actual blind (~$60)

How close to crop? Filling the frame

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Next Places To Try Another place to try:

 Adopt a local forest preserve, state and county park(s)

 Best time – early morning

 Go on local “led” field trips The zoo • ENSBC (Evanston North Shore Bird Club) http://www.ensbc.org/ • Lake-Cook Audubon http://www.lakecookaudubon.org/ • Volo Bog http://dnr.state.il.us/education/INTERPRT/volo/VOLOBOG.HTM#programs • Others: Chicago Audubon, DuPage Audubon, Chicago Ornithological Society, Illinois Ornithological Society

 Check IBET for current activity • Web only http://www.birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/IBET.html • IBET - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ILbirds/ - like LCCC Yahoo group • IL Birders Forum - http://www.ilbirds.com – for more discussions

Don’t forget post-processing (for legal changes)

Rarity or degree of difficulty is not a factor in CACCA competitions White overcast problem - Original capture

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You almost always want a different background

Key Factors

 Get out - create more opportunities

 Have camera with you

 Be patient

 Relax and enjoy nature – let photography be a plus

 Be ethical

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Bugs: Butterflies, Dragonflies, Bugs: Butterflies, Dragonflies, Damselflies, Insects Damselflies, Insects

 PhotoNaturalist free ebook: http://photonaturalist.net/how-to- photograph-dragonflies-free-ebook/

 Getting close up: • Macro lens • Closer focusing telephoto lens • Canon 500D close up diopter (for any DSLR make) • Extension tubes Working Distance and Magnification

Extension Tubes vs. Diopters Telephoto

with with only Extension Tubes Close-up Lenses

Lens Native Focal Length Magnification

12 mm 25 mm +2 Diopters +4 Diopters

→ 50 mm 0.15X 0.39X 0.65X 0.25X 0.45X

100 mm 0.14X 0.26X 0.39X 0.34X 0.54X

200 mm 0.16X 0.22X 0.29X 0.56X 0.96X

Lenses used for above comparison: Canon EF 50 mm f/1.4 USM, Canon EF 100 mm f/2.0 USM, Canon EF 200 mm f/2.8 II USM From Cambridge in Color Canon 500D http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/macro-extension-tubes- closeup.htm#calculator-closeup

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Telephoto + 500D diopter

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Some Considerations

 Best months: June-August (when birding is poorer)

 Narrow depth of field a key issue

 Be very conscious of the background

 Handheld or tripod

 Shoot in a flat plane parallel to your sensor Not parallel to sensor

Parallel to sensor Ditto with butterflies

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Look for ways to make it interesting

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Landscapes Landscapes

Light:

 Best light –30 mins before through early morning golden hour AND same in reverse for

 Side lighting best - front lighting can be flat looking

Flat front lighting Better side lighting

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A Sunrise Sequence Why Is Light Around Sunrise or Sunset So Prized?

Let’s see.

10 sec.-2.5 sec-30 sec HDR exposure @ f22 ISO 200

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.4 sec.-.1 sec-1.6 sec HDR exposure @f20 ISO 100

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1/5 sec.-1/60 sec-1/4 sec HDR exposure @ f14 ISO 100

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Alpenglow – before sunrise/after sunset

1/20 sec-1/80 sec-1/5 sec HDR exposure @f13 ISO 100

Default Set-Up If The Sky Is In The Picture

 Av mode (aperture priority)  F11 (or f22 if you need it) You MUST use either:  ISO 100 (or 200)  Wide-angle lens  On a tripod  HDR (or equivalent)  Use a circular polarizing filter  With a remote shutter release (or 2 sec timer)  Consider using mirror lockup if shooting in ¼ - 1 sec range  Graduated Neutral Density Filter

Use exposure compensation to get best first image exposure you can

 Take HDR - Use exposure bracketing +- 2 stops with three exposures or Graduated Neutral Density filter

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For night shots, use:

Shutter speed under 30 secs

ISO 400 or more

Fast lens f2.8 or better if available

Landscapes Background

Composition:  Try for foreground, mid ground, and background Midground

 Horizon line not in the center (ok for reflections)

 Have a clear subject

 Adjust your shooting position Foreground

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Example of a Centered Reflection Lovely Colors But What’s the Subject???

Adjust Your Shooting Position Some other considerations Up and down, side to side Don’t always shoot at eye level

Leading lines

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Moving water – 1/15 to 1/5th sec shutter (HDR too)

Black and White Don’t Forget to Shoot Panoramas

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Flowers

Flowers Flowers

 Bright but overcast days best  Photonaturalist ebook: http://photonaturalist.net/free-ebook-on- • Avoids harsh shadows wildflower-photography/ • Gives saturated colors  Close up equipment as with bugs

 Depth of field often crucial  Use diffuser or light box when sunny • Need high f stop to keep all of subject in focus • Results in slow shutter speeds so need tripod– although some shoot handheld  Wind is your enemy • Want out-of-focus background • Consider focus stacking or high/low f stop for post-processing

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f2.8 f22

Morning dew

100-400mm lens with 500D diopter

Two layers using layer mask

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The End

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