Wildlife Photo Shoot part 2

This is my second post about the nature area I discovered on the Virgin River.  For this trip I planned an early morning trip.  I knew the sun would rise behind me and the sun would highlight my subjects.  I had initial success, but I will save that photograph until near the end.  So let's begin.

This is not much of a photograph.  I saw these birds and started sneaking up on them.  My technique is walk toward them at a slow pace until they stop feeding.  Then I stop and wait until they go back to feeding.   I wait a little while and then start walking toward them.  I keep repeating this until I think they have had enough and are about to fly.  I then stop and photograph what I can.  Sounds good on paper doesn't it.  They were actually being quite calm but then I made a mistake.  I raised my hand to scratch my head hit my sunglasses and knocked them to the ground.  I said "Bye ya'll" to them as they left, and bent to get those &^@(*^&$ glasses.  ISO 5.6, 1/500, ISO 100.

Sometimes though you expect to shoot birds, and it is sand that catches your eye.  There is something about the texture and the design that just fascinates me.  I am certain there is a restaurant in Vegas inspired by sand (see post below).  Anyway it was the sand that caught my attention.

F18, 1/50, ISO 100

F4, 1/1250, ISO 100

F22, 1/40, ISO 100  I kinda like the claw prints.

This is the restaurant I think is sand inspired.

F2, 1/25, ISO 800

This next photograph caught my eye, but I had a difficult time with it.  There was something missing.  I actually left it and took the above sand photographs and returned.   

F18, 1/50,ISO 100

I looked again and then took this photograph.  These are the blades of grass in the background of the first photograph.

F18, 1/50, ISO 100

I prefer this photograph to all the others.  

THis is one of the first photographs I took.  It is of Cinnamon Teal as they take flight.  I had been using my sneak technique, but I got too far into their comfort zone.  The zone, different for each animal, is the closest distance an animal will allow you to get before leaving town faster than a cat leaving a hot tin roof.  

F5.6, 1/1000, ISO 200

THis photograph was taken hand held with a 400mm lens.  THe significance is that the longer the lens the more it is subject to camera shake.  To overcome the bad effects of shake a fast shutter speed is needed then add birds in flight and the shutter speed had better be cranked up.  I am proud of the shot.  

This is one of the final photographs I took.  As you can see I am fairly close, and definitely inside the comfort zone.  In my previous trips I knew this to be a hangout for ducks.  I approached cautiously taking off my backpack, and checking my cameras settings.  I got down on my stomach.  Yes I did!  You weren't there, and shouldn't argue with me.  I inched forward on my stomach as my shirt, and pants filled with sand.  I got into position, and started shooting.  After about 10 minutes one of them spotted me, and it was off to the races.

F5.6, 1/1000, ISO 200

Lesson:

-Don't drop your sunglasses

-The longer the lens the faster the shutter speed needed.  In fact some say that you should multiply the mm of the lens to compensate.  Example: 100 mm lens will need a shutter speed of 1/200.  I'm not so sure, but the longer the lens, the more caution is needed.

-Be prepared to fill you shirt and pants with sand.

-Look for what it is that makes the photograph. The blades of grass in the shot above. 

Wildlife Photo Shoot part 1

The Virgin river flows through Mesquite.  This past winter the Virgin river flooded taking a number of homes and damaging two golf courses.  It also cleared out the dense undergrowth along its banks, and created some pools of water.  The other day I walked there.  I discovered a natural park with numerous birds.   I returned a few days later with a camera in hand to scout more throughly.

I shot this:

and this:

And this

I didn't think I would get a photos at all.   I was just wanting to check out the sun, see how close I could get to the birds and where they were hanging out.  I had gotten ready for my expedition by attaching a 400mm lens to the camera.  It is my longest telephoto lens.  To photograph I wanted to accomplish two primary goals freeze action, and isolate the subject.  So I set the camera to its lowest f-stop 5.6 which gave the shallowest depth of field.  This would help to isolate the subject against a busy background.   I also wanted a fast shutter speed.  I figured that any opportunity would be a moving subject.  I decided to try 1/800.  In order to achieve the  shutter speed I choose ISO 400.  This was the lowest ISO I could set and still achieve the shutter speed.  

I walked for a while and suddenly the mallards in the first photograph took flight.  I lucked out they circled me several times.  In the next 2 minutes and 30 seconds I took 32 photographs.  It would have been more but the sun was setting.   As they circled in the direction of the sunset they would be in the shadow and underexposed.  The lesson is to approach the subject with the sun behind you.  There is another lesson the time of day.  The hour just before sunset and the hour just after sunrise usually give the best light.  I walked home after the sun had set.  

The second two photographs have a couple more lessons.  

This is the first shot I took in the set.  Those are Cinnamon Teals in the foreground.  There is also a little guy to the left of the American Avocet (thanks Dottie).   Well If I would chosen a a smaller f-stop (f11-f22), maybe, just maybe I could have gotten the teals in focus and improved this shot immensely.  But, I have this thing for birds like the Avocet.  I just focus on them.  Later, I realized that the Teals were there and got the shot I posted of them.   The little guy to the left of the Avocet flew before I could feature him.  

So here are my lessons

- Get ready.  Decide your camera settings, and the equipment needed.

-Hour before sunset and sunrise provide excellent light.

-Learn from my mistake.  Do not focus one thing and see the whole.  THe opposite is also true do not focus on the whole and forget about the parts.  

-It is usually better to approach with the sun behind you.  

  

Light outside the camera

Shutter speed, ISO, and F-stop control light in camera, now the rest of the story.  There are more light sources outside the camera than there are purchasers of the Sport Illustrated swim suit issue.  Let's see; turn on or off the light, open/close the blinds, turn on a monitor, light a match, and then a candle, reflection of the sun off tin foil, oh that flash on the camera, car headlights, or a mirror.  All of those are light sources and I have not even scratched the surface.  There has been more written on this than there are sources.  If you think I'm gonna talk about all this junk in detail, then you think I would walk against traffic on the strip in Las Vegas.  Cabbies would kill you in a second.  Well anyway there are a lot of light sources, and a lot has been written about them.  I am going to discuss briefly discuss the reason this is important and then discuss the use of flash.  

Cameras do not see the way we do.  We can see details in the shadows and bright sunlight, but cameras can only see one or the other.    This explains why there are parts of a photograph overexposed and parts underexposed or visa versa.  The picture of the flower below illustrates the point.

There is not a backdrop used in the photograph.  The flower was in bright sunlight, but the background was in shadow.  The camera could not see the shadowed area because the camera was set to see the flower.  If the camera had been set to see the background the detail on the flower would have been overexposed.   The lesson here is that you can't have it both ways.  If you want to shoot both the shadow and the light  then either more light needs to be added to the shadows or the lighted area needs to shaded.  This is the reason so many different light sources are used.  

The most used source of artificial light in photograph is the flash.  It is also the light source I see misused the most.  There are three misuses of the flash I'm going to discuss.

The first problem is understanding the lack of flash power.  I frequently see pics like this: 

                                          

The wall is lit, but that is me in the shadows.  There is just not enough light, because the flash is not strong enough.  You would be better off to try a higher ISO and a slower shutter speed.  Unless you find me that ugly and then the photograph would have achieved your goal.  By the way if the flash will not light me then it will not light up an auditorium.  Those graduation pics will light the bald spots on the back of heads, but Johnny or Sue will be in darkness.  Those on board flashes light up from 6 to 12 feet.  That's all folks.  Here is a pic adjusting the ISO, shutter speed, and F-stop.   Sometimes the flash just doesn't cut it.

Here is another problem. 

Yes I have looked better, but that is not the deal here.  It is that blob of light.  All you young ladies taking that pic into the mirror.  Well it has gone to the ugly.  Not as bad as me of course but none the less.  The same thing will happen if you try to shoot through glass.  It will be ugly.  Control your selves do not do it.  If there is glass between you and the subject there will be ugly.  The same thing will happen if there is glass behind the subject.   Again, try turning off the flash and adjusting the ISO, shutter speed and F-stop.

And yet another problem:

                                          

Notice the wrinkles in the forehead, the slits where eyes belong, the crinkled nose, the shadow of the leaves on my head.  This happens frequently with the subject looking into the sun.  The photograph is ugly.  Turn the subject so they face away from the sun, or place them in the shade and turn on the flash    

                                      

Oh, look how handsome he is now.  Well he isn't looking at the camera, but what do you expect?   So there you have it sometimes in doors you should turn the flash off.  I know everyone and their brother has told you inside use the flash, but try it.  Going outside, hey, try turning the flash on.  Inside flash off, outside flash on.  This isn't always going to work.  Most of the time flash inside will work, and no flash outside will work, but consider the situation.  SO before you shoot think flash on, flash off; flash on, flash off .  thanks Miyagi

  

Yosemite

Well I was going to post about light sources outside the camera, but Lou and I went to Yosemite.

Let's start at the beginning, packing.  They were predicting weather from 20's to 70's.  Packed wide range of clothing.  I grabbed two cameras, and a video camera.  I got every camera battery I owned, flash gun, tripod, monopod, two camera bags,  flash cards, bag full of AA batteries and set it all aside.  The aside thing was the problem.  When we returned from Yosemite the tripod, monopod, and flash cards were still setting aside.  I forgot them.  We got most of the way there before I discovered the mistake.

Folks I can overcome a lot of problems.  I can get by without tripods and monopods.  I consider myself resourceful, but lack of flash cards renders a camera useless.   BUt, Lou fed Best Buy into the GPS and  it told us exactly how to get there.  No sooner than Lou had finished doing it than that little voice said turn right.  Lou was doing about 65 on an interstate in the outside lane.  We watched as the exit disappeared, and listened as that infernal machine said recalculating.  Anyway I got the needed cards, and lost about an hour.

As we got closer our anticipation grew.  The road became crooked and the mountains we could see had snow on them.  It was not long before there was snow on the side of the road.  There were more and more turns on the road.  The snow got deeper.  We traveled on and the snow got deeper.  Then there was the sign: Chains Needed.   Now Lou and I heard of people needing food, clothing but Chains?  Just then I looked out the window on my side of the car and all I could see was snow.  It had to have been 3 feet at least.   We were committed and continued on.  We now also knew why the sign was there.  Other drivers before us had found themselves in the same predicament and had created the sign asking others who had chains to share.  THis only lasted for a short time before it got worse.   OK I am exaggerating.  THe road did stay clear, but you should see the snow removal removal equipment.  Those machines could clean snow from the antarctic.  It was at least 3 foot of snow in places.


Finally we turned a corner, went through a tunnel and :

f8, 1/500, ISO 100

SO I start through my lenses, and knew instantly that I needed a tripod.  I was laying in a puddle resting my camera on rock wall to hold it steady.  From this point forward we were treated to beauty everywhere we looked.

f8, 1/500, ISO 100

Lou and I have collected waterfalls for years and this was a treat.  We could hardly wait to get settled, and start some serious explorations.  We registered at Curry Village and headed to our tent cabin.  I did not know it at the time but everywhere in the park they give the Yosemite temp and the Curry Village temp.  Curry is always colder by about 10 degrees.  There is a considerable difference between 30 and 20.  It is colder.  I'm getting ahead of my story though.  Let me show you our tent cabin.

Now let me get back to the cold.  It was cold in those tents there was no heat.  We slept in pants, long johns, socks, t-shirt, shirt, and sweat shirt, sleeping bags with liners and still froze. 

By the way did you see the snow next to the tent, and those puddles actually had large mouth bass in them.   THe green box next to the door was a bear box.

Oh noo!! I'm not kidding.

                                      

f5.6, 1/640, ISO 400

The next day we bought a tripod and sleeping bags.  THe bags kept us pretty warm, and the tripod sucked.  It did serve the purpose.

The next morning we got our first treat:

f5.6, 1/1250, ISO 200

Then another

f18, 1/50, ISO 100

Then another

F9, 320, ISO 100

One of Lou and I

f5.6, 320, ISO 800

Well anyway we had a great time, and we have a bunch of photographs, new sleeping bags, a tripod that sucks, and great memories in spite of the cold.   Beauty just seems to over come discomfort.    You will have to wait to see more pics until I up date the web site.

ISO, Shutter Speed, F-stop Examples

THis entry has 11 photographs with brief explanations of my choices for ISO, shutter speed and F-stop.  I will try to remember to post them with my photographs on Facebook also.

This first photograph is of Horse Bend just outside Page Arizona.

ISO 100, shutter speed,  Shutter speed 1/25, F-stop 22 (F22).  My primary concern was to have the whole photograph sharp and is the reason for the high F-stop.  Since there was no motion shutter speed was not a concern.  I did want to risk any digital noise so I used a low ISO 100.

F4, 1/500 Shutter Speed, ISO 400.  I wanted to freeze motion, and used 1/500.  The elevated ISO was to insure the shutter speed, and F4 was to provide sufficient depth of field.

F5.6, 1/640, ISO 800.  This the highest ISO I trust for my camera.  I wanted to freeze action, and still didn't.  Little buggers are hard to stop.  I would have liked to get to 1/1000 but I would have underexposed the shot.  THe F5.6 is the lowest I can achieve with this lens.  Don't you just love the flowers?

F4,1/2500, ISO 200.  Here I wanted to freeze action.  THe primary consideration was the shutter speed, and is the reason it was so high.  The F-stop was set to insure she was sharp, and the ISO was slightly elevated to help with the shutter speed.

Dallas.   F2.8, 1/25, ISO 800.  There was hardly any light.  So I raised to the highest ISO I trust, shot at the slowest shutter speed I trust, and set the F-stop to the lowest the lens would handle.  Not bad for hand held.

Las Vegas. Bellagio Fountain at night.  F2.8, 1/25, ISO 400.  I could have made a couple of changes here.  I should have raised the ISO to 800 and raised the shutter speed to 1/50 or there abouts (new word).  On the other hand the motion of the water did not hurt that much.  Many people when they shoot a pic like this use a flash, but I suggest not doing so.  The flash isn't strong enough to do any good.  Just go with the light on the fountain.  There was enough light.  I also shot this through glass.  The flash would have ruined it.  The light would have bounced off the glass and made an ugly.  You might as well turn off the flash if there is glass.

F9, 1/500, ISO 100.  Well here I went over to the ugly side.  Almost makes me shutter to think I'm posting this "pic".  I needed a faster shutter speed or a slower bird.  I could have used a lower F-stop, or higher ISO.  Then I could have gotten a faster shutter speed.

 F7.1,  1/2500, ISO 200.  THe challenge here was to stop motion, and is the reason for a high shutter speed.  The F-stop could have been higher and maybe the birds would have been sharper.  The ISO was to help with the shutter speed.  I stood and shot for about an hour.  I had never shot waves like this and needed to find a setting that would work.

F1.4, 1/6400, ISO 200.  My idea here was to focus attention on the stamen.  I chose the shallow depth of field, and the high shutter speed to off set it.

F8, 1/800, ISO 200.  I was hoping the purple ones would be sharp, but they weren't.  I should have used a slower shutter speed and a higher F-stop.

F22, 1/10, ISO 50.  Here to get that flowing look of the water fall required a slow shutter speed.  I had to use a tripod.  THe F-stop setting and ISO were set to help get that slow shutter speed.

I hope these examples help you understand ISO, F-stop, and shutter speed.  I have not told you all the whole story though.  All DSLR's have settings allowing the photographer to decide the F-stop and letting the camera to decide the shutter speed or the photographer to decide shutter speed and the camera to decide the F-stop.  I can not help much with the settings, because each manufacturer is different.  I suggest you find something stationary and mess with the settings.  Go ahead over/underexpose a few photographs and change each of the settings, you will learn.  You will start to recognize the trade off among ISO, shutter speed, and F-stop.

There is another dynamic about depth of field I should have discussed.  THe distance that is sharp changes as you get closer or further away from the subject.  As you get closer the distance that is sharp will get smaller, and if you get further away it will get greater.  Now I know there is a scientific explanation for this, but you will not find it here.  It is just not my cup of expresso. So anyway if you are 100 feet away from the subject maybe 2 feet will be sharp, but if you are 10 feet away only 4 inches will be sharp.  Now just so you understand I just made all those numbers up.  I'm just hoping you understand.  If not well write me.

I have had a couple of people talk to me recently about wildlife photography.  They wanted to know how to get those photographs.  Wild life photographers are good hunters.  They have learned patience.  They can wait on a subject for a long time.  They get to understand the subject's habits.  They have equipment ready.  I will usually put my 400mm lens on the camera before leaving the house or car.  I will set it at the fastest shutter speed the light will allow and then adjust ISO and F-stop accordingly.  There is just not a way to set ISO, shutter speed, or F-stop as turkeys fly off or deer bolt.   It just doesn't happen.

Next time light outside the camera.

F-stop

Here it is the last way to control light in camera.  It is called F-stop.   The F-Stop in days gone by was set on the lens, but now it is controlled usually by a wheel on the camera.  It is stated using numbers like 1.4, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, or 22.    It is the result of a opening in the shutter.  The smaller the number the larger the opening and more light is allowed to the sensor.  The larger the number the smaller the opening and less light gets to the sensor.  So, at an F-stop of 4 more light gets to the sensor than at F-stop 16.  As with ISO and shutter speed there is another dynamic.  It is called depth of field.

Before I continue I must admit ignorance.  I know the end result, but I have little to no understanding about the science regarding depth of field, and I really don't want to know.  I will use the word "focus" to discuss the end result, but it actually has to do with the way light is interpreted in camera not with camera focus.  I will also use the word sharp.  For those of you who want to understand the workings, I applaud you, but I'm not going to deal with it here.

Depth of field defined by me is the part of the photograph that is sharp.  With a smaller F-stop less of the photograph will be sharp.  It is best understood by using examples.

 THis is a picture of forks.  It is taken with an F-stop of 1.4.   There are not many forks in focus.

 THis photograph was taken at F4.  There are a few forks in focus.

 THis photograph was taken at F8.  Almost all the forks are in focus.

This photograph was taken at F22.  Everything is in focus.

Just like shutter speed and ISO improper F-stop settings can result in an under/overexposed photograph.  With the F-stop set too low the photograph will be overexposed photograph with it set too large the photograph will be underexposed.   The other dynamic is the amount of the photograph that is in focus.  With a low numbered F-stop less of the photograph will be in focus and with a high numbered F-stop more of the photograph will be in focus.  This dynamic is called depth of field.

Depth of field is often used to focus attention, or to detract attention, and opens up many different opportunities for photographers, it is best demonstrated with examples.

This photograph was shot with an F-stop of 1.8.  It focuses attention on her finger, and should at least make the viewer wonder what the &%(*#$%^ is going on. 

Just like in the fork examples here is a use of depth of field to focus attention on the model.   The camera was set to F4.

These were shot using F4 (F-stop 4) .  These photographs are meant to be symbolic of their relationship.

This photograph was shot at F22.  All of it needed to be in focus.  

This photograph also was shot at F22 for the same reason.

To conclude F-stop can be used to correct an over/underexposed photograph.  For an overexposed photograph the F-stop should have been set to a higher number, allowing less light to get to the sensor.  If the photograph was underexposed the photographer should have used a lower number allowing in more light.  So now you have three different ways to correct exposure: shutter speed, ISO, and F-stop.  There have been more books written on this than there are tics on a coon dog.  The trick for the photographer is deciding what to adjust and when.  My final post on controlling light will be to summarize.