Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Nature Photography Section Three Recap

           Section three of our nature photography book is titled "Adventures with Wildlife."  This entire section of the book just came across as being very much common since to me.  It is something that I guess if you didn't know you maybe should know just for common interaction with animals or wildlife.  They all seemed like basic skills and was something that I think most people would understand.
          The first area we looked at was titled "Getting Close: Techniques to draw within camera range of wild subjects."  To me this section was pretty much all common sense.  It talked about strategies to get up close with wildlife.  These were things such as; knowing how the animal will react, approaching slowly, don't trap the animal or make it feel threatened, etc. It also talked about "tools" to use out in the field such as blinds and "incentives" such as peanut butter.  This whole section just seemed like stuff anyone would know about wildlife and animals in general.
            Next the book talked about "Animals in Action: Creating a stage and other techniques for recording animals in action."  Once again, a lot of this information seemed like common sense subjects.  The first main aspect focused on was title "know your habitats."  I would hope that anyone who was really getting out there in the field would know a thing or two about the area they are in.  You want to know what animals are around and what kind of a situation you will be dealing with.  You need to know what kind of places you would find them in and how they will be acting.   The thing that I thought was a little strange with this section was that it mainly focused on viewing animals in refuges or on a tour.  I guess this is typical for a lot of people but I would think that you would really study or research the animal as much as possible in their natural environment.
            The "Animals in Action" section also gave tips on how to shoot these scenes.  It talked about being where you want to be before sun rise.  This is mainly because animals work on a bit of a different clock than we do.  Arriving late to the scene will ultimatly leave you with not much to shoot and missing all the beginning of the day action.  It also talked about getting down and viewing the animal at their level.  It stated that by lowering your tripod you create a more "intimate" image.  You get that eye to eye view which allows for that much more intense image.  It also stated that setting a stage for a photo and almost waiting for what you anticipate to happen.   This technique is very common with a birds nest or a typical spot an animal may be seen.  This also leads back to just understanding the actions and the habitat of the subject you are trying to capture. 
              Lastly, section three of the book focused on "Wildlife Portraits: Layering the picture space and other techniques for expressive portraiture."  This area just talked about capturing the right image when dealing with more close up, one on one shots.  It talked about using more upclose lenses verses a wide angle or using telephoto to get that action shot they you may not be able to get close to.  A technique the book talks about using is the layering picture space.  This is a way to draw into the subject but by still revealing the habitat it lives in.  One common thing I would think of for this topic is by showing an animal bedded down.  Maybe you had a fawn bedded down in grass and you go the foreground as the grass, the midground as the fawn and the background as the surrounding scenery.  You do want to make sure that you have other key characteristics in the photo.
              These characteristics are things that make the photo.  You want to make sure that the subject in the photo is portrayed correctly.  Is it sized up in the image how it should be and is it something that someone would want to publish.  You want it to be interesting to a viewer and to draw them in.  By sizing the subject up correctly and making sure you are keeping the main subject sharp, especially facial features, you will capture the viewer. You want to make sure that you are always getting that image that you want to portray.  If you are getting a group shot, you want to make sure that all elements are visually interesting and you are not just slacking off in areas. 

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