Caribbean Flamingo, Phoenicopterus ruber
Often called the American Flamingo, the Caribbean Flamingo, Phoenicopterus ruber is found in the Caribbean as well as the Galapagos Islands. It was considered a subspecies of the Greater Flamingo of the Old World but was raised to full species.
This image was taken of a captive bird in Pittsburgh’s National Aviary. The background comes out dark by using some fill flash.
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Borers Falls: Finished Image
For my purposes, HDR processing is successful if the viewer is not sure if it was used. Lets call this HDR Lite.
I have been working on a project to photograph Ontario’s waterfalls, and often these images have a large dynamic range. Consider that these images my be required to record the near white of the water to the near black of rock crevices and it is easy to see that it could be a problem for any camera.
HDR (High Dynamic Range) processing is designed to tackle this type of problem, it is a process where a series is taken of the same scene with a range of exposures. An example may be three images taken at -1, regular, and +1 exposure. These are then combined in the computer for a composite image. I use Photomatix for this.
 Minus 2 Exposure |
 0 Exposure |
 Plus 2 Exposure |
Above are the base exposures used at -2,0,+2 exposure (You can click on them for a large resolution). While I didn’t want an extreme example of HDR processing, I did want to bring out the natural fall colors as well as the complete dynamic range. Photomatix has different processing methods available but each on their own was not what I was looking for. Lets take a look.
Details Enhancer
The above image is the result of using Details Enhancer at the default settings. I like the foliage detail it has brought out but it lacks contrast and is too light.
Tone Compressor
This image above was processed using the Tone Compressor method. I like the contrast and color but it is too dark and lacks detail.
Lets see if we can get this porridge just right. I opened both images in Photoshop and copied one as a layer to the other. I then adjusted the Opacity of the second layer to incorporate the best features of each image. This can range from 30-70% but often I find I am happy with it at 50%.
For waterfalls, HDR processing has a bonus in that it gives the water a nice blur.
Thanks for reading this, I hope you find it useful.
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Mute Swan, Cygnus olor
I have been wanting to photograph some local Mute Swan, Cygnus olor, in a high key, that is highly exposed to emphasize the whiteness of their plumage. What I had in mind was something that was basically black and white except for the deep red of the beak. I waited for a day that was misty and overcast because I didn’t want any bright sunlight.
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Rugosa Rose, Rosa rugosa
Not long ago I wrote a post on Image Stacking and some of the software that can be used with it. It is often used with things like macro shots of insects but I also see it as a very useful technique with wildflowers where the lens used may not always provide a lot of Depth of Field. With this image and the angle shot from, if I used my 180 macro lens to focus on the center stamens, both the petal edges and leaves would be out of focus. I ended up taking a series of 9 images ranging from focus on the edge of the petals and gradually moving back to the leaves. The images were processed in Zerene Stacker which combined them to give a focused image throughout that range.
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Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea
 1st of 4 |
 4th of 4 |
I have been photographing wildflowers this year and my favorite lens for this is the Canon 180mm. It is extremely sharp and a great macro lens but it has a very shallow depth of field, so much so that it is usually not possible to get the close and far sides both in focus. An interesting solution to this is image stacking. This involves taking a series of shots with the focus changing from the front to the back and having at least one shot of each area in focus in one of the images.
The next step is to combine the images into a single image and this can be done in a number of specialist software programs. Among them are CombineZP (free program), Zerene Stacker ( free for now) and Helicon Focus ($30 but there is a 30 day free trail available). The image at the top is a stack of 4 images processed in Helicon Focus.
At this point I still have a lot to learn about this technique but it looks like a useful tool. Later this year I am planning on doing some extreme macros of insects and will probably need to use about 20+ images.
Here are a couple more results, both from stacks of 4 images.
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1. Poor Focusing Blur
2. Camera Shake Blur
3. Subject motion blur
4. Too much Contrast
5. Vignetting
6. Crooked Horizon
7. Lens Distortion
8. Lens Flare
9. Chromatic aberration
10. Red eyes
11. Noise
12. Color correction needed
13. Incorrect Exposure
14. Sensor Dust
15. Correct Sharpening needed
Poor Focus Blur
In the image above the sharpest focus is on the foreground grass rather than subjects behind.
The majority of images that aren’t sharp are caused by you or your camera. The wrong area was chosen for the area of focus. You can improve by becoming more aware and meticulous in your point of focus. It is often useful to reduce the number of focusing points to one. While this is often the center point, you need to occasionally use an outer point for best results. Know how to change it on the fly.
Since it is difficult to educate your camera, it can be better to make some decisions yourself. This involves getting out of the program mode.
Camera Shake Blur
Looking at the above image, you will see areas were there is a ghost or duplicate. This is typical of camera shake, the shutter speed was not sufficient to freeze the motion caused by hand holding the camera while shooting.
One of the easiest solutions is to use a tripod. You can also change the settings to increase the shutter speed by increasing the ISO or decreasing the Depth of Field or f-stop.
Another good practice is to learn how to han hold shoot with a minimum of shake. Lock the elbow of the hand holding the camera against the body, keep your legs spread and press the shutter very softly.
Subject Motion Blur
The back wing of this female Red-winged Blackbird is blurred because I didn’t have a fast enough shutter speed. The common “solution” to this situation is to say that you meant to do it, to show a sense of motion. Baloney!! While there are occasions when a blur looks great, most of the time an image looks much better without it.
This usually happens when you are shooting a relatively still subject who suddenly moves. Since these movements properly captured can be some of the best, especially for nature photographers, you need to anticipate them to get them. This means set your camera to a much faster speed than is needed with your still subject, and you will be ready for that action shot.
Too much Contrast
Although greatly improved in the last few years, cameras can only handle so much Dynamic Range, that range of exposure from the darkest to the lightest. This commonly happens on bright days when the areas in shadow lose detail or become “blocked”.
The solution has been to avoid shooting in these conditions or to expose for that part of the image that is important.
A new solution is using HDR (High Dynamic Range) processing. This involves multiple exposures of the same subject processed by software such as Photomatix to bring out details at both ends of the exposure.
Vignetting
Vignetting is where the brightness of an image falls off towards its edges. It is not always a problem, in fact it can often be an artistic effect which helps highlight the central area, and is often deliberately used in things like wedding photography.
It can be caused by filters and holders, as well as lens hoods, or by the nature of the lens design. Full frame cameras such as the Canon 5D tend to be more prone to it.
You can change your depth of field to eliminate or lesson the problem. You can also eliminate it in processing, photoshop’s raw conversion has an excellent adjustment available to fix the problem, and this can be set as a default for the camera should you want to.
Crooked Horizon
A very common problem in landscape shots, where the tripod may be set up on uneven or soft ground.
There are bubble level devices which are part of some tripod heads or which can be added to them. This may be a good idea if you shoot a lot of landscape.
However there is an easy fix in photoshop using the ruler tool. Here is a tutorial that was posted previously on this.
10 Seconds for a Perfectly Level Horizon
Lens Distortion
To a greater or lesser degree, lens will show a slant of lines that should be straight. The problem becomes worse the closer you are to the subject.
If you do a lot of architectural photography, you may want to invest in a Tilt/Shift lens, which is designed to deal with this problem.
You can also deal with it in processing. Following is a Photoshop tutorial dealing with
Lens Flare CC License from orangeacid
Lens flare occurs when light entering the lens bounces off of the various elements. Sometimes creative photographers use it for effect but often it is an unwanted addition.
It is caused when the sun or other bright light shines down the barrel of the lens. As well as watching where you are shooting, you can also give yourself more leeway by using a lens hood.
An unwanted lens flare can often not be fixed in processing. If it is minor, you can increase the image contrast to regain what was washed out, and you can attempt to clone out stronger portions.
Chromatic aberration
Chromatic aberration occurs when the lens fails to focus all of the colors to the same point. This is more of a problem with poorer quality lens. In the example above, the “lens” was a sighting scope held agains a Point and Shoot camera.
This can be reduced by increasing the focal length where possible. In can be corrected in processing by selecting the portion of the image where it occurs and desaturated for the troublesome color.
Red eye CC Licence from noelzialee
Red eye occurs when a flash is used resulting in a reflection of light off the back structure of the eye. There is also a similar effect called steely eye where some animals eyes have a look of blue steel caused by reflected flash.
The fix in processing is a fairly simple one. Select the portion of the eye effected and desaturate for red and then darken. Some editing programs have a special menu command to accomplish this.
Noise
Noise in a photograph is the appearance of faint color speckles in an image, often green or orange in color. There are various causes like the heat generated by the camera sensor or the amplification of the background electrical. Smaller sensor cameras like many Point and Shoots are more prone to this problem.
DSLR cameras have come a long way in reducing the noise from their cameras. Five years ago, shooting at 800ISO from my Canon body generated noise in an image that I would need to deal with. In my latest Canon body this problem area is more like ISO3200.
There are effective ways of dealing with Noise in processing an image. Most RAW converters have a Noise reduction function, and, in fact, in the image above, the default setting in the RAW conversion eliminated the noise. Photoshop also has tools to eliminate noise included. Additionally their are programs which do the job (and often for free). A couple of the most popular are Noise Ninja and Neat Image.
Color Correction needed
Unless directed, your camera makes the decision as to the White Balance in your image, and if you wish to change the result, you need to Color Correct it.
The easiest way to Color Correct an image is in the RAW conversion where you have the oppurtunity to adjust the White Balance. In the above image, I found the color of the snow was too blue and needed correction.
There are a couple of tutorials on the subject of Color Correction which you may find useful
Quick and Dirty Cast Correction
Incorrect Exposure CC Licence by lkhlasulamal
One of the problems faced by new photographers is getting a proper exposure. There is a temptation to let the camera decide on the exposure but this often results in under or over exposure.
The ideal is to get in right before processing. You need to learn to adjust the exposure based on the individual scene and this takes experience. You can make adjustments after viewing the image in the view screen and re-shoot. The slang term for this is “chimping”. You also need to learn your camera’s metering modes and apply what is best. For example bird photography is often improved by spot metering.
Processing can improve exposure problems primarily by using the Level and Curve commands. I have posted four tutoria;s on adjustment which may be useful.
Sensor dust
This Laughing Gull was taken at the end of a two week trip to Cape Hatteras and by that time I had accumulated a couple of stubborn globs of dust on my camera body sensor. Sensor dust is a problem of modern digital cameras and one that most photographers have had to deal with.
The first step is prevention. Dust enters when lenses are changes. Use a lot of care when you change that you try to do it in as dust free a situation as possible. Use a blower to give the sensor a squirt of air on a regular basis. Finally, don’t forget to clean your lens caps, probably the main source of dust.
If you do get dust on your sensor that a blower won’t remove you will need to have it cleaned. You can do it yourself (Google: Sensor cleaning) or have a camera dealer do it for you.
Cleaning a dust specked image is a fairly easy matter with the dust or clone tools. Lightroom will allow you to batch this process to do multiple images at once, a function not available at Photoshop.
Sharpened Image
Its been said that every image from a digital camera needs some sharpening. I think that is close to being true even if you only have the sharpening that is done automatically in camera.
However, it is usually the case that only a part of your image needs sharpening, and you want to do it in a way that leaves no artifacts, that is, no halos, jaggies, bands or noise.
There is probably no type of processing that has so many different methods, and every photographer swears theirs is the best. So here is a tutorial on my way of sharpening. And by the way, I swear it is the best.
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Red-breasted Merganser Diving
I was photographing Red-breasted Mergansers recently and decided I would try to get an image of one diving. I cannot give you a good reason for wanting to do such an odd thing but it gave me two quick results
However, after watching them for a few hours, I realized that they often had a “tell”, something that would let me know they were going to dive. Not always, but occasionally they would tense or hunch a bit, before they dived. Most of my attempts were still unsuccessful, but I was able to get a few images. And here they are.
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I have posted an update to this photographic guide which includes revisions, as well as new material. While it has been based on photographing raptors in the winter, it should be useful in all seasons.
Guide to Photographing Raptors
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I spend a lot of time photographing raptors and, of course, they can be very wary. Every so often I catch up with an individual who seems a lot less so. When this happens, its important to have patience. Don’t get a few good shots and start looking for something new. Keep with your subject and work it. Think about light and flight angles and where you should be positioned. Try some close up, or farther away. Be ready for unusual action. Make the most of this gift.
| This juvenile Red-tailed Hawk was intent on something in the grass and allowed me to park my car very close to him.
He gave me a few glances but became more and more comfortable with my proximity. He moved from post to post, allowing a variety of flight shots. |
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| Seeing something in the grass below, he crouched for a closer look. After pouncing, he seemed convinced there was a meal close.
Finally he grabbed the tuft of grass and moved it to a post where he examined it bit by bit, but no joy. |
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| After a bit of a scratch, and some unnecessary rudeness, our session was done. | |
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Guide to Photographing Raptors Index
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I have visualized the above image for quite a while, a Mourning Dove coming in to land with it’s long tail feathers spread, the white diamonds flashing. When I picked up a Phototrap Infrared Triggering system from Arizona Inventor Bill Forbes, my first project was to try to get this shot. The device works by sending out an infrared signal which is detected by a sensor. This triggers the camera, and it can be set to fire when the signal is joined or interrupted. Since I had plenty of Mourning Doves coming to my backyard feeders, I could work on it right away. Setting up the equipment turned out to be easy but working out the details of getting good images turned out to be a lot of trial and error but a very enjoyable experience.
Some of the problems that needed to be solved where as follows:
1. Where to set the sensor and in what triggering mode? I set up the sensor about 1.3 m. (45″) in front of the feeder and about 0.5 m. (18″) below it. It was set with the source and detector together facing up, and would trigger when the sensor received the signal reflected when the subject intervened. In this way, it was completely clear of the camera framing. The black rubber tub inverted under the sensor is to stop the squirrels from using it as a springboard into the feeder.
2. How to corral the subjects in to a more or less predictable flight path to the feeder? The feeder was closed off on three sides. I watched which way the birds approached the open side and placed the sensor on the most common path. This was certainly hit or miss, but even a low level of “hits” was fine for this project.
3. How far away to set the camera? This turned out to be one of the more important items. At first I set up much to close, but finally settled on about 6m. (20′). This allowed a greater depth of field compared to a close shot, and therefore gave me room for a greater shutter speed.
4. What camera settings to use? It became clear right away that a high shutter speed was critical,and was in the region of 1/2000-2500 sec. minimum. This was because there was no ability to pan a moving subject and also the subjects would make a very fast wing movement as they came in to land. You can see in the image below, that even at 1/2000 sec, there is some wing blur on the tips. I therefore set the camera in TV mode with a shutter speed of 1/2000 sec. ( or rarely faster if it was bright enough). Most lighting conditions available allowed for f/7.1 at ISO400.
5. What lens and flash settings to use? I ended up using a 200mm lens on my Canon 40d, which of course was pre-focused manually. The 550e flash was set at High-sync ETTL at -2/3 and a Better Beamer was used. This provided reasonable fill light.
6. Where to frame the shot in relation to the sensor and feeder, where to focus on, and how far to lead the subject? I wanted to obtain a full frame shot and expected that a great number of shots would be wasted by clipped parts. I set the framing so that it bottom was slightly below the floor of the feeder (Based on my observation of how this species flew in) and one side of the frame just about where the sensor would trigger. Of course there are many ways of working out a problem like this but this is what I came up with. After fine tuning, I can leave this set up for the morning of about 4 hours and expect to get 5-10 good images of various species. This is a very low percent of the number taken, perhaps 5%, but its all digital.
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