Depth of Field and Angle of View

A few months ago I wrote an article about depth of field and how I approach what f/stop to use for a given situation. However, this isn't the end of the story. Sometimes I have ISO limitations, shutter speed limitations or shooting position limitations. Shooting position limitations? You bet. I think of my safari vehicle as a huge tripod with four wheels. I am never perfectly happy with any shooting position, so I find myself needing to move the vehicle forward or backward to tweak my composition.

However, sometimes I cannot move backward or forward. I might have trees in the way or other safari vehicles. To improve my shooting position, I also consider the difference between shooting from the window or from the pop-top roof in the Land Rover. I do prefer to be at eye level with my subjects, so I often move to the window position. The difference in 3 feet of height can be quite significant. Here are a few benefits:

Background becomes more out of focus, as distance from subject to background is greater. Think about it. If you shoot from a steep angle down at a subject that is lying on the ground, like the image below, you will have the grass on the ground much closer to the lens. If you shoot from a lower position, you are now shooting with the background much farther away. So you end up with a smoother, softer background.

The connection between you and your subject is much more intimate.

Examples:

Shot taken from the top of a Land Rover

400mm f/4 @ f/5.6

Shot taken from the window of a Land Rover
400mm f/4 @ f/5.6
Notice the much softer, smoother background.

The craft of photography versus the art of photography

I have been battling the urge to abandon all of my 35mm digital equipment lately, in favor of more traditional equipment. The main reason is that I find myself wanting larger printed images for sale, and the only solution I can come up with is to move back to large sheets or rolls of film. I have this drive to create more unique images than what I share or post online, and when I look at the requirements to fulfill a certain vision or look, my current equipment doesn't seem to satisfy the end goal.

Case in point. How can I create black and white images that can be enlarged to 40x60"? The only thing I can come up with is that I need to go back to shooting with a large format camera. But talk about completely impractical for wildlife photography. I am moving away from the more literal color type imagery, in favor of more moody black and white images.

So I have come up with a plan for 2008. I am going to try to think in black and white as my primary driving force behind my images. I have purchased a Fotoman 6x24cm panorama film camera. I am going to shoot both film and digital starting this week in Tanzania. I have absolutely no idea what I am getting myself into with this huge panorama camera, but I think 2008 is going to be fun fun fun. I exposed film for the first time since early 2002, and although I don't prefer film, I can live with it if I am able to yield the results. The proof will be in the final prints that I am able to create.

I wasn't able to obtain all of the kit that I need for my safari that begins on Monday, but I do have a Fujinon 180mm lens for the camera. I have a Nikkor 300m lens, but I am waiting on the proper cone to arrive. Looks like the 300mm lens will have to wait until my Botswana and South Africa trip in April.

Lioness yawning on a kopje, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Canon 1DsMkII, 500mm + 1.4x, 1/640 sec @ f/8, ISO 400

A few days ago I decided to test some of the most common films on the market. I purchased four films: Fuji Provia 400x, Fuji Acros Neopan 100, Kodak Portra 400NC and Kodak Tri-x 400. I do envision that all of my images will be in black and white, but I just don't know. I ultimately decided on the Fuji Provia 400X for soft light and Kodak Portra 400NC for contrasty light. My friend Danny Burk is my preferred person for the scanning of these huge pieces of film. 6x24cm is extremely wide, and only 3 exposures can fit on a full roll of medium format 120 film. I will be taking roughly 20 rolls of film, so only 60 exposures in total.

I really don't know what has gotten inside my head, but I have a certain 'look' that I am dying to play around with. I also anticipate adopting medium format digital in 2008 if all goes as planned. I am in search of larger file sizes, larger prints and a new look to my images. We shall see. In the end this panorama project may not work out at all. But I will feel better that I at least tried it out.

Wish me luck.

Wildlife Photography Techniques

Anticipating movement and action

When I anticipate having action or significant movement of my subject(s) in my frame, I will always shoot in AI focusing mode (or Continuous mode on Nikon cameras). I try to keep my frames in more than 2 to 4 frame bursts, unless I am trying to isolate a very inique moment in time. When browsing through my images, I will tend to locate the images where my subject(s) look natural, the overall composition is pleasing, and there is some sort of dynamic element to the frame.

Shooting Mode
I tend to use aperture priority mode most of the time when I am shooting wildlife. There is usually significant movement of my subjects in relation to my light source (the sun), and I find that I can change my exposure compensation much faster. You can read my article on depth of field from an earlier post on this site.

Lion cubs, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, January 2004
Canon 10D, 300mm f/2.8 L IS + 1.4x, 1/250 @ f/4.5, ISO 400

Metering

This is where I use many different approaches, depending on the situation. In fast changing light, I tend to use evaluative metering with some sort of exposure compensation. If the light is not changing quickly, I will tend to use evaluative or spot metering in manual shooting mode. My lazy shooting almost always happens in aperture priority mode with evaluative metering. Most subjects that are out on the Serengeti plains will be around a +1/3 exposure compensation, and those subjects that are darker than middle tones (elephants, wildebeest and rhinos) will have around -2/3 of compensation. All of the big cats (lions, cheetah and leopards) are close to middle tone, but I almost always add in an extra +1/3 of compensation to 'expose to the right'.

Camera and Lens stabilization
Almost all of my wildlife photography in Africa is taken from a bean bag. There are so few opportunities to get out and use a tripod, and any other means of supporting your cameras and lenses just aren't as effective. However, east African safaris typically have enclosed Land Rover/Land Cruiser vehicles with pop-tops. These are very different from southern African vehicles with open sides. I will be in Botswana in a few months, and will figure out what works best during the safari. I will be prepared to use a variety of solutions, and will settle on one approach within the first few days.

Wildebeest and Zebras at a watering hole, Serengeti N.P, July 2005

Canon 20D, 100-400mm, 1/25 @ f/22, ISO 100

Image Stabilization

In a few words, life would be much more difficult without image stabilization. I use it as often as I can.

Shutter Speed

I rarely let shutter speed be my first consideration in my photos. Well, unless I am deliberately shooting slow speed panning shots. I am usually more concerned with depth of field, and will use my ISO setting on my camera help me achieve my minimum shutter speeds. For some this may sound crazy, but I would rather have a sharp photograph with noise (think ISO 800 and 1/500 sec) than a photograph with no noise and a blurry subject (ISO 100 and 1/6o sec). I am not afraid to push my ISO to higher numbers on my Canon equipment, but with my recent use of the Nikon D2x I would hesitate in pushing past ISO 400.

 

Three Wilebeest, Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania, February 2005

Canon 1DMkII, 100-400mm, 1/1000 @ f/7.1, ISO 250

Blurred Panning Techniques « Photo Weblog - photography tips, tricks and camera help

1) Choose a clear, uncluttered background. Try to use uncluttered backgrounds in your composition. This will help focus the viewer's attention on your panned subject, as opposed to the background. However, sometimes it is beneficial to include more background in your composition, as this helps convey a sense of location.

Canon EOS 1D MkII, 100-400mm at 400mm, ISO 160, f/32 @ 1/10 second.

2) Zoom lenses are more flexible. I like to use the Canon 100-400mm for my blurred pans. Why? Because it offers the ability to zoom in and zoom out, helping me frame my subject better. The lens is also considered a 'slow' lens at f/4.5-5.6. Slow lenses are also valuable because they usually allow you to stop down to f/32 or f/40. This is important, because if you have ample light, you might have difficulty reaching slow enough shutter speeds at ISO 100 and f/22. With the ability to stop down even more, you can often obtain shutter speeds in the 1/4 second range.

Canon EOS 1D MkII, 100-400mm at 300mm, ISO 100, f/32 @ 1/10 second.

Canon EOS 5D, 400mm f/4 DO + 1.4x, ISO 400, f/45 @ 1/6 second.

4) Choose the right shutter speed. Depending on your subject, you will find that shutter speeds ranging from 1/60 to over 1/2 of a second can be used. I try to have the subject's main torso, neck and head as sharp as I can, while leaving the legs blurred. The appropriate shutter speed changes for each animal. For example, giraffes, wildebeest and hyena have longer front legs, which makes their neck and head bob up and down. This makes longer shutter speeds more difficult.

 

 

Canon EOS 5D, 500mm f/4 L IS, ISO 160, f/32 @ 1/8 second.

5) Follow through. When focusing and panning on a subject, be sure to follow through with your panning movement. With slower shutter speeds, this is extremely important, as you are creating horizontal lines of movement within your photograph. You also need to pan at the same speed as your subject. Choose an area on your subject, and focus your camera on that particular area. Now follow through, while maintaining that particular focus point on that area.

 

 

Canon EOS 10D, 300mm f/4 L IS + 1.4x, ISO 100, f/16 @ 1/50 second.

6) Practice practice practice. My family has adopted 2 retired racing greyhounds, and I frequently use them as my practice subjects. Whenever I purchase a new camera, I will test the new camera on my greyounds in either a park or our back yard. Try this yourself. You can even practice with passing cars.

Lightroom Crop Overlays

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom has a nice Crop Overlay feature, which allows you to view your images with different grids, or overlays, on top of your images. There are six (6) different crop overlays available. Here is what you do:

1) Hit the 'R' key to go to the Develop module and have the Crop feature enabled.

2) The default display will be the 'Rule of Thirds' crop overlay.

3) Cycle through the other overlay options by clicking the letter 'O' on your keyboard. Not the zero key. For those overlays that are not symmetrical, you can use the Shift+O combination to alter the orienation of the overlay.

I have been playing around with these different overlays over the past few days, and I am most intrigued by the Golden Ration and Golden Sprial overlays.

Enjoy!

Rule of Thirds

Golden Ratio

Diagonal lines

Triangles

Triangles

The above image and below image are known as the 'golden mean' or 'Phi'. They occur frequently in nature, and some studies have shown that humans may be genetically programmed to recognize the ratio as a pleasing ratio or composition. Studies of top fashion models revealed that their faces have an abundance of the 1.618 ratio.

Golden Mean or Phi

A grid pattern. I have used this overlay to identify converging lines.

The Photographic Safari Best Practices

Going on a photographic safari in Africa has so many complexities with packing, equipment selection and picking out clothing. Here are some bullet points to help you prepare for your big safari.

Camera equipment

• Two cameras are best. This insulates you from camera failure, and it also allows you to have two cameras with two different lenses at the ready. I use a 100-400mm on one camera and a 500mm f/4 on another. I use a third camera (currently a Rebel 400D XTi) that has been converted to infrared, and I use a 24-105mm that never leaves the camera.


• Redundant data backups. I use an Apple Macbook with a 160GB hard drive, and also have an Epson P5000 storage device. In case my Macbook dies on me, I still have a way to download my images from my compact flash cards. I often see folks with a laptop and an external USB or Firewire hard drive, which is great, but if your laptop dies you have no way of offloading your images from your media cards. Food for thought.


• Do not use camera bags that are rigid. For safari photography, you will be shooting from vehicles most of the time. If you have a Pelican case or rolling camera bag, you will have difficulty getting in and out of your bag. You want to have a bag that you can shoot out of. You will grab a camera, use it, and put it back inside and away from the dust. You do not want your bag bouncing around on the floor of your vehicle, as this is the quickest way towards equipment failure. A Pelican case or rolling bag does not easily sit in the seat beside you. The problem is that most camera bags on the market that can fit a ton of gear are either too large, too heavy or both. I am developing my own camera bag that will be coming to market in the near future (blatant plug!).


• Clean your digital sensor as often as you have the time to do it. It is easier than cleaning up your images after the fact. I have heard that cleaning your sensor can be accomplished while enjoying a glass of red wine after sunset. wink wink.

Clothing

• Dress comfortably. Safaris are not fashion shows. Do your research before you leave, because temperatures vary wildly from dusk to mid day to dawn. For example, Tanzania might have a 90 degree afternoon with mid 50's at night. Or Botswana might have a freezing morning and a mild afternoon. Dress in layers.


• Most lodges and camps can do laundry for you. Take advantage of it and pack your bags with as few items as possible. On a 10 day safari, I usually bring enough clothing to last 4 days. So I will do laundry once, maybe twice on a safari. It sure is nice to have a small duffle bag with me.


• Don't wear white clothing.

Photographic Technique

• Learn your autofocus system on your cameras before you leave for Africa. You will benefit from this experience. Understand when to use AI Servo (Canon) or Continuous Focusing (Nikon) and when to use a single shot autofocus mode. Learn all of the beeps your camera makes during this process.

• Determine what the slowest shutter speed you can use for your longest lens and still have a sharp photograph. Replicate the shooting situation at home first. For example, use a beanbag in your vehicle and go out shooting. The rule of thumb is 1/focal length. So if you are shooting with a 500mm lens, it would be 1/500sec. I often shoot at 1/160sec with my 500mm, but this requires practice and proper long lens technique.

• Learn how to expose in tricky situations. I have found that most metering situations for African wildlife is fairly simple: most subjects are either middle tone or within a stop of middle tone.

• Don't stay up late the nights before early game drives. Your photographs will suffer. Get good rest, as most safari days will take it out of you.

• Have fun!!

Leopard in a Tree

Leopards are interesting subjects to photograph, to say the least. You can spend your entire safari looking for leopards, never spotting one at all, or you can get extraordinarily lucky and have 4 or 5 in one single day. Odds are that most sightings are not perfect photographic opportunities, due to distance or messy compositions. Most of the time we find leopards way up in the canopy of a tree, and many tree branches are blocking our view. Add to that the leopard is in shaded/soft light (good thing), but the contrast between the leopard and the bright ambient daylight make for a difficult photographic opportunity.

On this day in February 2007 we came across the female leopard up in an acacia tree. Normally I do not see leopards in trees where the first branch is so high up. We sat and waited for a few hours for the scene to transpire. We were simply waiting for her to jump down out of the tree for a change of scenery.

As we were waiting for her to move, I switched into instructional mode to guide my 2 photographers who were in the Land Rover with me. I gave some background information on leopard behavior, and what would make an interesting photograph. Once you have a tight shot on a leopard in a tree, I like to zoom out with a shorter focal length, telling the story of the leopard in its environment. With a shorter focal length, you can grab a shot of the cat coming out of the tree, leaping onto the ground beneath. If you have too much lens, you can easily miss your shot and have half of your subject in your frame and half out. Better to crop later than to miss your shot entirely.

As she started to move from her perch up above, we all started capturing our images. Well stupid me. I was more interested in having a large file size from my 1DsMkII (16mp) than anything else. As you can image, my buffer filled up on my camera and I missed most of the action of her jumping out of the tree. The shot below is my last image captured before she hit the ground and left the area. Lesson learned, don't you think? I was very excited that the two guests I had in the vehicle with me had absolutely stunning images of the entire jumping sequence. I am always extremely happy when I see the excitement on faces after a rich photographic opportunity was seized!!

 

Canon 1DsMkII, 400mm f/4 DO IS