A big shout out to Roger for sharing his thoughts and experience in yesterday’s guest post.  Great stuff!

Judging by the comments received, I was not the only one who enjoyed the post and since it is a rainy Friday morning and I need a starting point for this post I am going to borrow one of Roger’s lines from yesterday’s post.  ”It was simply about the image and not the beast.’  So true and I think that for a lot of people this is unfortunately still the case.

The image, and how to technically get it, is still a big focus for a lot of people who photograph wildlife.  With taking people out in to the wild places of Africa to photograph nature and wildlife I don’t think I have ever been asked ‘How did you frame / compose that shot?’ or ‘What were you trying to capture?’  Questions always tend to linger on the technical aspects such as ‘What setting were you using?’ or ‘What shutter speed should I be using?’

Yeah yeah yeah I know that it is important to know the basic technical details and how you can use that knowledge to influence your images but the point is that we should start looking past photographic details that get in the way and start looking at the subject more and how we can present that subject in an image.  It needs to be about the beast.  If you spend some time in wildlife photography forums you will see this time and time again.  Someone will post a great image of some or other animal and without fail all the comments will centre around the technical details and where the image was captured.  What shutter speed did you use?  Don’t you think it is too sharp?  I think you should have lifted your exposure a bit.  The background is not out of focus enough.  Why did you not crop this or clone that out?

It is very seldom that comments focus on the animal, or as Roger said, the ‘spirit’ of the animals.  It sometimes does happen but only once all the discussions about technical details have been exhausted.  Only then will people start looking at and comment on the feeling, mood or spirit of the subject.

Hey, I am not dissing these forums at all as they can be a fantastic way to share information as to how other people would have shot a certain scene and even though there are a lot of people who comment just for the sake of commenting you can learn a lot and they can also act as a great source of inspiration.  The point is just that we need to look past all the technical details, both out in the field and afterwards, and shoot more emotionally.  Shoot more creatively.  Show people why you lifted your camera to take a picture in the first place.

I think at the end of the day, whether you practice wildlife photography as a rank amateur or a seasoned pro, you need to enjoy it.  You need to enjoy being out there spending time in nature.  You need to be enjoy spending time with the subjects that you photograph.  What we need to try and convey in our photographs is that reason that we enjoy being out there.  Our viewers needs to see the spirit of the animals.  The personality.  The reason.  To do this, look past only the technical stuff.  Photograph the animal.

After reading Roger’s and while writing this post I had a quick look through my recent images and decided to use some of the images that might not be 100% technically correct but rather that shows something more.  Hopefully to fit in to what I wrote above.  A special moment on safari.  A moment.   Nothing more.  They are random, have nothing to do with each other or this post other but I enjoy them.  Hope you do to!

Anyway, since it’s Friday and you will be needing something to do later today as you wait for the working week to end, here are a few links and sites you could browse through to kill the time today or, if your boss is in the office, over the weekend.

I am Vulnerable

In the same vein as the David du Chemin link from a few days ago, portrait photographer Jack Hollingsworth shares his thoughts on photographers who try and portray themselves as faultless and perfect.  Great read for anybody involved in photography and it is great to see that some of the big names in the industry are still humble and willing to admit their shortcomings while at the same time acting as a source of inspiration.  You can check the post on his blog by clicking here.

The Shemimages Photo-Blog

Shem Compion is a previous guest blogger on Photo-Africa and has recently returned from a trip to Japan and India.  I have seen a few of the shots and some amazing work so far but a specific post is worth a read.  In ‘The Power of our Game‘ Shem shares his thoughts and a few specific images form his trip.  Apart from the fantastic portrait shots, it’s great to hear Shem’s thoughts on the power of photography.  You can check the article by clicking here and make sure to also check out Shem’s trip report and some images from Japan here.

Life Through Grant’s Lens

This is one to check out if you want to keep up to date of sightings in the Madikwe Game Reserve.  Grant, who is also a contributing photographer on Photo-Africa, uploads wildlife images from Madikwe accompanied by stories and other details.  Apart from some great images it’s a nice way to get your bush-fix if you feel you don’t get there often enough.  Even if you have never been to Madikwe click here to check out Grant’s blog.

Burrard-Lucas Photography

Found this site on Twitter.  Will and Matt are two brothers from the UK with a passion for wildlife photography and you can see this in their images.  When you have a moment stop in at their site and browse around the various wildlife image galleries from all around the world.  I have been on contact with them and am quite happy to say that they will be doing a guest post on Photo-Africa in a few months time.  To get you started, click here to view their African wildlife galleries and browse around from there.

Aperture Untamed

Philip Hatting, who works in the Madikwe Game Reserve, has just uploaded new images to Aperture Untamed.  Apart from a pretty cool name, the site showcases some fantastic wildlife images.  All going well Philip will also be doing a guest post on Photo-Africa in the not too distant future.  Click here to check out the new images on Aperture Untamed.

Craft and Vision

I have mentioned Craft and Vision a number of times in the past and it’s time to head over that way again as they have just released a new e-book – The Magic of Black & White.  I will be purchasing my copy later today but if you have not yet taken the time to look through some of the e-books available on this site, conceived by David du Chemin, I couldn’t recommend it highly enough.  This new release takes the number of e-books up to nine and at $5 each it is a steal.  Even if you are working in South African Rand!  I have downloaded all the books so far and even if you don’t want to read any of the advise, tips and tricks the images are fantastic.  Click here to visit Craft and Vision now to get the latest e-book.

Twitter and Facebook

I found a lot of the sites and people above on Twitter.  I have been using Twitter quite a bit while sharing links and updates to the sites and it has proved to be an amazing way to network, learn and share.  If you are on Twitter you can follow me here to get all my updates and links to interesting sites, blogs and wildlife images.

I am also on Facebook where I share links and images.  The whole Farmville, Pirates and Mafia Wars (whatever) thing – no!  Don’t do those so won’t bug you with all kinds of invites and whatever else those things do.  I am still playing with the idea of creating a Facebook page for Photo-Africa but not sure about it just yet.  I like the idea but it just feels like it is another page to maintain so for now will leave things as is.  To connect on Facebook you can find me here.

Afriqu de Sud Photographics

I was sent this link by Paul Lindenburg and will be meeting up with him next week to find out more.  Will keep you posted but for now you can check out an online e-magazine on wildlife photography here.

Right, that’s about it for this week.  Before I go one more image I shot a year or so ago in Supingstad, a local community just outside the Madikwe Game Reserve.  The decision to end of with this image was inspired by Shem’s post mentioned above.  I am not going to write anything else about this shot as the last two paragraphs of Shem’s post says exactly what I would have wanted to say.  Go and check it out.

Whatever you do play nice and I will see you on the flip side.

Bye 4 now!

Gerry

First and foremost, I want to clear a certain disillusion that has entered people’s minds about HDR.  It is in no way some miraculous technique to make a mediocre photo an amazing one ,neither is it the gateway to becoming a great digital landscape photographer. Post processing will always play a minor role in creating great photographs and the effort will always be in the planning and shooting.

Why do we use HDR? Because a camera can’t always capture the dynamic range of light in most natural scenes in one exposure , which results in areas of the image that have no detail due to shadows or highlights. Traditionally we would use graduated neutral density filters to balance the exposure, but they are rather expensive and limited by many situations found in landscapes everywhere, like uneven horizons, tall objects like trees, mountains etc. When digitally blending 2 or more images we are basically simulating an ND filter, but we have full control over how the graduation of the filter would have been. HDR opens new doors in landscape photography, but I still prefer to use graduated filters and do where ever I can. Moving objects within an image creates a lot of problems for HDR blending, because your images have to be identical ( apart from the exposure ). You can get away with it to a certain extent, but cameras are still very primitive compared to the human eye and sometimes we simply can’t capture what we saw.
The basic concept of HDR is to capture the total dynamic range of the scene ( when it is greater than the camera can capture in one exposure ) in multiple exposures and combine select parts of the various exposures using Photoshop.
The first thing we need is the multiple exposures of a scene. In most natural scenes, the sky is brighter than the land/foreground and if you expose for the sky, the foreground is too dark and if you expose for the foreground then the sky is too bright. So we take a separate exposure for each.
The easiest way is to use your camera’s AEB (auto exposure bracketing – see camera manual ) function. It allows you to capture a sequence of 3 exposures, each a certain f-value apart. In most situations, you simply need one exposure for the sky and one for the foreground as shown below.

If this is the case, meter the sky and foreground separately, check the difference and set the bracketing so that the exposures are that f-value apart so that you get an ideal exposure for each. The 3rd doesn’t matter and can be deleted. So if the sky is 2 stops brighter than the foreground, set the bracketing for 0; -2; +2 and expose it for either sky or FG and you will have the 2 necessary exposures in your sequence.
Sometimes however, a nasty highlight or shadow requires a 3rd exposure as shown below.

Once again, meter the sky and FG separately, set the AEB so that you get an adequate exposure for both and check if the 3rd exposure has the detail in the shadow/highlight area you require. If not, simply capture a darker/brighter exposure by setting a single exposure manually or do a whole sequence manually. Shooting for it comes naturally and you quickly learn with experience, so don’t worry too much about it.


In a short sentence : You need multiple exposures of which the darkest image may have no highlights and the brightest image may have no shadows.

Usually 2 exposures are enough for most scenes as I will show in the first example.


Blending a 2 exposure image

1.  We start by just opening our 2 images that we are going to blend. RAW adjustments should already have been applied and make sure your layers window is open (F7).

Now, simply for practicality reasons, stack the exposures ( in this case 2 ) from darkest to brightest by using the move tool (v) and simply dragging the one image onto the other one. Hold shift in as you drop the image and it will align itself within the frame. You have now stacked the 2 layers and you will see the 2 thumbs in your layers window. Clicking on the eye to the left of the top thumb will hide the top layer and reveal the layer below.

You can now close the bright exposure as you have it in a layer on the darker one. Maximize the window simply for better viewing. You will be working on a layer mask so that any mistakes can be easily corrected. At the bottom of the layers window there’s a rectangle with a circle in, click on it to add a layer mask (make sure your top layer is selected ) to the top layer.

To simulate the graduated filter, we use a gradient on the layer mask. Press G to select your gradient tool. Check at the top of the window for the following (if everything is on default, it will be right )

1. The gradient type must be foreground to background ( top left )
2. Orientation of the gradient must linear ( left )
c. Mode – normal
d. Opacity – 100%

Press D to make sure your FG/BG color is on default. 
You will now blend the two exposures. Where you click the gradient tool, the gradient will start, you then drag it to where you want the gradient to end. You can drag the line at any angle and the gradient will be in that direction. Below I have simply dragged a gradient onto a white mask to show you. You can see how the gradient starts where I clicked, transitions over the path I dragged and ends where I released the mouse. The black pixels will reveal what’s on the layer below them. The pure black will reveal everything with the gray pixels resulting in a smooth transition that fades the 2 exposures into each other.

For this specific image, the gradient will transition over about 40% of the image at a slight angle (90 degrees to the horizon ). The line I dragged to create the gradient looks like this.

The gradient will look like this:

You can now touch up the gradient by painting on the mask with a brush. Once you are happy with the blend, you should flatten the image and treat it as one exposure. Doing separate adjustments to the blended layers can sometimes make a nasty unwanted transition between the layers visible.

You can now do your usual processing steps to get to the final result.

Blending a 3 Exposure Image

Stack the 3 exposures from dark to bright as explained above and give the 2 top layers each a layer mask. To give separate layers a mask, simply click on the layer thumb in the layers window and then click on the add layer mask button. Once you’ve added the layer masks, you can click on the eye of the top layer to hide it as we will work on the sky first. Your layers window should now look as shown below.

90% of the time the 3rd exposure is to deal with a highlight around the sun and it is always a big circular blob so to blend it we will use the radial gradient. Choose the gradient tool ( g ) and now select the radial gradient in the top tab (refer to point 4 above – tab b – 2nd icon) and set it to a 50% opacity (tab d) to begin with. The necessary opacity depends on the image.

Now drag the gradient from the centre of the highlight outwards. Usually the transition has to be quite big so you can drag it as far as you can. It’s a trial and error process and practice makes perfect. Below you can see the gradient I settled for and how it revealed the detail in the highlight area from the darker exposure below.

You can now simply blend in the foreground of the image as explained in the previous example. Remember to select the correct gradient again as shown in point 4 above. When starting out with this stuff, the most common errors people usually make is simply not having the correct layer or gradient tool or palette colors selected so always double check your tools when something isn’t working as it should!

Here are a few more of my images, some of which uses the same techniques as mentioned above.

‘More Boats’

‘The Bay of Fire’

‘Cliche’

‘Victoria Bay’

‘Desert Storm’

‘At Rest’

If you have any questions of thoughts please feel free to comment!

Hougaard Malan

Hougaard’s Links

• Website: Hougaard Malan:  South African Landscape Photography
• Facebook Group: Hougaard Malan Photography
• iStock Photo: Purchase Images

Even though the year is just beginning, tomorrow my holiday officially starts!

I was going to do a few posts in advance and have them upload automatically during the time while I am in Thailand but then decided against it.  It would have been very easy to just go through my older images, select a few and post them with a few random thoughts on each.  Nice, but no – so I decided to just drop a few images in this post and leave it at that.  Even though I am psyched and ready for 2010 and have a lot of very exciting projects lined up I decided that I need a complete break from the blog in order to return with a whole fresh view, thoughts and approach to my blog posts.

In a recent post I wrote about sharing your work and I still stand by this, however…

We all reach a point where you feel like your inspiration bucket is running empty.  You start reaching this point you need to look at ways to refill this bucket.  You need to find a way to keep your own passion alive so that you can keep on creating, giving and most of all enjoy what you do.  I am very very happy about how Photo-Africa has been growing and it is only just the beginning.  Even though things are on the up, in a big way, I can feel that I have taken many images and written a lot of blog posts and this break is exactly what I need.  So tomorrow I am off to Thailand where I am going to eat lots of noodles, take a lot of tommy-tourist type images and just allow my inspiration bucket to fill up again.  One of the things I am doing when I get back is to reorganize my wildlife portfolio and this will in itself be a nice exercise which will lead to a whole different way of thinking and many new blog posts.

Tomorrow is Thursday so while I am sitting on a plane to Bangkok you can check in for the guest post.  You will recall that a few weeks ago Morkel Erasmus did a post on HDR and based on the positive response it was a great hit so tomorrow you can join Hougaard Malan as he gives you a whole different way to blend your HDR images in Photoshop.  Hougaard Malan started photography as a hobby in 2007 at the age of 19 and quickly fell in love with the genre of landscape photography at which he truly excels. Completely self taught from the internet, he progressed quickly and exchanged his hopes of becoming an engineer or architect to pursue a career in photography.  He funds his photographic endeavors through the stock industry and has been studying until the end of 2009 and will be shooting and travelling full time from 2010 onwards.  Hougaard’s work is out of this world and the step by step tutorial will give you an insight to how you can also add this little bit of extra pop to your images.  Inspiration deluxe and with a lot to learn make sure to pop in tomorrow.

I will be back next week Thursday to get back into the full swing of things.  Tutorials, assignments, workshops, guest posts, and of course wildlife images galore.  There are a lot of exciting things happening on Photo-Africa but for now I am going to say goodbye until next week!    I will still be doing the occasional update from Thailand on my Twitter page but otherwise enjoy the guest post tomorrow and if you have any specific topics or discussions you would like to see on the blog let me know.  Lots of ideas – endless possibilities!

Until next week!

Gerry