Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-06-21)

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 15 June 2019 19

Waterfowl
Birdsoftenconcentratearoundwaterbodies,
soI spenda lotof timephotographingaround
suchplaces,particularlyif thereis mistaround.
Photographingintothelightwithmistcanlook
fantastic,asthemistwilltakeoncolourfrom
therisingsun.Whenphotographingbirdson
water,trytogettowaterlevelasit willthrow
your foreground and background out of focus.

Terns

Ternscanworkwellwithbacklightingowingto

thesemi-translucentpartsof theirwings.On

thisoccasion,whilethereis somelightcoming

throughthewingfeathersonthenearside,it is

therim-lightingeffectaroundtheedgeof the

birdthatI wasgoingfor.I alsolikethatsome

lightcanpenetratethebeak, which retains

some colour in the bird.

Includethesun

Includingthesunin thecompositioncanbe

difficult,asunlessit is veryweakit is hardto

avoidmostof it blowingout.However,if the

strengthof itslightis diffusedbymist,you

canretainmostof thecolour.In thisimage,

exposingtokeepdetailin thecoloursof the

sunmeantthatthegrouse was rendered as

a striking silhouette.

ofanimalswillalsobelitup,
whichlooksgreat.
Thewayyoupositionyourself
inrelationtothesubjectand
thesuncanhavea significant
effectontheappearanceofthe
resulting images. The closer

thesunis tothelinebetween

youandyoursubject,themore

intensethecontrastwillbe.

However,if it is directlyinline,

youwillbeatriskofgetting

lensflare,whichcan detract

from the images.

Exposureis keywhen

shootingbacklit,butwhen

photographinginthisstyle,it

is alsosubjective,andthereare

a rangeofappearancesyoucan

gofor.Oneexposureextreme

would be to expose for the

mainbodyofthesubject,sothe

edgesareoverexposed,andthe

otheris toexposefortheedges,

resultingina muchdarker

subject.Exposingfortheedges

is a goodideawhenyou

want to show off the shape

Exposingforthe

illuminatedsideofthe

owlenabledOscar

togetsomethinga

littledifferent

NikonD800,600mmwith

1.4xteleconverter,

1/500sec  at f/5.6, ISO 1250