subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 10 August 2019 23
Above:A tokay
gecko.Matthijs
alwaysusesthe
sameblackcloth
forthebackground
fora uniformlookLeft:A Siamese
Peninsulapitviper
(Popeiafucata)natural – and often extremely
remote – habitats, while the
remaining 50% are in controlled
conditions. Whatever the situation,
Matthijs endeavours to keep a
certain uniformity in the finished
shot – though it’s not always easy.
Shooting tactics
‘When I go to countries where
there’s electricity, I’ve got a big
armoured suitcase that holds studio
flashes. I was recently in Uganda,
and I was working in a small hut in
the forest, but luckily it had some
electricity so I was able to use the
flashes. If I go completely off track,
I’ve got a few SB/cobra flashes
which I can use,’ he tells me.
The black background that you
see in each of the photos comes
courtesy of a black cloth –
something he has been using
(albeit not the exact same one)
for the past 20 years to create the
uniform look. Although some might
be tempted to include some aspect
of the habitat in the image, for
Matthijs, shooting in this way
allows him to better capture the
essence of the animal. ‘I really want
to show the animal in all its glory,
so its colours, its eyes, its scales,
the things that make it – in my
opinion – special. I don’t want any
distractions in the form of trees,
leaves, backgrounds and so on. I
try to make them always the same- which is very difficult to do in
some places, like the rainforest
where it’s 35°C and a humidity of
almost 100% – but I try my best.’
A Nikon shooter, his current
cameras of choice are the Nikon
D850 and D810, with a D300
‘somewhere as a backup’. He uses a
range of different lenses – up to
600mm – but there are three which
are used more commonly than
others. There’s the AF-S VR
Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED
macro lens, a 24mm lens, plus a
14-28mm lens which comes in
handy for shooting some of the
larger subjects such as king cobras
and giant tortoises.
The challenges which Matthijs
faces are almost as diverse as the
animals themselves. ‘The biggest
challenge I think is the rate at
which they are disappearing. I have
travelled the whole world, and
when I see the forests and their