The Roving Photographer
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| Nikon D300,
18-200mm VR @ 200mm, ISO 800, 1/320s, f/16 A family of ducks waddles by. |
What I like about these duck photos is that I was able
to get low enough to shoot profiles. The fill flash balanced well
with the ambient sunlight (it was a cloudless. blue sky) and also
created a nice catchlight in the duck eyes.
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| Nikon D300,
18-200mm VR @ 200mm, ISO 800, 1/400s, f/16 Comic characters.Note the catchlight in their eyes from my flash. |
So, let's look at a few more ducks.
The Roving Photgrapher Hits the Boardwalk
This may be stretching the concept of a "photo op", but let me bring
in some pictures from another day, a month later, at a local
lake. Here, the conditions were more challenging, as I had to
deal with different angles, distance, and lighting.
Looking
to the right of the
boardwalk, I
found this duck dancing in the shade.
The best I can say about this duck photo is that it has great
potential, but I am not pleased with the execution.-
The potential lies in thecontrast between the well-lit branch and duck, as cast against the dark water and trees.
Nikon D300, 18-200mm VR @ 200mm
ISO 400, 1/50s, f/5.6
Poor sharpness kills the impact of a good composition.
- The poor execution is evident in the
lack
of
sharpness. This comes from a combination of using a slow shutter
speed (1/50 - 1/60 sec), shooting at the extreme focal length of my 18
- 200 mm lens (300 mm in 35mm equivalent), and using the widest lens
aperture (f/5.6).
- The lighting also comes off a bit too
extreme. It looks as if the branch and duck are overexposed by
strobe,
although no strobe was used (I had to check my EXIF data to
confirm
that).
- Overall, strong reflections, punchy
contrast, and the duck's pose make for a compelling composition that
would benefit from more attention to image sharpness.
So, what happened?
Many zoom lenses do not perform at their sharpest when used at the maximum focal length, especially in low-light conditions. To counteract that, I often
 Ted's Digital Photography Tip Don't Forget ISO Newer digital cameras, from point- and-shoots to SLRs, have higher sensor sensitivity than older cameras. This is measured as an ISO number, just as for film. Today, maximum low-noise ISO ratings from 800 to 1600 and higher can be found in non-profressional cameras. Each doubling of the ISO number (e.g. from 200 to 400) lets you double the shutter speed or close the aperture by one stop. As ISO increases, so does noise in your images. I find it helpful to test each camera I use by making prints of an image photographed at each ISO setting. That way, I know how high I can set the ISO without creating excessive noise. |
In this case, I was a Roving Photographer asleep at the wheel and did little to take advantage of the opportunity. I didn't back off from the maximum zoom, and I didn't use proven techniques for improving sharpness.
With a camera that shoots well at ISO 1600, I was shooting only at ISO 400.
That deprived me of two stops of exposure value that I should have used to both speed up and stop down.
Instead of 1/50 sec @ f/5.6 -
I could have used 1/100 sec @ f/8.
With my lens at an effective 300 mm, the increased shutter speed would have helped remove any motion blur (the lens has vibration reduction, which is the only reason I would attempt the shot at less 1/400 second).
More important, the increased f-stop would have added depth of field to compensate for any focus error that resulted from the dim lighting conditions.
This was truly a missed opportunity for the Roving Photographer.
Better lighting conditions help The Roving Photographer.
Turning to the sunny side on the left of the boardwalk, I found myself looking nearly straight down on a duck. With the lens fully extended to 200 mm, and
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Nikon
D300,
18-200mm VR @ 200mm
ISO 400, 1/250s, f/5.6 Working
from the sunny side of the boardwalk.
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The difference in image quality is due entirely to the light. More light allows faster shutter speed and helps the auto-focus system do a better job of locking in.
If my exposure settings (see caption) look a little low considering the sunlight, that is because I was also using a polarizing filter to minimize - but not eliminate - reflections. That took away about two stops of exposure value.
More Ducks - Beyond the Boardwalk
The boardwalk connects to a series of small islands that eventually
lead back to the shore. Their elevation was lower than the
boardwalk, so I could sit down and get a much better view of these
ducks swimming.With the afternoon sun dropping lower in the sky, the colors are warmer. I was still shooting with wide aperture and full 200 mm zoom.
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Nikon
D300,
18-200mm VR @ 200mm, ISO 400, 1/400s, f/5.6
Low
afternoon sun adds warmth.
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The subject in this duck photo is on the left. But, on the right, the foreshortening created by the long lens focal length made an interesting juxtaposition of two duck heads that appear to be on one duck.
The Roving Photographer Tries to Work a Miracle
This final duck gave me
fits! He was excited by children throwing breadcrumbs.
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Nikon
D300,
18-200mm VR @ 200mm
Backlit grab shot almost creates silhouette.ISO 400, 1/250s, f/5.6 |
I was on his shadow side, with no time to move around if I wanted to capture the moment.
He was almost jumping for joy, with his mouth open and tounge hanging out. It was a grab shot that was too fun to pass up.
The question was: what could a roving photographer make of this poor image?
The alternatives
The challenge, here, is with the lighting. The camera exposed well, overall, except that the subject is mostly in shadow!
After cropping the image, I experimented with exposure tweaks in software.
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| A
slight increased in contrast brings out some shadow detail and warmth, but this is still largely a silhouette. |
An
increase in fill light brings out a tremendous amount of detail from the shadows and makes this a completely different picture. |
In the end, I preferred the exposure pretty close to the original, as at the left.
Why?
Because when I tried brightening the body, the feather colors were bland and the overall lightness made the image appear "flatter". Ultimately, the darker body provided stronger contrast to the few warm, backlit highlights on the duck's breast. More important, the real focal point of the picture is the goofy mouth, which works well silhouettd against the lake, but with the tounge sunlit.
Maybe this works best as a
head shot. It won't win The
Roving Photogrpaher any prizes, but it should make you smile.
