Hi everyone.
This is Janine from Pangolin Photo Safaris.
Thank you for joining me for this little review session, in which I will try
and share five tips and tricks with you...that might help you choose the
best image for a competition, or that simply helps you narrow down a selection
of images to the one and only keeper.
For this demonstration, I have been using images from our photo
competition, particularly the birds of the world photo gallery. Submitted by
participants that were kind enough to agree that their images might be used.
I have also taken the freedom to adjust these images in Photoshop
to help you visualize what I mean.
Throughout this, please keep in mind that photography is
an art, and art is subjective.
At the end, it is most important that YOU like your image - as it is.
And no one can tell you not to.
So now let's get started.
My first tip is discussing the composition of a photograph.
The first image I chose is a beautiful image...taken in Portugal, of a
great reed warbler, proving to us that any bird can make for a nice
moody and even powerful image.
The subtle tones are elevating the red of the beak, and the messy and arty
background creates a great atmosphere.
However, I wish this bird would have had the space - it is singing
into - open, in front of its face and a bit more space towards the tail.
It is simply sitting on the wrong side of the picture...with the frame on the
right, cutting off his beautiful song.
Tight crops are often the case with images submitted to us.
I would love to see more space into the direction the animal
is moving...or looking into.
Especially if we have a nice clean background.
This is something called negative space, the space around your subject, which
then ideally helps you emphasize your subject or helps the storytelling.
By keeping more space in front of the bird, your imagination can better follow
the anticipated movement, look or stare.
This image kept a beautiful amount of space in front of the birds face.
Some people might say that you are not allowed to crop an
animal halfway through, though.
I personally don't mind the crop in this instance.
it lays focus on the snack of the bee-eater.
They say, learn the rules like a pro, but that doesn't mean that you
can't break them like an artist.
That is proof of individualism and creativity.
When thinking about composition, though, it is not just about the
animals position within the frame, but also the animals position per se.
This image of a hornbill looks amazing.
The focus is dead smack center on the eyes...emphasizing those beautiful
eyelashes...and the timing is phenomenal.
Catching the cricket mid air.
The crop is close enough to not seem accidental...showing the viewer
that it is all about the face.
While creating a beautiful, smooth background due to the
close proximity to the subject.
However, the hornbill is unfortunately turning away from the viewer.
While I still think it is a really stunning image, little details like
that can make a huge difference when competing with thousands of others.
Remember most of the time we want to see the animal's head turned 180 degrees
towards up...unless facing away is really part of the story that is being told.
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My second tip deals with the adjustment of details within your image.
We all know that raw files need to be sharpened and fine tuned, which
is perfectly legit in a competition.
Adjusting the details can be a tricky business, however.
This beautiful image of Malachite Kingfisher...eating a small crayfish
is full of phenomenal colors...And sporting gorgeous, smooth background.
The timing is simply spot on and the crayfish limbs are not
even reaching across the eye.
However something stirred me as odd.
And while I was looking at it, I felt the image almost had
a soft watercolor feel to it.
This is usually the case when noise reduction gets applied to the image.
And when looking at the metadata, my initial suspicion was confirmed
as it was shot on an ISO five.
I prefer keeping a bit of noise within my subject to retain the grip, the
sharpness and the texture...rather than smoothing it through noise reduction,
and risking to lose the texture.
I would have also kept even more space towards the right side, and stick
to the original format as it feels like he has space to give towards
the top...that misses on the right.
Fine adjusting your image is a very fine line to walk...and often quite
challenging...as the same can happen the other way around, when you find yourself
creating too much sharpness, clarity and texture, which then creates digital noise.
Almost a crunchy look.
Editing your image on 100% can help you avoid oversharpening.
A softer look, will emphasize the amazing colors created by dawn, that
are playing within the light and shadow of these beautifully painted pelicans.
My third trick - one can apply - is using local adjustments throughout
your editing, that either sharpens, or alternatively reduces the noise within
an image...Only in certain areas.
Which brings me to my next image.
This photographer got an amazing angle of a leopard faced vulture, which makes
the vulture look even more towering than his massive size already suggests.
The photographer also did exactly as suggested in the previous images and
applied a local adjustment brush in order to edit certain parts of this image.
However, one needs to be very careful when changing anything related to the exposure
of an image to only a certain area.
If one hasn't masked the image precisely it creates a funny
halo effect like seen here.
In general, one needs to be careful in order to emphasize an
animal's best potential subtly.
This grey heron catching a fish is beautifully placed in front of the
small white flowers, which almost creates a bottom frame...a window
sill, that pulls the viewer in.
The strong vignette, however, takes away from that impression.
And while certainly emphasizing the Heron, it becomes too obvious in
the otherwise natural surroundings.
A more subtle way of achieving an indirect emphasis on the heron, would
be a radial filter for instance, that bleeds in more carefully and
can be placed off-center, if needed.
My fourth recommendation is to double check your settings, at
all times, when choosing your photographs for a competition.
They can tell you so much about your image.
This image almost has it all.
It is shot in the beautiful golden light - back-lit - with rays shining
through the wings and the beak, and it tells an action packed story.
Looking at the settings, it was shot on 1/800 sec with a focal length of 500
millimeter, which immediately explains the motion blur that is visible.
My personal recommendation is to always shoot double your focal length...in
order to ensure a sharp and crisp image...that is for a stationary subject.
Only accounting for your own shake.
For a bird in flight, I would try to shoot at least 1/2000sec...If not
faster, to make sure I freeze the action.
On the other hand, I feel like we need to be more brave when it comes
to slow motion, panning shots.
This image creates the perfect panning background...with the
streaks blurring out the busyness, but somehow the image doesn't seem
perfectly sharp, or perfectly blurred.
Ideally the limbs of the animal, or the wings of the bird in this case,
should become more translucent, blurry, painted...In order to show
the movement in the animal with the eye being perfectly sharp.
Looking at the shutter speed, I see the image was shot on 1/250sec.
That is still too fast to create that effect.
A slower shutter of only around 1/50sec would make it more difficult to get
the face sharp, but would also create a stronger effect in the wings...and
soften the background even further.
But it is not all just about the shutter.
This beautiful male wood duck displays an astounding amount
of colors in the golden light.
It has turned exactly 180 degrees towards us...and is beautifully sharp.
But I almost find it too sharp.
The background, even though it is nice and even in color, is just too
dominant...and my eyes like to analyze every single wave on the picture.
Checking the metadata.
I see the image is photographed with an RF f/11 lens, which explains the high
depth of field in detail in this image.
I would prefer seeing a stronger bokeh, as it will keep my eyes
fixed on the subject instead.
Shooting on eye level with the duck, is the only way one could have created
a softer look with a fixed f/11 lens.
That way you would have set the duck against the background...that
is physically further away from the horizon, which brings me to my last tip.
Always look out for your background.
Your background is just as important as your subject itself.
This Swainson's spurfowl, is singing its lungs out in the early morning.
Or maybe warning other animals about the presence of a predator.
Proud with a beautiful bokeh, it stands nicely elevated, which provides
it with enough separation to the background...in order to blur it
out...Except for the unfortunate branch that reaches straight through the neck.
While the photographer did everything right, this is something nature
does to us on a regular basis.
Sometimes finding a different angle, or choosing a different individual
in a group...might help, but often we have no other choice.
Foregrounds can also be tricky as they can easily cut off part of our animal.
It can seem like a really nice frame...in some pictures.
However, in other instances, it can cause us to lose vital parts
of the animal...such as the tip of the beak in this picture..
A rule of thumb is that if you (just, just) lose a body part, it
usually looks like an accident.
I really hope this review helped you with your photo selection at home...but
please remember, it is most important to have fun, enjoy and show us, and the
world, how beautiful nature is out there.
Have a great day.
Bye-bye.