For anyone who is interested in wildlife photography, make sure to check out this year’s winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. The winners were selected from over 43,000 entries and represent some of the best wildlife photographers have to offer. Jose Luis Rodriguez’s winning image of a wolf jumping over a fence is absolutely amazing. You can check out the online gallery of winning images here. Enjoy.
Every image is impacted by the camera's aperture setting. Leopard, Tarangire National Park, Tanzania.
Previously in the understanding photograph series; I discussed the basic camera controls. In that discussion, I explained how shutter speed and aperture work together to control the amount of light used to record an image. Understanding these two controls are really the key to photography, both technically and creatively. For more detail about shutter speed and how it impacts motion, click here.
Lets begin with a definition. The aperture is the size of the opening through which light passes as it moves through the camera lens. As the photographer, you can make this opening larger or smaller, thereby controlling the amount of light reaching the film (yes, we shoot digital cameras, but I shot film for a long time and film is easier to type then digital sensor). By doing this, you will cause the resulting image to become either lighter or darker.
Aperture is measured in f-stops. A standard scale of f-stops would include:
.. 2.8 .. 4 .. 5.6 .. 8 .. 11 .. 16 .. 22 .. 32 ..
Depending on your camera and lens combination, you might find all of these f-stop values on your camera, some of them, or additional values. No matter which f-stop values are present, they will always occur in the order listed above. F-stop values are calculated based on the diameter of the lens opening. This means that the sequence order is locked. F/2.8 will always come before f/4, which will always come before f/16.
So, what does this mean and why should I care? F-stop values on the low end (2.8, 4, etc) are what we call large apertures. These f-stop values correspond to large lens opening, which permit a lot of light to enter. The result, more light reaching the film. F-stop values on the other end of the scale (22, 32, etc) are small aperture settings, with small lens opening and a corresponding decrease in the amount of light.
How can you use this? Next time you are taking a picture, look at the light meter. If the exposure marker is off, you can adjust either the shutter speed or the aperture to get the correct brightness. Either one will change the amount of light and make the image lighter or darker.
Now, let me clarify something. As an enthusiastic photographer, you probably are shooting with a nice, DSLR camera. When you look at the aperture settings, you see a lot more numbers then I listed above. For example, your camera aperture values might look more like this:
……. 2.8 3.2 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.6 6.3 7.1 8 ……..
It looks like some crazy camera maker added a whole bunch of extra numbers just to confuse you. Now, take a deep breath and relax. Everything still applies, and the camera manufacturer is actually trying to help you. Instead of just giving you the standard f-stop values, camera makers now give you partial f-stop values. Instead of making you jump from f/2.8 to f/4, the camera lets you take partial steps, commonly called 1/3 stop values. If you look at our aperture values list again:
……. 2.8 3.2 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.6 6.3 7.1 8 ……..
You can see that the original values are still there, but two transition values have been added between each.
So, what aperture should you use? That very much depends on how much depth of field you need. (Article on Depth of field coming soon.)
As I type this, I am sitting in the Salt Lake City airport waiting for a flight home. For the past few days I have been in Las Vegas attending Photoshop World, a gathering of Photoshop professionals organized by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, better know to the world as NAPP. For four days I joined 3,000 attendees and selected from more then 100 different classes. With two Photoshop Worlds under my belt, I have to say that that the conference is well worth the time and money involved.
The knowledge of the instructors is extraordinary and I always learn far more then my brain can hope to recall. Best of all, however, attending conferences like Photoshop World expose me to new ideas and approaches to photography. As a wildlife photography specialist, it is easy to fall into the trap of only looking at the work of other wildlife photographers. While there is plenty of inspirational wildlife photography out there, there is often a sameness in the work of different photographers. By looking outside the wildlife photography community, I am often reminded of different techniques and approaches that can help me to evolve as a photographer. More then anything else, it is this exposure to various styles and approaches that keeps me coming back to Photoshop World.
With this goal in mind, I began the conference by attending the Real World HDR workshop with Matt Kloskowski and RC Conception. The purpose of this workshop was to expose the participants to both the theory and practical application of HDR techniques. If you have not played with HDR photography, it seeks to increase the dynamic range that is recorded in an image by combining multiple images together. The workshop began with a presentation about camera settings and the step by step process of photographing for HDR effects. Following the presentation, attendees grabbed their cameras and headed out to take some pictures. When we returned, Matt and RC went over the steps needed to make an HDR image using Photomatix Pro and Photoshop. The final hour found us each creating HDR images from the images we captured on the photowalk with Matt and RC answering questions and providing feedback. The workshop provided a good start to the conference and has certainly inspired me to play with HR images in the future. Below are some of my more successfuly HDR attempts.
The first three HDR images attempt to use the HDR effect to solve a photographic problem. One of the primary limitations of photography is that the camera can’ record the same level of dynamic range as the human eye sees. Where our eye sees detail in both right areas and dark areas, the camera only sees detail in the light areas OR the dark areas, not both. Photographers have found various work arounds to this problem, including flash, filters, and not taking the picture, but before HDR they did not have a way to record the full level of detail in a single image. These images are meant to look realistic with details in both the highlight and shadow areas.
Staircase at Mandalay Bay in HDR
Mandalay Bay in HDR
Mandalay Bay in HR
The next three images use HDR as both a solution to a photographic problem (limited dynamic range) and a method of artistic expression. By modifying contrast and colors, it is possible to create what has come to be known as a grunge effect. The results are a far cry from realistic, but they do create a highly stylized, artistic image that has impact.
Mandalay Bay in HDR
Palm tree at Mandalay Bay in HDR
Staircase at Mandalay Bay in HDR