garyophoto.com

Continuation of the the large Natural History reference book, in which the latest creature  I had to photograph was a Jungle Nymph, a somewhat large and brightly coloured insect.

Used the  Canon 65mm at about 3x magnification. An amazing lens for close up work, but quite difficult to use. As the lens has no specific focusing ring, one has to pull the focus by bringing the lens in or out from the subject. To make this somewhat easier I used a Manfrotto micro positioning plate. With it you can control very finely the lens to obtain accurate focus. Because the insect  is nocturnal, it was completely dormant during the shoot.  It was so still, l that I could take  a whole series of shots at different focussing points, to achieve a greater depth of field. These were used in Photoshop to create one good final image. The latest version of photoshop can do this automatically and in my experience always achieves excellent results as long as you focus on all the relevant points. Lighting was with a honeycomb from the left hand side,  fill from a head bounced from a white ceiling and some  more fill with a strip light from the righthand side. The insect had to be lit with a lot of side lighting as the lens is so close to the subject that it is difficult for light to hit the subject. The alternative would be to use a ringflash, but I prefer to work with this lighting set up. Happy at the results, any comments would be welcome.

[View with PicLens]

Handler with tiger, note the meat on end of stick

Over the last few Months I have been really busy photographing various animals for a forthcoming book to be published by Dorling Kindersley in Autumn 2010.

It has been a demanding, yet very exciting project as very specific images had to be achieved in accordance with the demands of the design and editorial content of the book. So I worked closely with Karen the Managing Art Editor and Kim, the Senior Project Editor.  The idea was to get a ‘virtual tour’ of each animal, which meant photographing key features such as side profile, ears, feet, mouths, fur and eyes to name a few. To do this with wild animals or most zoo animals would be virtually impossible under normal time and budget constraints, and consistency with lighting would be another big issue. So photographing in a studio environment became the ideal option. There are a few specialist animal handlers here in the UK and Europe, but the one that really holds the key animals, is a company based down in the South of England. where they have a very large zoo complex. I had worked with them several years ago on on advertising campaign, so knew exactly what they were  about. The animals were really well looked after, they were in tip top condition and in excellent living conditions. Photographing  with a specialist handlers helps considerably in getting the images you require. Thus, with  Dorling Kindersley  we felt this was the way to work and worked with access to one animal per day, to get the required pictures for the book

Preparation is the key to an animal shoot like this. As these are dangerous animals, they have to be contained within a large caged area, which meant photographing from outside the cage through a special hatch. All the lighting had to be put inside the cage prior to the photography, and set up exactly as required, as it would be impossible to go in later and adjust it with the tiger inside! I really wanted to bring out the textures and colour of the animals fur and at the same time  the sheen. Lighting was with a large beauty dish with a honeycomb high from the left hand side and fill was created by two heads with spill kills bouncing off a large reflector just right of centre from the camera. Because some of  these pictures would probably be cut out, a large white background roll was used and lit separately. As the lighting from the key was quite directional, we marked off an area in which the Tiger would have to stay, so the lighting would stay effective. Something else to consider was  ’freezing’ the movement of the animal, as we needed to get various shots including it roaring. Therefore, a fast flash duration was required. I opted for around 15000th of a second. The problem with using really short flash durations is the lower output of the flash. I managed around f14 at 100 ISO on a 3k pack for the key light. I had two cameras on hand, both linked separately to my Apple laptops running Capture One Pro. This is the way I like to work, seeing the images on a large enough display almost instantly, for me this takes away a lot of pressure, seeing the images so quickly and being able to make quick decisions, if you have the shot in ‘the bag’ or not. My main camera was my Phase One Camera with a P30 back and a 75-150 digital zoom  which would be used for overall pictures of the tiger. For real close ups I used a Canon EOS1DS mk2 with a 70 -200 and a x2 lens extender. With the Phase One I simply could not get close enough and  the autfoocus  would not work that well under subdued lighting conditions. Every camera system has its pro’s and cons, one has to use whatever is suitable for the job. Set up time was around 4 hours, I used the Art Director for the lighting test, and then we were ready to go. The animal studio is designed in a way that all the animals can be accessed by opening various caged doors and they can be led into the main studio cage. One has to understand that the tiger used for this photography was only trained to a certain point, it  could be touched or  by its handlers. The owner and  his assistant went into the main cage both carrying long sticks and bags containing food. The sticks are not used for touching or prodding the tiger but as a method of  giving food for reward, keeping the tiger at arms length and for a means of holding the tiger’’s attention! Everyone was prepared and the trainers asked everyone to be quiet, ready for the animal to be brought in. There was lots of rattling of cages and much roaring with a little bit of trepidation on my part and then suddenly the tiger came running into the main studio cage

to be continued…..

Phase One have recently released their latest version of Capture One Pro 5.

I have used this software since it was called C1 Pro. The main reason I started to use it was to have tethered  RAW captures  with my Canons and now is used also with my Phase One back. The software was much more basic then, but now it has so many features, I guess in response to its  two main software competitors. However, I have found the Capture One to be that little bit better in terms of image quality.  No doubt some will debate this, but I have yet to see as low noise levels from its rivals. It’s competitors may offer a full on image management system, but Capture One is not about that. It really comes into its own at the moment of capture, up to final processing from RAW conversion to Tiff.

I think that this latest version will make photographers work flow even easier than before! The new focus tool, in which a green overlay is used to indicate points of focus, is one of the best features a photographer could ever wish for! When working on location with a 15” laptop, one really has to go in 100% or more to check the focus. Now, from a distance you can quickly see the plane of focus. If you do not get it right, simply  focus again and then check. I absolutely love this feature. The software supports most  digital DSLR’s and offers tethered support to the flagship Canon and Nikon models.

To buy it is 299 Euros, or upgrade from Capture One Pro 4 then it is 69 Euros. It may seem a little expensive, but I think this programme is great value for money, it really does have some little gems, that its rivals have yet to offer.

Here is a summary of some of the main features:

Tethered Capture

Capture One allows you to photograph with your camera attached to your computer, be it a Phase One back, Mamiya digital backs and Canon or Nikon DSLRs. This means you can get an almost view of your capture  without having to download the memory card onto the computer saving so much time, and much easier way of assessing your images for sharpness, composition and exposure.

Focus Mask [new]

Speed up your image selection for correct focus and sharpness by using the focus mask overlay.

Focus Tool [new]

Get a quick indication of image sharpness with this cool feature, can be used as floating palette

Skin Enhancer [new]

As part of the colour editor this feature enables you to change skin tones accurately. Ideal for removing red blotchy skin or enhancing tones.

Grids and Guides

Check alignment and straightness of images, great for still lives and architecture

Dust Spot remover [new]

Easily remove dust spots with a single click. Select a group of images and remove dust spots from all the images

Multi Monitor [improved]

Support for duel monitors enables you to manage your palettes and images in various configurations. Enables you to work with large image displays.

Advanced Lens Correction

Built in profiles for some of the new Mamiya/Phase One digital lenses. Correct Chromatic Aberration, Purple Fringing, Geometric Distortion, Sharpness and Light Fall off

Overlay

This tool  enables you to overlay another image on top of another, it can be moved in various positions, scaled and the opacty changed. Ideal for composition work and great for Art Directors!

There are so many features of this software. Try it for free for 30 days at: www.phaseone.com

This is the armour for Henry the Prince of Wales, who was Charles the First’s older brother. He died at an early age and thus his brother Charles became the King of England.

More to come soon, also some pictures of set ups and techniques in photographing armour.

Henry Prince of Wales

It has been a while since I have updated this Blog, been so so busy over the last couple of months, photographing lots of interesting animals at  an UK animal handlers studio.  Then more armour photography.

Posted a couple of pictures from one of the  animal shoots from last month. Will show lighting details etc over the next couple of weeks.

Polar Bear

Tiger

Been very busy over the last couple of weeks working on this Animal book. Last week involved photographing crocodiles, here in the UK, a private collector, who has more types of crcodiles than any zoo or collector. It was certainly challenging, photographing some of his crocs in the conservatory! Some of them, like the  Black Caiman were far too big and dangerous to work under controlled lighting, so we opted for a Cuban Crocodile. This was about 4 feet long and due to its very aggressive nature had its mouth taped shut. This does not cause any stress tho the animal,  towards the end of the photography session it was much calmer and  the tape was removed and I managed to obtain few pictures with its mouth open! Fantastic animal to photograph, beautiful coloration and amazing to see close up. Shaun the crocodile man really knew his stuff .

Lighting was limited by the size and height of the conservatory, basically a large softbox on a boom arm was above the animal, small strip light for fill on the right hand side and a large focussing spot from the left as the key light.

Photographed a Cane Toad or Marine Toad yesterday, in a similar vein to the previous animal shoots. Lively animal, so we had to keep it in a glass tank whilst being photographed. Every possible  part of the toad was photographed for a ‘virtual tour’. Pleased with the results, really like the texture of this animals skin. Next time hoping to photograph some Crocodiles, now that is going to be a completely different challenge!

[View with PicLens]

Photography of the Rhino was quite exciting. A young White Rhino [ Not a Black Rhino] as previously stated. One could get quite close to this Rhino and  he was quite happy to be stroked! Could not use flash though, as I found out from the Keeper that Rhinos have very poor vision and the flash could really send him wild! The main problem was the good old British weather, it never rained but it was so overcast and trying to photograph a young, restless and boisterous Rhino required a fairly fast shutter speed. Shots were mixed up with my Canon and Mamiya 645 AFD with a P30 back. The Phase One impressed me at the  800 ISO rating, the files were virtually noiseless. Even at that ISO, I was only managing 125th Sec at f10, it really was a dull day. Thought I would show what kind of quality the Phase One P30 was producing and let the reader draw there own conclusions.

Phase One P30 60th Sec F10 800 ISO

Crop from above shot

Will be photographing a Black Rhino at  a zoo in Gloucestershire. Apparently he is quite friendly, so will be able to get close to him. Hoping to use some lighting outside, so will be taking my Gemini flash heads and battery pack, and various softboxes. Have to play this by ear though, all depends how the keepers feel  about using flash and how the Rhino reacts. Using  some fill in flash will enable me to separate the animal from his background and help pull out detail in the close up shots. Keep you posted how it all went after Monday.

Monday was quite a  demanding day on the photography front. I had to photograph a Chameleon, spider and snake. The old adage ‘never work with animals’ is so true! There is always an element of unpredictability and  a lot of patience is needed to get what you want. My experience  of photographing animals in a controlled lighting environment goes back a few years, when I photographed a variety of ‘creatures’ for a major advertising campaign . Therefore, I had a good idea of  what to expect. We started with a male Panther Chameleon, who was very tame and manageable. The only downside was he did not display his best colours, I guess under the pressure of being in a very different environment he was a bit ‘camera shy’. As we were trying to create a virtual tour of each animal, the shots composed of various close ups and details. Later we would change the lighting to photograph the animals from underneath. The lighting was an honeycomb from the left hand side, a strip light from above and a another strip light to the right. Also, used a ring flash for the ultra close ups.The Chameleon was an easy subject, it settled happily on a small branch and moved slowly enough to keep focus. Most of the time I used my Mamiya 645 AFD with a 120 mm macro lens and a no 1 and no 2 extension tube, depending on how close I needed to get in. Depth of field was not an issue as it was nice to have a good focus fall off, to draw the eye to the focussed details. Most of the time I was shooting at around f18. I do not like to close down too much with this lens as it starts to go beyond its optimum performance, which is noticeable when shooting with digital. The next creature was a Mexican Red Knee Tarantula, which was quite hand-able to photograph We tried several other types of large spiders but they just wanted to run off the set. I had to get some ultra close ups, so  this is where the 65mm macro and Canon EOS 1DS mk2 was used. This lens is incredible for macro work and for the photographs of the spiders eyes and fangs came into its own. I also used the ring flash to push a bit more light into the picture, which at such close distances would be difficult with just side lighting. This lens requires a lot of concentration in focusing, the image in the viewfinder is quite dim and too minimise vibration, especially at x3 magnification and above you need to lock up the mirror first. The animal handler held the spider on its the legs so we could get a close up of the fangs. To achieve focus I got him to move the spider slowly towards the lens until it was pin sharp. Sounds a bit hit and miss but it worked a treat! The snake was next, again we were looking for a selection of features including scales, eye, spurs, nostrils and overall pictures. We had a couple of Boa Constrictors to work with, a young one which was about 70 cm long and an adult at around 1.8 metres. I chose the larger one as i thought It would be better for the pictures. However, as soon as it was placed on the background  it just wanted to ‘escape’, whatever the animal handlers tried it just did not work. The only photograph we used it for was for  the close up of one if its spurs [ What was once in it s evolution history, where it had limbs ]. The animal handlers had to hold the snake very firmly for this shot and struggled to do so, it was amazing to see how much strength a  a 1.8 metre  snake had! We succeeded and put the snake away and for the other pictures used the far more manageable smaller Boa Constrictor. This was so much easier to work with and stayed in position to be photographed.

From underneath

A complete set change to photograph the animals from underneath. This is the part I had been really looking forward to, as something I had not done commercially. A few days previously I had done a few test shots with this set up, so I knew it would work. It is best not to leave anything to chance on the day, especially when time is so tight. I placed a large piece of strengthened glass on some trestles and used a strip light as the main light and some fill  from a medium sized softbox and a reflector at the rear of the set for additional fill to help ‘bounce’ the light around. About 2 Metres above the glass, I clamped into position a large white board which was lit by 2 flash heads with spill kills. This in effect would be the white background as seen from camera position. We started with the spider, got some reasonable shots, but from underneath was not very colourful and quite dark. Next came the snake and finally the Chameleon. I knew the moment the Chameleon was on the set that he was the perfect subject for this type of lighting, as very little of him was directly in contact with the glass and thus was able to light him well from underneath. He stayed absolutely motionless as I lay down below the glass and hand held the camera with my Mamiya 645 AFD and 80 mm digital lens. I captured several images and then checked them for exposure and sharpness on my laptop. I felt really pleased with out come and after a long and intense day, it had made it all worthwhile. Must say thanks to Steve of Emerald Exotics for the use and handling of his reptiles

[View with PicLens]