If
you who are reading this are young and active you may still benefit from
a few tips from an older member of the CRC. Going on Safari to Africa
you will have no difficulty in taking photographs of the
many animals that happily gallop around on the plains, the
Elephants, Giraffes and if you are lucky - even a lion or two ! You will
no doubt come home thrilled to bits at having captured the rear view of a
herd of zebra or any of a
number of thrilling happenings that are the daily life of such animals.
If on the other hand you are "getting on" and the
joints are a bit creaky, and the hands a bit shaky, you must choose more
stable subjects for your masterpieces. A tripod is essential!
Preferably the subject should not be inclined to remove itself at
the speed of light from your presence.
This
lets out such things as birds, although they may be coaxed into
remaining in one place for more than two seconds by the promise of food.
Butterflies are entirely too erratic in their behaviour, especially on a
nice warm day with lots of sunshine,where you could use a small stop and
get the whole insect in focus. They either sit and wait with their wings
demurely folded together or just as you have the little beast framed in
your viewfinder they disappear completely, and leave you wondering where
they went.
Dragonflies
are a bit better as they do zoom about looking very fierce, but if you
can catch them early in the morning before they have warmed up, and if
you can find where their favourite perch is, you can creep up on them
and often get a very good picture using a ring flash or a couple of
small flash guns mounted on
a "V" shaped structure on either side of the lens.
The
mammals involved in Natural History Photography are very elusive. They
see you coming long before you see them, and unless you are prepared to
squeeze yourself into a hide for hour upon uncomfortable hour, in baking
heat or freezing cold, depending upon the season. Don't bother! You
could go to the local zoo or cheat in some other fashion and some
dedicated photographers have done just that, and got some really
spectacular close-ups of really fierce beasts. This seems to me like
taking advantage of their captivity!
So
what are we left with? Plants, trees, underwater or pond life and fungi!
The first two may make memorable photographs, particularly if they have
flowers or interesting shapes or peculiar seeds.
Underwater or pond life photographs are best done in an aquarium,
or under the microscope. This can be very interesting and there is
little danger here of getting wet knees.
The
best subject is Fungi! These come in many and various sizes, very nice
colours, and they are passive
and co-operative. HOWEVER they
do exist very close to the ground and in very wet and soggy places. his
can be a problem for ageing photographers, who generally avoid getting
on to their knees - for any reason whatsoever!
The
laws of Nature Photography demand that there should be arrangements of
subjects in order to satisfy the requirements of
"composition". This means that the number of subjects allowed
in a photograph should be "odd". i.e. three is better than
two. We seldom find that Fungus realises this, and they have to be
re-arranged so to speak. You are expected to find
another one, dig it up and replant it beside the two original
specimens. Well, if you are going to do this then why not remove the
whole group to a more convenient place? This saves an enormous amount of
trouble. Their original habitat is dark, wet, and very messy. They
generally live in very dark places and
for Natural History Photography they must be all in focus, and
well and evenly lit. This is all very well if you are on their level and
can see what you are doing, this means that you will inevitably get wet
knees, and this is not a good idea. If you try to take a photograph from
a standing position you will get three little featureless blobs
surrounded by masses of dead leaves and twigs.
This
is not considered to be the stuff of which masterpieces are made. No!
the only solution is to get out your plastic bag and carry the whole
lot, leaves, twigs and all, back home and
find the most convenient place of all. Warm, dry, and bags of
lighting facilities and you can even sit down to do it.
For
a really impressive Natural History Photograph you must reconstruct the
wilderness from which you have uprooted your subject. First find a small
black plastic tray such as your local supermarket uses for displaying
small vegetables. Fill it with earth and plant your three subjects in
it, making sure that they are in a suitably artistic relationship. You
can place the tray in a position where you may view them with your
camera at a reasonable distance and wouldn't it be nice if you could
include the delicate gills underneath the cap.Now all is possible, but
wait..... What to do about the background of woods and dappled shade?
The tray and earth can be covered with all the dead leaves that you
brought home but the rest must be faked. A projected image would do, or
you could get the grandchildren to roughly crayon or paint coloured
blobs on to a piece of cardboard. Out of focus it would look quite
realistic. Lighting can be
with flash, softened, and coloured if you like the effect. Reflectors
can be placed in suitable positions to illuminate the gills and even
colour them too. A blue filter on the flash and a yellow green reflector
will make it look really weird. That will confuse the judges when you
submit your masterpiece in the Natural History section. Your imagination
is the only limiting factor.
I
do hope you will enjoy your Natural History photography. Your knees will
remain dry and do, please let me know if you discover how to fake a
sunbeam!