Wildlife, very, very close.

Yaflyyadie · March 18, 2011

Hi:
I'm new at this forum and trying to start posting some of my pictures.
I am just an amateur one, with the desire of learning every day more.
I'm posting the second picture, is one taken at Lake Okeechobee during the duck hunting season.
Will appreciate all comments as part of my long learning process.
Feel free to disect me at your wish.
:beer

NorthernFocus · March 18, 2011

Cool. I've been across Lake Okachobee (i.e. around the edge in the channel) in the middle of a drout and couldn't believe how many gators there were. If you want feedback it helps to indicate what sort of gear you used and the settings. Also whether/what you did in post processing.

For this particualar image, you got pretty good clarity on the gator's eye and colors are good. IMO the gator's eye in the primary subject. Using the rule of thirds to move it away from center of frame would help. Also having the gator's head either above or below centerline would be an improvement. If you had the gator in the upper third of the frame it would eliminate some of the background clutter and also give the sense the you were right down on the water with the critter. Finally, there is an annoying leaf sticking in from left side of frame that is distracting and also on left side the nose needs to be either in or out of the picture.

One final comment, when shooting this type of subject.... STAY IN THE BOAT

Yaflyyadie · March 18, 2011

Thanks for your help.

I am unable to find a lot of information for this specific picture as it was shot by me with my Son's Nikon D300.
He emailed me the picture and have no info at all.
I recall it was in Manual mode, shutter speed was 125 and aperture if I'm not wrong was @ 8.
Normal ISO I shoot is 400 and also recall readjusting my Son's camera for that ISO setting.
White balance was untouched and only thing I recall done was to crop the image a little bit.

I am going to intent to fix the picture a little bit with my crappy system and then I will post the final results, at least to comply with what you have observed distracting and out of the rules of thirds.

Next pictures will be shot with my Nikon D3100 and I will log all the information by picture number.
Thanks again.

Yaflyyadie · March 19, 2011

Perhaps this one will be better???????????
Will appreciate comments.

Art Scott · March 19, 2011

I like the 1st pic the best....because it gives the impression of being in the wild...where the other pic could be in a zoo due to the crop.....
rule of thirds......my interpretation is that the subject needs to be off center.....1/3 one way or the other....not just left or right but it can be up or down and the 1st image again is there.....and the reason I say it is there is the water is leading you up to the gator...so again this accomplished...
As to getting exif.....always shoot in raw process and "save as" ...do not use "save for the web" as this does 2 things that to me are really bad....1 - and the worst thing is it make the image unprintable normally....2 - it strips the exif info that can prove ownership if ever need be proven.....

NorthernFocus · March 19, 2011

Additional suggestions with the info you provided would be to use a shallower depth of field for this type of image by closing down your f stop. Not sure what lens you had but f 5.6 or preferrably f 4 would help blur out foreground and background elements that you don't want distracting from the subject. Also in this lighting a polarizer would help eliminate the reflected sunlight and bring out the colors on the wet gator. You don't have to log your settings. They will be embedded in the "exif" data with the digital file.

Yaflyyadie · March 19, 2011

Thanks guys, you don't know how much I appreciate your comments.
I love some sports; Fishing, Hunting and Photography. The last two ones take number 2 and number 1 in my list of priorities.
I'm retired and don't want to start a new business, so what I really want and need is the assurance I'm doing things right.
I wrote in another post, probably my entry one in this forum, that I own a Swamp boat (Hunting boat) that normally takes me to places where a chopper or an airboat will have to be leased to take pictures, I'm not gonna mention brand name or anything else as there is no advertising on this matter on my behalf.
I can be as close to Nature as the Wildlife is, and another great addition is that my Son is a lover of Photography, so I'm blessed in many ways.
I'll keep posting and as I said before, FEEL FREE TO DISECT ME TO THE BONES, it will be 100% apreciated.

puzzledpaul · March 19, 2011

NorthernFocus wrote: »

... and also give the sense the you were right down on the water with the critter ...

Unsure about 'sense' - but imo, 'water level' or 'low down' shots (in an aquatic environment) have to be exactly that - there's no way to disguise where the horizon is.

Y - if you have access to a swamp boat, I'd suggest considering making a rig that'll let you get lower, whilst still staying in the boat

You'll find an angle finder an invaluable accessory for this sort of approach, btw, as even a few inches difference in height shows.

One of the rigs I use, when I can (me on land, cam on rig in water) leaves approx. 25 - 40mm between the underside of the lens hood and the water.

pp

canoesailor · March 19, 2011

puzzledpaul wrote: »

Unsure about 'sense' - but imo, 'water level' or 'low down' shots (in an aquatic environment) have to be exactly that - there's no way to disguise where the horizon is.

Y - if you have access to a swamp boat, I'd suggest considering making a rig that'll let you get lower, whilst still staying in the boat

You'll find an angle finder an invaluable accessory for this sort of approach, btw, as even a few inches difference in height shows.

One of the rigs I use, when I can (me on land, cam on rig in water) leaves approx. 25 - 40mm between the underside of the lens hood and the water.

pp

Not sure I'd want to get down to water level with that thing swimming about - could lose the end of your lens (if your lucky). If you do, don't stop shooting till you've some close up and intimate pics of its gullet. course if it death rolls it could undo the whole lens.

Yaflyyadie · March 20, 2011

I got less than 17 inches from the top of the gunnel to the water level, it looks a lot to any one outside the vessel, but is not much.
I am very handy making devices, so I will design something to achieve this effect closer to the water. (I already have my model designed inside my old head).
The other thing is that I have already ordered a POLARIZER LENS to clear as much reflection @ the water and bright metal objects, also it will help with cluds and sky.

Keep comments flowing guys, as I always say, IT WILL BE 100% APPRECIATED.

PS. Gators are shy and will not create a problem unless territorial or provoked .
I suppose the moment they decide to attack is when they swim towards you.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NorthernFocus did some work to my picture to show me what to do, but I don't know how to get it posted here.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

puzzledpaul · March 20, 2011

Yaflyyadie wrote: »

I got less than 17 inches from the top of the gunnel to the water level, it looks a lot to any one outside the vessel, but is not much.
I am very handy making devices, so I will design something to achieve this effect closer to the water. (I already have my model designed inside my old head).
!

Well, to me, 17 inches is a lot

Typical height of lens centreline above water with rig I previously mentioned (and linked pix here) is less than 5 inches.

Unless you're leaning over the side of the boat, holding the cam (freehand) above the water, then you'd probably be adding another 2 > 3 inches onto the 17.

Pix show current state of a thing I refer to as my 'bankside' - since I can 'plug it into' the bank of a lake / river.

Basically a T shaped Ali frame
Upper ends are secured via 10mm dia tube pushed into the soil/ whatever.
Bottom of the T is allowed to sink onto the lake / river bottom - the whole platform is then levelled by turning the knob, which is attached to a stainless steel screwed rod, which, in turn drives a carriage along what would be the vertical of the 'T'

When set up correctly (which it isn't here), the green perspex is level with the water surface.
On top of that is located a turntable made from a 9inch dia 'lazy Susan' TTable + 1/4 ply - then Beanbag etc.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/pppix/bankside.jpg

I've no idea how far you want (or are prepared) to go with this sort of stuff - so I'll leave it here for now.

All I'll say is that when I take 'sorta' low-ish pics ... which may or not be 'ok' ...from a higher height than this rig actually allows ... and the pics come out ... I'll wince to myself for not 'doing the job properly' ... and using this or similar gear I have.

Depends on what you're after (in the way of pics) of course - ymmv.

pp

Yaflyyadie · March 20, 2011

Got it, only changes will probably be the mount sitting @ the gunnel with 2 slides, one each side to lower the rig as close to the surface as possible w/o risking the lens and camera.
Thanks.

puzzledpaul · March 21, 2011

It'll be interesting to see what you end up with - for both the rig and results you get from it, because you've certainly got rather different subjects to have a go at

If this was a potential scenario for me, I'd probably consider cutting a notch in the hull, to lower the freeboard at that point, so's the hull side was less likely to get in the way of chest / neck when leaning over - although I can understand anyone's reluctance to do this ...

Best of luck

pp

Yaflyyadie · March 21, 2011

puzzledpaul wrote: »

It'll be interesting to see what you end up with - for both the rig and results you get from it, because you've certainly got rather different subjects to have a go at

If this was a potential scenario for me, I'd probably consider cutting a notch in the hull, to lower the freeboard at that point, so's the hull side was less likely to get in the way of chest / neck when leaning over - although I can understand anyone's reluctance to do this ...

Best of luck

pp

I will post the contraption when finished and probably tested a couple of times, it might be helpfull to someone as yours is.

You are 100% right about the reluctance of cutting the hull, even a small notch.
It is a hunting boat 70% and photo and video 30%.
Structurally sound for the job it has to perform, there is no way in this earth I will even dream of cutting it.

Yaflyyadie · April 2, 2011

Mar-19-2011, 07:11 PM </TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #575757 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #575757 0px solid; BORDER-TOP: #575757 1px solid; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; BORDER-RIGHT: #575757 1px solid" class=thead align=right></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #575757 0px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #575757 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #575757 0px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: #575757 1px solid" class=alt2 width=175>NorthernFocus<SCRIPT type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_", true); </SCRIPT>
Ignorance is truly bliss.

Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Alaska
Posts: 1,101

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #575757 1px solid" id=td_post_ class=alt1>Your Gator Photo

<HR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #575757; COLOR: #575757" SIZE=1>Hope you don't mind I copied your gator and tweeked it a bit to show you what a shallower depth of field would look like. You can see that you still get the sense of the background plants but they don't draw attention from the main subject. I also cloned over some of the reflections on the gator and increased color saturation so you could see to some degree what a polarizer would have looked like. Sharpened the eye area and did some cloning to cover up some of the bright spots in the background. I tried a couple of different crops but ended up just cutting a bit off the bottom and left side. See what you think.

This wasn't about editing. I was trying to demontrate some of the concepts most wildlife photographers shoot for with the camera. Doing it after the fact is labor intensive and never yields as good of results either.

Here's your original.

Feel free to post the revised version in your thread for comparison if you like.
__________________
Dan

My Photo Gallery:Northern Focus Photography

When I was a child I spoke as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child; but when I became a man I never really changed.<img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/ne_nau.gif" border="0" alt="" >

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE id=post class=tborder border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" align=center><TBODY><TR><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #575757 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #575757 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #575757 1px solid; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; BORDER-RIGHT: #575757 0px solid" class=thead>

Mar-19-2011, 07:11 PM </TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #575757 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #575757 0px solid; BORDER-TOP: #575757 1px solid; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; BORDER-RIGHT: #575757 1px solid" class=thead align=right></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #575757 0px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #575757 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #575757 0px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: #575757 1px solid" class=alt2 width=175>NorthernFocus<SCRIPT type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_", true); </SCRIPT>
Ignorance is truly bliss.

Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Alaska
Posts: 1,101

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #575757 1px solid" id=td_post_ class=alt1>Your Gator Photo
<HR style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #575757; COLOR: #575757" SIZE=1>Hope you don't mind I copied your gator and tweeked it a bit to show you what a shallower depth of field would look like. You can see that you still get the sense of the background plants but they don't draw attention from the main subject. I also cloned over some of the reflections on the gator and increased color saturation so you could see to some degree what a polarizer would have looked like. Sharpened the eye area and did some cloning to cover up some of the bright spots in the background. I tried a couple of different crops but ended up just cutting a bit off the bottom and left side. See what you think.

This wasn't about editing. I was trying to demontrate some of the concepts most wildlife photographers shoot for with the camera. Doing it after the fact is labor intensive and never yields as good of results either.

Here's your original.

Feel free to post the revised version in your thread for comparison if you like.
__________________
Dan

My Photo Gallery:Northern Focus Photography

When I was a child I spoke as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child; but when I became a man I never really changed.<img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/ne_nau.gif" border="0" alt="" >

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Wildlife, very, very close.

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