Turkey2
July 21, 2014
July 21, 2014
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Jul, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at The Cherokee Trace Safari in Jacksonville, Texas. It is a well hidden treasure in northeast Texas. It takes about 90 minutes to drive it, but on this day, it took about 6 hours!Time
We arrived at about noon on July 21 of this year. It was about 100 degrees, but we did't care! This was a trip planned months in advance by my shooting partner as a graduation present!Lighting
The day was beautiful but hot and bright. This particular turkey was in the shade though, prancing around with another turkey. This one though was not scared at all. He came right up to me.Equipment
Canon EOS REBEL T3i with an L series Canon lens 18-55mm f/0 with a mono pod.Inspiration
I love all animals. I took a photo of every animal on the safari that was out in the heat. But this guy seemed to want his photo taken because he came right up to us after we reached the end of the line and got out of our car.Editing
I used Photoshop to edit, white and black balance levels, etc. and using the camera RAW filter I pulled out shadows and adjusted the vibrancy. The oil technique is my own that I have been perfecting for about 3 years. I achieve this look with a plug in called GREYCstoration. It is similar to the oil paint filter in Photoshop but since Adobe lost the support for that filter I use the aforementioned. I apply an effect then take it to RAW again, then back to the oil, then back to RAW. I do this until I achieve the desired look I want for a particular image. Each image reacts differently to the technique and takes a different amount of time. This image took about 3 hours. I never oil before the image alone is as perfect as I can get it. I have also found that my technique is not good on non organic elements. And on skin, I have had to make some adjustments to shine and scale to avoid people looking like they are dried apple dolls!In my camera bag
I normally have my Canon T3i with a 77 mm long lens, a Nikon with an extra wide angle lens and a mono pod. I use circular polarizers outside and I NEVER use a flash. I do a lot of long exposure shots to avoid the grainy look. My equipment is somewhat used, so I get a lot of noise in my photos.Feedback
Shooting in RAW and long exposure shots seem to work best for me. I always color balance and pull out shadows in RAW. My technique is my baby, and while I love to share with others creative ways to enhance their photography, giving away too many specifics on that would be like a magician telling how he did the trick. I encourage everyone to explore the creative filters the software has to offer and experiment until they find something unique. This technique has very recently gotten me into a local gallery in Tyler called the Gold Leaf Gallery. Good luck to everyone, and thank you for your interest.
