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Jun, 2013Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I was running a workshop for the Lancashire Wildlife Trust. We had a falconer bring various gorgeous species for my students to try and capture. We'd spent 2 previous (2 hour) workshops on the theory of photography, so it was really nice for all of us to get out and put it into practice. I took this image to explain composition etc and also to prove it could be done with cheap kit. I have a guidebook that was a No.1 best-seller (globally on Amazon) back in 2012 and its title: 'How To Take Great Photographs With Any Camera' is the reason the Wildlife Trust asked me to do the workshops ... hence using cheap gear myself. No zoom lens here, just my feet which have the same effect.Time
It was actually late afternoon on a bright sunny day. Nature lovers out there may realise that you would never find a Barn-owl in this kind of tree normally ... which is a bit of a give-way that this is 'staged'.Lighting
I chose this location for the owl as the lighting was flat from a shadow cast from a wall behind (it's there just out of focus!). The reason was simply to make life easier for my students. Personally I'd normally choose a shadowed area for the subject with a background in sunlight - the effect is gorgeous (look at any fashion catalogue and you'll notice the model is usually stood under a diffuser) with a sunny background to add that interest.Equipment
An old Nikon D200 and I think my 35mm f/1.8 DX lens (about £130 new). No flash, reflectors etc. Just flat light from shadow.Inspiration
I was getting jealous of my students having all the fun, so I jumped in there. :)Editing
I did indeed! All Photoshop. I duplicated the original layer, d-esaturated it and then added a blue curve. Then using a mask deleted the area over the owl to show the original coloured one to appear. Cropped it and added a quick-mask graduation, turned it to a selection and added lens-blur to give the appearance of tilt-shift. Flattened the layers, added some contrast and burned the edges in. So ... erm ... yes just a little retouching. Sorry to spoil the magic but you did ask!In my camera bag
I always have a Nikon D700 - it may be old news now but it's a serious workhorse. In fact I just smashed my 'baby' by accident last month and replaced it with another D700 (not D850 etc.) immediately. I love these cameras. I tend to stick to Prime lenses in my bag: 35mm/ 50mm/ 70-200mm and a wide-angle 14mm. They cover everything! I also have an SB700 Speedlight flash, 2 Manfrotto tripods and monopod,. I also have lots of portable studio kit. Elinchrom lighting, backgrounds, reflectors, stands etc. Being an architectural and advertising photographer I do all sorts of stuff so have different bags for different jobs. My biggest tip is: the lighter, the better. I've spent years lugging big kit out of my boot and it starts to wear-thin pretty fast. Thank God I don't use 5x4 anymore.Feedback
If you can afford it a BIG zoom lens. I used a 35mm lens for that shot so got very personal with the Barn Owl - but the Falconer did warn me they can go for your eyes! Capturing these beautiful creatures in the wild can actually be illegal depending on the species too - so be careful and ensure you're allowed first (ask Google). Personally I'd recommend a zoo: with a small enough aperture (say f/2.8) any background will be irrelevant and you won't have to camp out for days in a camouflage hide ... although that sounds pretty amazing, now I think about it.
