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Apr, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in the Camargue, Southern France. The owner of the stallion is a 'Gardien', one of the famous camargue cowboys who look after the wild white horses and black bulls of the National Conservation region at the delta of the Rhone River. The region is very flat and is famous as being one of Europe's largest natural ornithological centres with a world famous reputation for the pink flamingos and the hundreds of other species of birds that migrate from Northern Europe. Being a Gardien, nowadays, does not in itself, earn sufficient income to survive, especially in the expensive and touristic region of Southern France. The Gardiens are therefore obliged to take other work to make ends meet. This particular Gardien has opened a dinner/cabaret with entertainment in the form of the wild stallions. The layout is similar to a small circus with an arena surrounded on one side by tables and layered seating on 3 levels. It is small but cosy with sufficient space for approx 150 seated guests. The establishment had recently opened and wanted some photos for publicity posters, leaflets etc. The owner also wanted to be able to offer groups of amateur photographers the chance to take creative portrait photos of the stallions in a very unusual setting. This is where I found myself on the first of one of these 'potential' animal portrait workshops.Time
We arrived at the location at around 9am on a very sunny April morning. The time chosen was essential as the stallions are very active in the mornings and also again in the evenings when the temperature cools down. The Gardien has to transport his stallions from the 'marshlands' to the local village after they have had their morning run along the vast beaches and wetlands. This was also very much a trial for the gardien as he needed to be sure that the stallion would be fiery enough to perform but not totally wild in an enclosed arena of about 200 square metres.Lighting
There was a very high contrast between the strong sunlight visible at one end of the arena and almost total darkness at the other (seated) end. This was going to cause problems as the stallion was supposed to run around the arena darting between sunlight and almost obscurity. The professional who arranged this shoot had purchased a huge flexible led light that he suspended from one side of the arena in an attempt to mix the sunlight with the led 'daylight'. After several attempts and failures with the electrical installation we managed to get about 10 minutes of shooting time before the stallion tired. The difficulties in this shoot were the unpredictability of the stallion's movement combined with the huge dynamic range differential between the two ends of the arena.Equipment
For this shoot and any shoot where I need to react quickly and without looking, I used my Nikon D810 combined with a 24-70mm f2.8 Nikkor lens. In this situation, a tripod would have been unusable due to the close proximity of the stallion and the rapid, unpredictable movements. I had the camera set to AF-C on 9 point focus mode. I also used High-speed continuous mode to enable more chance of success.Inspiration
I have always wanted to visit the Camargue region of France and photograph the famous white stallions. This particular opportunity to be one of the first to capture a stallion portrait in an unusual setting inspired me even more as I tend to specialise in Creative portrait and dance photography. This was in effect the wild animal version of a dance shoot!Editing
With the high contrast in the lighting and the white stallion, this photo was always going to be a black and white production. I have a very specific workflow and only use Lightroom for my post-processing, although sometimes I experiment with Silver Efex Pro.In my camera bag
Although there are nowadays much smaller and equally capable cameras available, I just feel much more confident with my Nikon D810. Combined with the Battery grip it feels solid and reliable and provides an excellent counter-balance to many of the larger full-frame lenses. My bag contents don't often vary. I always take the D810 body and my Nikon lenses, 24-70mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8 and then either my Nikon 200-500mm or the Nikon 16-35mm f/4 depending on the subject of the shoot. In addition I use a Gitzo 3, Ocean Series tripod which, whilst not being cheap, is a super-solid and light-weight tripod capable of being submerged without lasting damage. I also use a RRS large ball-head and swiss-arca system for tripod connection. It's fairly heavy and I am sure that I could have lighter equally capable mirrorless systems, but it's a tough decision to take especially when you have invested heavily in the Full-Frame system...Feedback
Trying to capture movement without completely freezing the shot is the target, here. I have seen many shots of static horses and static dancers...'frozen' in mid-air. Whilst being a technically sound picture, it doesn't really convey the feeling of movement. Afterall dancers and wild animals rarely stay still, they are always on the move and their persona implies movement. In my shot, I could have chosen a faster shutter speed although with the lighting limits there is always going to be a pay-back in terms of noise. I feel I would rather have a less sharp picture that conveys the emotion of the scene rather than a static picture without any feeling! But each to their own.....
