One day at a time
May, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This image is a composite of two photo's that I took myself. The bird, (and branch), were captured in the grounds of a medieval church very near to where I live in Scarborough, UK. The sun was taken from my window, as during some winter months I'm able to see the sunrise over the sea. I find that even if a photograph doesn't work there can still be elements of it that will. Composites increase my output greatly.Time
I had gone to the church grounds on a late afternoon in spring. I wanted to practice bird photo's as I find them challenging for me and my equipment. Though the weather was good, the birds were evasive and nothing was standing out. As I started to head back a small bird was perched on a branch some feet in front of me. When it comes to sunrises I can be a bit lazy. I have a star map app on the phone which, whilst still in bed, I can check on the progress of the rising sun. Then, with coffee, if prepared, I stand at my open window and photograph the sunrise, then I go back to bed for an hour or so before getting up to edit.Lighting
The sun was behind the bird with only thin, hazy clouds. I put the speed up and dialled in a large-ish f/no. I composed and took some shots, a quick review showed the back-lighting was too much for a shot with detail so thinking this could be good cut-out, (silhouette), opportunity I tried to achieve a high contrast image and increased both speed and f/no. And managed another couple of shots before the bird flew off. Sunrise shots obviously have a time frame as well, and too much or too little cloud make or break it. While low in the sky, the atmosphere acts as a filter, but as the sun rises it inevitably becomes too bright for a direct shot. On this day the cloud was hazy (not dramatic, but subtle), and so the lighting easy, you just have to follow the arc of dark to bright and shoot accordingly.Equipment
For these shots I used the Canon 550d (T2i), with the Canon 75-300 f/4-5.6. No other equipment was used.Inspiration
I was trying to improve my mask selection skills on difficult subjects and chose the bird and branch image as it had a good level of contrast between subject and sky/background but also had some complexity. The image itself was nice but lacked a background. Once I found a background I liked it and it further inspired me to finish the image.Editing
I used 'colour range' selection tool in CS5 to select the bird/branch. Refining with + and -, before creating a mask which I further refined by selecting the mask, inverting it , and then using a soft brush to further blend the edges. To match the background, I used an image with a strong light source to work with silhouetted subject, just reducing it in brightness. Composition was a matter of placing the two how you liked. By blurring the background image of the sun etc. I was able to give it the look of its correct focal distance, which I think really helped give the image some realism.In my camera bag
I'm in a state of change having recently bought a Canon 7d mk ii and a Canon 70-200 f/2.8 ii. But was using the 550d for a while. I have the 18-55 kit lens(with broken auto-focus), which was a great for while, with macro tubes you can get some good results but I'm looking to get something new. I like to cover from macro to zoom and between.Feedback
Try to remember what you can do in editing so that you know that even if an image doesn't work by itself part of it could be perfect in a composite image. Refine your editing skills, the more you know the more subtle and convincing you get whilst improving your work-flow and artistic skills. Learn different types of photography, from landscape to nature photography inc. Macro and night imagery. You can have something in mind but go with flow it's a great way of discovering and learning at the same time.
