The salt water crocodile is a rare species. HDR photography of wildlife is equally rare.
When we think of HDR methods, we usually rule out wildlife subjects because of motion artifacts that occur in processing. While there are over 200,000 HDR landscape images on Flickr, there are only about 5,000 HDR wildlife images on the site. So, we tend to hold to a mindset that HDR is only useful for landscape or other still subject matter. HDR wildlife photography, however, is a worthwhile and challenging adventure.
In this article, we explore the vast, untapped potential of HDR wildlife photography.
A WILD, PATIENT MIND FOR PHOTOGRAPHY
Photographers can make successful high dynamic range photographs of birds and other wildlife. To photograph the salt water crocodile named Maximo, above, I saw that there were moments when this huge crocodile was motionless. Photographing him with HDR techniques took patience. With bright conditions, and a fast shutter, his stillness allowed for registered frames that prevented movement artifacts in post-processing.
Understanding the behavior of your wild animal is the key to determining when it will be at rest.
HOW TO APPROACH WILDLIFE
The first few attempt may fail. When we approach a wild animal and get inside its comfort zone, it often moves away. Every species has a different approach distance or flight zone. The distance varies with species. Captive animals in zoos are a good place to practice, before we head out into the wild.
Settings:
Grab your tripod. Set up quality, aperture, mode and white balance in your camera in advance. I turn the lens AF off. For wildlife photography, I approach quietly and slowly, then stabilize the camera. I continue to shoot registered frames, and keep on taking frames until I get three frames in a row during a period where the animal is stationary. All animals move, but some are still for a fraction of time. Wait for the subject to pause, then release your shutter; a cable release is very helpful.
For high dynamic range, making 3, 5 or 7 identical frames of a motionless subject and combining them in software gives you better detail. For nature work, exposure bracketing – taking multiple exposures at different shutter speeds and the same aperture- is an excellent skill to practice, because success keeps a greater expression of detail in your photograph’s highlights and shadows.
VISION AND LIGHT
To show an ordinary subject in extraordinary light, the direction, quality, intensity, color, and contrast of the ambient light around the animal must be thoughtfully considered.Intriguing wildlife photographs are infused with light. Even subjects we’ve seen before, like mallard ducks, can be seen with a new vision.
So, before you expose multiple frames, ask yourself: “From where is the light on my wildlife subject coming? Is it the soft light of a cloudy day? Am I shooting under hard, high contrast daylight?” For the ducks here, the light was soft and overcast. HDR methods tend to work better with high contrast conditions, althought they can be used in low contrast light. Remember to use a wider exposure bracket (+5 EV, + 7 EV) when there is a large tonal range of light, in order to record subtle grey and dark tones.
Try to photograph your wildlife subjects in compelling light, whether it is low or high contrast. The point is to develop and grow your own vision, and train your visual processing system to become sensitized to varieties of interesting natural light. Don’t rely on post-processing to provide interesting lighting.
WORK FLOW
Teaching courses and coaching photographers, I invite students to develop their own workflow and then allow for flexibility as they learn, when new methods come along. At present, I use Photomatix Pro, engage the auto-bracketing feature of my digital SLR, focus manually, tripod-mount the camera and release the shutter with a cable release. Lightroom and Photoshop are key parts of my workflow.
SPECIFIC TIPS FOR SUCCESS
My successful work flow involves:
LOW ISO: Photograph at the lowest ISO possible. Use RAW file capture whenever possible.
STABILIZE: If I’ve left the tripod behind, I hand-hold. A digital SLR that has at least 5 frames per second is helpful for this fast bracketing. If your camera has a slower motor drive, you will probably want a tripod to keep the frames in register.
WHITE BALANCE: Remember to adjust your white balance in camera. Although Auto White Balance frequently works well, try Manual White Balance settings with a white blank piece of paper.
KEYWORDS: After downloading, I add metadata tags to all photographs, using HDR as a descriptor, then crop and straighten if needed.
EXPOSURE & COLOR CORRECTION: I adjust exposure, then shift the color slightly to warm it up using a preset in Lightroom 3, because my Canon camera tends to see more in the “blue” light spectrum.
BACK IT UP: The crucial part of all digital imaging workflow is to back up all work with separate and safe storage.
EDITING SOFTWARE
As photographers we all have an individual work flow. The beauty of digital imaging is that you can customize your workflow to your own tastes. Lightroom is part of my workflow, but there are many good software programs including HDR Fx Photo Editor for Android, a 64-Bit Plug In for Aperture, Photoshop and HDR Efex Pro. In general, any program that you find fits your way of working and helps you understand HDR will be valuable.
There are different kinds of HDR processing. For added sharpness, in 2016, I started using Exposure Fusion (EF) in Lightroom with the open source Enfuse Plug In The highlights and shadows adjust setting in Photomatix works well for most of my photographs. EF has another advantage. It can also create extended Depth Of Field images by fusing together a sequence of images with different DOFs. This is helpful when lighting conditions do not allow for the full foreground to background range to be in focus from one frame, or if I am limited by the DOF of my lens.
SOLVING PROBLEMS WITH HDR ARTIFACTS
“Ghosting” is an annoying problem that results whenever the subject moves between frames of an HDR bracketed series of exposures. Correcting “ghosting” eats up processing time. Although Photomatix Pro, Photoshop CS5 and other HDR processing software programs have excellent anti-ghosting formulas, running them takes up a lot of time and increases your frustration. When you photograph wildlife, get those frames in perfect register if you can. To do this, you have to find and wait for those “in-between” moments when those active animals are motionless.
For nature images, it helps to avoid overly processing or over-saturating your subject. These photographs are not about producing an “HDR look” as the goal is to maximize shadow and highlight details with a natural appearance.
SUBJECT IDEAS
Some wildlife animals lend themselves to HDR work, so you may want to consider these species, when you can catch them not moving, for compelling imagery:
1. Alligators, crocodiles, Komodo Dragons, tortoises, turtles and other cold-blooded reptiles, especially in winter.
2. Any approachable bird.
3. Insects in the early morning.
4. The “Big Five” game animals of Africa.
5. Underwater marine wildlife.
Thanks for joining the adventure of Flow Photography.
