{"id":3720,"date":"2011-01-16T08:58:29","date_gmt":"2011-01-16T12:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/?p=3720"},"modified":"2011-02-24T11:42:25","modified_gmt":"2011-02-24T15:42:25","slug":"working-right-on-sun-angle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/2011\/01\/16\/working-right-on-sun-angle\/","title":{"rendered":"Working Right on Sun Angle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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I photographed this winter plumage Herring Gull from the car at Shinnecock Inlet, Long Island, NY with the Canon 800mm f\/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X II TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2\/3 stop: 1\/1250 sec. at f\/8 (in Av Mode). My rig was supported by a BLUBB<\/a> filled with bird seed. (That worked out quite well as the bird seed was lighter than the same volume of pinto beans.) <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Working Right on Sun Angle<\/h3>\n

When I was positioning the car to make the image above, I remember moving it as little as an inch or two forward or back to make sure that my shadow was pointed directly at the subject. Working right on sun angle is so important to me and I have been doing it for so long that today I do it almost without thinking. <\/p>\n

The January 13th post, My Thoughts on \u201cBright Ideas: You be the Photo Editor\u201d<\/a> did not elicit a firestorm of comments but there was one controversial one in addition to some great comments and suggestions. <\/p>\n

Roger Williams (January 15, 2011 at 11:00 am) wrote, “Please say a bit more about, \u201cworking right on sun angle\u201d.<\/p>\n

I responded, “Thanks for your question. You must be new here and new to the wide array of BAA educational materials as this is a topic that I have written reams on. Please see this morning’s (Sunday, January 16, 2011’s) blog post.”<\/p>\n

One of my rare but consistent rant topics is that folks with expensive camera gear simply do not take advantage of the fabulous educational resources available today and in addition, many if not most are not willing to study, practice, and do the work that is needed to improve their photography. Though several years old, The Art of Bird Photography II<\/a> (916 pages on CD) is a tremendous resource. It took me four years to write and includes everything that I learned about nature photography from 1998 (when the original The Art of Bird Photography<\/a> was released) until late 2006. <\/p>\n

In addition, probably 3\/4 of my current 17,095 comments on Bird Photographers.Net<\/a> deal with folks having problems with either the proper light angle or the proper head angle. Those two flaws are rampant in images posted for critiquing. <\/p>\n

Here is an excerpt from The Art of Bird Photography II<\/a> (page 177) adapted for this blog post:<\/p>\n

Light-Angle<\/p>\n

I am a huge (one could pretty much say \u201cobsessed\u201d) fan of direct frontal lighting. And surely all IPT participants would tell you that I am\u2014among all natural history photography instructors\u2014its biggest proponent. Except when creating silhouettes or when working in other backlit situations, I want my shadow pointed directly at the bird in almost all cases. I simply do not like side-lit images of birds\u2014expose for the highlight side and the shadowed side loses all detail. The concept is a simple one: I want the bird in front of me with the sun coming right over the top of my head. It bears repeating: I want my shadow pointed right at the subject.<\/p>\n

In extreme lowlight situations, you do not\u2014of course\u2014want your shadow to fall either partially or completely on the subject. In these instances, work off-angle to the light just enough so that your shadow does not appear anywhere in the image. Ideally, connecting the dots between the light source (the sun), the photographer, and the subject will yield a straight line. With birds, and many other natural history subjects as well, utilizing direct frontal lighting will yield images of subjects that are evenly and pleasingly lit. No shadows cast by any parts of the bird will fall on the bird itself. Realize also that when making backlit or silhouetted images, the most
\ndramatic results are created when the subject is on a line drawn from the photographer to the light source: it is best to position yourself so that the subject is precisely between you and the sun as doing so will ensure the most dramatic lighting and the richest colors. <\/em><\/p>\n

The above is just one of hundreds of similar lessons in the CD book. The very next one covered in the book is Subject-to-Imaging Sensor or Film-Plane Orientation…. If your everyday gear costs thousands or tens of thousands of dollars and you are not familiar with every topic covered in ABP II you are not fulfilling your potential as a photographer….<\/p>\n

Yeah, if I get you to buy a copy of the CD I will make a few bucks, but your photography will improve by leaps and bounds if you study and practice \ud83d\ude42 How much is that worth?<\/p>\n

I gotta get outta here and head to La Jolla. See you here again soon. <\/p>\n

Shopper’s Guide<\/h2>\n

Below is a list of the gear that I used to create the images above. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins.<\/p>\n

Canon 800mm f\/5.L IS lens<\/a> Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
\nCanon 1.4X II teleconverter<\/a> This is my most used accessory; I would be lost without it
\nCanon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body<\/a> And this is the very best professional digital camera body that I have even used. <\/p>\n

And from the BAA On-line Store:<\/p>\n

Gitzo 3530 LS Tripod<\/a> This one will last you a lifetime.
\nMongoose M3.6 Tripod Head<\/a> Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head<\/a>.
\n Double Bubble Level<\/a> You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
\nDelkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card<\/a> Fast and dependable.<\/p>\n

If you are considering the purchase of a major piece of photographic gear be it a new camera, a long lens, a tripod or a head, or some accessories be sure to check out our complete Shopper’s Guide.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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I photographed this winter plumage Herring Gull from the car at Shinnecock Inlet, Long Island, NY with the Canon 800mm f\/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X II TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2\/3 stop: 1\/1250 sec. at f\/8 (in Av Mode). My rig was supported by a BLUBB filled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[90,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-90","category-misc","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3720\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}