I have made many mistakes over the years and I have learned the most valuable lessons from what I call “cry” shots, so I am going to share some valuable lessons with you below.
Weather, Water and Light
Let me try and illustrate water success or failure with actual examples, the first photo will define success, taken late evening approx 20 minutes before the sun sets, so this is last light of the day.
Here are the reasons why I define this photo as successful:
- Both eyes are sharp, and both eyes caught the available light
- Both eyes are visible and they indicate interaction between the baby and parent
- The water is beautiful – this is a large lake, to get water like this, you need less than 5 miles per hour wind, good light, clear sky or mostly blue
- The distance to subject and overall composition are what I was looking for
- There are just a few days (5) before the baby no longer looks this cute, so timing was perfect
Let’s look at some less successful photos with water involved and see what we get.
Here is why I consider this photo not up to standard and why it can be improved upon:
- The time is right, early am, but it’s slightly windy on a large body of water 5-10 miles per hour
- The sky is overcast which creates this horrible grey, black, green water mix, the water just doesn’t look as pretty as it should and takes away from the photo.
- The reasons you see the different colors in the water is reflection, at different angles, some water is reflecting grey sky, other angles reflecting the green of surrounding trees.
- This photo could have had potential if the water was totally calm, I might have gotten green nice-looking water, but it is always tough on heavy overcast days
- Not all eyes are totally visible, the middle babies eye is obscured (the holy grail to me would have been all three sets of eyes perfect and great water)
- I didn’t know it at the time, but the slightly squared forehead of the loon parent indicates a loon about to be in distress or at least concerned with my presence, a more relaxed natural look would have been preferred.
- I call this a ‘cry shot’ – Mum with two babies (great), right distance from subjects (great), babies visible and cute (great), composition and story pretty good, light (sucks) rendering the photo not a keeper to me
Below are four more loon photos that are not good, or more accurately can be improved upon :)
OK, so the above photo shows there are many possible ways water can look depending on wind, light, time of day, size of the body of water and angle of shooting etc. Pick your poison, so to speak.
Here are items that can be improved upon:
- Top left – terrible framing, bird has nowhere to move, no space to right of bird
- Top Left – loon is moving away from me, slightly annoyed
- Top Left – The eye is not catching any light (could be angle of light or mostly due to overcast conditions)
- Top Left – Both eyes not as sharp as they need to be, probably more to do with the angle the bird is at to me, more so than f-stop setting
- Top Right – I actually don’t mind this dark blue water, seems to happen more on larger water bodies with lots of blue sky
- Top Right – I was a bit too far away from this bird, framing could be better, composition could be better, hump on forehead shows distress of bird
- Bottom Left – I think this happened a bit too late in the morning, the sun got too high and harsh – especially tough with a black and white bird
- Bottom Left – Harsh light on the face with dark shadows, just doesn’t look pretty
- Bottom Left – this type of water is common on small ponds in early am and last light conditions, the green comes mostly from the trees around the edge of the pond
- Bottom Right – this was actually taken in good light, I love the composition, but I am not sure about the two tone water
- Bottom Right – the two tones of water is because larger body of water, wind over 5miles per hour, the waves in the water reflects different colours
Lets look at another photo I consider a successful photo:
Here are some thoughts on this photo:
- The color of the water is actually on a small pond, the result was due to me finding the right angle to shoot at and slight fog hanging around in the air. I don’t often see this color on small ponds, but I love the tone of the photo.
- The point here is there are many looks water can have and which one is what you are looking for
- I like calm / still water better in first or last light, you get more reflections and just a cleaner look
- I was shooting from a canoe, hand holding the 600mm, I could have set higher ISO to get a faster shutter speed which I think would have been more desirable
- I went for 6.3 f-stop to try and get both sets of eyes sharp which can be a challenge with a long lens
- This photo captured the intense red eye of the loon, which seems to come from being at the right angle in good light
- The water dripping from the loon helps add character to this photo
- The baby being so tiny (1 to 2 days old), adds cuteness and the fact it’s looking at me helps draw the viewers eyes in
This was one of my earlier attempts at a bird over water action shot, here are some thoughts on this photo:
- I had the speed, 800th was enough to stop this action, but yet it still looks slightly soft
- I feel the mistake I made here was in panning with the bird and possibly my focus spot slightly off, might be due to the wing and my angle to the bird
- Panning with birds takes some practice, only way to get good at it is to try and try again :)
- I had the camera in shutter priority mode, because my experience with Nikon cameras is they mess up when the background gets busy over water in aperture priority mode
- I have lost a few eagle grab shot attempts to a Nikon camera not exposing aperture priority correctly in this shooting scenario, now I always use shutter priority for this kind of shot
- The light and water are not ideal, it was a valiant attempt, but I need to come back and try on a better light day – LoL, – the story of my life
The above moose photo and the sequence I took at that time were all soft except two stationary images, and it had to do with shutter speed and me not paying attention to my camera settings. (Nikkor 200-400mm f/4 lens, f/5.6 F-Stop, 200 ISO, 80th sec Shutter)
Where I went wrong:
- This can and does happen to all of us, you just get caught up in the excitement and the rush to get the shot, you become temporarily oblivious to your camera settings and shoot away. This is a terrible mistake you need to get out of your system if possible.
- 80th of a sec is not enough to stop the motion and camera shake from hand holding, my shutter should have at least been faster than 250th of a sec, I would have preferred around 500th to make sure. Even though moose are fairly slow-moving and slower shutter speeds are generally ok for them, when motion, like walking or head turns, are involved you need a little more speed.
- I could have opened my aperture to f4.0 or increased the ISO to get more speed. It really comes down to, I should have paused for a second and check my speeds and settings before totally getting caught up in the excitement of being close to this moose.
- In a way it’s an amateurs mistake, but I tell you, even years later, sometimes I still make that mistake. The excitement of the moment and the urgency to start shooting takes over – always, always stop and check your settings.
- I essentially blew this opportunity because I had the right conditions for moose photography (bright overcast) which eliminates harsh antler shadows, calm water, and a great environment. Nice bull too, there you go, another ‘cry’ shot
Some Final Thoughts on Weather, Water and Light
- Different bodies of water produce colors that might only be specific to that pond, so experiment with locations and time and conditions
- The sky and surrounding environment play a big role in how the water looks, and the wind has a major influence on the appearance of the water.
- I prefer a calm body of water in early am light, the water looks cleaner and more reflective and generally has a nicer tone
- Events like fog can add mood to a photo, but the fog can make it hard to get a sharp photo
- The surrounding environment is what mostly influences the color, tone and texture of the water and you need to consider this
- For example, beautiful long light green grass can add a beautiful texture to the photos over water, use the environment to your advantage.
- Most of my wildlife photos with water in them that I usually don’t like are a result of horrible reflections (wind) or horrible grey tones (low light or too overcast)
- I don’t think there is a right or wrong here, as far as what water looks good to you – it’s your choice, go for it
- Just because one angle is not working does not mean its over, try changing angles to the subject, changing elevation or waiting until subject moves closer to shore elements. Even in rough water there can be calm sections near shore or on the protected sides of landmasses (like islands). Sometimes half and hour makes all the difference in the world.
