Photo Selection
I want to try and point out the small nuances of choosing which wildlife photo to select. Now before I get a rush of hate mail, these are my preferences for photo selection, please find your own. How you choose a photo to represent your body of work is tough, I always find myself looking at everyone else’s photos and wish I was that good or I could take a photo like that. I am my own worst critic, however, over time I have learned that small changes in the position of the wildlife can greatly change how that wildlife looks.
Let’s try and show you what I mean:
Now this is an impressive moose to me regardless of the point I am trying to make, it’s not which photo is better, but which angle or photo selection better represents what you are trying to convey.
Both photos are cool, and I am happy to have both. If we forget everything else for a second and concentrate on the antlers. The second image makes the antlers look much larger than the first and more impressive, the moose was impressive period, but which photo and what angle you photograph him at can and does matter.
In the second image, the head is angled in such a way that you see more of both antlers. Also, the way the head is lowered, to me the eye guards (front part of the antlers) seem to reach out far beyond the head of the moose, making them look as impressive as they really were in real life. The eye guards almost seem longer in their reach, small-angle changes make big differences, what look are you going for?
Let’s talk about this for a little bit. When you are in the field with a big moose like this in front of you, you don’t always see these subtle changes in the viewfinder, you really don’t have time for that. You are madly trying to position yourself, fumbling with getting the focus spot on his eyes, making sure he has room to move in the frame etc. So take all the photos you can at different angles, different focal lengths and when you get home to select your images, certain ones will stand out. If you don’t take them in the field, it’s too late once you get home and you are not happy with the images. Digital storage is cheap, take lots of photos, its a pain to review them, but get ruthless and delete the crap, only keep the good ones, don’t be shy, delete, delete, delete – only the best will do. As you get better, you will start to recognize a wow or keeper photo in your viewfinder, you’ll also start to recognize when to keep your finger off the trigger because you know you won’t like that photo when you get home.
I love getting a black bear in snow, you hardly see it here in New Hampshire, it’s only a short period of time that this happens in and you have to be lucky enough to be in the right spot.
It kind of looks like he is coming right for me, doesn’t it? Almost like he has seen me and I better get the hell out of dodge. Well nothing can be further from the truth, I am at a rather safe distance, and in fact, he can’t even see me, I am behind a natural blind and he is just walking a path trying to get to the right. Because I am using a super-telephoto (600mm) and my angle to him, when he took a turn towards me and took three steps before turning right, for those few steps it looks like he is heading right for me and I am in the way so to speak. This is why I love the 600mm, it’s just a nice focal length for me and wildlife photos.
And yes, there was snow in the middle and the right, because the sun doesn’t really hit those areas as much as the left. The main point here is, I can choose many ways as to how I want to show this bear to people who see my photos. The first thumbnail was a bad angle, he looks smaller than he really is and a weird body pose, the middle was the keeper photo I selected and as he exited I didn’t really get anything of what I wanted because his eyes were never really visible or showing (because he had his head down).
So when we are talking photo selection, I did my selection after the shoot. At the time of the shoot I was concentrating on one thing and one thing only, staying on him the whole time he was in my camera range, taking short bursts when I knew he was photogenic, taking long bursts when I knew he was doing something I wanted or would possibly result in a keeper photo. So I essentially photographed him on and off the whole time he crossed and when I got home, I sat down and looked for that moment that captures the story I want to tell. I quickly rate the photos and only the five stars are kept, the rest are disposed of (deleted) – then I re-look at the five star photos and select the best one to process and show people.
Just to show you angle and body pose matter. This bear is much more impressive than what this photo portrays, he is quite a large bear, but this photo doesn’t show that. The combination of his body stance and my angle to him, just doesn’t do him justice, this is one of those things you don’t always see through the viewfinder. Some photos just look way better than others when you get home and see them on your computer screen.
Now I am hoping you can see the difference and at least agree that the photo above makes him look as impressive as he really is and the earlier photo really didn’t do him justice. Also to me, by selecting this photo, I am telling a better story (bear intensely foraging for food).
Photo selection is a subjective matter, and every person will have their own opinion as to what looks good to them. However, you really need to be aware of subtle differences in each frame of the photos you have taken and select the photo that most represents the story you are telling. Certain frames will help convey your message much better and easier than others.
Like I said earlier, black bears in snow are kind of tough photos to get, they can be challenging to expose, it can be hard to get one that has all the right elements. The earlier snow photo wasn’t bad, in fact, I love it! But what helps sell the whole winter deal, even more, is having thicker snow on the ground, snow clinging to the trees, this turns a late April photo into one that could have been taken in the middle of winter.
The reason I selected the above photo is because it conveys a story of a bear struggling in winter, turning and breaking up logs looking for food. The winter setting is made all the more winterish by having a coating of snow on the trees, eight hours after this photo was taken there was no snow on the ground or the trees. Luck can be an important element in getting a photo, but there should be no luck in how you select them, choose your story and find the photo that best tells that story. If there is not a photo that truly tells the story you want, you must wait for another opportunity, I know, it sucks, but there is no way around it!
There is a lot of detail in a photo, some helps sell the story and the photo, some distract and diminish the value of the photo. I don’t take photos for the purpose of an article or a lesson, every opportunity with a wild animal is too precious for that, so it’s always hard to come up with a sequence of photo comparisons to show what I mean. When I select my final photos for printing, displaying and selling, I have looked at every element of that photo, I don’t have a set of rules, so to speak, but certain criteria must be met to pass my ratings test.
Here are some examples of what I mean:
- Composition overall – how does it help tell the story
- Framing of the subject in the photo – does it add or subtract from the value of the photo
- Angle of you to subject – does it look like you are shooting down on it or weird perspective angles
- Eyes – are they sharp, do they have a highlight, are they looking in the best direction for the story, do they connect with the viewer, do they help tell the story of the photo
- Eyes along with face – they can be soft and loving, cute, angry or many other expressions, what are you trying to convey
- Feet / Wings etc. – how are they positioned, do they look right, what pose tells a stronger story
- Distractions – are foreign objects in the way, are foreground objects intrusive, are they items on the subject that makes you focus on that rather than the beauty of the photo
- Environment – is it exposed right compared to the subject, does it distract, which photo in the sequence has the best combination of environment and subject
- Details – high ISO, low light might produce less detail (fur, more noise, motion blur, background) – is there a better quality version in several days of shooting
- Lighting – I personally prefer soft diffused natural light, no harsh highlights or shadows
There is so much more, but selecting the best photo shouldn’t just be a quick pick, every photo is a representation of who you are and the quality you stand for. Make sure your photos tell the right story for who you are.
I will leave you with this powerful photo, it was taken in the dark of night and a flash was involved. It has a lot of my most cherished pre-requisites for a quality photo.
This is a photo of an Eurasian Eagle Owl and the elements I love most and why I selected this exposure from the others that night are:
- The owl (subject) is alert
- The eyes are bright, fully opened and making a direct connection with the viewer
- The owl is hunched over, in a discovery pose (as in, who is that and what are they doing)
- The background is not distracting from the subject (the owl)
- For this image I chose to exclude the body and wings of the bird and just frame the face in order to highlight the power in the gaze of his eyes
I had a great photo opportunity to help further illustrate my thoughts on photo selection.
First of all you can see my rating – at 10 frames a second this short burst had 40 odd photos in the sequence, but ruthless Rob (me) got to work, I am only keeping 5, the best five and only two of those got the extra 1 rating, which means they are printing / selling quality. Now for the decision, which of the two images with the (1) rating is “the choice”. Hmm, do I want beautiful paw / walking action with lots of claws showing or do I want body bulk / imposing in your face bear – which photo gets chosen? Some would probably say keep both, unfortunately I try not to do that, and for me that’s the hard part, getting it down to one final image. It’s a personal choice and just to make it more difficult in this instance, my wife likes the paw (more claws) version, while I prefer the big bulky body version. Secret question – will I submit to my wife’s will?
Here are the two photos:
So in this new set of images, I am evaluating, the environment, the look of the rocks and ground, which background (behind the bear) looks better, his head elevation, where are his feet and how do they change the message of the photo, the direct connection with his eyes, the sheen (highlight) on his eyes.
This section is not about rules or specific guidelines in how you select your photos, its about opening your eyes to the complete picture, taking every element of the photo into consideration before selecting it as one of your prime images. At the end of the day this all comes down to personal choices, and the ones mentioned here are mine.