Light is essence of life so is it for photography. I had to make a quick trip to Mysore on Thursday. Way back spent an hour or two at Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary - made this image there. I had an opportunity to make this same image from the other side (front lit) but decided to spend my time and energy perfecting this image. Good thing is dragon flies return to the same perch often and stay there for quite long time. I had time to try different flash out put levels. For this image use a very little fill flash using built-in flash of my Nikon D200. Click on the image to see larger, better defined version.
Macro/closeup photography is a different challenge compared to wildlife and bird photography. The latter needs quick response make meaningful image. While macro photography needs enormous patience. Our subject stays more or less there but getting the right depth-of-field and composition is quite time consuming. We need to carefully visualize and execute. Normally I have to spend quite a lot of time to make an image. When done properly we may end with a very satisfying image.
8 comments:
Very satisfying image. Very true! As a viewer we feel so satisfied....as a shooter...it should be BLISS! :)
Love these images. Apart from DOF and background, what do you think of before tripping the shutter in case of macro?
Composition is quite a challenge Pramod. To exploit the capability of the lens to show very beautiful details you need to go very close to the subject. Composition often becomes a challenge due to narrow dof and distracting elements in the frame.
Does Rule of thirds give a strong punch to the image? Sometime we need to break the rules, what do you say about this?
Rule of thirds Example - This image of yours - http://www.naturelyrics.com/galleries/new_images/pages/A0_spider_nice.html
No second thoughts about exposure, DOF, colors, contrast, everything about the image. The thing that intriguing is the "
Peep" of the spider, the mood and specifically the placement in the frame.
Pramod, actually there are no rules in my view. It has been found that for humans 1/3rd points appear strong. When designing the image I try not to follow any rule but will go by what pleases my eyes/mind - some times that may appear like following rule of thirds. That said, not following rule of thirds shouldn't be a formula too! If it works why not ?
Hmm Thanks Ganesh!
Hi Ganesh,
The other aspects I have come across in using flash ( though I have not tried it myself ) is mixing ambient light and the flash in such a way that the subject does not appear flashed.
Would be good to know your thoughts on flash photography.
Mahesh, I like when it is used for creative purposes. But not a fan of it when used as a main source of light. I have seen people using flash for routine bird photography - personally I don't like its use that way. Lots of time we have ambient light it does not look natural beacuse we can clearly see two sources of light in a frame. That said, I do agree with you that we can use it such that no one notices when we need it. This may be useful to manage the right exposure - that is what I tried doing in this image.
Hello Sir,
I saw your latest pictures. And i really loved the ones of the Scarlet Minivet and the Lizard hanging onto the tree. The color composition is just perfect and so real. I hope to see more awesome photographs from you. Have a great day.
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