Backyard Clients

With the world in an unexpected reset, I’ve taken the opportunity to capture some of the animals that I would have otherwise overlooked. The benefit of having a window overlook the grass at eye level is that it helped me to get much closer to them than usual.

It is very clear to me that to be a wildlife photographer requires heaping amounts of patience, in addition to quick reflexes. Normally, a portrait is shot at 1/125 to maybe 1/500 seconds to freeze the action of active kids. I realized that shutter speeds of 1/750 and higher were necessary.

I also took some time to try ETTR (expose to the right). A camera’s sensor captures images optimally when it is saturated with light. This leads to a file with greater colour saturation and contrast with less noise at the expense of some shutter speed. While the camera’s built-in meter will still adjust the settings for a good exposure at normal usage, slightly overexposing allows me to work with a file with a maximum amount of information.

Unlike the days of film photography, where you want to protect shadows areas from being lost in development, overexposing a digital file provides a wider latitude to bring out shadows while also showing fidelity in the highlights.

While I’ve enjoyed my backyard encounters, it has whet my appetite for more exotic encounters around the world. It has also given me a greater appreciation of the ability to communicate with my human clients … without a sudden and unexpected dash up a tree.