Another update on photography techniques during and after my stay at the Bayerischer Wald in Germany, September 2011.
I will start in short with the technique low-key photography. I got to know this technique in portrait photography. Mind you, it works pretty well in animal photography too!
I will start in short with the technique low-key photography. I got to know this technique in portrait photography. Mind you, it works pretty well in animal photography too!
Low-key photography consists of contrast effects, whereby the tones in the image create a unique design. Low-key images are mainly characterized by dark tones, while the luminosity parts light up within the dark tones. You create this effect by metering the lighter parts of your image, by setting the aperture high and/or speeding up the shutter speed.
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| European pine marter (Martes martes) in low-key |
When I came back from the Bayerischer Wald, I was also very enthusiastic about the effects of a circular polarizer filter (blue), see my previous blog on photography techniques (click here).
My mind was set on finding another filter to clear up bland, washed up parts in a photograph: a red graduated filter. The filter consists of one half slightly darker tinted glass (red grad) and one half entirely clear glass. I chose a circular graduated filter instead of a linear filter: it’s easy to use, and it doesn’t alter the metering and autofocus as linear filters often do. You can shift the filter, rotating it to select the part of the scene that you want to give a more warm toned colour.
I heard some rumours that a red graduated filter has no effect on digital photographs at all. The red tone will be neutralized by the sensor using AWB white balance. The truth is, if you use the clouded white balance, the red graduated filter works perfectly well and sound. The clouded white balance uses a red tone itself. This is because an overcast sky creates a slightly blue tone. The clouded white balance will ‘outbalance’ the blue tone, back to an overall more natural colour of the scene.
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| Photograph taken with clouded white balance without using a filter |
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| Photograph taken with clouded white balance with B+W Digital Colour Grad Red filter. Notice the red tone of the sky and the details of the clouds in the scene. |
Using the clouded white balance, the digital sensor also records more 'reds' available in the photographic scene. By means of the red graduated filter, the sensor will colour the part you want to colour with more red (slightly, up till quite strongly). The digital sensor will even so record more details, due to the decreased difference in brightness between the sky and the landscape itself.
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| As long as you don't 'over-do' the effect of a colour graduated filter, the effect works out well and sound. |
Of course the effect of a colour graduated filter needs to be kept at bay when it gives a really unnatural look to the scene. At the same time, you need to realize there is a difference between the technique of the camera and the human eye. Photographs often look dull in appearance, comparing them to reality. Enhancement of the standard technique of the camera is therefore needed to get as close as possible to the ‘real deal’. Overall, these first results reveal the path to numerous potential usages in landscape photography.
