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Photography Masterclass: Summer 2009

masetrclass

Shooting into the sun might sound like photographic suicide. But, as professional photographer Peter Cairns shows, with the right technique it can make for stunning wildlife shots

What makes a good nature photograph? It’s a question I’m often asked, and the sensible answer is that there are many ingredients that go into the mix – not to mention that ‘good’ is ultimately a subjective judgement. However, there is one key component: light.

Light is everything – understanding it will massively improve your photography and if you can use it properly, you can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. So how do we do that? Most people will tell you that you need to shoot ‘with the light’, keeping the sun behind you. Very few attempt to photograph ‘against the light’; in other words, with the camera pointing at the sun. It goes against instinct. But the concept of backlighting – or ‘contre-jour’ – is an exciting way of showing your subject in a different light (excuse the pun!).

Fur and feathers

First, you need to choose your subject – not everything works with backlighting. Fur and feathers certainly do though, so almost any bird or mammal – if you get it right – will look wonderful. You also need to select your background with care. With a dark background, any sunlight – even if it’s subtle – will create a rim lighting effect or ‘halo’ around your subject, which gives the image a more atmospheric feel. It becomes something more than simply a record shot.

With the main image (right), I’d like to tell you that I sat in a remote mountain hide for six days before this golden eagle landed momentarily – but I can’t. I have photographed wild golden eagles in the past, but this is a captive bird, a situation that afforded me the luxury of engineering the relationship between background, lighting and viewpoint. (See the step-by-step guide, right, for exactly how.)

I realise you may not have access to golden eagles where you’re photographing. But the effect can be created anywhere with a wide range of subjects – birds, flowers or trees. It’s just a question of planning, and learning to ‘see’ the image.

If you have a bird table in your back garden, why not take the opportunity to experiment with backlighting there? Deer parks work well, too, as do zoos, safari parks or other wildlife hotspots (try and go early in the day or stay late if you want the best lighting conditions).

Top Tips

  • Take notice of light when you’re out walking. Look at how the light affects the appearance of everything at different times of day – the change can be dramatic!
  • Look into the light at each end of the day and imagine how a photographic subject would look in such conditions.
  • Try backlit subjects locally. Almost everyone has rabbits nearby, or access to flower meadows, woodlands at dawn – stretch your imagination!
  • Use a good tripod to ensure sharp pictures and aid composition.
  • When photographing any wildlife subject, think background. A clean, uncluttered background allows the subject to stand out.

Step-by-step guide

  1. I chose to shoot at the end of the day when the sun was low in the sky and the colour ‘temperature’ was warm. If the sun is high in the sky, the effect is ‘toplit’ rather than ‘backlit’, which just creates harsh shadows.
  2. I positioned the eagle against a dark background – in this case an out-of-focus forest – to accentuate the backlighting effect. By using a longer focal length lens and shooting at the widest aperture, the background is more easily muted.
  3. I had a colleague stand just to the side of the camera casting a shadow over the lens to prevent the strong  sunlight creating ‘flare’. This is often the biggest problem with backlighting but it can be minimised by using a lens hood or even a large piece of card.
  4. I stood with the sun slightly to the right, ensuring the eagle’s wonderful golden nape received the strongest light.
  5. I waited for the eagle to look sideways providing a profile of head and bill while maintaining focus on the eye.

Put to the test the skills you have learnt in this photography tutorial and enter your best shots into our photography competition, for a chance to win a Nikon D60 camera worth £479.99! Enter now

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