I’ve spoken a lot about gear lately, rather than photography. This is partly because I’ve acquired a few new bits in the new year, secondly because I have a lot of experience and faith in buying used, and like to try and give best practice to those, especially starting out, thirdly, I haven’t done much photography so far this year.
However, today, we’ll be looking into how to get one of my favourite types of shot, a “Light Play” photograph. First of all, what is Light Play? Light Play constitutes many things, it could be flash, it could be light painting, for me, it’s about using shafts of harsh sunlight, or obstacles such as walls to completely eradicate a background, and even parts of a subject.
A set of Mews at the Hawk Conservancy Trust in Andover. The sunlight is behind the Mews (essentially a shed) illuminating the subject, but the roof gives a great background (or lack of) to work with. If the sun were behind me, this would be much more difficult
Our eyes are very good at dealing with varying conditions. Walking around, see can see great detail in areas of shadows, as well as well illuminated areas at the same time. This can be referred to as having a good “Dynamic Range” Cameras do not see in the same way that the Human Eye does, and cannot see as wide a range simultaneously as we can. This might sound like a bad thing, but it most certainly isn’t, and can be used to great effect.
Side note, the above photo was shot on my iPhone 8 using “HDR” or “High Dynamic Range” this is where the camera takes multiple photos at different exposures, and blends them together. This created the detail in the sky, as well as on the ground, and is often a workaround to a camera’s lack of Dynamic Range compared to the Human Eye.
My setup of a Sony A7ii, Tamron 70-300mm f4-5.6, and a Kenko 2x Teleconverter
So, first, what do you need? Well, I’ve covered this in my guide to Zoo Photography here, but in summary, all you really need as a bare minimum is a camera body, and a lens of 300mm (or equivalent) In this instance, I used my Sony A7ii, with my Tamron 70-300mm f4-5.6 and a 2x Teleconverter (Teleconverters explained in this link here) resulting in a 600mm focal length. The downside of this is that I lose two stops of light (I cover Stops of Light in this article here) meaning that I either need a slower shutter speed, or in this case, had to push my ISO to 3200.
I would recommend setting your camera to “Aperture Priority” mode, and setting your Metering to “Spot Metering”
So, now that the gear is sorted, how did I get this shot? Firstly, when shooting Animals, one thing that I believe to be an absolute must is to get to their height or lower. Especially something like an Eagle, that has all sorts of connotations of grandeur, by shooting from above, it can make the animal seem far less impressive, and also make the background harder to get rid of, due to the angle, as the floor would be incorporated into the composition.
By getting lower to the ground, I am at the same height as the Eagle. I’m also having to shoot through the fence, but this isn’t really an issue with a Telephoto Lens due to it having a narrow field of view.
When using a Telephoto Lens, don’t be afraid to try and shoot through fences. A 300mm lens will easily be able to go straight through a wire fence like the one above, although different fence materials and thicknesses will yield different challenges. I also recommend by starting with your Aperture as wide open as it will go, in the case of this lens, this is f5.6 at 300mm. This will get rid of anything in the foreground.
Once you’ve got your composition, you will then want to adjust your Depth of Field via your Aperture. Closing down the Aperture will result in more of the subject being in focus, and can also assist in eliminating the background. Be wary when shooting through fences of the lenses position, as this can bring the fence more into focus. You only need to stop down enough for your whole subject, I generally find f8 a good place, but do what works for your composition. Check your depth of field by either using a “Depth of Field Preview” button if you’re using an SLR/DSLR, or if you’re mirrorless, this should automatically change in your EVF/Rear LCD.
So now, you’ve got your composition, let’s talk about the exposure. Like I previously mentioned, a camera’s dynamic range compared to the Human Eye is pretty bad. In the photo above (another HDR iPhone 8 shot) we can see the parts of the mews (essentially a shed), and so can our eyes. However the camera can only expose for either the Eagle, or the Mews (without doing it very badly anyway)
Straight out of Camera shot of the eagle. Note the white in the top left corner, this is the fencing where I haven’t quite framed right.
Set your camera to “Spot Metering” This is where it will only take the exposure value of whatever is in the middle of the frame (badly made diagrams below, the black shows what is being taken into account when metering, the blue is excluded. First image is Spot, second is Centre Weighted metering, and the third is Average metering)
Spot Metering, only looks at the centre of the image
Centre Weighted Metering checks a much larger area, still based in the middle
Average Metering will take an average of the entire frame. Cameras are generally set to this as default
The key to this is exposing for your subject, because sunlight is exposing the animal, and the roof of the mews is blocking out light behind it, by exposing for this, you will lose a lot of light behind it.
You can do this by one of two ways, put your subject in the middle of the frame, focus, then press and hold the “AEL/Auto Exposure Lock” button, recompose and take the shot. By locking down the exposure, when you recompose, the exposure is set for your subject. If you don’t do this, the camera will adjust the exposure the moment the subject is out of the centre of the frame.
Auto Exposure Lock Button – This tells your camera not to change the exposure settings until you let go
The second way is by maintaining your composition, and using the “Exposure Compensation” settings in your camera. This is often a dial, but varies from camera to camera. Take the photo, and adjust up and down where needed. It is important to note that this dial will only work in the Priority Modes, and not in Auto or Manual.
Exposure Compensation Dial
After this, it is simply a case of trial and error, as well as personal taste. A bright sunny day is absolutely the best conditions for this kind of photography, as this will give you harsh, defined shadows. My personal preference is to get it right as much as possible in camera, and then minor tweaks afterwards.
Post processing, with slightly bumped Contrast, and adjusting the Shadows to lose all detail in the background
My editing routine normally consists of bumping up contrast slightly, then adjusting the shadows to lose any remaining detail that I can see on my computer, and that’s about it.
I hope this has been helpful to anyone wanting to do this kind of photography. Remember, you can use this with just about anything in harsh light, natural or otherwise.
How I Got The Shot – A Step By Step Guide Hello there! I've spoken a lot about gear lately, rather than photography. This is partly because I've acquired a few new bits in the new year, secondly because I have a lot of experience and faith in buying used, and like to try and give best practice to those, especially starting out, thirdly, I haven't done much photography so far this year.
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