Trogon Photo Tours

September 2014 Newsletter - This month's newsletter features a discussion of high key images, the photos are mostly of raptors. 

Leopard photographed September 2014 Chobe National Park, Botswana.  Canon 5D3 500F4 1.4x teleconverter, 1/80 F7.1, iso 1600, Av mode, evaluative metering +2.3,  balanced on bean bag from safari vehicle, IS mode 1.  We encountered this Leopard after sunset on the way back in from our game drive.  At first I was disappointed with the flat lighting but then I quickly realized that the gray sky and interesting tree would make a really nice high key image.  When it comes to wildlife photography high key images are typically those where the subject has detail and the background is blank white sky or water.  To make this image I added exposure compensation until I was blowing out most of the sky in the histogram.  Despite the fairly high iso this image was remarkably free of noise.  I did clone out a few out of focus tree limbs that were obscuring the bottom of the frame.  I increased the contrast quite a bit from the RAW file to make the leopard and tree pop more from the background. 

Great Blue Heron and Bald Eagle photographed May 2013, Big Beef Creek Marine Reserve, WA.  Canon 5D3 500F4 1.4x 1/1600 F9, iso 1600, handheld.  This isn't a high key image but I wanted to show how it's possible to convert a normal image into more of a high key image.  One of the definitions of a high key image is an image that has been overexposed in either post processing or in camera in order to render certain parts without detail or imperfections.  This was most commonly done originally in post processing. 

This is the same image from above altered in post processing by increasing the brightness.  In doing so I have effectively removed the detail from the water in the top half of the image making it a uniform white.  These interactions between herons and eagles remain one of the top reasons I look forward to going back to the Hood Canal, WA area and leading our workshop each spring. 

Double-toothed Kite photographed November 2008, Rio Silanche, Ecuador.  Canon 1D Mark III, 500F4 2.0x Canon TC, 1.4x Sigma TC, 1/200 F11, iso 640, evaluative metering +2.0, Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley head.  I find other photographers either really like or really dislike high key images.  To be honest I am in the middle, they aren't my favorite images but given the option of one or no image of an interesting subject I will always take the image.  To show you the range of opinion on high key images the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year first place image in 2 of the past 5 years for bird behavior were high key images with white backgrounds.  One was of a Merlin on a Snipe kill on the ground with a white watery background and the other was of a Northern Goshawk catching a gull in flight with a bright white sky background.  On the other end of the spectrum one of 2 large bird photography stock agencies I work with generally won't even accept high key images and told me not to send them.  This kite image isn't a great shot but that agency wants to have images of every species, didn't have a Double-toothed Kite and rejected this image and another that showed the front of the bird because they didn't like the high key background.  I found this a bit strange given that they had accepted in my opinion much worse photos of other species they didn't have which weren't high key. So it seems some people love these types of shots and some people hate them. 

Cooper's Hawk, juvenile photographed January 2010, Fort Steilacoom County Park, WA.  Canon 1D3 500F4 1.4x, 1/1000 F7.1, iso 640, Av mode, Evaluative metering +1.7, handheld.  Sometimes it's birds personality and character that make the shot.  With this bright sky background I probably wouldn't have even kept this file of this relatively common bird without the great poses that it gave me.  It seemed like it was trying to communicate something to me. 

Bald Eagle photographed May 2013 at Seabeck, WA during our yearly eagle photography workshop.  Canon 5D3 500F4 1.4x 1/1600 F8, iso 1000.  For this shot I set a manual exposure which would partly blow out the sky to achieve the high key image I was looking for.  Both this bird's attitude and the curving perch added to the impact of this shot.  So love them or hate them or something in between high key images can add another type of image to your portfolio.  As to why there is such a difference of opinion on these types of shots it's hard to say.  It seems that some people's visual senses are captivated by the stark contrast while other's visual senses are repelled by the very bright backgrounds.