Tag: tutorial

Photography Tips: Making Your Subject Pop

Posted on by James
Portrait shots, or simply photographs of individual animals in typical pose, are greatly enhanced when the subject matter ‘pops’. When it jumps out at you from the photograph. When your eye is immediately drawn to whatever the photographer was intending to be the main subject.
There are a few ways to accomplish this ‘popping’ effect, but in this short post, we’ll just discuss two.
The first one is to try and make sure your subject is in focus, but everything else is out of focus.
In photographic terminology, this is known as the Depth of Field being shallow. Ideally you want your subject matter far enough away from whatever the background is to ensure that that background is nicely blurred.
Obviously the animals in the bush haven’t taken a course in photography and aren’t just going to lie down or move to photographically convenient positions whenever a camera hoves into view, so you may have to wait awhile before an opportunity presents itself. A decent knowledge of animal behaviour comes in very handy here, and given the situation and species in question, your ranger should be able to make the call on whether he/she thinks the opportunity for a good photo will be forthcoming.
A combination of being far enough away from the background and a narrow aperture meant this lion was in focus while everything else remained blurred, which makes the lion stand out.

Shooting with your aperture wide open is the next step. The wider the aperture, the smaller the depth of field. Shooting with a lens with an aperture of f2.8 allows for a very shallow depth of field, but anything up to around f4.5 can be OK, especially as lenses that can go to really low f-stops tend to be rather more expensive, and not ideal for a first time bush visitor.
Getting closer to the subject can significantly increase the effectiveness of this depth of field effect.

At many of the well-established lodges in Africa, the high profile species such as lions and leopards have generally seen vehicles since they were young and have learnt to ignore them completely, allowing for unrivalled photo opportunities around relaxed animals exhibiting their natural behaviour.

The same young lion from the photo above, this time with greenery behind it but far enough away to keep the greenery blurred. The lion still stands out.

The second way to increase the effectiveness of a ‘popping out’ shot is to try and reduce background clutter. Not only is the distance from the background important, but the less going on there the better. A uniformly thick green tree or bush as a background will be far better than one which has tangled branches leaving gaps of sky through them. Ideally you want your animal isolated, but again, it’s up to the animal. Repositioning the vehicle can change the angle, but ultimately, it is about patience and waiting for the right moment.

In this photo the lioness gets a bit lost in the bushy background. The male stands out against the sky but there is no immediate draw towards the female.
With both lions higher on the rock, framed against the grey sky, they stick out much better.

So trust your ranger to get you into position, make sure you have the right settings on your camera, be patient, and be ready!

Look out for more photo tips coming soon. If there’s anything specific you’d like to know about, drop a comment below…