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Abstracting Wildlife Photos

Who can resist taking full-frame portraits of a bull elk with sparkling frost-covered antlers, posing regally in golden, early-morning light? You are likely to remember these memorable moments long after the images are processed and filed. Over the years I have enjoyed traveling to many distant places to photograph elk, moose, caribou, sheep, bear, and other North American "glamour" species. Interestingly, my best-selling mammal stock photo is a backlit wild boar -- made with manual focus lens in a local park less than 15 minutes from home.

So, the secret to successful wildlife photography is staying close to home, use less expensive low-tech equipment, and only photograph non-glamorous species?

Well, not exactly, but the use of abstract elements, such as backlighting, can add considerable interest and impact to a wildlife image. So, the next time you're in Alaska for bears or sitting on patio furniture for backyard birds - and you've already taken the standard portrait and behavior shots - experiment with adding some abstract elements for a different look to your wildlife photos.

Click on images for larger views Wild Boar Nikon N90s 500mm f/4 P

Both of these photos were taken in Grant Ranch County Park, San Jose, CA. Perhaps because of the narrow, winding roads leading to its entrance, the park is lightly used, but its oak-covered rolling hills and brushy canyons are a real haven for birds and mammals. I have photographed wild boar, deer, coyote, turkey, western bluebird, golden eagle and other birds at this gem of a wildlife sanctuary at the edge of populous Silicon Valley.

Wild Turkeys Nikon N90s AF-I 500mm f/4

1) Backlighting

When I first started photographing wildlife I was thrilled to see animals in their natural habitat, and wanted to capture every moment on film. Photos were taken in all sorts of lighting conditions, and needless to say, most of my early photos were not very good. After gaining field experience and spending many hours on the light table I learned to be more selective, and started to favor front lighting for production of tack-sharp images showing every feather or hair detail.

I refrained from photographing with side or back lighting to avoid contrasty images -- until one Spring morning in Yellowstone when I met a wildlife photographer from Japan. He didn't seem to mind my company, so I tagged along with him for a couple of days. One afternoon we were in Hayden Valley photographing bison. Once in a while he would turn around to photograph "against" the light. Since he was a top pro with several books to his credit I paid attention to what he was doing, and saw he was photographing a bison rolling on the ground taking a dirt bath. The bison was silhouetted and light shining through fine dust produced a beautiful, golden glow. Ever since that day I look for and anticipate subjects illuminated by back or side lighting for dramatic and artistic effect.

Great Egret Nikon F5 AF-S 500mm f/4

A plain or out-of-focus background,  middle tone or darker, is ideal for accentuating the glow of light shining through white flight feathers.

Forster's Tern Nikon F5 AF-S 500mm f/4 TC-14E

Backlighting typically works best with subjects that have light-colored fur or feathers, such as coyote or egret. Despite the name, backlighting doesn't have to come directly from behind the subject to be effective. Look for midday light shining through feathers of white birds in flight, such as the great egret and tern shown above. Both photos were made during that normally unproductive period from noon to 3 PM.

Of course, most of us are familiar with the ultimate backlit shot - the silhouette. The subject is abstracted to featureless black -- with only shape and background color for visual impact . Most silhouette images are made at dawn and dusk for warm background colors, but blue sky can also be effective as background for birds in flight.

Anhinga

Nikon F5 AF-S 500mm f/4 TC-14E Photographed at a rookery in South Florida, this anhinga was making a landing approach to its nest among herons and egrets. Photographing against bright blue sky allows shutter speeds faster than 1/500 second at ISO 100. Sharp images can be readily achieved with hand held 400mm f/5.6 type lenses.

2) Patterns

Colorful reflections on ripply water can provide beautiful abstract patterns for water birds or marine mammals. Reflections can be from nearby hills, vegetation or colorful sky. The elephant seal photo shown below features two abstracting elements -- colorful water patterns and backlighting with fill flash.

Double-crested Cormorant Nikon F5 AF-S 500mm f/4 TC-14E

This elephant seal photo was published in the National Geographic Society book Wild Ocean, by Sylvia Earle.

Elephant Seal Nikon F5 80-200mm f/2.8 SB-26 Flash

Also, look for wildlife flocks or herds forming interesting patterns. The animals may be small in the frame and lack detail, but it's the patterns they form that are of primary interest. A large flock of snow geese exploding into flight is one example; rows of resting black-necked stilts in a reflective salt evaporation pond is another.

Black-necked Stilts Nikon F5 AF-S 500mm f/4

You can read more about wildlife utilizing San Francisco Bay's salt evaporation ponds in this article.

Snow Geese Nikon F5 AF-S 500mm f/4

3) Motion Blur

We invest in premium optics, use slow, fine grain film and lug bulky tripods to strive for maximum sharpness, so the idea of intentionally blurring photos may seem sacrilegious to some.  Yet, creative blurring can add visual interest and provide a sense of movement to a 'still' photograph.

Panning along with a running animal and using relatively slow shutter speeds can create an effect where the animal is sharp while everything else is blurred by panning motion of the camera. The keys here are a smooth panning motion and proper shutter speed selection. If shutter speed is too slow everything in the picture is blurred, which may result in some interesting effects of its own. If shutter speed is too high everything within depth-of-field focus is sharp, with no sense of motion. Experiment with different shutter speeds to see which works best for each situation.

This is where digital cameras, with instant feedback, are invaluable -- you can see the results right away and adjust shutter speed accordingly. For film shooters, an approximate starting point is to select a shutter speed that is the inverse of the speed at which the subject is moving. For example, if a bear is running 15 miles per hour, put the camera into shutter speed priority and shoot a series at 1/15 second, then bracket with some faster and slower speeds.

Another situation for creative blurring is where wildlife is standing still in or near fast-moving water. A slow shutter speed allows the water to blur while the stationary animal is sharp. The example below shows a dipper, a bird which spends a lot of time around fast-moving shallow water searching for aquatic insects and small fish. It was photographed after sunset, at 1/10 second shutter speed and rear-curtain flash. You can read here to learn more about how this dipper photo was made.

American Dipper

Nikon F5 AF-S 500mm f/4 TC-14E SB-26 Flash, Fresnel Extender Most people visit Yellowstone National Park to photograph large mammals such as elk, bison, antelope, deer, moose, and bear. However, I have found the Park to be equally productive for bird photography, especially in Spring and early Summer.

4) Combined Effects

Now, let's have fun and combine some of the abstracting effects previously described. My favorite bird-in-flight photo is shown below -- a great egret flying with nesting material. This image features the effects of backlighting and blurring of the wing tips.

Great Egret

Nikon F5 AF-I 500mm f/4 A shutter speed of 1/125 second was sufficiently slow to blur the faster moving wing tips of this great egret, while keeping the rest of its body sharp. However, 'optimum' shutter speed for each situation varies depending on how fast the wings are moving, and distance from bird to camera.

The photo of geese taking off at sunrise in Bosque del Apache combines three abstract elements: backlighting, motion blur, and flock patterns.

Bosque del Apache Sunrise

Canon EOS-1V EF 28-70mm f/2.8 L Photographing the flocks of snow geese exploding into the pre-dawn sky at Bosque del Apache NWR is an unforgettable experience, not only in sight, but also in sound. The recognizable snow geese in the water at the bottom of the photo provide a visual clue to the blurred streaks in the sky.

As you can see, experimenting with abstracting wildlife photos is a lot of fun, with no limit to creativity. The yield of good images may be low, but keepers are sometimes spectacular, and often unique.