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Nature / Animals .. How to take the best pictures .. Photography book

Nature / Animals

Photography of pets

Unless the animal belongs to you, work in cooperation with its usual master more than with its reactions. The position and expression change so quickly that you have to be quick to recalibrate while observing the movements and reactions of the animals. This shot of a champion cat in its species was taken

With flash with reflected light.

Hasselblad telephoto lens and electronic flash, aperture 8, Ectachrom EX

Predicting the animal's reactions

When photographing wild animals, adjust the shutter and the pupil in advance. This lion photographed in an African land where hunting is not permitted was asleep but was alerted by our approach. I had to re-evaluate the calibration after I got closer to it. I took the picture at the time when the lion was getting up to look at me. Knowing that it was in the shade of a tree, but a ray of sunlight was lighting its head.
Hasselblad 1/500 sec telephoto lens f/5.6 Ectachrom HS

How to photograph a startled or frightened animal

For startled or frightened animals it is useful to take advice from an experienced naturalist as in this photo of a green frog. Finding the subject was a problem in itself because this type of animal knows how to camouflage itself perfectly in its surroundings and its shape cannot be distinguished in the vegetation in which it lives. To get a good magnification of the image I used a 135mm lens on my Lecaflex at maximum aperture and changed the shutter to 1/2000 sec. This configuration gave me a very weak depth of field and separated the frog from the blurred background. I adjusted while changing the position of the entire device and watching the animal waiting for a nice movement.

This depth of field technique limited only to the main subject can be applied to many subjects. A fast camera allows not only to stop movement but also to prevent hand shake when taking the picture. Big problem when we work like this with a raised hand and a long focal lens.