Collecting ideas

I collected some ideas from the 'Wildlife as canon sees it' adverts from the National Geographic. I looked specifically at the adverts which showed animals with the most texture and patterns to give me an idea of the types of animals that I should look into and photograph. I realised that some of the best textured animals are ones from exotic places which unfortunately means I cannot photograph them, but I made note of all the animals that are possible for me to photograph. As the adverts were in the National Geographic magazine, I cannot show the images I chose on this blog, but this is a link to the website with all of the adverts on.                                                                                            http://www.canon.com/environment/communication/ad/wildlife.html 

Textures/Patterns

Alot of my work shows alot of texture and patterns. I went to Bristol Zoo and focused on these elements. Here are some of the photos I took.

 

I first looked at butterflies as they have a range of patterns and colours and shapes in their wings.  I like how they have very bold colours that stand out against each of the other colours. I then went on to look at reptiles as I like the way their skin is very scaly, meaning there is a lot of texture. Some of the reptiles had both patterns and textures, but the most interesting ones were the animals with peeling skin. Their colours gave a camouflaged look, but the types of greens and blues made them almost shimmer. I like the image of the spiky tail as you can visualise the terrific detail that there is that you do not necessarily think about or notice when just glancing at them. One of the most interesting photos is the one of the bird, as it manages to capture the texture of the feathers that you would not normally think an animal like this has. It shows that even the most simple of animals can have interesting details and intricate patterns. 

 I decided to try and replicate some pictures of the Orang-Utan's using a human model. I looked through my images to find the portraits with the most human characteristics and posed my model in the same positions. You can see the similarities between the Orang-Utans eyes and emotions with the models eyes. I used Wanda Wulz as the inspiration, and decided to merge the 2 images together. After resizing and rotating the images, I edited the opacity of the top image and created a merged photo of the Orang-Utan and models faces.

Wanda Wulz is an experimental photographer who's most famous piece of work is a self portrait merged with a cats face.
That is the image which imspired me to try merging my orang-utan portraits with some portraits of my model.
It wasn't easy to merge my images as it was hard to get my model to pose in exactly the same postition as the orangutan. Wulz's image is well merged to make it look like a human with a cat face and the cat details are really clear. Whereas my image is cleary a merged one, although I do like the end result. 

This image was harder to replicate as a human model has different size body parts to the orangutan. I had a few attempts, but this was the one that was the closest representation. I used photoshop to edit the contrast and brightness, and the dodge tool to replicate the sunlight in the top left of the image. I edited the photo to make my models skin tone closer to that of the orangutans. When I tried to merge the images together it didn't work as well as the sizing didn't fit. The previous images of the close up face worked better because I was able to resize and rotate them to fit perfectly with eachother.

Experimental techniques...

I thought I would try some experimental techniques, so I began with cyanotypes and kallitypes. Personally i think the cyanotypes worked better as the colour was more vibrant and the contrast was more visible. This meant that the small details, like the hairs and reflections of the eyes were very clear. Although the kallitypes match the original images better because of the colour, I don't think they worked as well because they didn't stand out as much. The contrast wasn't as clear in the kallitypes, meaning the image wasn't as detailed and the emotions in the eyes weren't as clear. The colour of the kallitype is too dark and there isn't enough definition between the colours.    

This final image of the turtle didn't work as well as there wasn't enough different contrasting details in actual turtle, so it just came out as a block colour.

 

 

As I said earlier, my interest stemmed from my pets. Dogs are another animal that can show its character through its eyes and facial expressions. I took lots of images of my dog, Molly. She shows different characteristics and personalities in each set of shots.

Taking photos of animals is fairly difficult, as sometimes the subject does not stay still, and therefor you cannot always get the images you want. These are only a few of many attempts.

Again, these images are inspired by Herb Sennett and his idea of simplicity. But, rather than making these photo's make the viewer see the animal in a different way, I wanted them to induce emotions. I wanted these ones in particular to make the viewer think 'awww', just how a dog should make you feel.

Some of my own images. 

Herb Sennett's images inspired me to look into more common animals and photograph them. I tried to take the images in a less simple way, vaguely emulating his ideas of looking at every day animals in a different light. I particularly like this image of th horse, as although it is a simple picture capturing the horse eating grass, I like the way the light shines, giving it a heavenly look.

I also like how the cat image portrays the curiosity of the animal. The way the photo is taken magnifies the head, making the body looks alot smaller. Like the Orang-Utan images, this images shows the animals personality.

I also got some inspiration from a photographer called 'Herb Sennet'.
Herb specialises in macro photography and close up nature images. He also explores landscape and still life and likes to explore with computer software. He seeks to show how impressive & valuable even the most common species are if you are prepared to view them from a more common perspective.

 

I like these images because they show the most common animals in a different way. In addition to liking these images because of the simpleness of the common animal, I also find it fascinating the amount of detail shown in the images, and how you can pick out the tiniest hair and each specific colour of the eyes. I also like how the images portray the insects. From a normal naked eye view, these insects have a simple dull colour, but these highlight the vibrant colours that can't be seen from a normal perspective.

My Images

I took inspiration from some of the photographers that I researched and while in Borneo, I took some photographs. These photographs fit into diffferent catagories.

PORTRAITS
I took some portrait images, inspired by Ch'ien C. Lee's images, as I like the way emotions can be portrayed through images.

I like these images as the light reflects well off the Orang-Utans eyes making them stand out. My favourite image is the one very close up of the Orang-Utans face (above) as the details are very clear and the emotions are shown well. It shows the sadness in the Orang-Utans eyes as the light reflects off the water, making it look like it's crying.

The light in these pictures are is different in each one, creating a completely different image each time even though they are all in the same place, of only 2 Orang-Utans. Some light creates very orange hair, whilst another looks fairly dark. This creates different moods as the brighter the hair, the happier the Orang-Utan looks.

How I began...

I began looking at nature photography by researching nature photographers. I looked an many photographers, but these are a few of my favourites.

Ch'ien C Lee photographs nature in Southeast Asia, mainly in Borneo. Ch'ien studied photography while at school and has always considered it an excellent method to convey ideas and share his fascination about natural subjects encountered during his travels. His hobby became a professional endeavor in 2003. "Borneo is a fantastic place to live if you've got an insatiable interest in nature. It's easy for a photographer to get spoiled by the overwhelming diversity of subjects every time you're out. Of course working in the tropics presents some real obstacles for photography, but it's always worth the effort."



 I like this image as he has managed to capture the monkey actually looking at the camera. Many wildlife photographers capture their subjects in motion, but Ch'ien has taken a portrait image. I like how the colours are all similar, creating an image that is almost slightly mundane. The animal also doesn't really have an expression on it's face, which is one of the reasons this image intruiged me. It made me want to find out more, about what the animal was thinking or going through in its life.

This image contrasts the image above, as it shows the subject in movement. This image elicits emotion as it has captured a baby turtle about to go on a long journey in the sea. I like the way shutter speed is used to make the image more dramatic, as the sea looks more active, almost creating a little sadness as you wonder if the little turtle is going to survive in the rough sea.

Nick Brandt originally directed music videos, for example Michael Jacksons 'Earth Song'. It was while directing these videos in Tanzania that he fell in love with the animals & land of East Africa. He became frustrated that he couldn't capture his feelings on film, so moved to photography. Wildlife photography is usually captured in colour, but Brandt shoots in black and white; without telephoto or zoom lenses. Nick comments ''You wouldn't take a portrait of a human being from 100 feet away & expect to capture their spirit, you'd move close.''

 

I particularly like the rhino image, as the reflection in clear, so it looks almost like the rhino is looking in a mirror. Brandts images are interesting as the placement of the animals is very central, simplifying the image. The brown tinting of the images also gives them an african tinge, making them very authentic.
Brandt doesn't try to fill his images with action or drama like many other wildlife photography, he is interested in showing the animals simply in the state of being, 'before, in the wild atleast' they cease to exist'.

 
Steve Bloom is different again, he trys to capture movement an action. The lighting in his images is interesting as it manages to highlight the animals specifically, making the image much more striking.





I particularly like this image as the angle increases the size of the elephants, which emphasises their strength. The fact that the way these animals are interacting through fighting, rather than in a friendly manner also accentuates the intesity of the image. 

My view on nature photography...

Nature photography includes many aspects of other genres of photography, including wildlife, landscape, animals and macro. Lots of nature photographers focus on animals and plants, but some go deeper into the textures of plants, patterns of animal fur or emotions of animals faces.
There are plenty of average nature photographers out there, who photograph animals simply in their habitats or a beautiful landscape, but the best nature photographers will go deeper into a photograph, create a meaning and should be able to stimulate emotions. Nature photography should be breathtaking and make you wonder how the image was taken and where on earth the place was found.
Here are a few examples of what I believe to be good nature photography...