TAKE YOUR PIC

A dragonfly, an ellie’s eye and a waterfall, creatively framed. Did your photo make the cut this issue?

DIRK WRITES: When dragonflies land near water, they always seem to look down. If you want a close-up where you can see their eyes, you need to get yourself into a really low position. I jumped into our swimming pool to get this photo, which meant I was pretty much at eye-level with the insect. My shutter speed was 1/500 second, aperture f7.1 and ISO 250.

TOAST SAYS: A macro lens is a good arrow to add to your quiver. Save up and buy one when you feel like trying something new – a lens like Dirk’s costs about R10 000.

Think of your garden as a miniature wilderness and approach it as such when you’re out with your camera. When you’re at a Kruger waterhole, you want to be at eyelevel with a buffalo to get a striking image. The same goes for that bulbul in the bird bath at home. I like that Dirk put in the effort to get this photo – the eye-level perspective makes the shot. A macro lens will be your new best friend, but it can also be your enemy. Be careful when you focus: It’s very sensitive and can easily jump to the wrong part of your subject. Even when your subject is an insect, you should still try to focus on the eye as you would with a bigger animal or a person. But which eye, you ask – a dragonfly must have thousands! Nope, it has five: two big compound eyes (with thousands of lenses) and three small eyes between them.

Dirk got his focus right: The abdomen (standing up, to the left) is pin sharp, as are some of the legs (look at those fine bristles!). The main, bulbous part of one compound eye is in focus, too. The wings are not in focus but that’s fine – they add an artistic effect, almost as if they’re in motion. Well done, Dirk. You win the camera bag this time!

PETER WRITES: Opportunities for photography were limited during the 2020 lockdown, so I decided to get creative. I built a feeding station for birds in my garden with the goal of taking photos of birds in flight as they came in to land.

I set up my camera and tripod about 20 cm from the station, plugged in a shutter release cable and hid in a big box with a peephole cut out. Then I waited for the birds to arrive…

I took more than a thousand photos before I was satisfied – this shot of a Cape weaver is exactly what I wanted.

I used a flash to freeze the action. The shutter speed was 1/125 second, aperture f22 and ISO 100. The very narrow aperture meant that hardly any ambient light fell onto the sensor – that’s why the background is so dark even though it was daytime when I took the photo.

The next steps happened in post-production: I used Adobe Lightroom to crop the photo and adjust the black point. I also decided to remove the branches visible in the background (see original version, inset) to create a totally black background. I used the “spot remover” function in Lightroom to do this.

I have since bought a remote shutter release so I don’t have to hide in a box any more! I’ve taken successful photos of doves, southern fiscals and bulbuls.

TOAST SAYS: I’m not sure I would have sat in a box in my garden for hours each day… The neighbourhood watch would have reported my behaviour and sent a security bakkie screeching to a halt in front of my house!

But Peter did, and he ended up with an amazing, technical and wellplanned shot.

The bird’s wings, spread wide, are the highlight of the composition. I also like that the weaver’s head is turned slightly to the side so the flash catches its eye.

By now you should know that we like to see a sparkle in an animal’s eye, and this guy is sparkling like a soapie star on the red carpet.

Thanks for pointing out all the editing you did, Peter. A note to anyone who wants to send photos for Take Your Pic: We prefer to feature photos that, with minimal editing, show wildlife and landscape scenes in as realistic a way as possible. Sure, tweak the contrast, brighten the image if needs be, but leave that “irritating” twig right there. We don’t mind!

That said, Peter did a very professional fixing job and his photo will look magnificent printed and framed on the dining room wall.

Canon EOS RP

Sigma 150 – 600 mm lens

KIM WRITES: I visited Umlalazi Nature Reserve in Mtunzini, KZN, after a bout of heavy summer rain in January this year. I wanted to see which birds and animals were foraging around. I came across these vervet monkeys, shivering and cold. The youngster was having an afternoon feed and I thought the shot illustrated the bond between mother and child very well. My settings: shutter speed 1/100 second, aperture f6.3, ISO 400. I adjusted brightness and sharpness in Lightroom afterwards.

TOAST SAYS: An ISO of 400 is a good choice on an overcast day: It gives you extra leeway for a slightly faster shutter speed. But Kim was in risky territory here – her shutter speed of 1/100 was relatively slow considering the big lens she was using. She managed to pull it off and the shot is sharp, but it would have been safer to go for ISO 800 or higher and increase the shutter speed. You hardly notice that a branch obscures part of the mother’s face. That’s because Kim made sure that the eyes of both monkeys were clearly visible. Neither vervet seems to be looking directly at the camera, but there’s still enough engagement with those bright, inquisitive eyes. Including the eyes is key to the success of a strong animal portrait. Not only should the eye be included, it must also be in focus!

The sodden monkeys make for an unusual photo, and their slightly bedraggled look brings extra character to the scene. Nice.

#176

Canon EOS 5D Mark III Canon 100 – 400 mm lens

ELMAR WRITES: Magwa Falls is near Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape. It’s a beautiful waterfall that few tourists visit.

A wide-angle lens would have allowed me to capture the full scene of the water tumbling 142 m into the ravine, but I decided to use a zoom lens rather, and focus on this false assegai tree clinging to the cliffside.

Sunlight illuminated the tree and I underexposed a little to make the rocks darker and to emphasize the tree’s bright green canopy.

This photograph made me realise that I should use my long lens for landscape photography more often!

TOAST SAYS: It’s rare to see a photo of Magwa Falls that’s not taken with a wide-angle lens. We all tend to shoot the “entire” scene, maybe because we feel we’ll leave something out if we don’t show it all. If you photograph Table Mountain from the beach at Blouberg, you’ll include it all, right – from Devil’s Peak to Signal Hill? Ninety-nine percent of people will do the same.

A photographer should have a range of lenses – not a bag-full, but at least two. Most of us start with something versatile and affordable like an 18 – 55 mm (good for landscape and portrait photos) and later we’ll add a zoom lens

Fujifilm X-T3

Fujifilm 55 – 200 mm

CECILE WRITES: I took this photo in Addo Elephant National Park in October 2020. I love the texture of an elephant’s skin, and they have such kind eyes. This elephant was close to us and it gave me an opportunity to highlight these features with a close-up portrait. Luckily this one’s eye didn’t have that white goop in the corner that you often see.

My settings: shutter speed 1/125 second, aperture f13, ISO 400. I cropped the photo and enhanced the contrast afterwards.

TOAST SAYS: An elephant has a “third” eyelid called a nictitating membrane, which sweeps from side to side across the eye, wiping away dust and other obstructions. That’s what causes the “white goop” Cecile is referring to. No such cosmetic imperfections here though – this ellie is all celebrity glam!

This kind of photo is often easier to take on a cloudy day, when there’s less harsh contrast between the dark skin and the eye, which might also be in shadow on a sunny day. I’m assuming Cecile lightened the iris using editing software – this helps to lift out its marble-like quality, which is often lost because an elephant’s eye is so small in relation to the rest of its body. Cecile followed the rule of thirds perfectly: The eye anchors the top left of the frame, and the rest of the composition is devoted to the beautiful skin texture. The increased contrast deepens the folds and enhances this effect. Good job! #176

Canon EOS 600D

Canon 55 – 250 mm lens

TOAST SAYS: Henriette took this photo outside the harbour in Lambert’s Bay as the fishing boat made its way to shore. She used an aperture of f8, ISO 160 and a shutter speed of 1/400 second – fast enough to freeze the action.

Her photo stands out because the boat is fire-engine red, but the composition also plays a role. She got the basics right and included enough open space ahead of the boat, in the direction that it was moving. It feels like you can “see” the boat moving into that open space. Had she positioned the boat further left, it would have felt as if it were bumping up against the side of the frame. Funny how your mind works! The five fishermen are equidistant from each other on the deck. This creates a feeling of balance as your eye roams from one fisherman to the next. Look at their body language and expressions – they look tired after a long stint at sea.

The bright colours bring the scene to life and contrast with the washed-out blues and whites of the West Coast landscape in the background. This photo is so typically West Coast, it smells like a bokkom! #176

Pied and malachite kingfishers hang around the cement outflow, and other special birds are also common, like fish-eagle, yellowbilled stork, marabou stork, three-banded plover and several heron species.

Not to mention the monitor lizard that likes to bask in the sun next to the wall with the name sign… We don’t go to the park only to see the Big Five, we appreciate every butterfly and dung beetle, too!

TOAST SAYS: If you know when a monitor lizard will be at its favourite sunny spot, you’re on the right track! Sunset Dam is one of the places where our readers take their best photos.

The table is set at Sunset Dam, all you have to do is take your seat. But it’s one thing watching a hippo yawn and another thing to actually get a good photo of the moment. If you have to reach for your camera on the seat next to you, you’ll miss it. And it might be another hour before the hippo decides to move again.

Keep your camera switched on, make sure the right settings are dialled in, and rest the heavy lens on your window, using a window mount, a bean bag or even a towel. The sunlight hits Dawie’s hippo just right. If you can, position yourself with the sun behind you so it can shine onto your subject. It’s usually better to shoot with the sun than against it.