Samuel Bloch
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Atmospheric conditions and wildlife photography

20/7/2023

1 Comment

 
​Sometimes, there's disturbance in the atmosphere between you and your subject: air is moving and, as a result, your images are not tack sharp... and there is nothing you can do about it!
Welcome swallow perched on branches, surrounded by fog
Welcome swallow (Hirundo neoxena) in fog
​Throughout the years, I have encountered this issue in a few situations. The most obvious is fog: it looks wonderful, it creates dreamy conditions, but all those water droplets floating in front of you are taking a toll on image quality. Heat haze, when the sun heats the ground, is another. Related is water evaporation: that one I've faced when shooting birds on snow on a sunny day, or simply birds on a lake.
In all cases, the result is the same: there's nothing visibly interfering with the focusing process, yet the images are not tack sharp.
Western jackdaw foraging on snowy ground
Western jackdaw (Coloeus monedula) on snow
Common cranes flying in the fog, in beautiful golden light
Common cranes (Grus grus) in fog
Eurasian magpie walking in stubble field
Eurasian magpie (Pica pica) on snow
​So, what can you do about it?
Well, not much I'm afraid! No matter how well you know your gear, no matter how good your technique is, you can't affect the air that's between you and your target. That said, here are a few tricks to improve your chances.
1. Spray and pray. Haze is volatile and unpredictable: one moment it wrecks your images, and the next it does nothing. Keep shooting, and review your images at home with a cool head: there may be a few great ones in there!
2. Get closer to your subject. The closer you are, the less air there is between the bird and your sensor, which reduces the risk of interference.
Western jackdaw walking on old snow
Western jackdaw (Coloeus monedula) on snow
​3. Wait for cooler hours. This one is kinda natural for outdoors photographers, as we always seek golden hour. It's less hot around sunset and especially sunrise, so it greatly helps with heat-related haze.
4. Embrace wider compositions. Absolute sharpness is less critical if your subject is small in the frame. Fog, in particular, lends itself well to moody frames that leave a lot of room for the environment to frame the subject.
Great bustards in a field at sunrise, with starlings flying around
Great bustards (Otis tarda) and Common starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) in fog
Eurasian magpie walking on a snow-covered field
Eurasian magpie (Pica pica) on snow
Red-fronted serin ready for take-off on a lichen-covered boulder
Red-fronted serin (Serinus pusillus) in fog
5. Stop pixel-peeping. It's important to make sharp images, but it's action and atmosphere that are really crucial. If you have a great frame that's not completely sharp: keep it! It's valuable nonetheless. 
Black-throated divers floating on a lake on a misty morning
Black-throated divers (Gavia arctica) in fog
White wagtail stumbling on ice
White wagtail (Motacilla alba) on snow
Western jackdaw walking on a snow-covered urban field
Western jackdaw (Coloeus monedula) on snow
Picture
Black-necked grebes (Podiceps nigricollis) on a lake
1 Comment
Gay Asians Flint link
3/1/2025 14:56:06

Great post tthanks

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