FORMATT HITECH AMBASSADOR FOCUS
Wildlife in the Landscape Wildlife photographer Alan Hewitt shows how graduated filters are not just for landscapes.
Take a look around a popular haunt for landscape photographers, and the chances are, you will see some neutral density graduated filters being used. If you’re unfamiliar, their purpose is to balance out the exposure, usually in a scene where there is bright sky and darker terrain and the camera just cannot capture the full range of tones. They come in different strengths and also in different severities of the transition of the graduation. It is fair to say that you are less likely to see graduated filters being used with wildlife photography.
Much of the wildlife photography we see is associated with frame filling portraits or action shots with a shallow depth of field where there is less need to balance the exposure or the composition and surroundings make filtration impractical. I’m not knocking this sort of wildlife photography at all, I love to see it, and it still makes up a significant proportion of my work. I am, however, trying to evolve my work to photograph wildlife with a greater emphasis on context. By this, I mean trying to include other elements, mutualistic and parasitic relationships, for example, and also what I term ‘wildlife in the landscape’. Popular to contrary belief, it is possible to create captivating photographs where wildlife subjects are a small element of a larger overall surrounding habitat or landscape. I believe photographs like this can often carry more interest than portraits, and it’s good to try a range of compositions as it can create an interesting diversity and interest to your portfolio. I always look around an animal’s surroundings to see what else I can include, another animal perhaps? An interesting tree, a beautiful or dramatic sky maybe? Sometimes this means using a wider-angle lens rather than using my workhorse telephoto, but just as often I may stick with a longer lens to compress perspective or help decrease the depth of field to maintain an emphasis on the subject.
This is also when I may choose to use a graduated ND filter or a polariser for exactly the same reasons as a landscape photographer would do so. Graduated ND filters are undoubtedly relevant to wildlife photography! There are alternatives to filters; for example, multiple exposure blending is popular. But this is not easy with live and moving subjects and when using a tripod is not practical. I’m an advocate of using filters to get as much right in‑camera as I possibly can. It gives me more enthusiasm and satisfaction when I’m working in the field as I can see the results coming together. I’d much rather maximise my time out in the fresh air with the wildlife, perhaps enjoying a beer in the late sun on the African Savannah enjoying camera craft, than thinking about sitting in my office in front of a computer merging exposures.
Front Cover: Arctic Tern Farne Islands, Northumberland, UK Far Left: African Elephant Maasai Mara, Kenya Above: Grey Seal & Longstone Lighthouse Farne Islands, Northumberland, UK Left: Black-Legged Kittiwake Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Overleaf: Female Cheetah, ‘Kisaru’ and her six cubs Ol Choro Conservancy, Maasai Mara, Kenya All taken with Formatt Hitech Firecrest Ultra 2 & 3 Stop Graduated Filters.
Alan is a professional wildlife photographer and writer based in Northumberland. He is a brand ambassador for Formatt-Hitech and uses Firecrest Ultra soft-edged graduated filters with a 100mm holder system and a Firecrest ultra-slim Circular Polariser. Alan is also an official FUJIFILM X-Photographer. Find him online at www.alanhewittphotography.co.uk
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