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Capturing Dragons by Andy Astbury - part 3 of 1 2 3 4 5 6

by Andy Astbury Published 01/02/2009

I am frequently asked for details of the flash techniques I use in my macro photography, and in a lot of cases the reply causes some consternation. The short answer is that I don't use any, much preferring to use available light. My favourite shooting conditions are a light to medium overcast sky, which gives a beautifully soft and even lighting, with the great added benefit of being relatively shadowless. I always carry a couple of small reflectors in my kit, as well as a small diffuser panel should the sun poke its head out from behind the clouds.

Now if you remember, I did say that your camera needs to have a 'mirrorup' shooting capability. This is vital if you are shooting, as I do with available light, as the shutter speeds I use are all between 1/20 and 1/3 of a second. At these speeds it is imperative that the camera has sufficient time to settle from the vibrations of the tripped mirror before the shutter is activated.

Nikon cameras have a mode called 'M-up' which drops the camera back to single frame operation and lifts the mirror; shutter activation requires a further button press on the cable release - this is the way I work on all my macro subjects. There is a shutter-delay facility buried in the menus somewhere, which would allow me to keep the camera in a continuous shooting mode instead of single frame; but I've found that after three or four shots even at maximum delay, there is a cumulative build-up of residual vibration that can kill the next few frames, so I refrain from using it and adopt the simple method!

Personally I keep my eye to the viewfinder all the time I'm shooting, and when I'm waiting for the breeze to calm down - that vital moment of stillness might be so fleeting that I would miss it if not prepared.

But if you do prefer to try some shots with your eye away from the viewfinder then make sure that you activate the eye-piece blind, or cover the eye-piece with something. Light entering the eye-piece can fool your meter if you are using any form of auto-exposure.

And before you ask, yes I do - OFTEN!

I find Nikon's aperture priority semi-auto and dynamic metering does a superb job under these circumstances, it's easy to add EV compensation to if needed and it frees my aged and limited mental capacity to concentrate more of its feeble efforts on the important things like background, composition, focus and 'where did I put that last Mars Bar?'!

Nothing irks me more than so-called photographers who insist on telling everyone that manual exposure is the only truly professional way to work - it used to be the only RELIABLE way to work, but things have moved on since the days of wet collodion! Find me a pro-wildlife photographer today who doesn't use some sort of auto exposure control as a working base.

• Capturing Dragons by Andy Astbury page 1
  
• Capturing Dragons by Andy Astbury page 2
  
• Capturing Dragons by Andy Astbury page 3
  
• Capturing Dragons by Andy Astbury page 4
  
• Capturing Dragons by Andy Astbury page 5
  
• Capturing Dragons by Andy Astbury page 6
  

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