Wildlife and nature photography blogs for June 2010

Importing RAW files into Lightroom is always an exciting event for us. As it’s the first time since pressing the shutter button, we get a really good look at the images. As with everything in life sometimes we are disappointed, sometimes we are surprised, sometimes we can’t understand why we took that picture. But no matter what the initial emotion, it soon is overtaken by the "it will look better when we do a bit of processing" emotion. That was until recently.

We have just started using the X-Rites ColorChecker Passport in conjunction with Lightroom to produce camera profiles. On its own this has improved the look of our imported pictures. But what has made a big difference is getting Lightroom to do a lot more of the image processing as it imports images. So if you would like to spend less time processing your images, get better quality images this could be of interest.

You can apply a camera profile to any image in Lightroom, no matter what setting was used to import the picture. But keep having to apply the profiles manually can be a bit tiresome and not to say time wasting. This is where Lightroom can help. Lightroom will apply your beautifully made profiles, as it imports the image. Not only that but it will also apply any other settings you wish. If you have more than one camera body it will apply the appropriate profile for each body. All this is possible.

You first need to do a bit of preparation work. But when you are finished you will have it so that Lightroom will import your images and apply a bespoke profile and settings to that image. If you have used a high ISO, you can apply a Noise Reduction based on that setting. What you end up with is images imported into Lightroom that have a fair bit of individual processing applied without you having to click a mouse.

What you need, is a set of pictures of the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport to enable you to produce colour profiles. Working mainly outside, taking pictures of wildlife we tend to produce our profiles using daylight. But choose another light source if this is more appropriate for your type of photography.

You need to capture the images used to create the profiles different ISO speeds, so that you can produce profiles for each ISO. One tip that we learnt is that with most modern camera the changes due to high ISO are very small. So we tended to only use a few ISO settings 200, 800, 1600 32000. If Lightroom hasn’t got a profile for ISO setting in the picture it will default to the closest setting. So if you set the ISO to 640 it will use the 800 ISO setting. This keeps down the amount of work you need to do. But you can produce a profile for each ISO setting if you think the improvements are justified.



X-Rite ColorChecker Passport

We also photograph a standard scene at the same time as the ColorChecker Passport. This is so we can compare pictures taken with different camera bodies. More about this later. Do this for each camera body you own. One important tip, make sure that you keep very good records and identify the frames as you go along as you are going to end up with a lot of pictures of colour patches. They all look the same and it can be a difficult task to identify them in Lightroom with having to look at the Metadata.


Standard photograph

Import all your images into Lightroom and start making the camera profiles. One profile for each illuminate, camera body and ISO setting. ColorChecker has one trick I should mention. It can produce profiles that are dual illuminant. Dual illuminant profiles are one profile that contains information for two different light sources, say one for daylight and one for flash. This type of profile is useful, if like us you do occasionally shoot using only electronic flash as a sole illuminant. A dual illuminant can have the daylight and electronic flash profile in one file.

Name the profiles you make with a name that lets you identify it later. Our profiles have names like EOS 1D II 400 D/F 100628. This gives us the camera body, the ISO setting, daylight and flash and the date the profile was created.

Now to get Lightroom to apply the profiles automatically as you import your images. A little known feature of Lightroom or at least one we’ve only just discovered by accident is Lightroom’s ability to set a new default. This default setting is used when importing images.

Preference and the Presets tab. On this tab you will see the two options we are interested in Make defaults specific to camera serial number and Make defaults specific to camera ISO setting. If you want to make the default settings both camera and ISO dependant tick both boxes. If you only want one variable then select either camera or ISO. OK the dialogue boxes.


Select the Make default specific to camera serial number and/or Make defaults specific to camera ISO setting

You have now set Lightroom to look at the metadata in the images it imports for specific camera bodies and ISO settings. If you have not set a default for a particular combination, Lightroom will apply the Adobe Standard default settings.

Next select one of your test images that you shot at the same time as the profile image. You need to know which camera body and ISO setting was used to produce the image. Switch to the Develop module. Scroll down to the Camera Calibration panel and change the profile from Adobe Standard to your new specific profile for this body and ISO setting. If you want you can take the process a step further, make changes to the other develop settings.




Adobe standard settings

We use different camera bodies to take our wildlife pictures, when the images are imported you can see the difference between the bodies even after they have been profiled. So what we do is to make changes to the basic settings. These changes are to try and balance the differences between the camera bodies. One body may require that the exposure setting is a little different.


Our settings for EOS 1D Mk II

What you should be aiming for is when you look at the pictures in Lightroom you can’t tell which body was used. All this balancing and tweaking takes time and the chances are that you will not get it right first time but keep going. You can always change the settings again and again.

When you have finished all your adjustments for your selected image, you need to make these settings the default. Under the Develop menu you will find Set Default Settings click this option. You should then see a dialogue box.

Click the Update to Current Settings. Your develop settings, camera profile, are now the default.


Make your settings for this camera and ISO

Once you have finished doing this for your camera bodies and different ISO settings it is time to test. But take our advice and go and have a long tea break before you start, as by now you tend to be a bit over imaged.

Shoot a series of test pictures using all your bodies. Import these pictures into Lightroom. Under the Import settings dialogue make sure that under the Information to Apply section you set Develop Settings to None. This may seem an odd choice but what is happening is that Lightroom will apply its default settings to any imported image. As you have changed the Adobe defaults with your defaults these will be those applied.


Import settings used when importing new images

What you should see, with a bit of luck and skill is that no matter what body you took the image on they all look the same. When you look at the Noise a majority of the settings should be nearly there. When you start selecting your best images you have a better idea of how the final image will look. I can say that this little tip has saved us a lot of time and results in better images faster.

Until next time

A 480Km road linking Arusha and Musoma in Northern Tanzanian has finally been approved by the Tanzanian government. The proposed route includes a 60 Km section through the world famous Serengeti National Park. It is this section that experts are concerned may effect the migration of a million Wildebeest.

The East African Wildebeest migration is one of the greatest wonders of the natural world. It is a wildlife photographer’s dream come true. We have been lucky enough to witness the spectacle on a couple of occasions as the Wildebeest pass through Kenya’s Masai Mara. It is a wildlife moment that will remain with us both for the rest of our lives, when the Wildebeest cross the Mara River or the great herds travelling over the grass savannahs.

The fact that the new Arusha - Musoma road will bring wealth and benefit to the area is not in doubt. The Tanzanian government has a good past record on wildlife issues, so I believe that they have not taken the decision to approve the northern route lightly. I acknowledge that the proposed route will bring great benefits to the peoples of the area. My concern is at what cost to the natural world.

It is maybe difficult to see how one, two lane road could effect the movement of a million Wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of Zebra and Thompson gazelle. But research has shown that effects could be as catastrophic as stopping the migration completely. This would be a natural disaster on a worldwide scale. Even if the road doesn’t halt the migration altogether other possible effects could be just as much of a disaster.

I have no rights to lecture the Tanzanian government on what is right for there people. But I live in affluent society with a road network that has already destroyed much of our green and pleasant land. I can’t argue with the economic benefits of roads. What I can say from experience is that roads are bad for wildlife. More UK wildlife is killed and affected by roads and vehicles than by any other single process. I would urge the Tanzanian government to reconsider its planning decision on the road. Consider what may happen to its wonderful wildlife. Consider the economics if wildlife tourism diminishes because of this road.

If you would like to read more on this subject there have been several articles published. The East African ,  The New York Times  you can sign a petition on Facebook at STOP THE SERENGETI HIGHWAY

Until next time.

Some comments made on Springwatch recently sparked some thoughts. Simon King has been in Dorset looking at various habitats and the wildlife they provide a home for.

One area that interested me was the meadow areas. How wonderful they look adorned with flowers giving vital food supplies to butterflies, bees and other insects. But for how long, there is a down side; these old style flowers meadows are fast disappearing. Before too long there may not be any left and that would be dreadful; not only for the wildlife but for us too.

Changes in way we live have caused the loss of these rich and diverse habitats. Perhaps going back to a more traditional method of managing our land would be better, less intensive management thereby allowing nature to flow through the land.

Perhaps the place to start is your own personal space. Rather than have everything neat and tidy, leave an area to the wildlife, let the weeds grow, plant some wildlife flower seed. We are having a great time in our own garden this year. We planted a wildlife flower mix and now take delight in watching what flowers are emerging and the insects they attract. By leaving the garden slightly less tidy and allowing nature to take its course; we have been presented with beautiful plants, watched baby birds being feed in our trees and enjoyed the sound of bees buzzing around the garden.

Finally, the recent announcement of £2 million from the Lottery funding for nature projects is great news. I do hope these projects are well supported and that the initial euphoria is not lost and people continue with their support for many years to come. In that way we may save some areas of our countryside to enjoy now and for future generations too.

Before we start I think it is important that you understand that I have a love hate relationship with grey cards. This in and out of favour relationship has been going on for a fair number of years now and I can see no end in site. So I state for the record, if you choose to start using grey cards after reading this blog I will in no way be held responsible for your mental health.

Right, that’s out of the way. The beginning of the relationship; I first started using Kodak 18% Grey cards when I was at collage. We were taught how to use grey cards to get accurate meter readings and how useful they were when producing colour prints, for getting accurate colours. Or at least that was the theory. Nine out of ten times we forget to take a shot with the card in it or when we did remember the grey card shot was the only usable one from the whole shoot.

My next encounter with the grey card was when taking pictures of the interiors of very large agriculture buildings. If you have livestock in the building flash is not an option. To get a picture you have to use the available light. This consists of what daylight is available. You then turn on every artificial light you can find. These are normally a 25 watt light bulb covered in the grime of ages, 40 feet above the floor. Then the last element is your portable photographic light. The resultant negative has so many different colour temperature light sources that they are almost impossible to print with a grey card as reference.

Having left the difficult interiors behind next came product shots. By carefully placing a grey card in a product shot you can get a very accurate meter reading. The draw back is when the grey card falls over and destroys the few last hours work. We all breathed a collective large sigh of relief when Polaroid backs became affordable. A quick Polaroid, look at the result. Adjust the exposure, deal with the odd stray highlight or two, change the backs, take the picture and move on to the next one. Grey cards had been banished to the back of the draw forever.

When we started taking wildlife pictures I never dreamed that grey cards could ever come back into my life. After all, never mind knocking things over. Who could you persuade to place a grey card on a sleeping Lions head?  Although, come to think of it perhaps Elephants are natures answer to grey cards.

Lulled into a false sense of security, I was processing pictures of flowers. Particularly please with my efforts and in order to show off, I proudly announced to Jacky to come and look at the beautiful pictures. She quickly pointed out that it could be greatly improved if the flower, instead of having a distinct bluish tinge, should be yellow.

After some thought, it seemed to me that we needed some sort of colour reference when taking certain photographs. The only problem with grey cards and the great outdoors is that most grey cards are made of card and not designed for the rough and tumble of wet grass muddy fingers and the occasional woops that’s were I left it.

Enter the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport this small bit of plastic has almost banished the hate side of my relationship with grey cards. Small, portable and with protective plastic; it is grey card that fits into your pocket and does not come out bent and dog eared.

What X-Rite, makers of all things to do with colour have come up with is a fit in your pocket colour chart. The Passport has three leaves just like a book. Each leaf containing a different set of colour targets for different tasks. You have the "Creative Enhancement Target" (CET) what a mouthful. A "White Balance Target" (WBT) and a "Classic Target" (CT)

The CET contains set of patches that go from black to white along one edge. These patches allow you to adjust the exposure until the highlight or white patch has just stopped clipping. Next are a set of colour tinted patches. Using these you can adjust the colour balance in a controlled way. For instance, in Adobe Lightroom, by clicking on one of these patches would give you much the same result as if you had used a warming or cooling filter in the days of film. Lastly you have a set of colour patches these give you a visual reference for colour adjustments such as HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness)



If you use a JPEG workflow then the WBT is a must for you. It provides you with an easy to carry bit of white card. Instead of using all manner of unsuitable whites such as shirts, hankies, walls and even the odd wedding gown; you use the passports WBT to get a proper 80% white to balance the JEPG output against.

Last but by no means least is the CT or as it is better known to many the GretagMacbeth patches. This set of patches has been around for as long as I have been taking pictures. Providing a set of standard colours you can do many wonderful things, more of which later.

To use the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport select which set of patches you are going to use. For us this is normally the CET and the CT patches. Place the passport in the picture or in the same light and take a picture. The only thing you need to worry about is getting the exposure correct. So check the camera’s histogram and highlight warning if it has it. Check that the white patch on the exposure section is recording some detail.


Opens like a book to make a stand

Passports are designed so that moving the leaves of the book to different angles; you can make it stand up in almost any situation, well almost. We haven’t tested its stand up capabilities on sleeping Lions yet!  As soon as I find a willing volunteer I will of course be reporting back. When you have finished, close the Passport and the patches are safe from all the normal fates. Slip into a pocket or camera bag ready for next time.


Great with yellow flowers

Back at the computer download your images into your favourite software. Currently, ours is Adobe Lightroom. Find the image of the Passport and click on one of the grey patches with the eye dropper in the Develop module. All being well you should have a perfect colour balance for that picture. Next, find and highlight all the other pictures taken under the same lighting conditions. Synchronise the images using the colour balance settings and all your pictures will have perfect colour balance. It is as simple as that.

Now if that was all there was to the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport it would be worth its money. Being able to colour correct images quickly and accurately is good news. But the Passport has another trick up its sleeve.

Enter the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport Camera Calibration Application software. What does it do?  For instance, take a picture of the Classic Target in daylight. Then import this image into the Camera Calibration Application and it will produce you a DNG profile.

Now for the really complicated bit; Digital Negative Graphics (DNG) is in fact an open file format created by Adobe. You may have come across its open standards format for storing your own digital files. We have been using it as an archive file storage format for a number of years now. The good thing about this file format for colour work is that it can contain camera calibration information within it. Because these DNG files can hold camera calibration information you can use this calibration information in software like Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom.

If you are now as lost as I was when I first read about DNG profiles and DNG files, I fully understand your plight. Maybe this will help?  

Take a picture of your X-Rite Passport using RAW. Convert this RAW file to DNG. Import this into the ColorChecker software and it will produce a camera profile for you. This camera profile is exported as a DNG file from ColorChecker. This profile DNG file can be used by programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom when developing your images in ACR (Adobe Camera Raw)

Is having your camera calibrated a good thing. If you own more than one camera body it is a great thing. Normal camera calibration files are specific to the camera model but not to your particular camera. In the days of film Kodak and Fuji spent untold millions on making sure that their film produced the same colours year in year out. With digital cameras this consistency has been lost. No matter which make of camera you use, the chip inside has a wider manufacturing tolerance than film ever did. Shoot a picture on identical model cameras can produce very different results.

Adobe Lightroom and ACR use a generic profile for each camera stored in a file called Adobe Standard. These generic profiles correct most of the differences between camera makes and models. The aim of this profile is to bring all imported images to a common look. Being all things to all makes of camera is a great ambition and Adobe have in there usual fashion done a great out of the packaging job. The standard Adobe profiles are a vast improvement on what went before. But as always there is room for improvement and this is were ColorChecker Passport comes to your rescue.

Producing an exact profile for your camera body gives you several advantages. You get better more saturated colours and normally a first imported result that is closer to the original scene than if you use the generic Adobe Standard profile. X-Rite ColorChecker software when you install it provides add-ins for both Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom this makes it very easy to produce a camera profile.

As I have said before the X-Rite ColorChecker passport has almost won me over to the whole grey card world. It is now possible that I regret not taking a grey card shot when I return with pictures. It has also improved the quality of our pictures. It has reduced time spent fiddling with sliders, wondering if my colour memory has failed me or that flower should be blue. It is not long live the grey card yet but it certainly is long live the ColorChecker.

Until next time.

We did get some sunshine at last during May, but we had to wait a good while for it to arrive. The weather pattern has been unusual this year; May as April, was a dry month. We did have a respite over the Bank Holiday weekend, with some well needed rain.

The first half of the month started clouded and quite breezy; the sun for us did not really show itself until about 17 May. I must say, the weather gods looking kindly upon us for our week photographing sea birds. The weekly temperatures showed a big difference between the maximum and minimum recorded; 32.5 and 0.5 degrees.

The outlook into early June is good, with high pressure set to bring warmer weather towards the end of the first week. Lets hope it stays, but not too warm. What we need is some nice pleasant warm sunshine and some rain for the wild plants.

Mean maximum temperature                  25.2°c
Mean minimum temperature                    3.2°c