Saxen Van Coller- Are You Using Flash During The Day?

Wildlife photography has its own wonderful aspects. Some see it as a profession for some it is a hobby and love for the wildlife. This time we will talk about his use of flash for taking wildlife pictures. Use of flash can be done at any time and it’s not bound to be used at night. When there is not enough lighting then the flash comes to our rescue. Using the flash with a long lens is a thing, most  photographers have been using for a long time as it helps to capture better pictures during the daytime.

Over the years, I have used a number of equipment and have talked about them a lot. This time on my trip, I took my Canon 7D Mark II and with it a Canon 600EX RT flash sitting in the horseshoe. The weather on that particular day was overcast and using a flash was a wise decision. There may be a time when there is a bright sunny day, one might come across an animal in the shade and a flash would help to balance the light into the shade giving a better background light.

 

Most animals have dark eyes and these can look like a black hole when there is no direct sunlight on them provides a catch light. Using a flash can give you back that catch-light in the eye and make the animal look much more alive. The key to using a flash is to fill the light and not as a key light. A fill flash simply means that the light output fall is not as bright as the ambient light on the subject not defining the exposure.

For the most part, it’s better when we do the image comparing than talking. Pay attention to the catch-light in the bird’s eye as it really brings it to life. This adds a lot more texture to the photo and opens those shadows that give more latitude to play with the processing. When we talk about additional lighting, flash is the perfect and the continuous light source.  Continuous lighting does not come nearly as close to matching the brightness of a flash, but it allows us to control the direction of light.

According to Saxen Van Coller, if you are shooting outdoors with moving creatures using a flash gives enough depth of field as it can be really tough with macro shooting and all smaller apertures to soak up all the light. When you are shooting in the wild there is no stability, you cannot ask the animal to say still where there is better light. The flash comes as a handy solution and helps you in time when there is little or no light.