Limiting the colour palette

    In any photograph that we take we males choices about which elements in the scene in front of us to include in our image and which to exclude, and one of the factors, which will be the colour of those elements. As well as evaluated how the various colours interact with each other, we need to consider how many different colours we want to include. An image with a riot of different colours will produce a very different effect from one, which uses only two or three hues.

     Using a wide variety of colours can produce a visually exciting photo with lots of impact; but if care is not taken it can also result in a confusing image in which the viewer’s eye is pulled in various directions at once and doesn’t know where to settle. Sometimes, simplicity of colour can produce a more sophisticated image, and two or three harmonizing or contrasting hues can result in a more visually satisfying photograph.

Enhancing colour

    If the colour in a scene is not all that we would like it to be, there are sometimes ways in which we can improve it. One is to use warm up filters or change your white balance setting to adjust the colour temperature of your subject, and I will look at this in an article about light in next month’s issue. Other than that, one of the easiest ways to improve colour is to use a polarizing filter, although of course this will only work on a sunny day.

     Polarizing filter is best known for deepening the blue of the sky, but they can also reduce white light reflection from glossy objects and so enhance their colour saturation. They work best when the light in coming from the side of the photographer-their effect will be minimal on screen which is front lit or back lit. If you’re handholding your camera, a polarizing filter will affect your exposure by up to two stops. Third time I saw one bird that was too distance for photos, but on the fourth attempt my luck changed. Although your TTL meter will automatically adjust for this, it could lead to camera shake if your shutter speed is lengthened.

Steve young’s say’s

But in March 2009, I finally had some success with this species after many years of trying. Moore nature reserve on the out skirts of Warrington is known for sighting of this species in the surrounding woods. There is a feeding here, but again the bird does not visit, but good views were being had by many local and visiting birders in the surrounding woodlands along the public footpaths; good views that is until I began to visit. Over a period of nine days I visited four times and twice I didn’t even see any. Third time I saw one bird that was too distance for photos, but on the fourth attempt my luck changed.

Clinging to the side of a tree no more than 30 meters away from my lens, a male lesser spotted woodpecker was intently hammering away at a potential nest hole. An image with a riot of different colours will produce a very different effect from one, which uses only two or three hues. As it’s so small, I really needed this bird at 10 meters range for a good sized image, but I was just relived to see it through my lens at all! After a five minute excavation, the woodpecker flew further back into the wood, but returned an hour later to exactly the same spot and continued to chisel away at the tree allowing more images to be gratefully taken.