Dear friends,
As promised in the last post, the next one would deal with backlight photography of the black grouses in Finland. I'm really font of this type of photography as it can add a special 'dreamy' atmosphere. I was glad that we also got the opportunity for backlight photography in Finland. At one of the two places visited, the grouses were lekking around the hides. From both sides of the hide we had opportunities to shoot. You can imagine which side was my favourite. Two examples of backlight shots are attached to this post. The first is a calling male. Everytime it was calling its breath condensed into a small plume of steam because of the cold. The second picture is an example of an excited male. They make small vertical flights of about 1 to 2 meters high in order to obtain the attention of the females when these are sitting on or flighing over the lekking arena.
Some thoughts about the exposure of backlight shots. I like to underexpose my backlight photos as it gives a more intense sphere. On the other hand, I like to keep some detail in the photographic subject. In this case it's a black bird, which is certainly not the easiest one. An exposure compensation of -1,7 EV worked best for my taste.
Hope you like the pictures. The other bird species of the Finland trip will follow next week.
See you!
Dirk-Jan
