Here I’ve used work mostly shot on assignment for Wild Wonders of Europe (and under contract until December 2012!) in the French Alps a couple of years ago. This panel will find its way into Meet Your Neighbours when the material is released.
On a technical note, I find the easiest way to work is to drawn a very loose selection around the subject – well away from its edges – to get rid of most of the excess background, duplicate that background layer and convert that selection to a Smart Object. This is then dragged onto the composite page and scaled (cmd/ctrl T) to taste.
Niall,
this is developing into an impressive series. I really like these! Do you happen to have any Scottish neighbours?
Cheers,
Erwin
Très agréable Monsieur Benvie!
cb
Hello Erwin
Yes, but they’re mostly very shy…I have one of underwater subject that will go up next. I’d love to capture a wild haggis on the white set. It’s easy getting access to captive ones but I don’t feel like a “real” nature photographer when I shoot these ones. It’s too easy.
High on Charlotte’s chocolate…
Niall
Niall,
It would be nice if you would share your chocolates with others. Just felt the need to point that out.
Clay
Niall,
If you and Charlotte want ‘liqueurs’ for your choc centres then look no further…we have an excellent peach, fennel and now nocino (walnut)…I knew that childhood passion for chemistry would have some use one day!
Paul
That’s kind Paul. They could satisfying our need for distinctivness, not just in the branding but in the flavours too. The idea is in the bank now.
Thank you
Best
Niall
I’m very impressed with this series Niall and pleased to see your celebration of biodiversity gives such prominence to insect life (so often overlooked by many nature photographers who focus only on prettier insects, if at all).
Regarding your technique, having made the rough selection it must then be painstaking going around each subject to completely remove the background, particularly for the delicate ferns etc? I admire your patience (or maybe I’m missing some clever Photoshop shortcuts…).
Good luck in your hunt for a wild haggis. I’m told they can be very elusive…
Matt
Good morning Matt
And thank you for your comments. In fact, there IS no painstaking work in Photoshop: since the subjects are shot on a pure white background, once the rough selection is made, that’s it. The layer with the loosely cut out image is converted into a Smart Object (for non-destructive scaling) and dragged onto the composite page. The Guillestre panel took only a couple of hours to complete.
Best
Niall
ah, of course. I should have realised the subjects were photographed against a white background (although that in itself must have taken a fair amount of patience, particularly for the insects!).
Matt
Buonasera Matt,
I can vouch for the fact that this is NOT the easiest way to photograph insects – but it gives a very different feel. Things with a delicately veined structure to the wings look particularly good but getting the balance between backlight and front light is far from easy…
Paul