High key fun - nerd art photography in wild 😀

Stark contrasts and blazing colors !

Usually, I do not see that combination in wildlife photography. Nature has a way of painting it's subjects such that colors flow into each other and stark contrasts are not too common.

Photographs with sharp contrasts and stark colors are, therefore, usually frowned upon in wildlife photography.

However, I experimented a bit and discovered that I can get quite dramatic and beautiful photos with the high key technique...

Here is a collage of the beauty I could capture...

I first discovered the technique of high key photos, with most of background overexposed, almost stark white, by accident when I was trying to capture a pic of a Common Kestrel. It was sitting on ground and was in a nice pose so I crawled and clicked it. I failed to realize that the sun was just coming up behind the kestrel and hence I got a grey white background instead of green grass or blue sky when I exposed the bird correctly but in the process, blew out the background a bit. The picture still turned out to be beautiful..

So - I experimented with the technique deliberately a few times when I found a bird sitting such that I had to shoot against a lit sky. I found that it is possible to manage the exposures in such a way that the sky turns almost white in the image and birds/flowers/ leaves stand out with their blazing colors...

Here are a few examples...

Sirkeer Malkoha in a pretty setting with red leaves with light raindrops

Golden fronted leafbird sitting on fiery red flowers

Greater racket tailed drongo with fiery red flowers

Though unconventional, I think high key technique can produce some really nice images. Therefore, I think it is useful even in wildlife photography.

What do you think ? Have you attempted or would you attempt anything like this in photography? If so, please share your experience in comments.

Please comment freely and let me know your opinion. I will try to bring many different types of wildlife photos/macro/Astro posts to the community. Feedback and comments are welcome,. I am still learning many techniques and always value feedback from experts in this community.

Have a nice day everyone. Cheers!