On Safari

Fill flash adds light on the foreground subjects when the background is significantly brighter.

Giraffe towers over the jeep during a ride through the savannahs outside Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge (© Michael Maher).

The Photo

Vacationing at Walt Disney World, we elected to go on a jeep ride through the savannahs surrounding the Animal Kingdom Lodge, so we could see animals like giraffes, zebras, and ostriches up close.  It was easy to photograph the animals alone, for they came very close to our jeep, but because we were not allowed to venture out of the vehicle, there was no way to photograph the individuals in our party together with the animals.  I tried several shots of us inside the jeep in the foreground with zebras and giraffes in the near background, but the animals were much more brightly lit than our faces, making the people almost too dark to be recognizable.  The solution was to use my flash and to illuminate everyone’s faces so they would have just as much light on them as the animals.  When we passed a group of giraffes (called a “tower”), the jeep stopped and I added the fill flash to take several photos of the majestic animals in the background with our happy and perfectly lit subjects in the foreground.

Three Tips

1) Fill flash provides extra light on the foreground subject to match the background lighting.

2) Set your camera to expose the brighter background and fire the flash to light up the foreground subject. 

3) Use fill flash for most of your outdoor portraits to make your subjects’ faces as perfectly lit as possible.

Phil Esposito's Revenge

Keep your camera trained on any star player returning to face his or her former team.

New York Rangers’ forward and former Boston Bruin star Phil Esposito (L) raises his stick in celebration after scoring his fourth goal of the game past Bruin goalie Jim Pettie to pace the Rangers to a 7-4 win in Boston (© Michael Maher, The Lowell (Ma.) Sun).

The Photo:

Revenge by a player who was traded is a great storyline for fans and the media, but one that doesn’t often play out successfully.  When former Bruin Phil Esposito returned to Boston as a member of the New York Rangers, his current team was having a very successful year, but the Bruins were not.  “Espo’s” return and possible revenge was seemingly all that was discussed in Boston during the days prior to the game, though he had been traded a while before.  I positioned myself at center ice with my 300MM lens so I could easily photograph the entire ice rink and both teams’ goals.  Esposito got his revenge by scoring four goals and leading his Ranger team to victory against his former Bruin club.  Whenever Esposito was on the ice, I kept my camera focused on him, but other players blocked my view of his first three goals.  On this last one, I had a clear view, as both a happy Esposito and the dejected Bruin goalie gave me contrasting reactions as the puck lay in the net.  This was another “victor and vanquished” photo, but it was far more significant because it told the story of a player’s triumph when returning to face his former team.

3 Tips:

1) The return of a traded player is a great storyline and terrific photo opportunity.

2) Concentrate on photographing almost everything the returning player does during the game because you are likely to see emotion if the player does exact some revenge.

3) The best photo is of the returning player looking happy or celebrating, even better if his former teammates look sad or dejected in the same image.  

A Heavy Burden

When photographing a weightlifter, watch for some of the most powerful facial expressions you'll see in any sport. 

Powerlifter strains to lift the barbell during a competition in Tewksbury, Ma. (© Michael Maher, The Lowell (Ma.) Sun).

The Photo:

When I shot powerlifting for the first time, I expected to photograph big, muscular competitors holding barbells over their heads.  What I found, however, was that close-ups of them straining to lift the heavy weight made the best photos.  Therefore, throughout this event, I focused on shooting the athletes as tightly as I could, showing only the bar in their hands, excluding the weights on the end of the bars.  I also concentrated on photographing while they were lifting, not after they were finished with the barbell over their heads.  This lifter had a great expression, and almost seemed to stretch his lower lip over his top as he labored to lift the weights.

3 Tips:

1) Weightlifting does not provide fast-moving action to photograph.

2) The best photos are of the contestant’s face showing the strain or concentration of lifting the heavy load.

3) At times you may want to show the barbell and weights, but other times the facial expression is all you need.

Run Through the Sprinkler

Combine children with weather to create very powerful photos.



Young boys run through the sprinkler to keep cool on a hot summer day in Lowell, Ma. (© 1980 Michael Maher, The Lowell (Ma.) Sun).

The Photo:

It was an oppressive summer afternoon and I was searching for a picture of someone coping with the hot weather, when I spied kids playing in the water spray from a yard sprinkler. I watched for several minutes, trying to devise a unique picture. The sun was backlighting the kids and the water spray against a perfect background of dark trees, so it made for a nicely lit photo. I stood at the perfect angle to capture the backlighting, shot several images of the kids playing, including this shot that was more artistic and beautifully lit than most sprinkler photographs.  

Reminder:

1) One great weather-related picture is kids cooling off from the summer heat.

2) Sprinklers and swimming pools are the most frequent ways kids cool off.

3) Use the sunlight to highlight the subject and make it stand out again a clean, unobtrusive background.