Nature Photo Magazine 2011/2

nature photo magazine

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free online photo magazine

2011/2.

India | People-cultures water | Photo school Diaporama for pros

welcome Dear Reader, With the publication of our 2011 Summer issue, we celebrate the 2nd birthday of the Magazine too.

Another three months have gone and we are here with our new issue. The summer is here, birds are nurturing their nestlings, trees put on their green crown of foliage, butterflies and insects hatch, the life started up, the next stage of the eternal return.

Most of the European people take the major part of their holidays in July and in August. So grab your cameras and find pleasure in photography and enjoy the relaxation provided by this creative activity!

In our summer issue, we would like to surprise Our Readers with the following topics.

In the “Photo Adventure” column we show you Camargue, the natural treasure of Southern France, where the biggest population of flamingoes of Europe can be found, illustrated by the pictures of Anikó Imre and Tamás Imre photographers.

In the “Interesting places” we can get to know the fantastic sceneries of Cyprus and have a taste of Árpád Krivánszky’s photo adventures.

In our “People and Cultures” column we headed to the East again. We had travelled to the wonderful country of India to photograph the Hinduism holiest place Vanarasi at the banks of the Ganges. Anikó Imre and Tamás Imre tell their experiences and show you the ancient Indian culture and rites.

In our “Portfolio” column we introduce a renowned photographer Vlado Blaca to you who is an eminent figure of the contemporary Slovakian photography.

In the“Photo School” column photographer Árpád Krivánszky gives some pieces of advice on the photography of waters. In the “Tips and Tricks” Tamás Imre photo artist wrote an introduction to the usage of stabilizators and gives tips on this useful and now accepted technology.

Our “Diaporama” column continues, now we discuss how to make a professional diaporama with the software of Wing Platinum 4.

In our diving photography column “Life under the water” marine bilogist Szabolcs Németh and photographer Dániel Selmeczi shares their experiences with the public about the photography of sea cows.

In the “Book Reviews” column we review the newest book of Rainbow Slide publishing house which provides a great deal of help to holiday-makers and travellers for the successful photography.

Our photoshop expert Márton Perhiniák gives you some handy tips on making catalogues of pictures with the help of a tutorial.

We can read a chapter from Bence Máté’s book called “Invisibly” (Láthatatlanul - in Hungarian) and admire the pictures of the nature photographer.

Please receive our ninth issue with love.

Tamás Imre Editor-in-Chief Photo: © Dániel Selmeczi

Portfolio - Vlado BACA

26

Slovakia’s eminent contemporary photographer Vlado BaÄ?a was born in 1948, in Zsolna (Ĺ˝ilina). His portfolio is varied widely, ranging from commercial photography to landscape photography. He committed himself to photography in 1970, and became a freelance photographer in 1979. During the long decades gone by, his works has been shown in more than 140 international exhibitions all over the world. His works have been appreciated by many significant awards.

photo school - water

42

We have rather mixed feelings about summer photography.

Although this is the time when we have the most spare time and take the majority of our holiday and travel photos, the Sun reaches its zenith quickly, its colour turns into cold bluish-white and the shadows are short and insignificant.

At this time, perhaps the photography of waters and shores can hold out the best hopes of success and beauty (of course, here also the early mornings and late afternoons are the most favourable times for shooting).

Tips & tricks - stabilizers

50

Buying image stabilizers have been the big hits of the recent years, they have become so widespread by now that producers often implement this function into basic lenses and wide-angle lenses as well. People can understand from most lens catalogues and the related advertisements that this technology is suitable for the stabilization of 3-4 EV stops. It must be good, but what does it actually mean?

Photo adventure

6 Provance

© Imre Tamás

life underwater - charming sirens 56

Funny but true that these interesting but not very beautiful sea creatures we discuss below served as a basis of the legends and tales about mermaids and water nymphs. Looking at the pictures we might think that those sailors must have been in very high spirits on rum to recognize the charming fish-tailed ladies.

people, cultures - India

68

India is the most diverse country of the world.

The feelings and senses of photographers are under attack in every moment in this country, no matter it is your first time or you had stayed there longer before. Life is noisy, smelly, crazy, vibrant, chaotic and mystical for outsiders, yet, for some reason, its catching charm, speciality and uniqueness makes it worthwhile to travel to the East.

interesting places Cyprus

16

digital image editing Keywords

diaporama

wings platinum 4 / V

90

bence máté

to the top of the trees

94

55

Photo adventure

Provance: The Rhone delta The summer is here, and everybody is concerned about going for a holiday with the family to a place where our photography mania won’t drive them nuts. Birds, landscapes, wines, sunshine and tranquility, these are every nature-lover photographer’s dream. Well, Camargue in France provides ideal opportunities equally for photographers and holiday makers.

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, EF 300mm f/2,8 L IS USM 1/2500sec f/4.5 ISO 200

Camargue, the „French Hortobágy” The southern parts of France provide a lot of surprises to photographers who visit these places.

The breath-takingly beautiful Rhone delta at first glance seems to be am endless rural prairie. Those who only drive around the region by car cannot see anything from the charm of the place, so it is worth to turn off the road into the region of saltworks, and the braver ones can explore the are on horseback.

This huge land which inludes swamps, salty lakes and dunes as well, is the biggest marshland. Its area is about 140,000 hectares, that’s why on some days we drove even 200 kilometres to get back to our accommodation. Camargue is one of the prides of France, for the sake of its preservation altogether 85,000 hectares were classified as nature reserve in 1970. Its most protected zone is the slightly salty Etang de Vaccarés lake on 6500 hectares which is the habitat of the local flamingo population. The region is suitable for family excursions and for the visit of small villages and towns as well. Local people wear black hats, leather boots and velvet coats and make their living from horse riding and rearing buffalos.

We can see white-walled, thatched small country houses here and there, the locals call them guardian huts. If you are interested in the local towns, do not miss the unique atmosphere of Aigues-Mortes, you will experience a real jewellery box of Provance. The town is surrounded by the walls of a big fortress in which narrow street, restaurants, cosy cafés and of course the wines of Avignon sweeten the daily life of the tired photographers. It is so enchanting that I returned twice to receive the spirit of the place.

Flamingos in europe Among the plentiful nice sights our main destination was to photograph the flamingoes of Camargue which is said to be a unique place in Europe. I threw myself into research with great enthusiasm, or I just would as I could not find too much information about this place on the Internet. It was interesting, why? I thought, maybe there was no significant population there. Then I found the website of the local ornithologists where I could get some real information.

Canon EOS 7D, EF 400mm f/2,8 L IS USM 1/800sec f/8 ISO 320

Canon EOS 7D, EF 300mm f/2,8 L IS USM + 1,4x 1/2000sec f/10 ISO 400

Canon EOS 7D, EF 70-200mm f/2,8 L IS USM 1/640sec f/8 ISO 100

It surprised me that about 15,000 flamingoes lives in the area. Well, this place is worth to visit, maybe it could be an interesting photo adventure.

I showed the place to my wife and my daughter and we agreed that we would travel there for a week to photograph and of course for some rest. After the family said the answer “yes, let’s go”, I started Canon EOS 7D, EF 600L IS USMon1/1600sec f/6,3ofISO 500 a more thorough research the behaviour flamingoes to collect as much information as I can.

What is worth to take with us? A mediterraen country can be very hot, and I found out that we would face the biggest masses of mosquitoes in Europe. The temperature is between 25 and 35 C° during the day, but by night it can cool down to between15 C° and 10 C° degrees. It rarely rains in summer but if it does, then in the form of heavy storms. To photograph the region’s saltworks and

the towns and villages of Provance, pack a normal wide-angle lens, e.g. a 24-105 mm and a smaller 70-200 mm telephoto lens. With them we can photograph the atmosphere of the land and the enchanting tranquility of the small villages. If we want to photograph birds too, then a minimum of 300 mm telephoto lens is required, for nice, informative highlights or for a possible greater distance a 500 or 600 mm telephoto lens will be the solution. For a telephoto lens like that, a stable tripod is needed, this can be Gitzo, Manfrotto or something similar to which you should fix a video head (Manfrotto) or a Wimberley head. Of course, take as much memory cards as you can. If there is a good situation, then there is no time for uploading pictures and remember that in summer you have to wake up at 3 in the morning because of the sunrise

Canon EOS 7D, EF 70-200mm f/2,8 L IS USM 1/2000sec f/6.3 ISO 400

and if you want to photograph sunset you get back to your accommodation at 10 or 11 in the evening.

Besides a daily four hours sleep there is not too much time for uploading pictures. So if it is possible, it is worth to go back to your place at noon (when the lights are awful in terms of photography) to relax and upload your pictures taken last evening and at dawn.

A smaller laptop or hard drive does a good service in any case, on which we can have a look at our pictures.

At the saltworks we found a lot of birds such as the Black-winged Stilts which are very timid in Hungary but here they were not bothered, they did not go far away even when we get off the car and settled at the coast, so a using a camouflage net is well enough in the region.

It took us two days to learn the motion of the

flamingoes and find the suitable place for shooting.

It was an amazing experience to see the evening pull-in of the flamingoes when thousands of them flew towards us and land on their night places. The way they communicate with each other in the air is very interesting and moving. We came across with a lot of French tourists and nature-lovers who rode their bike between the birds on the embankments.

It was a strange feeling to me, I felt as I was at home in the Hungarian Hortobรกgy, althouogh there the cranes and not flamingoes behave the same way.

Finally we managed to find a quite good place for shooting where flamingoes moved close to us in the water in smaller groups, about 15 to 50 metres far. We returned there several times as that distance were ideal to take good quality pictures of the birds.

Canon EOS 7D, EF 400mm f/2,8 L IS USM + 2x 1/320sec f/9 ISO 400

Canon EOS 7D, EF 600mm f/4 L IS USM 1/2000sec f/9 ISO 400

During the last few days we photographed almost only in backlight and I really wanted to shoot a flamingo in this light as it takes off the water. This place was also discovered by a Slovakian and a French photographer, so four of us were wainting for the best moment to shoot. Perseverance bore fruit as in front of us, about 40 metres far, a group of 40 birds were leaving the swampy lake just right in the disc of the setting sun.

After we made exposures with a 400 mm tele, to our surprise they turned towards us entirely and flew over our heads to their resting place. It was an amazing experience to see this, and we managed to photograph that event too. I was very happy that there and then I could experience the scenery painted in the shades of orange by the setting sun in which the flamingoes were flying. I preserved this sight forever in my mind.

I want to say thank you to my wife and daughter as this work could not have been done without them.

Text: Tamรกs Imre Pictures: Anikรณ Imre and Tamรกs Imre photographers

Planning Place: South of France.

Accessibility: From Marseille airport by car.

What can you photograph: landscapes, sea, the atmosphere of Provence and birds.

What to take with us: wide-angle lens of 24-105 mm, a medium telephoto lens of 70-200 mm, and if you want to photograph birds then a minimum 300 mm telephoto lens, having a bigger 500 mm telephoto lens even better, with a 1,4x teleconverter if possible; tripod; memory cards and batteries as much as you can.

Accommodation: In the region of Provance, Aix and Nimes very good quality accommodation can be found.

The best time to go: from May to August (but most of the birds can be found in the region all year round)

Canon EOS 30D, 18-200 mm, 1/200s f/8 ISO 100

Interesting places Cyprus

A few years ago, I visited Cyprus, the third biggest island of the Mediterranean after Sicily and Sardinia, by the invitation of some good friends of mine who stayed there for long-term assignments.

The island is about 250 km long and about 100 km wide, the Troodos Mountain is located in the centre of the island with its highest peak of nearly two thousand metres. Besides the natural beauties, this mediterranean island is a treasury of rich cultural heritage of thousands of years, in abundance of different interesting sights and photo themes. The unilaterally proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is located on the smaller part of the island in the north, separated by the so-called Green Line from the southern part which mostly inhabited by the Greeks. (The Green Line divides the capital Nicosia too.) Luckily, today this line can be crossed by tourist too.

Canon EOS 30D, 18-200 mm, 1/160s f/8 ISO 250

Canon EOS 30D, 18-200 mm, 1/40s f/13 ISO 100

The southern coast and its immediate environment Larnaca is situated on the southern coast, tourists normally arrive to its airport. The city’s pride is the Church of Lazarus which has an artistic value both inside and outside. The Turkish district with its jutting houses and the English settlement houses which left here from the colonial era. Towards the east, not far from the popular beach Ayia Napa, lies one of the most interesting part of the coast, the Cape Greco. The cliffs of different hardness and colour stand the storming waves in different ways, thus the extremely structured coast and interesting shapes of cliffs were formed, for instance a natural stone bridge. The colour of the sea ranges from light emerald green to ink blue.

Towards the west, about 20 kilometres far from the other coastal city, Limassol lies the Governor’s Beach which is famous for its soft surfaced, chalkwhite cliffs. There is a dramatic contrast between the blueness of the sea and the whiteness of the cliffs, and the waves break about the cliffs or wash the coastal slab of stones deeply underneath.

And on the blocks of stones salt tolerant plants got a foothold. With its palm-tree promenades, Limassol attracts visitors. In summer there is an extreme heat, barely soothed by the reluctantly blowing marine wind. The setting sun shines on an interesting outdoor group of sculptures and only when one gets closer it can be seen that the rusty poles of a then pier caused an optical illusion to the viewer. The promenade gets lively at dusk when plenty of restaurants, snack-bars, shops and clubs tempt visitors to the night.

A few kilometres far from Limassol lies Kurion, the archeological site of an ancient settlement on the hills over the coast with columns, ruins of walls and beautiful fragments of mosaics. A strong wind blows contantly making an interesting „hairstyle” for the olive trees. On the western side of the island the town of Pafos can be found where the mosaic floors of the ancient houses and the necropolis that is the underground cemetary of the ancient city are both amazing sights. Those who arrive on plane first glance the north-west corner of Cyprus, the wooded Akamas Penninsula. However, this thin woodland which mostly consists of conifers is not that kind of forest as we expect it. Anyway, the green of the conifers and the blueness of the sky make an excellent contrast with each other even when they are getting more and more tired and dusty as the summer goes on.

Canon EOS 30D, 18-200 mm, 1/400s f/11 ISO 400

Inside the island The ground level rises sharply from the coast, after a few miles we are at a height of hundreds of meters.

The temperature does not turn milder during the day, only the nights are cooler. Villages are built in the nearness of hilltops or mountains where the air moves at least a bit, and there is some mild breeze.

From Limassol we can get to Lofu in no time to have a Cyprian specialty called „meze� which consists of

so many dishes that we realize we are completely full halfway through. Getting inside the Troodos Mountains which has a coniferous forest similar to that of Akamas Penninsula, however, here at the higher regions Black pines and Juniper trees mix with Aleppo pines, broadleaf trees are rather scarce here. It is hard to believe in the sweltering heat that in the higher regions there are ski courses too.

In some of the Cyprian villages like Lefkara, photographers are welcome by a blue and white

scene which is reminiscent of Greek villages.

Visitors can also experience the atmosphere of the Greek orthodox monasteries. However, photographers are not very welcome in the Maheras Monastery, but they are tolerated in similarly famous Kikko Monastery.

Cyprus is famous for it so-called „barn-roof� churches, of which modest exterior hides plenty of precious frescos. No wonder that they are

on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Four of them can be found in a village called Galata.

If we bypass Troodos from the east, we can get to the capital of the island, Nicosia more and less on motorway. It is a buzzing city with a population of 200,000 and flocks of tourist on the main street called Ledra. Besides the cathedral and many other orthodox churches, the Cyprus Museum is situated on the southern part of the city displaying the historical and artistic heritage of the island.

Canon EOS 30D, 18-200 mm, 1/60s f/10 ISO 100

We can cross the Green Line which separates the Greek and Turkish side at the Checkpoint Ledra (they do not stamp on the passport but on a separate sheet!). We can admire the Selimiye Mosque which was originally built as a Gothic cathedral, and we can look around the Turkish market.

On the Turkish side Not far from the northern coast the Saint Hilarion Castle rises, from which we can enjoy a beautiful view to the mountains which sharply slope down to the sea and surround the little town of Kyrenia. We can have a look down to the enchanting port from the impressing fortress of the town too. We visited another town at the Turkish side, Famagusta which lies on the eastern coast.

It was the most important city of Cyprus in the past, even bigger than the present capital, Nicosia. The city walls and several gothic churches or ruins of churches remind us about the glorious past. The most significant of them is the Saint Nicolas Cathedral which was built in the French „flaming” gothic style and is named as Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque since the 16th century. It is strange and a bit heartrending to see a short minaret flaunting over one of the towers of the cathedral with the Cyprian Turkish flag and the colourful glass windows replaced by stonelaces in the gothic window frames. .

Once there were plenty of hotels packed with guest on holiday on the coast of Famagusta. Today they are all vacant, the gangrenous wounds of the war can be seen on some of them. The whole island, including the Turkish part, is longing for peace and development.

Practical suggestions There are no cheap flights to Cyprus, but – among others – Malév flies to Larnaca too. You can rent a car, the roads are in good condition, in Troodos there are dirt roads too, but they are also passable well in the summer season. Most of the rain falls from November to March.

Many people say that in terms of flora the island is the most beautiful from March to May, after that everything burns out and withers away. June is still bearable with an average daily temperature of 33 degrees. But July and August with a heat of 36-37 degrees are not recommended. Because Cyprus is situated on the south, the sun rises early and sharply and it blazing down strongly because of the lack of humidity in the air. Light clothing, a hat and suntan lotion are also recommended.

Besides the camera shell, we should take a wideangle lens, a smaller tele and its zooms or a so-called travel zoom lens which covers the widest range of focal length. A polar filter will do a good service too.

Text and pictures: Árpád Krivánszky

Canon EOS 30D, 18-200 mm, 1/400s f/5 ISO

ISO 100

Canon EOS 30D, 18-200 mm, 1/60s f/9 ISO 125

Canon EOS 30D, 18-200 mm, 1/250s f/7.1 ISO 100

Vlado BACA

AFIAP, QEP- Qualified European Professional Photographer

Slovakia’s eminent contemporary photographer Vlado Bača was born in 1948, in Zsolna (Žilina). His portfolio is varied widely, ranging from commercial photography to landscape photography.

He committed himself to photography in 1970, and became a freelance photographer in 1979. During the long decades gone by, his works has been shown in more than 140 international exhibitions all over the world. His works have been appreciated by many significant awards. Among his numerous exhibitions have to be highlighted those held in his hometown Žilina (Zsolna), and also in Bratislava, in Prague, in Helsinki and in Munnich, at the Linhof Gallery.

He participated in the Les Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Arles workshop in France in 1983 and 1987.

He worked in New York from 1994 to 1995.

His works are regularly published in Slovakian photo magazines, and his pictures are also published in the following magazines: Kamera Lehti –Finland, Foto Creative - Germany, Image- Australia, Fotó - Hungary, Camerart- Japan, Glass Style – Italy, Arte Regalo Spain, PHOTO ART- Czech Republic as well. His works were also published in contemporary photography albums such as: Jaroslav Čľjak:SLOVAK FOTO 3, Ľudovít Hlaváč: The History of Slovak Photography, Photography Year Book 1979, 1980, 1981, 1985 - England, Europäische Fotografen, Fotofahrbuch International, Quick – Germany, GRAPHIS - „NUDE 3”, PHOTO ANNUAL 2000, QEP ´s Photographers - FEP 2005 - (the Yearbook of the European Professional Photographers Association) He is a member of the Slovakian Art Union, the Slovakian Professional Photographers Association and the Photographic Society of America. He gained the QEP- Qualified European Professional Photographer certificate in 2004. In the same year, he was honoured with the Fédération Internationale de l ´Art Photographique AFIAP award.

To find more information about his work visit www.vladobaca.sk

Portfolio

Monument Valley

Death

Valley

Coral

l Pink

Arch

hes

Death

Valley

Grand C

Canyon

Great San

nd Dunes

Coral

l Pink

Canon EOS 30D, 18-200 mm, 1/4s f/11 ISO 100

Photo school

Photography of waters We have rather mixed feelings about summer photography. Although this is the time when we have the most spare time and take the majority of our holiday and travel photos, the Sun reaches its zenith quickly, its colour turns into cold bluish-white and the shadows are short and insignificant. At this time, perhaps the photography of waters and shores can hold out the best hopes of success and beauty (of course, here also the early mornings and late afternoons are the most favourable times for shooting).

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Canon EOS 30D, 18-200 mm, 1/8s f/16 ISO 100

Canon EOS 30D, 18-200 mm, 1/400s f/3.2 ISO 320

Canon EOS 30D, 18-200 mm, 1/80s f/1

16 ISO 200

Everybody loves photographing the large, endless stretch of water, that is the lakes, seas and the ocean. Yet most of these pictures are often dull and uninteresting, although they should not be if we followed a couple of rules. We often halve our picture by the horizon, although it is much more interesting if we divide it into one-third and two-thirds parts. Leave more space for the more interesting part. If the sky is spiced with nice, moving clouds, then this should be the two-third part of the picture, if the shore is more interesting then that should be the bigger part. Even a duller, straight shoreline looks better in the picture if it placed diagonally, so we don’t have to look at right angles to the shoreline with our camera.

The more structured and the more interesting part of shore we find, the better your picture will look. From a higher shore, you can have an excellent view of the water surface, but you should look for higher points at other places too, if nothing else than the watchtower of the lifeguard.

We should strive for the inclusion of nice trees, bushes, cliffs into our composition. A pier, a boat, a ship, a lighthouse, an island or a sandbank can also break the surface of the water in an exciting way. If you include an element in the foreground too, then pay attention to the suitable depth of field, that is to the proper aperture.

We can photograph beautiful reflections on smaller, still water surfaces or lakes.

If the air not humid enough, we might be able to photograph the most popular theme, the sunrise or sunset with the golden bridge, if the full sundisc is (yet or already) not visible. Watch out, this period can be even shorter than a minute! Don’t give up as the rising or setting sun can gild the stones washed by the waves which makes a nice colour contrast with the bluish-grey colour of the troughs. A nice colour contrast can also be seen in case of cross waves made by ships or boats, between the two sides of the waves.

During the day there is also a sharp colour contrast between the blue water surface and the white crest of the breaking waves on the shore. Stones on the shore can also be extremely varied, white or reddish colours talk back to the blueness of the sky the best.

The colour of the water surface can change by patches depending on the depth of water and the reflection of the landscape. The thin cirrus clouds floating at high altitudes shine nicely even 10-20 minutes after sunset and provide wonderful photo themes including their reflections.

In little light, we can take enchanting pictures of the waves breaking on the shore stones. We do not usually carry a tripod for our holidays, but they can be replaced in a limited way if we put our camera on a horizontal surface or press against a pole or tree.

Canon EOS 30D, 18-200 mm, 0.4s f/14 ISO 100

Canon EOS 30D, 18-200 mm, 0.4s f/8 ISO 100

If someone wants to photograph moving water nicely (e.g. brooks, streams, rapids and waterfalls) then he has to carry a tripod with him as the moving water does not look well in a „frozen” shape.

The picture will be nice if the water moves a certain length during the exposure time, so it kind of shows the way of water. By this method, our pictures will make effects which are invisible to the naked eye!

To achive this we need a shutter speed from 1/15 even to a few seconds. In strong light we often experience that it is not possible to keep such a long exposure time, even if we set ISO value to the

Canon EOS 30D, 18-200 mm, 1/20s f/5.6 ISO

lowest point and the aperture of our lens is set to the minimum. In this case, we should use grey filters (ND2, ND4, ND8) which do not change colours but reduce the amount of light admitted to the image sensor. If we did not take such filters with us, then a polar filter will do too – it takes away about 2 exposure value – but we have to use it carefully as we can kill the sparkle of the waterfalls or rapids which make them lively. (We can control the polarisation effect by turning the filter.)

It is a difficult task to photograph waterfalls or rapid as, for instance, in bright light some parts of

ISO 250

Canon EOS 30D, 18-200 mm, 1/8s f/11 ISO 200

the picture might blow out (if our camera do not indicates it with flashing then have a look at the histogram) and the too cloudy weather might result in contrastless, unlively pictures. Always take several photos of rapid sor waterfalls both in vertical and horizontal image format, from different length and environment or just zoom on the characteristic details.

Every „watery” photo is sensitive to horizontal and vertical lines, make sure that they are set properly.

Photographing a stream or river in a thick forest in summer can result in dull pictures due to the green

reflection of the surrounding trees and bushes.

But the yellow stripe of a stream which runs over a sandy bed looks nice in a green environment.

The blueness of the sky or the white clouds can also reflect on the water. In the woods a tripod is necessary due to the little light and the required bigger depth of field. Too sharp contrast between the bright and shaded areas can be another problem which requires a hard work with the shadows/lights slide when processing, and we might get a satisfying result only with the use of the HDR function.

Text and pictures: Árpád Krivánszky

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Tips and tricks

Stabilizers and their usage

Buying image stabilizers have been the big hits of the recent years, they have become so widespread by now that producers often implement this function into basic lenses and wide-angle lenses as well. People can understand from most lens catalogues and the related advertisements that this technology is suitable for the stabilization of 3-4 EV stops. It must be good, but what does it actually mean?

photo: Canon Inc

Let’s imagine the following situation. A stag is standing at the top of a hill and is grazing while plodding slowly. We have a 70-300 mm lens with stabilizer. We start to stalk the big game nice and slowly and expose while leaning our camera against a tree. Let’s say that our shutter speed is 1/60 sec and there is no stabilizer in our lens - then we likely will see a blurred picture in our LCD display. However, if we have a stabilizer on and do not saw the air with our camera, then we could even make a razor-sharp picture out of our adventure. It’s OK, but how had it happened that the picture was sharp? The 3-4 EV stabilization means that 3-4 EV less is enough for our camera body for a safely sharp exposure as a gyroscope in the lens will keep the pictures sharp. Let’s have a look at our example: the proper exposure would be 1/500 sec, at this setting the stag will certainly be not blurred and will result in a sharp picture even in case of exposures of hand-holding. Reduce this with the exposure values. By taking away 1 EV 1/250 sec, by 2 EV reduction 1/125 sec, by 3 EV 1/60 sec derives. Therefore at the above example we can take a sharp picture even at 1/60 shutter speed.

But there are so many different brands and solutions, so I’d like to explain them to you. Lenses with the most recent technology are able to stabilize 3-4 EV, the older ones up to 2 -3 EV. We can say the almost every product works better with wide-angle lenses, there 3-4 EV, while at telephoto lenses a maximum of 3 EV or rather 2 EV is the most efficient solution. In case of a 70-300 mm stabilized zoom it looks like that the stabilizer at 70 mm can secure 4 EV, while at 300 mm only 2 exposure value is possible.

Types of stabilizers There are two different solutions for DSLR camera brands.

Some of the producers prefer lens-based stabilization, while others prefer sensor-shift stabilization. At lens-based stabilization technology keeping the image sharp happen between the lens elements of the structure. The following brands use this technology and indicate it by the following names: Canon IS (Image Stabilization) Nikon VR (Vibration Reduction) Sigma OS (Optical Stabilizer), Panasonic and Samsung OIS (Optical Image Stabilization), Tamron VC (Vibration Compensation). At every producer only those lenses have this feature which have the above mentioned signs.

The other solution is the sensor stabilization, where the sensor capturing the image can be moved in such a way as to counteract the motion of the camera. Among the producers Olympus, Sony and Pentax use this technology.

Their advantage is that in this case every lens will be stabilized, however in case of bigger telephoto lenses their efficiency is lower than of the lens-based stabilizers.

Tips on the effficient use of stabilizers: 1, Nikon VR lenses are sold with two different stabilizers, on the simplier lenses we can find only one VR On-Off switch. In case of hand-held shooting switch it on, if we photograph from a tripod then this function must be switched off.

Professional lenses offer a VR On-Off and a NormalActive mode. Here we can choose from more options. When using a tripod we should turn off the stabilizer, while at hand-held shooting it must be turned on for Normal Mode. Active Mode’ that is intended to be used when shooting from a moving vehicle, such as a car or boat, and should correct for larger shakes than the Normal Mode.

If shooting from a monopod, we should switch on the stabilizer and use the Normal Mode.

2, Canon offers lenses with two different types of stabilizer too. If there is only IS On-Off mode than switch it on when shooting hand-held and switch it off when using a tripod. If there are IS 1 and 2 modes, than that’s different. To shoot handheld use IS1 and Stabilizer On, while shooting from a moving vehicle IS 2, from monopod also IS 2 or from a weaker tripod where the telephoto lens is not stable enough, can be IS 2 as well: the system detect that the lens is tripod-mounted.

3, Olympus also offers IS 1, IS 2, moreover, in some cases IS 3, which soon will be available for Canon’s newest lenses too. Here from hand use IS 1, from tripod switch it off, at lateral motion and from monopod IS 2. IS 3 was developed for videos.

4, The advantage of stabilizers that they make the AF more exact and reliable. So we will have less blurred pictures and reduce the chances for mis-focusing.

5, There are such camera bodies which user menu has an option which allows the stabilizer work only when the shutter release button is pushed and not continuously, so this lengthen battery-life as the permanent use of the stabilizer can cause the battery go flat quickly.

6, If the shutter speed is very fast -1/2000 sec or more - there is no point in using the stabilizer, so it should be switched off in such cases.

7, If we take pictures with slow exposure effects, it is worth use the stabilizer, in case of Canon and Olympus at IS 2 mode, or as for Nikon at VR Active mode, we can take interesting pictures by them.

These are very useful devices, and if someone who uses them consciously will find pleasure in them, but remember that the inproper usage of stabilizers can ruin our chances more than not using this function at all.

Text: Tamás Imre

Digital image editing

keywords

In this video Martin Perhiniak, Adobe Design Master instructor and expert shows how to use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 for keywording photographs.

In this issue we are going to learn about how to work efficiently with keywords. For those who often take lots of pictures it is highly recommended to somehow organise their photographs to make it easier to find them later.

First of all it is important to understand that we don’t need to assign keyword(s) to all of our photographs, only to the ones that are likely to be searched for in the future.

Using folders is a common way on the computer to organise files, but there is a much better and more effective way to organise photos: using keywords.

Of course the more time we spend and the more descriptive keywords we add to our images, the easier it will be to find them later on. For keywords always think of words that you think of when you see an image and try to imagine that you are looking for them.

Keywords are similar to file names, which are also helpful when searching for a particular image. The advantage of keywords is that you can have as many keywords assigned to a photo as you want without even renaming the original file name.

From the video on the top of the page you can learn how to work with keywords quickly and easily using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.

Adding keywords can be tedious and timeconsuming, but it is good to know a couple of things before you start adding keywords like crazy to all your photographs.

Text and video: Martin Perhiniak

Life underwater The charming Sirens,

or about the plump beauties of the sea Funny but true that these interesting but not very beautiful sea creatures we discuss below served as a basis of the legends and tales about mermaids and water nymphs.

Looking at the pictures we might think that those sailors must have been in very high spirits on rum to recognize the charming fish-tailed ladies. Some of my diver friends love dugongs and manatees so much that they would protest against my above lines indignantly. And I am willing to ask for their pardon. No, I was not right. The sailors might have had some grog as well.

Distant relatives It can be noticed at first glance that the sirenians are very similarly built to the whales. Both group has cylinder-shaped body, horizontal caudal fin and thick, hairless skin. The lack of hind limbs is also common (as their tail fin is not evolved from the hind legs like of the seals). However, it is quite a big mistake to deduce a close relation from these features. The similar build has only evolved as a result of adjustment to the similar life conditions (marine or fresh water life style). It is really hard to believe (but please try to digest it, Dear Reader) that according to features of their skeleton the closest relatives of the sirenians are the elephants and the Rock Hyraxes! Well, yes, sometimes the uncles and aunts do not look like their nephews or nieces at all. But I’m not sure whether there are postmen or milkmen among the sirenians.

The close relatives Sirenians can be divided into two big groups: Manatees (Trichechidae) • West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) • Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis) • African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis) Dugongs (Dugongidae) • Dugong (Dugong dugong) • Steller’s Sea Cow (Rhytina gigas = Hydrodamalis stelleri) – extinct The two big groups of sirenians can be easily distinguished not just by their habitat (see below) but by the shape of their tail fin. The tail fin of manatees is rounded (like a baker’s shovel), while dugongs are fork-tailed and their fin is crescentshaped. Another crucial difference that manatees have no incisors, while the older dugong males have elongated, tusk-like incisors (see their relation to elephants!).

The plump shape which is very cute Sirenians are nice, plump creatures. The feature of their build was shaped by the fact that they have turned to the water life-style since the Eocene Epoch (approx. 60 million years ago). (It is worth to mention here that area of Hungary in the olden times was covered by a sea in which sirenians lived in great number. Thus sea cow fossils are not rare in Hungary’s Eocene deposits.)

Their body is hairless, they only have a few sensory hair on their faces. However, things are quite different in their embryonic form. Dugong and manatee embryos are covered with hair and newborn babies are more hairy than the developed animals. However, their lose their needless hair during the ontogenesis (so shaving and wax industry makes no profit from them). Their forelegs evolved into fins and their fingers cannot be seen from the outside. However, in X-ray photographs fingerbones inside their fins can be easily recognized.

In case of some African and South American species even four claws can be recognized, but as for dugongs these have been disappeared completely.

Their „arms�, differently from whales, can be moved at their elbows (forelimbs of whales turns at their shoulders). The lack of hind limbs is striking at first sight. These cannot be found even inside their body, in addition, their hip-bones have been quite atrophied as well. Their horizontal tail fin has no bones (although, the tail part of the spinal column reaches into it), it is kept stiff only by their thick skin. (Don’t forget, that fish have vertical tail fins, while of whales and sirenians is vertical. Therefore, their motion in the water is totally different.) Because they breathe with atmospherical air, their pair of nostrils can be closed. Their outer ear completely disappeared and their ear canal is very small. They do not have eyelids and eyelashes (so their mascara and eyelid painting industry is also in crisis), however, they are repled by a movable blinking membrane (the invention of blinking membrane painting is still waiting for somebody).

Although the species known today only live in warm seas, yet they have a thick, underskin fat layer. One reason for this that their skeleton is very special as all of their bone are heavy and massive, without marrow.

So the fat-layer of this heavy-boned animals improves their ability to float.(It might also plays some role in control of their balance of heat.) Dugongs grow much bigger than manatees, the former can reach a maximum of 3 to 4 meters legth, while the latter can grow up to 2 to 2.5 meters long.

They provide a special care for their young. The mother suckles its offspring from its breast between its fins. At such times they really look like a mermaid holding her baby in her arms.

Habitat, nutrition The two groups of sirenians are separated well in geographical terms. Several species of the manatees live in the equatorial, coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean or in the big rivers (such as the Amazon), while dugongs (Dugong dugong) inhabit the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. It is interesting that manatees equally enjoy living in seawater and freshwater, while dugongs live only in seawater and visit rivers very rarely. Their habitat is restricted to the coastal waters as they can find their food at those places.

I mentioned before that their food exclusively consists of plants, which they graze in the shallow coastal waters. The upper lip of manatees is similar to of rabbits, splitted into two parts with which they are able to grab plants and their forelimbs help to hold them as well. Both their upper and lower jaw has a horny layer to grab and tear plants off.

As they cannot chew their food due to the lack of proper teeth, their stomach is special among mammals, a so-called chewing stomach. Their molar teeth wear away quickly due to the sand taken with the food, so manatees worn molars fall off and new ones replace them at the back which later push forward to take over the job.

Their presence can be easily recognized in silent bays and shallow rivers - as a result of the enormous amount of plant they eat significant masses of their stinky excrement floats on the surface of the water.

Supposedly, they can hide easier in the turbid water.

In former times, only hunting them was their economic benefit as their meat and fat are excellent. Later it was realized that manatees eat up waterplants which cause the artificial lakes and canals to become swampy. So in South America they get manatees to graze off these water plants.

The extinct (?) giant The biggest one among all sirenians – in contrast to the species living today - used to live in a totally different place. The cold Bering Sea and Kamchatka gave home to the 7.5 metres long Steller’s Sea Cow (Rhytina gigas = Hydrodamalis stelleri).

Using the past time is quite justified as 25 years after they had been discovered not a single of them could be found! The story begins with an unlucky (not for the sea cows) shipwreck. The famous geographer Vitus Bering suffered a shipwreck on the Bering Sea in 1741 and the crew managed escaped to the Bering Island. They had to spend an long time here unwillingly.

Along the coast they discovered the herds of giant marine mammals grazing peacefully. They started to hunt them to refill their meat and fat stock. After the castaways had been rescued and returned home,

whalehunters flocked to the coasts and in 25 years they exterminated Steller’s Sea Cows entirely.

A luck for the science in the disaster that the German doctor and biologist Georg Wilheim Steller took part in Bering’s expedition and studied the anatomy and behaviour of these sirenians thoroughly. Every detail we know about this giant sirenian comes from him.

The question mark in the title of this article refers to the fact that, allegedly, a specimen were seen again in 1964! Unfortunately, further specimens have not been spotted since that time, so it is very likely that we have to consider this species exinct.

The future of sirenians All the sirenians are belong to the endangered species as hunting them is still not stopped entirely and motorboats can also cause severe injuries to the animals resting on the surface.

Unfortunately, they are not really prolific as they reach sexual maturity quite late and give birth only to one baby after a long period of pregnancy. It is likely that the population of sirenians is decreasing continuously.

A great number of manatees still can be seen in the region of Florida, but an encounter with a dugong at the Red Sea does not happen every day now. Do not disturb them if you come across with them during your dive, it is well enough to watch these slightly awkward but nice sirenians from a distance.

Pictures: Dรกniel Selmeczi Text: Szabolcs Nemeth marine biologist

A beautiful and common scene, sacrificial flowers and „dijas� on the water.

People and cultures

A glance at India

Varanasi, the holy city - part 1 India is the most diverse country of the world. The feelings and senses of photographers are under attack in every moment in this country, no matter it is your first time or you had stayed there longer before. Life is noisy, smelly, crazy, vibrant, chaotic and mystical for outsiders, yet, for some reason, its catching charm, speciality and uniqueness makes it worthwhile to travel to the East. The presence of the past or the past of the present, I cannot find the right words but I came to like India.

Photo Š Anikó Imre

The River Ganges, Prayag Ghat, pilgrims getting into their boats

Saddhu preparing for the morning prayer

Photo Š Anikó Imre

Pilgrim woman on the top of the steps

Photo © Tamás Imre

Preparations Back in the summer of 2010, I met and had a talk about India with a photographer friend of mine who had already had some experience of this Asian country from his early, adventurous adolescence.

However, as a mature photographer he have not been to this wonderful country neither.

Our chat was followed by a serious workshop, what can we find and where, seeking partners, search for holy places and natural sights, etc. As a result of research and e-mailing of several months we had organised a two-weeks photography trip to India, I would like to share a bunch out of this cultural material with you now.

Vaccines and fears: Many people do not dare to go to India, particularly to the region of the river Ganges as they are afraid of infections and food poisoning. No wonder as there are certain places where I would not eat a bite either, but prevention is crucial at such journeys. Take the courage and visit a vaccine centre where they will tell you what sort of preventive vaccines and medicines you will need for the trip. Have no fear just follow the instructions and then - in theory - nothing wrong should happen.

Photo © Tamás Imre

Being a journalist photographer, I was waiting for the daily events with great excitement during our planning time. India is a huge country and two weeks are very short for it, so we tried to squeeze in as much things into our programme as we could. We have been in Varanasi, the holy city, in Khajuraho, to visit the ancient, 3500 years old temples, then we went to see the tigers in a nature reserve, and finally we visited Delhi which put the crown on our trip with its 14 million population and its noisy, vibrant and throbbing atmosphere. In the spirit of the holy culture, in the first part of my article I would like to show you one of the most important places of Hinduism, Varanasi, also commonly known as Benares.

Hindu holy man on the ghat at River Ganges

Photo © Tamás Imre

Pilgrim praying to Lord Shiva

At the end of the pilgrimage

Photo © Pál Teravágimov

Cleansing

Photo © Tamás Imre

Varanasi „the city of light”, the heritage of the past A flight with changes, then the arrival to India at Varanasi’s central airport which is about 30 kilometres far from the city, in the middle of nowhere. The 46 C° heat is a great strain which hits arrivals immediately. It is particularly a heavy load as air conditioners are on full blast on the planes, so there is about a 25-30 C° difference in temperature between aboard and outside.

Varanasi is an ancient, holy place which has a past of 3000 years. The city of Shiva at the right side of the Ganges is India’s holiest place.

This is the most important among India’s 12 holy places where Shiva erupted from the earth and ascended to the sky in form of a fire column. One who arrives here at the first time has no idea how he would live here even if just for a few days or a week stay. The chaos and buzz which hits us hard at once, the unbearable masses and hooting of the rickshaws and auto rickshaws (tuk-tuks) and the old city’s traffic without any traffic lights or controlling unit is so vibrant that if you wanna rest, do not visit this part of India.

Photo © Anikó Imre

But if you like the buzz, the mixture of cultures and enjoy the company of friendly people, then you will find some continuity among all the extremities and controversions - and the suddenly flashing glances of Indian women walking in sarees ease the abrupt effects of the cultural shock.

The city is a multicultural religious centre where we can encounter the Hinduism, the Buddhism, the Islam and the Christianity as well. Yet, just like in other parts of India, Hinduism is the main religion here, which is primarily a lifestyle. Hinduism has no Bible, prophets or a God but every community has its own favourite god they pray to.

The 6 kilometers long ghats of the 3000 years old Varanasi

South-Indian pilgrims’ ritual haircut

Photo © Pál Teravágimov

Photo © Tamás Imre

After the haircut, purgation

Photo © Tamás Imre

Woman praying during her ritual bath

In Varanasi Shiva’s presence penetrates everything and the holy Ganges or the six kilometres long stairs on its bank determines the life and identity of the city. Thousands of people take this road every dawn to the steps of Ganges murmuring prayers in a meditative mood to bathe and clear in the water of the Mother God. The divine ghat

of Benares, Das-ashvamedha, is the central ghat of the city and its holiest place. Priests are sitting under sunshades, ready to pray the ritual prayers for the request of the pilgrims who flock here.

When we arrived to the embankments, we were astonished as nothing shows better the presence of the past than Benares. Seeing and experiencing

Photo © Anikó Imre

this holy place of Hinduism was like I would have gone back to the past. So many mystical feelings were swirling inside me that it was not easy to photograph at the first time, I needed some time to feel what to do and how. I had mixed thoughts about whether I had the right to photograph pilgrims when they are praying the most deepest

prayer of their life and the feeling of happiness penetrates them entirely. They were not bothered, I could go among them and talk to them if I could before I took photographs.

Moreover, suddenly my wife and I found ourselves under one of the priest’s sunshade.

Flower and fire sacrifice for the River Ganges

Catharsis

Photo © Tamás Imre

Photo © Pál Teravágimov

Women bathe a young boy at the riverside

Photo © Tamás Imre

Joyful catharsis

Photo © Tamás Imre

A joint ceremony to their God

The priest spoke good English and asked what religion we practised in our country and I answered that Christianity. He said thank you and blessed us and put the third eye onto our foreheads. Then we prayed to the Hindu gods, to Shiva and Vishnu and to others, then to Christ and for our family. When he put our hands together and touched us we felt something like an electric

discharge; then after murmuring some prayers he blessed us with the water of the Ganges.

Warmness and happiness spred all over my body faith is strongly present in Varanasi.

Next dawn we had a boat trip on the Ganges at sunrise. At that time the temples at the banks and the steps bathe in the soft sunlight and suddenly the people of Varanasi and the pilgrims flock

Photo Š Tamås Imre

out of the labyrinth of streets. Everybody purifies according to his own rite, they sacrifice flowers and incenses to the river, then dip into the water in a ritual way. Some of them wash their clothes, women bathe in saree then change clothes and pray again. But there were others who sacrificed earth or rice or - those from the South of India their hair to the Ganges.

According to the Hindu religion, everybody has to dip into the water of Ganges at least once in a lifetime.

The participants of the ceremony presented us wonderful pictures, often their faces made a veil of water when it touched the river which is an interesting and mystical evidence of the strength of their faith.

Believers take the ritual holy bath to prepare their souls for the final road leading to the „moksha�

Photo © Tamás Imre

Ganga Aarti, young priest’s ritual with the fire

As an evening programme, we agreed with our guide that we would like to photograph from a good angle the ancient ceremony which takes place at the banks of the Ganges when priest greet the setting sun with lighting torches held upwards the sky. They perform this ceremony,

called Ganga Arti, with fire as this is the symbol of purification. At that time hundreds or even thousands gather together at the riverbank and five young priests perform the ceremony at the same time turning towards the Ganges. During the Ganga Arti the image of sky changes very

Photo Š Tamås Imre

quickly, first into orange, then into pink, and finally then dark. We got a very good place, next to the one of the priests at left-hand side, right before the Hindus of higher castes, and we could also move on the stairs. The changes of the fire, the smoke and lights provided opportunities to take

very exciting pictures. After the almost two-hours ceremony we got home late in the evening, very tired but with plenty of pictures and experiences.

We returned to our place to rest, filled with adrenaline and eager to throw ourselves into the maelstrom of India’s holy city again next day.

Believers jointly light the fire Priests moving simultaneously with the incense

Photo Š Anikó Imre

Young priests during the ceremony

Accessories for the evening ceremony

Photo © Tamás Imre

Photo © Tamás Imre Photo © Tamás Imre

Planning Place: North of India.

Accessibility: from Delhi Airport to Váránasi with change.

What can you photograph: people, cultures, temples, markets, religious ceremonies.

What to take with us: wide-angle lens of 24-105 mm, a medium telephoto lens of 70-200 mm, with a 1,4x teleconverter if possible; memory cards and batteries as much as you can.

Accomodation: in Varanasi everybody can find affordable accommodation.

The best time to go: it is worth visiting India all year round as it shows another face in each season.

Text: Tamás Imre To be continued...

Let’s make professional diaporama

Edit in Photoshop

wings platinum 4 / V In our previous articles we could get acquainted with the basics and some tricks of diaporama making. Now we can go further. We learn to use the possibilities offered by the layers of Wings Platinum and some special extra functions.

Anyone downloading the demo version of Wings Platinum or having any of the Starter, Basic or Advanced versions can try these functions.

Working with layers

Those who have read the previous parts of the article series know that when making a diaporama, one of the most exciting possibilities

PSD tex

is to fade images, since during the transition a new picture, quasi a montage can be formed.

Compared to montages created with traditional image editors, here the layers can move on each other as if we made the sandwich slides fade on each other. If one layer is applied, the montage exists only for the short period of time while the pictures change. If two or more layers are applied, this montage can last and continuously be faded.

When using WP4, layers can be thought of as layers used in Adobe Photoshop. The layer at higher level hides the layer under it. The extent is determined by the yellow line running at the top of the picture. I hope the use of transparency is known for many of you, since you already use Wings Platinum 4 or have read previous articles.

xt objects

Photoshop editing

Masks When creating an exciting diaporama, we may want to make an image transparent according to a transparency map or the pattern given by the mask, and not to make the entire image transparent. We can use layer masks in Wings Platinum too, similarly to Photoshop. With a mask we can determine which part of the layer must be seen, and which part of it should allow to see the lower layer. The image and the mask layer can be animated separately, so we can get very exciting effects. For using the masks, we have to define a mask and a picture stack layer on the heading of the layer, and to click on the target menu point of the left side settings. We put the image on the

image layer, but on the mask layer we have to put an image without background which can easily be created in Photoshop. Be sure to use for the saving a format which preserves the transparent background. Such is for example the .PNG format

Rapid image creation In the Starter, Advanced and Pro versions of Wings Platinum we can define external audio or image editors, so we can define Photoshop too.

If we want to create a special transition which becomes coloured from black and white, or sharp from blunt, we have to make two versions of an image and to create transition between them.

External editing

Rendered video file

Of course these ideas come in general when we create and compose the diaporama. In normal case, if we want to make an edited copy of the image, we should quit WP4, make a new image with an image editor, import it and place it on the time band. There is a more simple solution. In the first step we have to choose “Global options>Media editors” in the “Extras>Option” menu point and to set photoshop.exe in “External software for picture files” field.

After this, our work is simple. If we would like to change an image, we have to right click on it in Media pool and choose “Edit with Adobe Photoshop” menu point. After finishing the edition, save the image in Photoshop, go back into WP4, and click on the OK button under the “Please click OK after you finished editing and saving this file” inscription. After approval the Media Pool is refreshed and we can see the edited image. If we need the original too, we have to right click on the image before starting the edition and choose the “Duplicate file...” possibility.

PSD files and inscriptions Besides treating diversified image formats, Wings Platinum 4 can perfectly treat the PSD format of Adobe Photoshop too. We can use transparent backgrounds, masks or layer effects, it is not a problem for WP4. We can use this function the best for making inscriptions. If we put the inscriptions on a higher layer, we can easily zoom or animate the image behind it, it will not affect the inscription, and there can be even several image changes in the background while the inscription remains at its place. We can also put PSD files as images into the project, and we can work with them in a similar way.

When making a diaporama, be creative, do not be afraid of trying new things and do not be satisfied with a simple slideshow! Wings Platinum 4 will not limit our imagination, but do not forget that sometimes less is more.

Szöveg: Szilágyi László

Bence Máté - a part from the book

How To Get To The Top of Trees The spring of 2006 brought plenty of new tasks to complete. It was at this time that I plunged head on into the pleasures of house construction. I was rebuilding the very same crumbling forty-yearold farmhouse where I had first started my photo tourism business.

The constant stream of visitors started at the beginning of June and since we are talking about Hungary rather than Scandinavia, I had to employ a night-watchman. After the first day on the job I went to the stonemason’s house to discuss what I wanted him to do. On my way I was shocked to find the expensive tools and equipment spread out in the farmhouse, but the watchman was in the village. I had no other choice but to do a 24-hour shift myself, until I could find a better and more dedicated night watchman. Needless to say, after a whole day at work, I could barely keep my eyes open to guard properly. I calculated that I would be awoken by the sound of the concrete mixer when the workers arrived at 6am, but “luckily” things worked out differently.

© Bence Máté

At four in the morning Golden Orioles were already whistling above my tent and making such a racket that I could no longer sleep. I had, however, two hours left until the workers arrived so I got up and took a walk in the garden. There were at least five orioles, chasing each other continuously and often landing in the tops of the trees.

I thought it would be nice to be able to take pictures of them but they never flew or landed below a height of five metres. It was like this day after day until not just Orioles but Bee-eaters, Turtle Doves, Shrikes and Cuckoos arrived.

Once even a Roller showed up. Seeing this abundance of colour I was very happy that I had chosen such a splendid location. I decided that when the construction was over I would build a wooden tower – hide from which I could profit from all that lack of sleep. I planned and sketched until I reckoned that the ideal height of the hide was 11.5 metres. In fact, the only reason I needed to build it that high was because this was the only way to get the puszta in the background rather than the sky. I had to call around half of the country before I acquired four twelve metrelong pine telephone poles. These were to be the legs and they would be supported by several bracing timbers to keep the hide stable and fit for photography even under the most extreme weather conditions. We put some big glass windows in place (positioned so that there would be a good chance of following birds in flight) and fitted them with shutters to prevent the birds from flying into the glass when the sky reflected in them.

The following spring my efforts were rewarded and crowned with success. I photographed eight different bird species on the very first morning including Golden Oriole, Cuckoo, Roller and Bee-eater. Seeing such a range of birds at one site is unique in itself, not to mention taking their pictures, and they were all in my own back yard! Once again it was proven that it is always a good idea to provide places and perches for birds to land on close to hides, because otherwise the best wildlife moments would take place at distances unsuitable for photography. The natural dry twigs and branches were deteriorating rapidly and few good perches were left near the hide. I made some new, artificial perches and fixed them at a height of ten metres – these were used frequently by the birds since they were the highest observation points in the vicinity. Their songs carried and they could see further from here than from anywhere else. I also tried other things to make the garden more attractive to my avian guests. I hung clumps of hemp to the trees and some birds collected this as nest material. The following spring I added several nest-boxes to the tower and it was not long before they had plenty of prospective tenants.

A pair of Kestrels, three pairs of Starlings and a pair of Wagtails later moved into this new housing estate. I was most happy about the Kestrels, which chose the nest-box right beneath the window, so I had plenty of opportunities to photograph their daily family life. This pair actively defended the tower, chasing away every other bird of prey that came close. They even went for the Common Buzzards, which were three times their size. In the meantime I successfully managed to increase the local Bee-eater population by digging a pit at the end of the yard. Two pairs successfully raised their families in the sandy wall.

Being encouraged by the success of my new towerhide, a plan for a second was hatched two years later. The site chosen was on the Hortobágy by a Red-footed Falcon colony. Red-footed Falcons, like Kestrels, will occupy nest-boxes although their natural nesting places are Crow nests. We mounted four nest-boxes on the tower-hide and another four at a convenient distance for photography.

To get some experience we first sat in the tower-hide on April 18th with our photo gear at the ready.

To our great surprise, the first pair of Red-footed Falcons had already returned from Africa and immediately occupied one of the boxes! Though this event had already exceeded our expectations, it was topped by the fact that their busy sex life began.

They copulated every half an hour, each time on the same perch that we had placed by the nest-box.

Dark clouds rolled in at sunset and snow even fell for a few minutes.

As the sun’s rays started to break through the clouds we were presented with a unique photographic opportunity – our spring photo season had started with the nuptials of Red-footed Falcon against a background of falling snow! This was not the end of the story of tower-hides, it later continued in faraway Costa Rica, which I talk about in the chapter called ‘The Establishment of Hide Photography’.

Szöveg és kép: Máté Bence A könyv megrendelhető: www.matebence.hu

editorial Editor in Chief : Tamás Imre Tamás Imre

Anikó Imre

János Szekeres

Béla Szabó

Árpád Krivánszky

László Suhayda

Adrien Imre

Iván Éder

tamas.imre@naturephotomagazine.com

Editors: Anikó Imre

Árpád Krivánszky

Béla Szabó

János Szekeres László Suhayda Associate Editors: Adrien Imre

Ágnes Kiss

Bence Máté

Dániel Selmeczi Iván Éder

János Eifert Martin Perhiniak Copy Editor:

Árpád Krivánszky Art Director: Anikó Imre Graphical Design: Martin Perhiniak Web Design: FX designport Web Product: Thomas Picture Translators: Péter Pál Tóth Advertising: Anikó Imre aniko.imre@naturephotomagazine.com

Nature Photo Magazine www.naturephotomagazine.com info@naturephotomagazine.com Publisher:

Bence Máté

Ágnes Kiss

Thomas Picture Publisher Ltd. Address: Hungary Budapest 1576 Pf. 3 All rights reserved © 2011 Thomas Picture Publisher Ltd. The Nature Photo Magazine assumes no responsibility for solicited or unsolicited contributions and materials.

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