Matching Settings to Your Subject – Make wildlife pictures more impressive
Create pictures that express the wonders of nature in the wild.
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Create pictures that express the wonders of nature in the wild.
Emphasizing the colors of white snow and river water expresses hushed snowfield in a frigid environment.
Photo © Junichi Noguchi
The picture above was taken with the Landscape Picture Control, with Saturation set to +3 for the clearer water blue and an impressive feel, while the rest of the area in the work is almost achromatic.
Taken with the Standard Picture Control without modification, this looks balanced overall and makes a softer impression.
The high-contrast Landscape Picture Control makes a sharper impression with the clearly-outlined trees and riverbank, and increased Saturation makes the white snow stand out and slightly brightens the water color.
Reduced brightness and/or saturation and increased contrast highlight the main subject clearly.
Photo © Junichi Noguchi
The picture above was taken with the Neutral Picture Control, with Contrast set to +3, Brightness to –1, and Saturation to –3 for reduced color of the overall image and a distinctive feel.
Unmodified: The Neutral Picture Control expresses natural colors for a clean impression.
Modified: In addition to modifying the Picture Controls, reducing Vignette Control by Capture NX 2 increases quality of the work. Purposely dropping peripheral Brightness of the image is the effective expression especially with fine background.
Brightening the sky blue to a natural extent makes an impressive result in contrast with white feathers of swans.
Photo © Junichi Noguchi
The picture above was taken with the Landscape Picture Control, with Brightness and Saturation set to +1. Modifying Hue could make the sky brighter, but purposely unmodified for a natural feel.
The Standard and unmodified Picture Control creates a rich color tone, but the modification will further brighten the sky and the main swan.
The modified Picture Control makes a clearer image and highlights wings spread widely.
"I feel that the Picture Control system is innovative as it allows photographers to bring their ideal image to life via just a few steps of operation. Shooting wildlife or other nature subjects, I encounter a broad spectrum of lighting conditions and color. Selecting a preset Picture Control according to each scene enables me to create a photograph that depicts the subject more faithfully or more vividly. By modifying each setting of the selected Picture Control, I can achieve a result that is much closer to my creative intention. When shooting the sample photo of a White-tailed sea eagle on this page, I increased the value of Contrast of the preset Neutral Picture Control, to emphasize the bird's amazing energy that it needs to survive frigid winters. Furthermore, fine-tuning Vignette Control by Capture NX 2 helped highlight the subject. I recommend increasing Saturation of the Landscape Picture Control when shooting sky or water, because it enhances the blue. In such cases, modifying settings of preset Picture Controls helps you realize the idea you have in mind."
Junichi Noguchi was born in Saitama in 1968. After experiencing a two-wheeled mechanic and a four-wheeled dealer, he joined motor sports' parts manufacturing, specialized in parts making of works car participating the World Rally Championship (WRC). In 2000, he retired and moved to Hokkaido to live in nature. After moving, encountering one Ezo red fox made him start photographing wild animals. Many of the main magazines which carry his works include the Pudding of Gakken E-mirai Co., Ltd., the GARRRV of Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha, Ltd. At present, he provides his works to various magazines for photography, traveling, and nature. His photographs are also used for advertisement for sightseeing, calendars, and so on. He is a member of the Japan Professional Photographers Society.
