Making Harsh Contrast Light Work in your Favor

In the image above the background is cluttered, safari vehicles are in the way, and the light is high, harsh, and blown out, but the subjects are fantastic. We were on the Signature Safari Africa in Samburu. A place known for the herds of elephants that march through the dusty red soil to come down to the Ewaso Niro River to drink and cool off. The initial scene looked hopeless, but before just raising my camera and clicking I always look past my subject to quickly evaluate the light and background.

I honed in on the contrast light. I positioned the vehicle at the rivers edge in anticipation that the herd would come to the water. Once they turn toward us I zoomed in as tight as possible ( I love the crop-in-camera feature of the Nikon D850) and stopped down by 2 to cut out as much harsh light as possible, which will also increase the contrast of lights and darks.

It is the contrast of light that creates dramatic images and why the Spirit-N-Light workshop focuses on developing the skills of seeing and using natural dramatic light. Often I come upon a scene like this and I always hear the light is no good, or the vehicles are in our way. I smile as I say, “watch this…….” When they view the shot in the back of my camera, it is magical. Always look for the possibilities of creating the magic that usually starts by following the light and knowing whether the background will make the shot possible.

Below is the image I shot directly out of camera and the edited version where I cropped in a little tighter, used level and curves to add more contrast, and added a slight saturation to bring out the red in the dust.

Same as the first set above -Below is the image I shot directly out of camera and the edited version where I cropped in a little tighter, used level and curves to add more contrast, and added a slight saturation to bring out the red in the soil on the elephants.

I added a few more just to emphasis how many images can be created when you keep a positive attitude and always look for the possibility of how you can make an image.