A P h o t o g r A P h e r ’ s g u i d e

hank you for your interest in shooting

for Meet Your Neighbours. This paper

details how the project will work, what is

required from its photographers and the benefits to

you for participating.

Choose your NGo

Each photographer must partner with one or more

conservation NGOs in their region. They will

provide your fee, in whatever form is agreeable

to you both, and work with you to have the work

seen as widely as possible within your region. They

should also provide assistance to you in accessing

the species they would like photographed.

This photographer/NGO partnership is a core

principle of MYN. You may be tempted, since you

can do this work locally, to underwrite the cost of

its production yourself and see what you can do to

exhibit it. Or you may decide to offer your work for

free to an NGO. Neither approach is acceptable

for good reasons: working with an established

conservation organisation not only improves the

chance of effective outreach into the community

but also asserts the value of cooperation between

scientists and creatives. Better work is likely to

result. Simply giving your photography to an NGO

undermines its value and your work in creating

it and provides no incentive to the organisation

to work hard to have it seen. While some local

NGOs may simply have no internal budget to

commission photographers, they may able to

access sponsorship for your through their usual

funding routes. Alternatively, may you be able

strike a deal for in-kind payment that is acceptable

to you both.

PreseNtiNG the work

Although MYN does not intend to direct where or

how participating photographers should present

the work to their own local communities, we

highly encourage novel approaches to allowing

the work to be seen. So, for example, rather than

solely displaying the work in museums and in other

indoor galleries, why not arrange an exhibit to

be held outdoors, in a public space? This could

be done through digital projection or on weather-

proof materials. By taking alternative approaches

to presentation, the higher the chance that more

people will have an opportunity to learn and

connect with their wild neighbours.

riGhts

The rights to photography produced during a MYN

assignment are pretty much those that go with any

commissioned work. The “client” (in this case the

NGO and MYN) will have exclusive rights for

three years after the delivery of the finished files

and thereafter you will have full rights and the

NGO rights to continue to use the work within its

own organisation in perpetuity. If it licenses pictures

to third parties after that three year term, you are

entitled to a 50% share of the royalties. You may,

however, post your pictures on the web during

the first three years and enter them in local and

international competitions, with acknowledgement

given to MYN and your partner organisation.

MYN’s rights to your work cease after three years.

Now, the PraCtiCal stuff

For the project to work on a creative level, technique

needs to be uniform - as if the project’s entire output

has been created by only one photographer.

Remember, it’s the subjects who are the stars here,

not the photographers! This prescriptive approach

ensures maximum consistency and therefore “brand

recognition”.

there are three basiC requiremeNts:

• That every subject is photographed in the field,

on location (See Right) and NOT in an indoor

studio. In the case of small animals, this may

involve temporary trapping and translocation to

the field studio (a tank in the case of amphibians

or an enclosed set for invertebrates and small

rodents), but plants can be photographed

entirely in-situ. Not only is this approach more

sympathetic to the subject than moving it

indoors but there is a better chance of getting

engagement with the local community if you are

out making these pictures in public spaces.

• That each subject should be represented on a

pure white background without any shadows on

it. By that, we mean 255 in each channel out

to each corner. Why? – because these images

are design-ready elements that can be placed

straight onto a white page without any further

work. This is especially important for building

images describing biodiversity. Why not

shoot on a grey background then cut out and

composite onto a pure white one? – because

A. this is extra work and B., more importantly,

out of focus edges are extremely hard to cut out

convincingly. It’s best to do it in-camera.

• That the white set is backlit. The main reason

to do this is to show the translucent qualities

of the subject and in doing so, to add depth

and nuance to the images. Backlighting makes

it easier to achieve the pure white background

but adds a layer of complication to exposure.

How to manage this is explained in detail on

the accompanying notes and on the training

DVD which will follow at a later date.

other teChNiCal CoNsideratioNs

MYN needs the photos shot during the commission

to be submitted as finished 16 bit Adobe RGB

TIFF files, accompanied by the original RAW

file. Only by working with a RAW file can the

correct exposure balance between subject and

background be achieved. The camera should

be 12 megapixels upwards to provide enough

data for large prints. The naming protocol is

as follows: The first letter of your personal and

family name- the initials of your partner NGO-

your county code – the date of creation- and

sequential number. For example: NB-SWT-

GB-150610-012112.tif. Keyword information that

needs to be embedded includes: your name and

partner organisation; species name – local and

scientific; the continent, country and region; the

habitat; whether or not the subject was controlled;

behaviour exhibited; year, month and season.

what equiPmeNt you’ll Need

Actually, not very much. MYN will supply you with

the Makrolon plastic you’ll need for backgrounds

and set building (that is, the set for invertebrates

and the small tank, if you are shooting aquatic

subjects) and some Flyweight for duffusers.

Although I use a portable studio flash set, you can

make indistinguishable pictures with two or three

old manual flash guns. Beyond that, all you need

is a means of supporting the various diffusers,

backgrounds and flashes.

so, what’s iN the ProjeCt for you?

Well, yes, a fee, and after a while, licensing rights.

But there is a bit more to it than that. This project is

a coordinated effort to highlight, from different parts

of the world, the importance of local biodiversity

in people’s lives, that it’s not all about remote,

uninhabited places. We can talk all we like about

the value of these things to our local communities

but as you know, it’s often only when outsiders take

an interest that local people sit up and realise what

they have. MYN provides that international platform

for “the local.” And you will be part of it. Working

as part of a team creates synergies that are hard

to match if we all work away independently on our

own projects; it is more possible to reach a critical

mass, to overcome the inertia of public indifference

and start using our photography to move hearts

and minds

u s i n g t h e f i e l d s t u d i o

the field studio

We’ve not managed an early start this morning

thanks to all that bed-time reading last night. Dawn

has been and gone and now it’s just another grey

and green summer’s day with a light breeze.

But this is not a problem: today we are going

to use various field studios that allow us to work

independent of the weather – and make some

beautiful pictures in the process. We are going to

photograph the subjects in situ (with the exception

(Above) Moorish gecko in the field

studio, Alicante, Spain. The smooth

sides of the set I photographed this

youngster in deterred escape and

very soon the animal was placid. A

session like this can be completed in

10 minutes. Nikon D3, 200mm, ISO

200, flash, f18

of underwater ones) against a backlit, pure white

background. These near shadow-less portraits not

only describe the subject in amazing detail but also

reveal its translucent qualities. The pictures have a

glow absent from conventional white background

work done in the studio and a verity borne out of

being made in the field. And without the context of

its environment, the subject becomes an individual

rather than simply a member of an ecosystem.

(The following text has been extracted from Niall Benvie’s

book, Outdoor Photography Masterclass, 2010)

(Below) Cornfield “weeds” in the field

studio, Scotland (composite of 10

images). Assembling a montage is

itself a creative process, but remain

true to the subjects by maintaining the

same magnification ratio and natural

associations. Nikon D2x, 200mm, ISO

100, flash, f20

oriGiNs

My own line of inspiration traces back to the

great American portrait photographer Richard

Avedon whose 1947 portrait of a boy and tree

in Sicily lead him to understand the strength of

the simple white background. Susan Middleton

assisted Avedon in the mid 1980’s, and “became

fascinated with the idea of making a portrait of a

plant or animal that could evoke the same kind of

emotional response in the viewer that a fine portrait

of a person could”. She and her collaborator

David Liittschwager’s work on endangered species

over the intervening years has been driven by the

belief that this is possible and they too often use

plain backgrounds to dignify their subjects. What

we are going to do today, then, should be seen as

the continuity of a tradition – albeit one in another

genre - rather than something ground-breaking and

radical. I love this cross-pollination of ideas and

influences. It is interesting to note how many popular

nature images feature very pale, sometimes white,

natural backgrounds. We are simply taking the

next step and producing a pure, clean background

in-camera.

tools

This is my current set up,

using the Elinchrom Ranger

Quadra system with 2 heads

(one inside the softbox).

I use a pretty fancy set up for

this work because I do a lot

of it and like the control I get

with the gear I use. But you

can arrive at the same results

(Far Left) Mountain arnica with

fritillary sp. butterfly in the field

studio, Austria. While field studio

work tends to be highly controlled

and predictable, serendipity (such

as when this butterfly suddenly

appeared on set) can lift the

interest of the picture.

(albeit less conveniently) with a

couple of old manual flash guns,

synch. leads, some Perspex®

(Plexiglass) and plastic envelope

stiffener. It really is as simple as

that. In time you can add some

relatively inexpensive clamps

and stands to compensate for

having only one pair of hands.

fiNdiNG your models

Let’s keep in sight what we’re trying to achieve:

a portrait that stops the viewer in their tracks,

encourages them really to look closely at the subject

and perhaps even to feel awed by its beauty. We

want the viewer to feel they’ve seen something new

and special. The toughest part of the job is not

technical: it is finding the specimens that display

personality. Plants have personality? Well, they

do but it is manifest in things such as their vigour,

freedom from disease, and pose - resulting from

the balance between their leaves, flowers and

stems. Some specimens simply look better on set

than others and it’s best to audition hopefuls by

placing the piece of Perspex behind them first

before committing to a screen test. Invertebrates, in

some ways, are more inscrutable so it is a matter of

working with a variety of models, each for a short

time and seeing which has the best attitude on set.

(Left) Harebell in the field studio,

Montrose, Scotland. Take

time to find the most elegant,

representative specimen; it’s on its

own in the frame with nowhere

to hide. Nikon D2x, 55mm, ISO

100, flash, f16

balaNCiNG the liGht

I first started to make white background plant pictures

in the late 1990’s but on film it was very hard

consistently to balance subject and background

exposure. Digital capture is hugely enabling in this

respect. We are after a background that is 255

in each channel. Not a bit grey, not pure white in

the middle, dimming towards the edges but 255

from corner to corner. We are effectively cutting out

the subject in-camera meaning that the picture can

be laid out on a page, or as part of a composite,

without any further work. In practice, it is sometimes

hard to light a large piece of background Perspex®

from corner to corner: in these cases, ensure that

the background immediately around the subject

is 255 in each channel (set your camera to blink

a highlight warning) then paint out the corners in

Adobe Lightroom with the Adjustment Brush. But it’s

best to save yourself the extra work and get it right

in the first place.

baCkGrouNd PositioNiNG

The distance between the subject and background is

crucial. At the correct exposure, the backlit Perspex

is 255 in each channel regardless of whether it is

10 cm behind the subject or one metre. A certain

amount of light coming from behind spills forward

– this is what makes the subject glow – but clearly

the effect will be stronger the closer the background

is to the subject. If the subject is pale or delicate

in the first place it is likely to become very hard to

separate it from the background at the processing

stage. The rule is really simple: for opaque or dark

subjects, keep the background close; for all others

move it further back. If you minimise the influence

of forward spill by distancing the backdrop, it is

possible successfully to photograph white flowers

on the white background.

GettiNG exPosure just riGht

Let’s look at exposure. We want to blow out the

background, but only just – or else we’ll find it hard

to manage forward spill. You’ll find that even a third

of a stop can make the difference between pure

white and pale grey. Don’t plug in your front fill

until you’ve determined the good exposure for the

background. Set the flash and camera to manual

and make a series of test exposures, adjusting the

aperture, the flash’s output or the ISO (the shutter

(Left) Green veined white butterfly on cuckoo flower,

Norway

speed should be the fastest one your camera can

synchronise with manual flash) by one third of a

stop at a time. The histogram should show all the

background blinking over exposed but none of the

subject. There will be a distinct lack of values on

the left side of the histogram, but so long as some

levels have registered in the second quarter of the

histogram you’ll be able to bring back the darker

tones during processing. Now put on your front

light. Although I use a flash head in a small softbox

these days, you can fire the flash through a piece

of opaque envelope stiffener for a similar quality of

light. The stiffener should be closer to the subject

than the flash is to it for the gentlest feathering.

Check the histogram again to make sure that that

no parts of the subject are over-exposed. Move

the fill back and forth until you’ve struck a good

balance between showing translucence and front

detail.

Don’t be worried if the picture looks a bit wishy-

washy: you’ve captured as many levels as possible

and made your cut-out in-camera. It will turn into

something beautiful in Lightroom.

workiNG with iNvertebrates

The bug set. In this position, the set is used to photograph

animals that are best seem from directly above. I can be

swung round by 90 degrees to work on animals best

seen from the side.

While plants are relatively straightforward, bugs are

less so. For them I use a curved clear or opaque set

suspended from a stand. I can position it to shoot a

subject from the side (as I would a grasshopper) or from

above (more appropriate for most beetles). The clear set

is used if the animal is too translucent to appear directly

on the white Perspex and needs some distance from the

background. In this case, I put a softbox behind the clear

set and it becomes the background. Equally, you could

point a couple of flash guns at a big reflector.

I like to keep the animal’s time on set to a minimum and

prepare everything (in the field!) before the creature

is caught and transferred. If you are unfamiliar with

a species, it’s best to with work with an entomologist

who can tell you if its behaviour suggests it is stressed.

If so, the session ends straight away and the creature is

returned to its spot. Purists may decry moving animals

at all but in light of the casual destruction of these and

may other sorts of wildlife on the roads, in the course of

agriculture and industry and even in our own gardens, a

short spell on the celestial set is rather harmless. Our side

of the deal is to make sure that people see the pictures

and if not care, at least take an interest in the subject.

a sPeCial word about amPhibiaNs

Frogs, newts and toads are highly charismatic

subjects, never more so than when they are in their

element. But amphibians worldwide are dying of

chytridiomycosis, and many populations are in

catastrophic decline. Help to prevent its spread

by using purified water in your tank (place the

bottles in the host pond to warm or cool them to the

same temperature) and use new nets for dipping in

each pond. Put up your set in the shade and don’t

discard the water after the shoot near watercourses

with amphibians. Clean the tank thoroughly after

each shoot and avoid handling the amphibians

with your bare hands.

So long as the subject is quite small, build a small

tank with Perspex®. Obviously, it is less fragile than glass and its tensile strength is greater. As a result, I can get away with a front pane that is only 1.5 mm thick.

(Left) Smooth newt in the field studio,

Alam Pedja, Estonia. Niall and

Jaanus Järva (Right) set up the “wet”

studio in a shaded picnic hut close

to a pond full of newts in the forest.

Set time was kept to a minimum and

soon this fellow was back in the pond

trying to impress the females. Nikon

D3, 200mm, ISO 200, flash, f20

(Right) Red Salamander Larva,

South Carolina, USA.

If you’re worried that flash is going to cause lots of

reflections, don’t. Since I am aiming to expose the

background as pure white, any that might show

there will be blown out. Front lighting comes from a

single diffused flash above the tank; its angle ensures

there are no reflections from the Perspex® in front of

the animal and since you’re probably shooting at

about 1/200 second at f22, ambient light won’t

show either.

What is more of a problem are small specs on the

surface of the Perspex; when it is cleaned it generates

a static charge that draws dust, pollen and fibres from

the cleaning cloth. Keep a small squeegee on hand

too to burst the bubbles that form on the Perspex as the

water changes temperature; you’ll get rid of some of the

fibres in the process. Be aware too that Perspex is very

easily scratched and where these coincide with out-

of-focus parts of the animal, they will show up clearly.

Clay Bolt Project Coordinator & Co-Founder

Ph: 1.864.905.8797eM: claybolt@earthlink.netsM: 198 Jenkins Way

Easley, South Carolina, 29640USA

niall Benvie Senior Advisor & Co-Founder

Ph: +44.1356.626.128eM: niall@niallbenvie.comsM: 24 Park Road

BRECHIN, Angus, DD9 7APScotland

joiN us!

Meet Your Neighbours is currently seeking like-

minded individuals, organizations and businesses

who would be interested in learning more about

ways that they might support this effort. For more

information, please contact Niall Benvie or Clay Bolt.

Primary sPoNsor eNdorsiNG PartNer