Building a portfolio
In this article I will talk about my recent trip to Spanish mountains to photograph Eurasian Griffons and how I try to create a portfolio of images of one species rather than going for one type of shots all the time.
At the start of working with a particular project a lot of photographers (myself included) want to get a good clean portrait of their target species. This can take more or less time depending on a scenario but rarely is it very difficult. A lot of people stop after getting this image, or go after the same shot again and again. I urge You to try and expand, after all wildlife is more than just a pretty close up. Try to show off its habitat, behaviors or try to get creative with slower shutter speeds or with different lighting conditions.
Eurasian Griffon, Spain: R5 + 100-500, f7.1, iso 1600, 1/800s at 500mm
On this trip I climbed the mountain on top of which I knew I would find Vultures soaring in the sky above me, below me and exactly eye-level. This presented unique opportunities that no paid hide will give You. Although I couldn’t get any shots of the sitting down I was happy, as what fascinates me the most about this species is how they soar in the skies above stunning mountain tops - this is exactly what I wanted to show off. I started with trying to capture Griffons starting their day against the gorgeous sunrise colors, although birds were over 800m away from me I’m still pretty satisfied with this result.
Eurasian Griffon, Spain: R5 + 100-500, f10, iso 250, 1/1000s at 500mm
Eurasian Griffon, Spain: R5 + 100-500, f7.1, iso 1600, 1/1600s at 300mm
As the sun rose, the air started to heat at the edges of the mountains and Griffons started flying in bigger numbers, I quickly grabbed my wide angle lens and tried to show off 50 vultures flying above the peaks on the other side of the valley. This is also when I got my eye level portrait of a Griffon and a shot of it lit from the side coming directly at me, which I exposed in a low key style.
Eurasian Griffon, Spain: R6 + 28-70, f14, iso 1600, 1/1250s at 70mm
Eurasian Griffon, Spain: R5 + 100-500, f7.1, iso 2500, 1/4000s at 500mm
I also tried to experiment with some images of vultures sitting on the edge of the mountain to incorporate more texture in the portfolio.
Eurasian Griffon, Spain: R5 + 100-500, f10, iso 3200, 1/250s
All of the sudden I saw one bird flying directly towards me, I quickly grabbed my second body with the wide angle lens, zoomed out and shot a short series as all I could hear was air moved by Eurasian Griffon wings. Luckily I managed to change the Fstop to 16 to get the star effect, and despite the overexposed sky I still enjoy this image.
Eurasian Griffon, Spain: R6 + 28-70, f14, iso 1600, 1/1250s at 30mm
As You can see in 3 hours, instead of just focusing on one type shot , I managed to create a small portfolio of images, which, presented together, creates a more interesting piece rather than 10 similar flight shots. Unfortunately as I started to play with panning it started to rain and I decided it was time to leave, as it’s always better to go down the mountains in case of bad weather. On the way down I managed to get this super small in the frame shot of the Griffon flying but I really enjoy how it came out.
Eurasian Griffon, Spain: R5 + 100-500, f13, iso 1000, 1/1000s
would like to encourage You to try to embrace the space in Your images as well, granted not possible in all locations, but if You end up in a stunning location like I did this time try to zoom out or simply don’t try to photograph just the birds that are close, if the composition is exciting leave them small in the frame and treat it as a landscape with wildlife in it, that’s how some of my favorite ever images are created.