Posted by Danny Green on November 1, 2006 at 8:54 AM
I have not been able to put as much time in on badgers as I would have liked but it was good fun to do so no complaints. Many discussions have been had about the manipulation of images through a computer so I thought I would post this image as an example of what manipulation can be acheived without the help from a computer. I fed the badger in this spot and then added the dead leaves to help the surroundings. I placed the food out in the open to give me that little more time with the light, so a manipulated image is the final result.
Canon EOS 1D MkII, 500mm Lens, F4, 1/30, ISO Rating 400.
Hi Danny
I saw this image on your web site and was well impressed,One of the nicest badger images i have seen on here,perserverance paying off,The framing of the folage is great and nice to see one in natural light,I did 12 nights with no results last month before giving in-started with a bang and ended with a whimper
Posted by John Chapman on November 1, 2006 at 9:35 AM
Hi Danny
great badger shot and Iliked the way you manipulated the scene.
John
Aberdeen
A fine result.. the framing of the Badger is great. Thanks for the narrative, appreciated...
Posted by John Swift on November 1, 2006 at 2:25 PM
A fine image Danny but I'm going to congratulate you for your approach leading up to capturing the image even more.
Regards
John S
Posted by Danny Green on November 1, 2006 at 4:06 PM
Hello Everyone
There are many photographers that post and browse this forum that know perfectly well how to go about photographing badgers but there are a lot that don't so I am going to lead you into a little insight on how I managed to get my shots, if you are not interested now is the time to stop reading My adventure started back in May this year where together with a good friend (Tom) and I found a suitable place where we could work without any worries about attracting the wrong kind of interest from the wrong people, it was also important not to be disturbed by peoples activities during the night so the sight was carefully chosen and of course had to have a decent badger population. The other concern was that it had to be quite near where we live and in Toms case work At first we started feeding them about three times a week, the food chosen was normal peanuts mixed together with pure honey, badgers love this mixture. We never put loads of food down just enough to give them a helpful start to their evening search. After about four weeks we stepped up the feeding routine and fed them more or less every evening and the badgers started to come to the spot straight away after emerging, at this point we were ready to start photographing them. One little female cub was always the first on to the scene and over the summer we got to know her well (the image above is her). After our intial attempts we tried to be more creative in taking images in different settings so the food had to be moved which always meant a couple of nights for the badgers to get used to a different pattern. This went on during the summer so we quickly built up a range of different shots, my favourite being the one above. I have two children and on many occaisions one of them would come with me and enjoy the company of this little female and the enjoyment they got from that was more satisfying than any play station game. I am still putting a little bit of food down for her but not enough for her to become reilable just a helping hand over the winter. I used two flash guns for most of the shots which were metz CT 4's one was set to F8 and the other was set at F5.6, the camera was set onto manual mode 1/125 and F stop was 11 or 13, this could be altered to 10 or 16 depending on how near the flash guns were to the badger. I also wanted to photograph them in natural light which was much more tricky as I had to entice them out of the dark woodland and into a small field. By doing this it gave me that extra bit of light but still had to use low shutter speeds and higher ISO ratings but I prefer these pictures to the ones with flash so was worth the effort. Then I added props to make it more natural looking which if you like is manipulating a scene. Not everyone agrees with attracting wild animals to free handouts of food but I don't see a problem with this as long it is done sensibly. If any one wants to tackle this kind of project give me an email and hopefully I will be able to give you some advice. All in all it was a great project to work on and I loved every minute of it.
By the way, IMO, manipulating a scene isn't the same as manipulating an image. The first requires skill, the other, well, just a computer, spare time, and a lonely dark corner of a room ...
Personally i still rate badgers as 'THE' hardest mammal i have ever photographed,this year i struck lucky and as Danny i also befriended a cub,when i lived in the uk i tried 3 years on the trot for a few images,Now i have had some sucess i cant wait for next season.i still feed every night as not only do the badgers have a treat it has also attracted foxes to the table
Posted by David Taylor on November 1, 2006 at 7:52 PM
Thank you for the insight on how you achieved this excellent image. Sometimes nature has to be given a helping hand to achieve the desired effect.
Great shot, and a just reward for all the background prep work. The natural frame of the bracken and the dead leaves is superb.
I've got a small population of badgers in some relatively remote woodland a mile from my house, and I had some success with them in the spring. However, in summer, when the bracken etc. got too dense and high to permit effective photography, I left the badgers and haven't been back since. Your image has inspired me to go back and see if there's anything doing at the moment.
When do badgers start disappearing for the winter?
Anyway, top work mate.
Michael S
Posted by David Kjaer on November 2, 2006 at 10:42 AM
Hi Danny
Super image and a great setting - only wish I could attract mine out in daylight at this time of the year, but they won't perform now we have the longer nights!
David
Posted by Graham Bailey on November 3, 2006 at 8:04 AM
One of the best badger shots i've seen. the natural light and the framing really make this stand out.
Posted by Danny Green on November 3, 2006 at 6:41 PM
Hello Michael
Badgers are active all year round and at the moment food is plentyful, they do go inactive during the coldest nights but they have to come above ground to feed at some point.
Hello David
I wish I could attract them out in daylight at this time of year too. This shot was taken in early september. The setting was pretty bland but she did come out early enough to be able to photograph her in natural light so I added the props to make it look natural. The autumn leaves were found in beech woodland just up the road, but I got lucky for the bracken as it was growing beside a track leading to the the woodland. The farmer had sprayed his crops and it had started to kill the bracken but there was some that just turned to colours you see here. I think badgers look better in natural light but just wanted a more pleasing setting.
Discussion
16 repliesCanon EOS 1D MkII, 500mm Lens, F4, 1/30, ISO Rating 400.
Danny
I saw this image on your web site and was well impressed,One of the nicest badger images i have seen on here,perserverance paying off,The framing of the folage is great and nice to see one in natural light,I did 12 nights with no results last month before giving in-started with a bang and ended with a whimper
great badger shot and Iliked the way you manipulated the scene.
John
Aberdeen
Regards
John S
There are many photographers that post and browse this forum that know perfectly well how to go about photographing badgers but there are a lot that don't so I am going to lead you into a little insight on how I managed to get my shots, if you are not interested now is the time to stop reading
Danny
By the way, IMO, manipulating a scene isn't the same as manipulating an image. The first requires skill, the other, well, just a computer, spare time, and a lonely dark corner of a room
Dave,
Forest of Dean, UK
Stonking image btw...
Thanks for the insight into how you got the shot. It's good that you can get your kids involved in nature, this is how I became interested myself.
Rob
I've got a small population of badgers in some relatively remote woodland a mile from my house, and I had some success with them in the spring. However, in summer, when the bracken etc. got too dense and high to permit effective photography, I left the badgers and haven't been back since. Your image has inspired me to go back and see if there's anything doing at the moment.
When do badgers start disappearing for the winter?
Anyway, top work mate.
Michael S
Super image and a great setting - only wish I could attract mine out in daylight at this time of the year, but they won't perform now we have the longer nights!
David
Badgers are active all year round and at the moment food is plentyful, they do go inactive during the coldest nights but they have to come above ground to feed at some point.
Hello David
I wish I could attract them out in daylight at this time of year too. This shot was taken in early september. The setting was pretty bland but she did come out early enough to be able to photograph her in natural light so I added the props to make it look natural. The autumn leaves were found in beech woodland just up the road, but I got lucky for the bracken as it was growing beside a track leading to the the woodland. The farmer had sprayed his crops and it had started to kill the bracken but there was some that just turned to colours you see here. I think badgers look better in natural light but just wanted a more pleasing setting.
Danny