Jacques-Andre Dupont Guest Blog Kudos

Northern Gannet LOVERS (Morus Bassanus, Fou de Bassan, NOGA) Parc national de l'Île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé, Bonaventure Island, Quebec Image Copyright and courtesy ©Jacques-Andre Dupont All Rights Reserved. Canon EOS 7D mark II, 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 L IS II (@263mm). ISO 800, F5.6 @ 1/5,000s Manual mode.

I received a wonderful letter from J.A. (Jacques-Andre) Dupont; a wonderful person, and great photographer. As an educator and workshop/safari leader, I love sharing what I've learned during my workshops and it truly is wonderful to see a workshop participant improve their skills and learn how to reliably create awesome images filled with visual impact during a workshop/safari. Congratulations, J.A., much continued success. Many thanks for your wonderful letter. - Christopher Dodds.

Without further ado, here's J.A. Dupont:

This is a testament to my The butterfly photo effect or how my Chris Dodds workshops started things for me:
 
Dear Chris,
 
I wanted to write you a few words to tell you the story of how meeting you created a true butterfly effect for me.
 
I have been on two workshops so far with you.  Last year we did the Atlantic Puffin on beautiful Mingan Islands. And this year we did the Northern Gannet on the world renowned Bonaventure Island.
 
Both workshops were outstanding in many ways.  I learned quite a lot on a technical level.  But I believe that your workshops helped me do much more…  In a way, you helped me open my (photo) eyes.  You have showed me how to look at the birds, understand their behaviour and in a way use my images to bring them to life. You have helped me understand light in a new way, so the animals are almost as beautiful as in real life.   And you help me dig deeper within the tools that I brought with me; and of course I mean my Canon DSLR and my trusted L series lenses.
 
Both workshops were also amazing because you helped us discover amazing sights for wildlife photography and animals that are highly photogenic.
 
So in a nutshell, I believe I am a better photographer because of you.
 
And because of these two amazing photo trips and your guidance, I got to live quite a rushing experience in the last few weeks.
 
It all started after I put my gannet pictures on National Geographic web site.
 
Just a few days after I uploaded them online, things started to move in a new way for me.
 
👍🏻It started by two of my pictures making the cut by being selected in the Daily Dozen section of National Geographic web site.
 
http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/photos/6491757/
 
http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/photos/6516046/
 
Then it went on turbo gear.  The next four things all happened within 48 hours
 
👍🏻I was contacted by a National Geograhic photo editor who offered to do a feature on my series of gannet photos as well as an interview with me. See the interview HERE.

👍🏻National Geographic Senior Photo Editor also contacted me because she wanted one of my photos to be Photo of the Day on National Geographic (as photo of the day you get to be published on all Nat Geo social media platforms and you are on the first page of the web site… I received 21 000 likes on facebook just from being on their Facebook page). See the National Geographic Photo of the Day HERE.

👍🏻A 500PX editor contacted me because a Spanish magazine wanted to licence one of the photos for a feature (yet to be published). See my 500px portfolio HERE.

👍🏻And finally Solent News, a UK News and Photo agency contacted me to represent me and sell my pictures. After we agreed, my gannet pictures were published within a few days in the London’s Daily Telegraph. See the Daily Telegraph image HERE.

👍🏻And in the paper version:

👍🏻This same agency is now selling other of my photos.
 
👍🏻And to top this tsunami of photography love, I was published last week in Canadian Geographic Special Collector Edition Best Wildlife Photography with a Cedar Waxwing photo. 
 
👍🏻And then last week I received an email and learned that three of my Gannets Photos were selected by Canadian Geographic as finalists in this year Wildlife Photography of the Year Photo Competition!
 
So this long email, is just my way of saying thank you. I feel very lucky to have been taught by you and this will not be the last time!
 
Best,

Jacques-Andre Dupont Montreal Canada

THE Ultimate Bird Photography Workshop

Northern Gannets LOVING  (Morus bassanus, Fou de Bassan, NOGA ) Parc national de l'Île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé, Bonaventure Island, Quebec ©Christopher Dodds All Rights Reserved. Canon EOS 1D X, 70-300mm F4-5.6 L IS USM @ 277mm Hand Held ISO 800, f/7.1 @ 1/1,600s Manual mode. Click HERE to order a print or license image for publication.

The Ultimate Birds Photography Workshop

If you really want to master bird photography; birds in flight, portraits, shooting from a tripod, shooting hand held, with long lenses and short lenses, then this is your chance to join me, Christopher Dodds (Canon Northern Explorer of Light) at the very best venue I have found in the world to teach bird photography!

I have hosted thousands of photographers during my Gannets Galore workshops on Bonaventure Island and many of them have produced winning images during the workshop; some of those in world class competitions.

This is the perfect workshop for you no matter what equipment you own, or the skill level you are at. This is the perfect opportunity for the seasoned pro to take advantage of my site knowledge and logistics, or a total novice to master the skills to become a competent bird photographer. Super-telepoto lens not mandatory - you don't need a big gun to take full advantage of the Gannets of Bonaventure Island; many award winning images have been made with a 70-200mm lens! I am not satified unless you are creating images I would be happy to call my own.

Read more about my Gannets Galore workshop HERE

Thanks for a truly remarkable photographic experience on both land and water! The Zodiac rides were a wonderful way to spend the early mornings during your Gannets Galore Photo Tour. I was amazed at how close we were able to get to the birds and the seals. The nonstop action at the Gannet colony provided countless photo opportunities every second. Now I can see how you can still find it interesting and challenging even after visiting the island over 350 times. Your extensive experience photographing at the colony meant that we always knew where the best opportunities were at any given time as the wind and weather constantly changed throughout the day. And your excellent tips on exposure, technique, composition, and use of flash allowed us to take advantage of those opportunities and capture some wonderful images.
 On a logistical note, your fluency in French also proved invaluable at many points during the trip when you came to the rescue of us dumbfounded English speakers. 
Hope to see you again soon, maybe even on a June trip back to Bonaventure!

Mike Milicia Boston | MA | USA

Histogram, Details and Viveza 2.0

Northern Gannets PREENING (Morus Bassanus, Fou de Bassan, NOGA) Parc national de l'Île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé, Bonaventure Island, Quebec. Image Copyright ©Christopher Dodds All Rights Reserved. Canon EOS 1DsMKIII, 500mm F4 L IS,  Tripod & Wimberley Head II. ISO 250, F20 @1/320s Manual mode. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE A PRINT or LICENSE IMAGE FOR PUBLICATION

Chris, I am a huge fan of your work and consider it the very best bird photography out there; bar none! I have been a photographer for 30 years, and wonder if you would share how you achieve such amazing details in the whitest feathers; the details that seem impossible for me to capture. I am always blown-away when I visit your works, and I delight in every moment on your site. Many thanks and keep up the great work - Art W.

Art, thank you for your kind words. I will try to keep my answer simple.

The key to getting the most out of your digital camera is exposing the image correctly, as you probably know. I expose “to the right”, but make a huge effort not to have any data touching the right side of the histogram.

With only a little experience, a quick glance at the histogram can tell you if the exposure is correct, and give you and idea of the general appearance of the image; are the highlights blown? Is there enough shadow detail? – It’s all in the histogram.

 The histogram is a tool available on most digital cameras. It is a graph, which maps the luminosity (or brightness) values of your image, from black at left to white at right. The number of pixels at any given value are represented by the height of that value’s column. Once accustomed to reviewing the histogram, analyzing the data contained in it becomes second nature. It is the only way to know if you have exposed your image properly.

I’ll save you the boring science and details, but the idea of exposing to the right is a theory that capitalizes on the fact that the right side of the histogram contains more data than the left; there is more data in the whites, than in the blacks – much more. By overexposing the image slightly, and adjusting its brightness (or exposure) while converting the RAW image after capture, there is more data or details in the image. Conversely, if you were to underexpose an image and try to brighten the image after capture, then you would introduce noise, rather than detail, which was not captured in your RAW file. You have to be very careful not to push the whites up against the right of the histogram, or you risk loosing detail.

A good workflow post capture is another critical key to maximizing any detail contained in the RAW image. I typically use Photoshop to adjust contrast, boost saturation and add a little sharpness. My master .tiff is not created until I use Nik Software's Viveza 2. Viveza 2 is powerful engine that (among other things) adds targeted tonal contrast to any whites via the structure slider – be careful, it’s easy to overdo the adjustment.

 

Image of Histogram of the PROPERLY EXPOSED image above on the camera's LCD screen - The data is to the right of the histogram, but does not show any sign of over-exposure; there is no data touching the right edge of the graph. 

 

Histogram of the same image when opened in Adobe Camera Raw for conversion without any adjustments.