Help with badger eyes please!

[Tobyh]

Had a lovely experience tonight, the first time I've managed to photograph my garden badgers properly without them running for the hedge at the very first click noise. They actually came around 8 feet away so I could clearly hear their snuffling and at one point they were joined by a young fox who couldn't quite work out what I was ( I was lying on the floor inside the conservatory door)

I didn't overdo it but out of the 10 or so pics I took they all have eyes like this...



I know it's now likely I can't do much about it but can anyone give any advice? I did try the red-eye flash but I don't think their eyes respond in the same way. These were taken with the onboard flash as didn't think I had time to get my SB600 on it.

Thanks in advance

TobyH

[Words]

This is always a problem with flash unless you are fairly close (I have the same problem with foxes if I'm too far away). When it's that bright, the only reasonable method I've found is to manually paint out the eye-shine. If it's a colour (foxes are often blue) I have a ttechnique of masking the eye and using 'replace colour' in Photoshop, simply clicking on the main 'wrong' colour and reducing lightness. This gives a black eye but leaves the white sparkles as they were. It's the best way of getting a natural result. But with this I'd do it by hand: mask the eyeshine area, use a smallish brush to paint in some black and then use the pin-light brush set to white to put the sparkle back But the shine is so strong I wouldn't expect perfect results without a fair amount of work.

Nearly forgot to say that what a fabulous sighting. I'm very deeply jealous!

[delros1]

Wow badgers in the garden,you might like to try the nikon sc-29 ttl cord with a flash bracket,which will increase the angle of the flash,thus cutting down on the red eye. Speed Graphic for camera accessories, photographic equipment and materials. have a good range.Or the sto-fen omnibounce might all so be useful.

[Tobyh]

Thanks for the replies

I did consider doing a paint job on the eyes but as you say Words, the amount of shine on those would take some serious work which at this point is a bit above my skill level. I was maybe too close and with the direct built in flash I think I've got the worst possible scenario as far as reflection goes.

I did get myself a Stofen Omnibounce delros so I'll try that for my next attempt.

This was just a spur of the moment opportunity so I didn't properly kit up - next time i'll be ready!

Still a lovely experience and now they are less jumpy I'll be trying it more often

TobyH

[big bill]

Hello Toby I do not know what image software you use but if you select the eyes then go to desturate and take the colouring out of the eyes this may work at least it should ntake the shine out ,then using a soft edged brush paint the eye colouring back in if you do this on a seperate layerr you can then adjust the strength of the colouring till you get it right .
Hope this helps

[Ollie]

Well done on getting this photo.

If it's something you are going to be doing on a regular basis I would definitely invest in an off camera flash bracket and a Lambency diffuser rather than a Stofen omnibounce diffuser.

Although a little larger the Lambency diffuser spreads the light from the flash more than the Stofen giving a softer more natural looking light. Only my opinion, but I think you definitely need to get the flash up off the camera.
Roger

[derelict]

Originally Posted by Tobyh

I didn't overdo it but out of the 10 or so pics I took they all have eyes like this...

Why do you want to do anything about it? It seems a perfectly respectable shot of a badger to me - when they've stumbled upon me in possesion of my little digicam the results have come out the same. Deer come out rather spookily - if you know the Pink Floyd "delicate Sound of Thunder" LP cover you'll know what I mean - the light shines back out of their eyes



and



I quite like the way the little ones come out looking like something out of "Moomintroll"

After all it's what you see when a flash goes off... and the camera should record what you see... I know that people with Photoshop like to get a return on their not inconsiderable investment but photographing wildlife isn't exactly glamour photography is it? Look at the mess that has gotten itself into...

[derelict]

Originally Posted by Tobyh

I didn't overdo it but out of the 10 or so pics I took they all have eyes like this...

Why do you want to do anything about it? It seems a perfectly respectable shot of a badger to me - when they've stumbled upon me in possession of both my wits and my little digicam the results have come out the same. Badgers aren't exactly noted for their 'expressive eyes'. Deer come out rather spookily - the light shines back out of their eyes like a little searchlight - especially if it's a bit misty...
if you know the Pink Floyd "delicate Sound of Thunder" LP cover you'll know what I mean -




and



I don't think either of these would be the same if I edited the eye regions...
plus I quite like the way the little ones come out looking like something out of "Moomintroll"! (Looking at these together I'm struck by how much better last year's alpha male was than this year's largest head...)

After all it's what you see when a flash goes off... and the camera should record what you see... I know that people with Photoshop like to get a return on their not inconsiderable investment but photographing wildlife isn't exactly glamour photography is it? Look at the mess that has gotten itself into... but I'm rambling ...!

When a badger does turn up near enough to my feet in the dark I've used the red-eye light on the camera to see where they are - they can be utterly invisible in the grass from three of four feet away despite puffing like a steam train on heat (Last year I heard a fair few but only ever saw one!) They don't seem to respond to the red light at all.

[Dae]

Well I can only speak for myself, but it would drive me crazy to have glowing eyes like this, which is perhaps why I avoid night-time photography as I simply don't have the equipment to avoid the red-eye. That being said, I hope you'll forgive my presumption, but I ran your photo through my Photoshop CS3 and went to work on the eyes. It's such a lovely photo, and I love editing, so I had a go at it. I hope you don't mind! If you do, I'll delete it.

[Tobyh]

Really appreciate all the comments / help.

Dae, thats a great job, thanks very much I certainly won't be deleting it!

I'll see how the Sto-Fen handles the situation then adjust for that. I have a feeling that I can fire the SB600 off camera using a D300. No idea how though :O

TobyH