Black Backgrounds. Silhouette or Natural Background?
This is the question I am most frequently asked by all those who see my photographs. The answer is NO, it is not a silhouette in the natural background of the photo if you know how to play with the ambient light and use the LOW KEY photographic technique.
What is low key? Low key is a photographic technique based on lighting where dark tones predominate, although the rest of the tones are also present up to the lightest. This is achieved with dark backgrounds and with the scene in darkness except for a specific area that is illuminated.
Understanding the light and using it in favor of the image is what allows me to isolate the subject from the background in order to enhance the bird, its details and colors...
In a photograph in water as a setting, we will have the possibility of seeing white water, if the sky is cloudy due to the refraction of light, black if there are shaded areas or green, blue or yellowish depending on the color of the water in the place.
To achieve this photograph I looked for an area in the darkest part of the lake and I looked for a filter of light through the branches of the trees. I waited for that flitting duck to pass right by that area and a high speed burst allowed me to get images with the bursting water and movement I wanted.
