The Ideal Scenes for your High Key Black and White Wildlife Photos

High key and black and white photograph of a lion cub in Kenya.

Choosing the Scene for a High Key Photograph

Experience has revealed to me that minimalist scenes are best suited for the high key technique.

For example, birds flying in the sky are perfect subjects.

Mammals are also suitable if the background environment is simple and light.

An essential rule to remember when planning to use the high key technique is to choose a background that is not distracting for the eyes of a viewer.

This means that the background tones must be monochromatic. For example, I advise that you avoid a background with very deep shadows.

It would be better to choose a background with lots of clear areas. Thus, the post treatment will easily create a high-key effect. If this ideal solution is too difficult to find, at least strive to ensure that the tones are somewhat homogeneous.

Once the background has been chosen, you must be overexposed by 1 or 2 EV of light. Simply use the camera’s light measurement to perform this calculation.

However, you must be careful not to burn the image: I advise you to use the histogram to perform a check.

I will refrain from explaining technical details of light measurement as it is not the purpose of this article.

If you use the priority mode with speed, be sure to overexpose the image by changing the aperture.

If you use aperture priority mode, overexpose by changing the speed of compensation. In manual mode, you can change one or the other depending on the scene.

Do not use the LCD screen to control the light.

You should only trust the histogram. The screen merely allows you to check the framing and composition of the scene.

For a high key photograph, most of the histogram should be towards the right without completely touching the right side. If this occurs, you have burned the highlights.

Once you have chosen the subject and the scene, you must study the light.

The light must be elevated to erase all the details of the background and preserve those of the subject. It is a real challenge.

Overexposing Does Not Equate with Burning the Photo

The purpose of the high key technique is to create a photograph with many bright areas and very few shadows.

When shooting, you must voluntarily overexpose the photo.

An overexposed photo still retains details in the highlighted areas.

A burned photo is when the details disappear in these areas.

It is important for you to keep this idea in mind.

The photograph should be clear, almost white, with only a few highlights or darker shadows emphasized.

Ideal Scenes for a High Key Photograph

For a photograph in high key, the first ideal scene that comes to mind is often a snowy image.

Indeed, this is an excellent choice because an animal moving on the snow will create a scene with little contrast, few shadows, and clear tones.

As I said before, you simply need to overexpose a little of the background and lighten the area containing the animal.

With a bit of post treatment, the snow can be overexposed to create an unreal, dreamlike effect.

The second privileged setting for this technique is an image of birds flying in the sky. With the exact measure of light to properly expose the plumages, the sky can easily become overexposed. Skies are perfect backgrounds for high key scenes.

Scenes involving sand or savanna are also a good choice. During the overexposure, you will find details in the set that may have previously gone unnoticed. However, this should not be viewed as embarrassing, rather, this effect is artistic. You must remember to have a minimum of contrast present.

Post Processing Is Essential

As I have described in this article, the development or post processing of a photograph is essential if an artistic approach is chosen.

To obtain high key art photography with tremendous impact for the viewer, post processing development is mandatory.

First, I recommend shooting in RAW mode because it is possible to change the exposure easily. JPEG mode can be more difficult and the results less reliable.

In addition, the RAW mode allows you to adjust the white balance in the development, which is not possible to do in JPEG.

Most photo development software helps to smooth the process for creating high key photos.

You must simply increase the exposure without burning the highlights.

The histogram in the development software should not touch the right side of the rectangle. The details of the photograph must be retained.

A burned photo will not be printed properly because the printer will leave white marks in the areas where it cannot apply ink.

After lightly overexposing the image, you need to desaturate the colors of the photograph, and then slightly cool the temperature of the colors.

Using Black and White: An Interesting Complement

Black and white is another creative technique in artistic photography.

Using it with the high key technique can be quite interesting. Black and white significantly enhances the photographer's artistic style.

These two techniques produce ethereal images, provoking questions from the observer.

I use this combination of high key in black and white for certain photographs because it corresponds to the aesthetic nature I aspire to capture. It is only used in specific situations.

I insist on this last point because the high key is primarily a technique and a tool for a wildlife photographer.

This tool must serve your photographic vision, without limiting or controlling it. It is not a fad that vanishes quickly.

You do not use it just because some other photographer does.

The high key technique in black and white must correspond to your state of mind, to your way of being. If this is not the case, the photographer will find it difficult to create excellent shots in high key because it will not be appropriate, or it will not be used in the proper way.

Try this technique in the field. Print some pictures.

Allow yourself to be carried away by the magic of dreams. If you cannot escape by looking at your own photos, forget the high key technique. It is not for you. You will be more tempted by the low key, which we will see in a future article.

Finally

The high key black-and-white technique in wildlife photography makes it possible to create artistic photographs that have a significant impact on the viewer. It is suitable for ethereal and dreamlike art photography. It is a complex technique that requires vast research and practice. Once it is accomplished, however, it greatly affirms the photographer’s style.

For me, the black-and-white technique is a part of our exhibition to create art photographs for our "Around the Spirit" or "Around the World" photographic collections.

Click Here To See Black and White Fine Art Print Collections.

How Creating Wildlife Photos in High Key Black and White

Have you ever wanted to create high key photographs? You may have noticed that they are difficult to master because you must preserve details in the dark areas while illuminating the bright areas. It is a difficult challenge to attempt.

In this article, I offer some tips that I use in the creation of my nature photos in high key and black and white.

Photograph in high key and black and white of a pied kingfisher flying.

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Why: Choosing the Creative Technique of High Key in Black and White

The high key technique in black and white will allow you to create creative and interesting photographs.

It allows you to take art photos different from common illustrative shots.
It is perfectly suited to animal photography if certain rules are observed.
The high key allows you to create dreamlike and ethereal photographs

A Tidbit of Etymology

Before delving deeper into this article, I think it is important to clarify the meaning of this term.

“High key“ is the contraction of the expression "high-key lighting". Like always, the technical language of a field uses shortcuts and acronyms. Photography, which is primarily a technical discipline, is no exception to this rule.

From a general and technical context, "high key" means "elevated level".

The word "lighting" refers to the atmospheric light conditions. "High key lighting" means "elevated level of light".

This expression is not meant to be poetic and does not necessarily encourage dreaming.

However, it fascinates me, because the reflection of the high key lighting technique often ends up being creative and evocative, paving the way to the creation of artistic photographs.

A Tidbit of History

The high key technique can cause photographs to become quite clear with no shadows.

This technique appeared with the dawn of television when some scenes used intense contrasts. This was not masterfully reproduced by all television screens at the time.

To create a scene that was easily reproduced on a screen, the ratio between the main light and the secondary lights was kept to a minimum. The exposure of the scene was homogeneous for the viewer.

In photography, this technique has been used to create photos that have no shadows. The rendering of the lights in the composition of the photo is homogeneous. When you desire to make a studio photograph with little modeling, you use three light sources. By reducing the modeling, you also limit the shadows and contrasts. We refer to the main light as "key light", the secondary light as "fill light", and the background light as "back light". The expression "high key lighting" results from its use in scenes with little modeling where the "key light" is favored.

High Key in Wildlife Photography

The high key technique is not only reserved for the creation of portraits in the studio. It is also used in wildlife photography.

The high key technique is intended to be used in artistic or creative photographs. It is not suited for documentary photography where shadows are absent, and details are faded.

Requiring precision, animal photography in high key is a stylistic choice.

Fine art or artistic photography is intended to convey messages or to transmit emotions and feelings.

The details of the subjects are less important, as the focus is placed upon the details of framing and composition. High key is perfectly suited to art photography.

Indeed, this technique allows you to create an ethereal atmosphere in animal photos, enabling you to escape into contemplation.

However, one must be careful, as not all scenes are suitable for high key. We must select our photos with great care.

An Exceptionally Challenging Photographic Technique

Do not close your eyes to the truth about this incredible technique. For me, the production of photos in high key is certainly the most challenging way to create photos.

As professional wildlife photographer artist, my art photographs are created as art prints for purchase or for exhibitions. They are also used in books.

The problem with the high key is that the results can only be judged according to the quality on paper.

With only the screen, the rendering appears correct for ethereal scenes.

But on paper, it is a different story. Overexposed areas do not get ink and can cause a very curious and greyish rendering.

It is for this reason of quality that when I develop high key photos, I carry out many tests with my photo printer. It is possible then to see if details exist in the clearest areas. claires.

The High Key Principle

Not all wildlife scenes are easily adapted to the high-key technique.

The purpose of using high key in the field is to lighten the mid-tones and shadows with overexposure. Therefore, it is important to ensure that these two tones are not dominant in the scene, so that both are not overexposed.

If this is the case, it will be difficult to achieve a high key image, and instead, a low-key image may be produced. I will discuss the low-key technique in another article.

The high-key technique is not only a question of overexposure within the scene, but it especially concerns the lighting conditions.

To create a good high key photograph, you must always look for the most appropriate light. In general, and this is what must be remembered: a low contrast scene will produce excellent high key photographs.

Overexposing a photo cause a “flat scene” to occur, which is an image with low-contrast and low- saturation.

What is surprising when using this technique with art photography is that you obtain the opposite effects of what you desire for wildlife photography.

Usually, in wildlife images, you are looking for contrasted scenes with precise details of the animals’ fur, plumage, or skin.

However, do not forget that the high key is a creative technique for making artistic photographs.

If you want details and contrasts, you must approach documentary photography as it has already been discussed in other articles. To create a high key photograph, you must respect two conditions:

First, you should look for a décor set with potential animals.
Second, you should focus on the correct lighting, especially the one that suits a specific photo. It is a true challenge in this field. Few photographers dare to aspire to these conditions because it is difficult to accomplish successfully and gracefully. Only those who dare to persevere will embark on this photographic process. They are fueled by their deep wish to create extraordinary photographs. They will craft charming and captivating expressions of wildlife photography.