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Where to Keep Your Telephoto Lens

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The last time I went hiking on one of my favorite trails here in Southern California, I missed out on a really good photo opportunity. As I was driving out of the national forest at the end of the day, I spotted a Red-Tailed hawk perched in a nearby tree. The tree must’ve been just 30 feet or so away from my car.

So, I pulled over, and realized I had a problem: my camera and telephoto lens was in the trunk. That meant I’d have to get out of my car, open the trunk, get the camera, and finally try to fire off a few shots. Doing all that without scaring the hawk away would’ve been a miracle. I tried anyway, and sure enough, as soon as I got out of the car, the hawk took off. Oh well.

Although the hawks here in California usually don’t mind if I just roll down the window and fire off a few shots, they DO mind if I actually get out of the vehicle.

Looking back at that situation, I realize there’s a couple things I could’ve done. [Read more…] about Where to Keep Your Telephoto Lens

Thank You!

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photonaturalistI’m happy to announce that PhotoNaturalist recently passed two big milestones. A few weeks ago, our Facebook page got it’s 1,000th fan. And, today we passed 3,000 subscribed readers.

One of our largest sources of traffic has been through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. So, I want to send out a sincere thank you to those of you who have shared PhotoNaturalist with your friends. You’ve been a big help in getting this site to grow.

I have to say it’s been a lot of fun watching this site grow, and I’m looking forward to expanding it in the future. I actually have an exciting new product I’ll be launching in October, so watch out for that 🙂

PhotoNaturalist has helped me with two of my favorite activities in life: learning new things, and sharing what I learn with others. I’m grateful for that. And, I’m even more grateful that you’re finding the posts here helpful enough to share. [Read more…] about Thank You!

How Do You Know When to Upgrade Your Equipment?

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For the past several years my main bird photography equipment has been one of Canon’s xxD bodies (30D, 40D, 50D and the recent 7D) along with either the Canon 400mm f/5.6L or the Canon 300mm f/4L IS. Sometimes I’ve also used these lenses with the Canon 1.4x Extender.

Both of these lenses offer superb image quality with impeccable sharpness. But, there have been times over the last few years when I missed out on photo opportunities because neither one of these lenses would perform adequately.

What kind of conditions am I talking about? When there’s poor lighting and little time to get the shot. The photo below is a good example. It’s a shot of an adult Red-shouldered Hawk that was taken very late in the afternoon. The sky was heavily overcast, causing some dim lighting conditions. [Read more…] about How Do You Know When to Upgrade Your Equipment?

Understanding Perspective and Focal Length

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Image by SharkD / Used under the GFDL
In photography, there’s a common misconception that focal length determines the perspective of an image, but the only thing that really determines perspective is where you put the camera.

For example, the telephoto lens is often said to “compress” your scene and make everything look flat. But, it’s not the focal length that’s doing this. It’s actually because you’re so far from the scene you’re photographing (which is how telephoto lenses are commonly used: to photograph something far away). And, it’s because of this great distance that the scene looks “flat” in the final image.

As you move farther and farther away from something, you lose visual depth. For example, if you stare at someone’s face when you’re only a foot away from them, you’ll be able to see all the curves of their face pretty clearly, but as you step farther away from them, their face will begin to look “flat.” [Read more…] about Understanding Perspective and Focal Length

Book Review: Science for the Curious Photographer by Charles Johnson

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As a photographer with a science background, I’ve always been on the lookout for a good book on the science behind photography. Although Ansel Adams got pretty technical in his excellent books, they left me wanting to know more about how cameras, lenses, and sensors work.

So, I started searching for the right book, and immediately found the comprehensive works of Rudolf Kingslake. But, his books turned out to be a little too technical for me.

Just when I thought my search for the perfect book had ended in failure, I ran into Charles Johnson and discovered his wonderful book, Science for the Curious Photographer. I’ve already read it twice, and I must say it’s the perfect book for anyone who wants to understand how their camera works. [Read more…] about Book Review: Science for the Curious Photographer by Charles Johnson

5 Great iPhone Apps for Nature Photographers

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With mobile phones getting more and more powerful these days, they’re starting to become some pretty useful tools. They’re not just phones anymore. Many of them allow you to install different “apps” that can significantly help you take photos while you’re out on the trail.

For example, here’s a list of some great apps available for the iPhone:

#1 – Photographer’s Ephemeris

The Photographer's EphemerisI’ve discussed this app before (it also has a free desktop version): it’s the ultimate iPhone app for landscape photographers. It’ll tell you sunrise and sunset times, moon times, azimuth and elevation of the sun/moon at a specific time (useful for planning landscape shots), and tons more stuff.

The app easily lets you switch between dates, so you can see what time of the year the sun will set where you want it to, and all of this is projected on top of a Google map, making it super easy to visualize where things are going to be. [Read more…] about 5 Great iPhone Apps for Nature Photographers