• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

PhotoNaturalist - nature photography tips and tutorials

nature photography tips and tutorials

  • Home
  • Articles
  • eBooks
  • About
  • Contact

Articles by Steve Berardi

How GPS Can Help Your Photography

March 26, 2012 by Steve Berardi 7 Comments

GPS DeviceI just recently started hiking with a handheld GPS device to log my hikes and so I could have elevation data wherever I go. But, I’ve also started using it as a tool for photography. Here are a few ways it’s helped me:

#1 – Keep track of good spots for landscape images

This probably happens to you a lot: you’ll be hiking on a trail and come to this amazing vista or perfect rock formation and you realize it would make a great landscape image if the weather or lighting conditions were just a tad bit different. Maybe you just want some of that nice sunset light shining on a mountain peak, or maybe you want a nice puffy cloud to hover over a particular rock.

Well, a GPS device can help you keep track of these spots, simply by adding waypoints. Then, once you get home later, you can write some notes about that particular spot (e.g. “come back in April when there’s more flowers in bloom” or “come back at sunset in winter, when the sun will be at the right angle to shine on this mountain peak”). [Read more…] about How GPS Can Help Your Photography

Filed Under: Landscapes, Tips, Wildlife Tagged With: blind, burrow, camera, clock, device, elevation, geo-tag, geographical, geography, geotag, geotagging, gps, landscape, nature, photography, topographical, Wildlife

How to Win the Battle of Close-up Photography

March 7, 2012 by Steve Berardi 9 Comments

Pitcher Sage / Photo by Steve Berardi
Pitcher Sage / Photo by Steve Berardi
In close-up nature photography, there’s a constant battle of trying to find that perfect balance between a sharp subject and an out-of-focus background.

An out-of-focus background is essential to a good close-up photo, because it helps draw attention to your main subject.

But, it’s not always easy to get that nice background. Sometimes the background is just too close, or your subject has a lot of depth (forcing you to try a smaller aperture, which then puts more of the background in focus).

So, how do you deal with this constant battle? Well, here are a few ways: [Read more…] about How to Win the Battle of Close-up Photography

Filed Under: Macro, Tips, Wildflowers Tagged With: aperture, background, close, close up, closeup, depth of field, f number, flower, focus, insect, Macro, nature, out of focu, photography, sharpness, subject, telephoto, up, wildflower

Free eBook on Wildflower Photography

February 27, 2012 by Steve Berardi 28 Comments

With spring beginning here in the southwestern United States, I thought it was time to update our free ebook on wildflower photography. The original version was released about three years ago, so it was due for an update.

Most of the content is the same, but I’ve learned a lot in the last three years, so I’ve updated just about every page in the book, and replaced a few tips with newer articles.

Anyway, here’s a sneak peak of what you’ll learn in this ebook: [Read more…] about Free eBook on Wildflower Photography

Filed Under: Tips, Wildflowers Tagged With: bloom, close up, ebook, flower, focus, free, light, Macro, nature, overcast, photo, photographer, photography, photonaturalist, sharp, spring, telephoto, wild, wildflower, wildflowers

How To Organize Your Photo Ideas

February 20, 2012 by Steve Berardi 3 Comments

Last week, I talked about the different phases of developing creativity. I mentioned that in the final phase, you start visualizing images that are not a part of your collection yet.

But, once you start getting all these great ideas for images, how do you keep track of them all? Well, here are a few things that have worked for me: [Read more…] about How To Organize Your Photo Ideas

Filed Under: Landscapes, Tips Tagged With: evernote, examples, google, ideas, inspiration, maps, notebook, notes, organize, photo, pre-visualization, sketch, visualization

Three Phases of Developing Creativity

February 15, 2012 by Steve Berardi 11 Comments

Moonset at Sunrise / Photo by Steve Berardi
Photo by Steve Berardi
In the first chapter of Galen Rowell’s great book, Inner Game of Outdoor Photography, he talks about the three phases of developing creativity. Ever since reading this, I’ve noticed how often it applies to any “creative” hobby I start. I’ve also noticed other people go through these same phases. So, I thought it’d be interesting to share them, and see what other people think.

Anyway, here are the phases that Rowell talked about, and a summary of how I interpreted them: [Read more…] about Three Phases of Developing Creativity

Filed Under: Philosophy Tagged With: art, artist, artistic, composition, creative, creativity, curious, developing, development, organization, phases, pre-visualization, three, unique, vision, visualization

Where to Get Precipitation Data

February 7, 2012 by Steve Berardi 1 Comment

With spring just around the corner here in the southwestern United States, it’s time to start scouting out places for wildflowers. And, one of the best ways to do that is to look at winter precipitation data.

Precipitation isn’t the only thing that affects a good wildflower show, but it can usually be a strong indicator of where the good spots will be (especially in areas that receive little rain to begin with, such as the desert).

So, where do you find all this great precipitation data? Well, there’s two sources I’m relying on this spring: [Read more…] about Where to Get Precipitation Data

Filed Under: Wildflowers Tagged With: data, flower, hotspot, noaa, nws, precipitation, rain, scouting, snow, spring, underground, weather, wildflower, winter, wunderground, wundermap

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Before Footer

Topics

aperture bird photography birds camera close close up clouds composition depth of field ebook exposure flower focus gear histogram image landscape lens lenses light Macro moon nature nature photography photo photograph photography photonaturalist photos photoshop sharp sharpness subject sun sunrise sunset telephoto Tips tripod vision weather wild wildflower wildflowers Wildlife

Footer

Popular Articles

  • 7 tips for getting sharper photographs
  • How to use the histogram for a good exposure
  • How to resize your photos (the “sharp” way)
  • 13 tips for better wildflower photography
  • How to photograph dragonflies (free eBook!)
  • RAW vs JPEG: Who wins?
  • How to get sharp photos of birds in flight
  • What to photograph on an overcast day
  • What is a natural photograph?
  • Three elements of a great landscape
  • 11 tips for avoiding memory card problems
  • Tips for photographing shorebirds
  • What mode should you shoot in?

Categories

  • Book Reviews
  • Close-Up
  • Gear Reviews
  • Landscapes
  • Macro
  • Philosophy
  • Photoshop Tutorials
  • Tips
  • Uncategorized
  • Wildflowers
  • Wildlife

Copyright © 2025 · Wellness Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in