PhotoNaturalist - nature photography tips and tutorials

nature photography tips and tutorials

Articles by Steve Berardi

5 reasons to minimize your camera gear

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Photo by Martin Taylor
Have you ever felt like you were just one camera lens away from completing your ultimate collection of gear? Have you ever said to yourself, “if only I had that 600mm lens, THEN I could take those awesome photos I want.” Or maybe there’s some nifty little accessories that you’re just itching to get.

I think it’s pretty easy to get excited about new camera gear. I’ll admit it: I’d love to get my hands on a 600mm f/4, or that Canon 7D. And, I’m sure you would too 🙂

But, then we get reminded by great photographers like David duChemin that gear isn’t the most important thing. The photographer is what really makes the photo, and one of the best ways to improve your photography is to simply just go out there and take more photos. Experiment. Make mistakes. Learn from them.

I think as nature photographers, it’s especially important to minimize our gear, and here are a few reasons why: [Read more…] about 5 reasons to minimize your camera gear

How to create intimate portraits of nature

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Bigelow's Monkeyflower / Photos by Steve Berardi
Bigelow's Monkeyflower / Photos by Steve Berardi
Which of the two photos above do you like better?

They were both taken of the same flower, with the same camera settings. The only difference between the two shots is the position of the camera.

I’ll take a wild guess that you like the first one more. And, I think this photo is better because it has more of an intimate and friendly feeling to it. [Read more…] about How to create intimate portraits of nature

3 Things That Affect Depth of Field

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Diagram by Jared C. Benedict (used under the CC-Attr-SA license)
Diagram by Jared C. Benedict (used under the CC-Attr-SA license)
I was planning to write about the three things that affect depth of field this week, but by pure coincidence (seriously!), I discovered this great blog post that Brian Auer wrote a few days ago:

Three Ways to Control Depth of Field

I’d highly recommend checking it out. Brian did a nice job of explaining the three things that affect depth of field (aperture, camera to subject distance, and focal length), including some sample images too.

There’s a few things I’d like to add though: [Read more…] about 3 Things That Affect Depth of Field

New eBook, Digital Wildflower Photography, is now available!

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Digital Wildflower Photography (cover)Today I’m happy to announce that my new eBook, Digital Wildflower Photography, is now available.

The first thing you’re probably wondering is how it’s different from the free eBook I released last spring. Well, this new one is over twice as long at 55 pages, and has a ton of new content.

While the free eBook was really just a collection of a few tips for getting better wildflower photos, this new ebook is more of a complete guide that will teach you how to take stunning wildflower photos and how to post-process them in Adobe Photoshop (CS and Elements 8). [Read more…] about New eBook, Digital Wildflower Photography, is now available!

5 great resources for nature photographers

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When I started this website, I listed a few great resources on the right sidebar, but I just realized that I’ve never written about them in a post before. So, I thought I’d take a moment to list them here and explain how each one can be helpful on your journey to photograph the wonderful natural world:

mooncal

#1 – Moon Phase Calendar

This website will show you the moon phases for the current calendar month. It’s helpful when you’re trying to plan a landscape shot and need the moon to be in a specific phase (mostly likely full). I usually just use it as a sort of “quick look” planning tool, and then move on to the next site for more details. [Read more…] about 5 great resources for nature photographers

What went wrong with this sand dune photo?

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Photo by Steve Berardi
Photo by Steve Berardi
I received a lot of positive feedback the last time I discussed one of my “bad photos,” so it was easy for me to decide to continue these types of posts.

This time I want to talk about a photo I took last weekend while camping in the Mojave Desert. I intentionally picked this weekend because of the full moon–I was hoping to catch a few glorious moonrises and moonsets.

The first night I was there, I shot this photo a few minutes before sunset: [Read more…] about What went wrong with this sand dune photo?