PhotoNaturalist - nature photography tips and tutorials
nature photography tips and tutorials
The photo above was taken at Sand Harbor, Lake Tahoe (Nevada). This area is known for those large rounded rocks that seem to have just been thrown onto the lake. It’s a wonderful place to watch the sunset because you’ll see some beautiful reflections on the the torquise water of Lake Tahoe.
There were three keys to getting this photo: [Read more…] about How to get this photo of Lake Tahoe
Wildflowers display some of the most brilliant colors found in nature. And, for good reason–they’re fiercely competing with each other to attract their pollinating friends: the insects and a few species of birds.
However, their brilliant colors often make them difficult to photograph. Have you ever come home with a full memory card only to find out that all those beautiful flower photos you took have blown out highlights, washed out colors, and harsh shadows?
Well, there’s a secret to avoiding all these problems, and I’m going to tell you what it is. Are you ready? [Read more…] about The secret to getting perfect light for your wildflower photographs
In a previous article, Vic Berardi discussed the ethics of baiting owls in order to get a good photograph. He explained how it’s important to keep nature natural, and how it’s possible to get great photos without baiting wild animals. It just takes patience, and knowledge.
Well, the photo above by Mike McDowell is proof that you can get a stunning photograph of a Northern Hawk Owl without baiting them. Mike also wrote an article on the subject, which is worth checking out!
Waterfalls are one of my favorite things to photograph. They’re so simple, yet so beautiful. It’s usually the immense contrast that attracts me to a waterfall–the color of the white water contrasting with dark rocks and green moss. Together, they create such a pleasing sight!
Some of the same principles of landscape photography apply to waterfall photos as well, but there are a few other things to keep in mind when composing waterfalls: [Read more…] about Tips for composing waterfall photos
Do you constantly find yourself resizing your photos to prepare them for the Internet? Maybe for posting them to a blog, emailing them to a friend, or adding them to your online photo gallery?
Surprisingly, photo resizing (or resampling) involves some very complex computer algorithms. There’s many ways to do it, and I won’t go into all the technical details here, but the bottom line is that the default resizing method in Photoshop isn’t the best one available.
If you change just one setting when resizing your photos, you can get much higher quality results that will even make your photos look sharper!
[Read more…] about How to resize your photos (the “sharp” way)
This weekend I read an article by Wendy L. Turner in Nature Photographer Magazine, and learned a new tip on how to get sharper flower photographs: position your camera so the sensor is parallel to the most important plane of the flower.
When photographing flowers, you will most likely use a telephoto or macro lens with a wide aperture (to get that great blurry background), so proper focus is very subtle and extremely difficult to achieve.
Positioning your camera so the sensor is parallel to the most important plane of the flower will help put all important parts of the flower at the same distance from your sensor, so all those parts will be in sharp focus. [Read more…] about How to get sharper flower photographs