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nature photography tips and tutorials

Articles by Steve Berardi

Introduction to Insect Macro Photography (Part III) – Composition and Focusing

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Photo by Huub de Waard / Male marmalade hover fly: Magnification 5, f/14, ISO 100 and 1/250 sec
Photo by Huub de Waard / Male marmalade hover fly: Magnification 5, f/14, ISO 100 and 1/250 sec
This is the final part (III) of a guest post by Huub de Waard, an exceptional photographer who specializes in close-up shots of insects. After reading his post, be sure to check out more of his awesome photos at his website. And, if you’re also interested in writing a guest post here on PhotoNaturalist, please contact me, thanks! –Steve

Composition is more difficult for microphotography than for other types of nature photography.

Your subject might be an insect or a spider sitting on a difficult-to-reach place. Add the fact that you need to approach very carefully to not disturb your subject and you have a bit of a tricky situation. There are no golden rules to help you solve this one. Play around with composition until you get something that works.

In microphotography, you want to simplify your image as much as you possibly can. Fill up as much of your frame as possible with the subject. Have your focus as sharp as possible and don’t be afraid to experiment with different angles to find the one with the most aesthetic appeal. Photos at high magnification have a corresponding shallow depth of field, so precise control over the location of focus is critical. This requires not only artistic decisions about what part of the subject should be tack sharp, but also technical decisions about how to make the most of this sharpness. [Read more…] about Introduction to Insect Macro Photography (Part III) – Composition and Focusing

Happy Birthday to PN!

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Photo by Will Clayton (used under the CC license)
Photo by Will Clayton (used under the CC license)
Today, PhotoNaturalist celebrates its fifth birthday! We’re now halfway to a decade, woohoo!

It’s been an amazing five years. This blog has been one of the most rewarding projects of my life, and I’m looking forward to continuing its growth.

I want to send out a special thank you to everyone who’s helped spread the word about PhotoNaturalist. Social networking continues to be our biggest source of traffic, so if you’ve shared one of our posts with your friends, thank you for helping us grow 🙂

Thanks for reading these past five years! [Read more…] about Happy Birthday to PN!

New Issue of Fotozaar Now Available!

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Fotozaar - Issue 3Today I’m happy to announce that the third issue of Fotozaar is now available. It contains twenty incredible photographs from a wide variety of photographers, along with detailed explanations of how each image was made.

You may remember hearing about Fotozaar last year, when I released the first issue.

The idea for this series of ebooks was inspired by my strong belief that one of the best ways to learn something is by example. As Albert Einstein put it, “Learning by example isn’t the best way to learn. It’s the only way to learn.” [Read more…] about New Issue of Fotozaar Now Available!

Edward Weston: The Photographer

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Edward Weston once said that “Good composition is merely the strongest way of seeing.” I’ve always thought that was one of the best explanations of what photography is at it’s core: it’s really just about learning to see better.

Weston is widely known as one of the most influential American photographers. He primarily shot photos in the American West (especially California), and photographed a wide range of subjects (including landscapes, portraits, and still life).

I recently came across an excellent documentary about Weston and his approach to photography (thanks to Jim Goldstein for sharing!), so I thought it’d be great to share on PN. It’s a little dated (filmed in 1948), but there’s a lot of inspirational stuff in here:

Enjoy! 🙂 [Read more…] about Edward Weston: The Photographer

Why You Should Get Insurance For Your Gear

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Photo by Bryan Fenstermacher (used under the CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license)
Photo by Bryan Fenstermacher (used under the CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license)
Photography is an expensive hobby. You might’ve started with something small and inexpensive, like a point and shoot camera. But, then the passion was probably too much to control, so you moved onto a more manual camera, or even a DSLR. Then came all the fancy lenses and tripod. And, before you knew it, all your camera gear became more valuable than your car.

If that sounds anything like you, then it might be a good idea to consider getting insurance for all of your camera gear.

Insurance helps protect the large investment you’ve made in camera gear and it gives you “peace of mind” — so you don’t have to worry about your gear getting stolen, and instead you can just focus on taking photographs (pun intended, heh). [Read more…] about Why You Should Get Insurance For Your Gear

Happy Holidays!

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I’ll be taking the next couple of weeks off from writing, so I just wanted to wish you all a very happy holiday season. I hope you get some time to relax and spend some time with your family.

And, if you asked Santa for any camera gear this year, then I hope it shows up under the tree 😉

It’s been a great year for PhotoNaturalist. Our traffic continues to double each year, and we’re almost five years old now! [Read more…] about Happy Holidays!