PhotoNaturalist - nature photography tips and tutorials

nature photography tips and tutorials

Tips

Look for subtle features of your subject

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(c) iStockPhoto/Emrah Turudu
(c) iStockPhoto / Emrah Turudu
Do you ever feel like you don’t really see your subject until you photograph them?

Photography allows you to capture a seemingly instant moment of time, and observe it forever. In a way, the camera is almost like a time stopper. This may even be one of the reasons you originally got into photography.

After you snap that photo, and check it out later on your computer, you probably inspect it pretty carefully, exploring each and every aspect of your image. Sometimes during these inspections, you’ll notice an intricate detail of your subject that you never noticed before. [Read more…] about Look for subtle features of your subject

Guide to storing and backing up your photos (Part 2 of 2)

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allbackupIn part one of this article, Matthew Fletcher explained the different connection types for external hard drives, and compared three strategies for backing up your photos.

In part two of this guide, Matthew explains a few backup options in detail, and provides a few specific recommendations: [Read more…] about Guide to storing and backing up your photos (Part 2 of 2)

When photographing wildlife, always keep an eye on the Sun

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Photo by Steve Berardi
Photo by Steve Berardi
There’s a big problem with the photo above, of a female Rufous Hummingbird. Can you spot what it is?

Okay, maybe the headline gave it away, but in case you haven’t figured it out yet, the problem is that big dark shadow on the bird’s breast.

Why did this happen? Simple: I wasn’t keeping an eye on the Sun. I don’t mean that literally, of course. If you really kept an eye on the Sun, you’d go blind pretty quickly (not a good condition for photographers!).

But, when you’re photographing wildlife, it’s a good idea to keep track of the Sun’s position, to avoid harsh shadows from appearing on your subject. You’ll most likely want an evenly lit subject, unless you’re exploring a creative type of photo. [Read more…] about When photographing wildlife, always keep an eye on the Sun

Guide to storing and backing up your photos (Part 1 of 2)

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Photo by Matthew Field (used under the CC-Attr-SA license)
Photo by Matthew Field (used under the CC-Attr-SA license)
Like toasters, cars and space shuttles, hard disks are mechanical devices that will eventually fail. Unlike most other devices, you cannot perform a service on a hard drive to prevent future failures. That means that all your images are sitting on a device that is like a ticking time bomb. The big question is: “What happens to your images when the bomb explodes?”

Having a backup plan in place is like having a bomb shelter. It might be inconvenient for a while but you will survive to live another day. Fortunately creating a backup strategy is much easier than making a bomb shelter. 🙂 [Read more…] about Guide to storing and backing up your photos (Part 1 of 2)

“Stop and take a look around once in awhile”

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(c) iStockPhoto/CreativeShot
(c) iStockPhoto/CreativeShot
Have you ever seen the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day off? One of my all time favorite quotes is at the end of this film when Ferris says,

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and take a look around once in awhile, you could miss it.”

Bueller wasn’t a naturalist (or a photographer), but I think his advice is the key to enjoying nature.

In our modern world of cell phones, next day shipping, and instant access to just about anything, it’s really hard sometimes to take a break and escape this “on demand” attitude.

But, to really enjoy nature and see all of its beauty, you have to look through patient eyes. You have to stop and take a look around once in awhile.

Here’s a short story to help illustrate what I mean: [Read more…] about “Stop and take a look around once in awhile”

How to avoid autofocus problems

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lockfocusSometimes autofocus can really be annoying. For some shots it’ll focus on the right part of your subject, but then the very next shot it may choose to focus on something far and away into the background.

Sure, you could avoid this problem by always using manual focus, but autofocus is great when you need to focus quickly or when you’re photographing a landscape and you need to focus on a certain spot in the scene (this isn’t always easy to do with manual focus).

So, here are two ways to lock your focus and prevent your camera from autofocusing on the wrong part of your subject: [Read more…] about How to avoid autofocus problems