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nature photography tips and tutorials

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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!

Why you should memorize the f-number series

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Diagram by Chris Buckley / Used under the GFDL
Diagram by Chris Buckley / Used under the GFDL
In photography there’s something known as the standard f-number series. It’s a geometric sequence of f-numbers that goes like this:

f/1 1.4 2 2.8 4 5.6 8 11 16 22 32

At first this may look like a random series of numbers, but there’s actually a method to this madness, and memorizing this series can help you make quick adjustments to exposure when switching between f-numbers. [Read more…] about Why you should memorize the f-number series

What mode should you shoot in?

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banner2modeHave you ever been confused by all the different modes on your camera? Maybe you understand what each one does, but you’re not sure which mode is best for what. Well, here’s a summary of the most commonly used modes for nature photography: [Read more…] about What mode should you shoot in?

How to get sharper flower photographs

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Photo by Steve Berardi
Photo by Steve Berardi

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