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Free eBook From Craft & Vision

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Last week, Craft & Vision (founded by David duChemin) released a free eBook with nine excellent articles on how you can improve your photography.

The articles are written by a variety of professional photographers and cover a wide range of topics. And although some of the articles may not specifically apply to nature photography, I’ve always felt you can learn a lot by exploring other types of photography.

Here’s a list of what you’ll learn in this free ebook:

  • Benefits of shooting in manual mode
  • How to recognize good light
  • How to isolate your subject
  • How to balance your flash with ambient light
  • Tips for working with black and white images
  • How to make sharper images
  • Tips for dealing with “bad light”
  • Tips for streamlining your post-processing

All of the articles are written by some really inspirational photographers, so I think you’ll learn a lot from every page of the ebook. One of my favorite things about the book is that at the end of every article there are links to more ebooks that explore that topic in more depth. [Read more…] about Free eBook From Craft & Vision

In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World (Book Review)

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In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World / Eliot PorterEliot Porter was a famous nature photographer, who gained widespread attention after publishing his great book, In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World, back in 1962. It’s still known as one of the most important nature photography books ever published, but until recently it was out of print.

Luckily, Ammo Books just started publishing this book again, and I was happy to accept a review copy to check out this new edition.

The book is much more than a simple collection of photographs. The photographs are organized by seasons of the year, and each photo is accompanied by a journal entry from Henry David Thoreau. [Read more…] about In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World (Book Review)

How Perspective Affects Your Photos

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Ansel Adams once said, “A good photograph is knowing where to stand.” But, before you know where to stand, it’s important to understand a few concepts about perspective.

I’ve written about perspective here on PhotoNaturalist a few times, but I’ve also written a couple posts about it over at the Digital Photography School (a great blog that covers all types of photography). And, one of those posts was just published today, so I thought it’d be good to put a list together of all the posts I’ve written about perspective: [Read more…] about How Perspective Affects Your Photos

What To Do When You Need Inspiration

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Photo by Steve Berardi
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about how to tell if you’re in a slump. I made the argument that you’re most likely not in a slump at all–that perhaps you’re just learning and being more picky about your compositions (which is a very good thing).

But, what do you do when you really are in an artistic slump?

Maybe it’s been months since you shot a photo you’re proud of, or maybe you feel like you’re losing interest in photography. What do you do then?

Well, there’s one thing that has never failed for me: [Read more…] about What To Do When You Need Inspiration

Why You Should Read Your Camera’s Manual

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Canon 7D (instruction manual)The instruction manual is probably the most boring thing you get with a new camera.

It’s funny: you spend a few hundred (or thousand) dollars on a nice camera so you can take brilliantly colorful photos, and all it comes with is a tiny, poorly printed and poorly written instruction manual full of black and white photos!

Your first instinct might be to just ignore that manual, or even throw it away before even peeking inside.

But, buried inside that thing might be some cool features of your new camera that you’re totally unaware of. [Read more…] about Why You Should Read Your Camera’s Manual

Ansel Adams in the National Parks (Book Review)

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Ansel Adams in the National ParksAnsel Adams doesn’t need an introduction. Even non-photographers know about his awesomeness. He wasn’t just a master at making amazing images though–he also played a very large role in the preservation of the American wilderness.

Well, about a month ago a new book was published with a few hundred of his photographs that were taken in the national parks of the United States. I finally got a chance to look through the book, so I thought I’d share some of my thoughts. [Read more…] about Ansel Adams in the National Parks (Book Review)