PhotoNaturalist - nature photography tips and tutorials

nature photography tips and tutorials

camera

Why you should keep your camera’s SENSOR super clean

by 5 Comments

Last week, I wrote a post about why it’s important to keep your lenses clean, and included an example photo to help illustrate my point.

Well, it turns out I was wrong about what caused those dust specks in the photo: they were NOT caused by dust on the lens, but instead resulted from dust on the camera’s sensor.

I’d like to thank Eric Pohl and Michael Smith for kindly correcting my error (see their comments on the original post). And, please accept my sincere apology for being wrong about this!

As Eric and Mike pointed out in their comments, dust on your lens will rarely show up in the end photo because you’ll always be focusing much farther than the front element of your lens (which is where the dust is). Ron Brinkmann put together an excellent article with great examples that helps show this.

For dust on your lens to be visible as specks in your photo, you’d have to be focusing your lens to an extremely close distance (even closer than what most macro lenses can do). So, any specks of dust you see in your final image most likely were caused by dust on your camera’s sensor. [Read more…] about Why you should keep your camera’s SENSOR super clean

9 tips for photographing wildflowers with a point and shoot camera

by 5 Comments

Photo by Steve Berardi (shot with a Canon G10 point and shoot camera)
Although wildflowers are best photographed with an SLR camera, it’s still possible to take some pretty good shots with a plain old point and shoot camera. And, sometimes this may be the only camera you have with you at the time, either because you’re backpacking far into the wilderness and want to travel light, or maybe you haven’t made the jump to an SLR just yet.

The biggest problem you’ll run into with the point and shoot camera is the large depth of field you get from the super small sensor. This limits some of your options, but there’s a few ways to get around it, and as always, light also plays a huge role in the success of a photo.

So, here are a few tips for photographing wildflowers when you’re limited to a point and shoot camera: [Read more…] about 9 tips for photographing wildflowers with a point and shoot camera

5 reasons to minimize your camera gear

by 17 Comments

Photo by Martin Taylor
Have you ever felt like you were just one camera lens away from completing your ultimate collection of gear? Have you ever said to yourself, “if only I had that 600mm lens, THEN I could take those awesome photos I want.” Or maybe there’s some nifty little accessories that you’re just itching to get.

I think it’s pretty easy to get excited about new camera gear. I’ll admit it: I’d love to get my hands on a 600mm f/4, or that Canon 7D. And, I’m sure you would too 🙂

But, then we get reminded by great photographers like David duChemin that gear isn’t the most important thing. The photographer is what really makes the photo, and one of the best ways to improve your photography is to simply just go out there and take more photos. Experiment. Make mistakes. Learn from them.

I think as nature photographers, it’s especially important to minimize our gear, and here are a few reasons why: [Read more…] about 5 reasons to minimize your camera gear

How to create intimate portraits of nature

by 13 Comments

Bigelow's Monkeyflower / Photos by Steve Berardi
Bigelow's Monkeyflower / Photos by Steve Berardi
Which of the two photos above do you like better?

They were both taken of the same flower, with the same camera settings. The only difference between the two shots is the position of the camera.

I’ll take a wild guess that you like the first one more. And, I think this photo is better because it has more of an intimate and friendly feeling to it. [Read more…] about How to create intimate portraits of nature

3 Things That Affect Depth of Field

by 5 Comments

Diagram by Jared C. Benedict (used under the CC-Attr-SA license)
Diagram by Jared C. Benedict (used under the CC-Attr-SA license)
I was planning to write about the three things that affect depth of field this week, but by pure coincidence (seriously!), I discovered this great blog post that Brian Auer wrote a few days ago:

Three Ways to Control Depth of Field

I’d highly recommend checking it out. Brian did a nice job of explaining the three things that affect depth of field (aperture, camera to subject distance, and focal length), including some sample images too.

There’s a few things I’d like to add though: [Read more…] about 3 Things That Affect Depth of Field

Why you should memorize the f-number series

by 18 Comments

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