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How To Make Your Subject Stand Out

July 23, 2012 by Steve Berardi 9 Comments

Photography is all about making your subject stand out. You want the viewer to easily recognize your subject, and appreciate its beauty. There are lots of ways to draw attention to your subject, but here are a few of my favorites:

Contrast

Desert Sunflower / Photo by Steve Berardi
Desert Sunflower / Photo by Steve Berardi

One of the simplest ways to make your subject stand out is to photograph it in front of a contrasting background. Ideally, you want the colors to be complementary, but any kind of contrast will usually work. For example, in the photo on the right, I really wanted that yellow Desert Sunflower to stand out, so I photographed it in front of some purple flowers (Desert Sand Verbena). [Read more…] about How To Make Your Subject Stand Out

Filed Under: Tips Tagged With: aperture, closeup, composition, contrast, depth of field, image, isolate, landscape, out, photo, scale, stand, story, subject

Why You Should Always Shoot Lots of Photos

May 29, 2012 by Steve Berardi 8 Comments

Creosote Bush / Photos by Steve Berardi
Creosote Bush / Photos by Steve Berardi
There seems to be a common habit among photographers to take just one shot of something and then immediately move on.

Although you can definitely get good shots this way, I think it’s also beneficial to slow down a little bit and take lots of photos of your subject. Here are a few reasons why: [Read more…] about Why You Should Always Shoot Lots of Photos

Filed Under: Tips Tagged With: bracketing, capture, changing, composition, exposure, golden hours, landscape, light, lots, photos, sharp, sharper, sharpness, shoot, shots, take, Wildlife

Biggest Full Moon of the Year Occurs This Saturday

May 1, 2012 by Steve Berardi 6 Comments

Photo by Gregory H. Revera (used under the CC-Attr-SA license)
Photo by Gregory H. Revera (used under the CC-Attr-SA license)
The biggest full moon of the year will occur this Saturday, May 5th at 11:35 PM EDT. The moon will appear extra large on Saturday, because that’s when it makes its closest approach to Earth (also known as perigee).

With a larger moon in the sky, it’ll be a great opportunity to get some good photographs. The moon will also be about 16% brighter than normal, so you’ll be able to use faster shutter speeds which will help make the photo sharper.

Here are some great articles from around the web to help prepare you for photographing the “super moon” this weekend: [Read more…] about Biggest Full Moon of the Year Occurs This Saturday

Filed Under: Tips Tagged With: big, landscape, large, moon, moonrise, moonscape, moonset, perigee, super, supermoon

How GPS Can Help Your Photography

March 26, 2012 by Steve Berardi 7 Comments

GPS DeviceI just recently started hiking with a handheld GPS device to log my hikes and so I could have elevation data wherever I go. But, I’ve also started using it as a tool for photography. Here are a few ways it’s helped me:

#1 – Keep track of good spots for landscape images

This probably happens to you a lot: you’ll be hiking on a trail and come to this amazing vista or perfect rock formation and you realize it would make a great landscape image if the weather or lighting conditions were just a tad bit different. Maybe you just want some of that nice sunset light shining on a mountain peak, or maybe you want a nice puffy cloud to hover over a particular rock.

Well, a GPS device can help you keep track of these spots, simply by adding waypoints. Then, once you get home later, you can write some notes about that particular spot (e.g. “come back in April when there’s more flowers in bloom” or “come back at sunset in winter, when the sun will be at the right angle to shine on this mountain peak”). [Read more…] about How GPS Can Help Your Photography

Filed Under: Landscapes, Tips, Wildlife Tagged With: blind, burrow, camera, clock, device, elevation, geo-tag, geographical, geography, geotag, geotagging, gps, landscape, nature, photography, topographical, Wildlife

6 Tips For Photographing Sand Dunes

January 10, 2012 by Steve Berardi 9 Comments

Photo by Steve Berardi
Photo by Steve Berardi
Sand dunes are some of the most visually stunning subjects you’ll find in the desert. In a land that’s dominated by sharp cactus and pointy rocks, dunes provide some relief with their smooth curves and soft sand. So, naturally they make good subjects for photographs. Here are a few tips for photographing them:

#1 – Watch where you walk

Avoid walking through the middle of dunes, since that’ll mess up those nice lines in the sand and ruin any opportunity to photograph the dune. Instead, walk around dunes, or only walk through dunes you know you don’t want to photograph. [Read more…] about 6 Tips For Photographing Sand Dunes

Filed Under: Landscapes Tagged With: california, colorado, contrast, country, desert, dunes, landscape, lenses, mojave, sand, shadow, sunrise, sunset, Tips, wind

Why You Should Keep Your Camera’s Clock Accurate

December 13, 2011 by Steve Berardi 7 Comments

When I first get a camera, I always set the right date and time, but then I usually completely forget about it. A few daylight savings time changes go by, and of course I forget to update the time, so for half the year, my cameras are an hour off.

But, there’s also a few other problems: when I first set the clock, I’m usually pretty lazy about it (if a nearby clock says 7:34 PM, I’ll just set the camera to 7:30 PM). Also, a lot of digital clocks lose seconds over time, so with a camera that’s a few years old, my clock could be off by 5-10 minutes (plus any adjustments for daylight savings).

Why does this matter? [Read more…] about Why You Should Keep Your Camera’s Clock Accurate

Filed Under: Landscapes Tagged With: camera, clock, date, gps, landscape, slr, sunrise, sunset, time, timing

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