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A Simple Trick To Eliminate Lens Flare

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Lens Flare

I recently acquired a Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 Lens to use with my Canon 80D body for tree photography. The lens is considered a wide zoom, but it doesn’t go so far as to give a fish-eye effect. It does capture a very wide angle of view, however— with its widest angle at 107°. As wonderful as this is for capturing the full width of a large area, it can also come with some tricky conditions to deal with. One of those is glare. Since I’m somewhat new to using this lens, I ran into this issue recently while photographing the crowns of large trees and pointing the camera directly upwards.

Here I am pointing my camera directly up towards the crown of the tree you see directly behind me. I wanted to capture as much of the trunk and crown as I could: [Read more…] about A Simple Trick To Eliminate Lens Flare

Benefits of Using a Flash Extender

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Flash ExtenderNote from the editor (Steve): This is a post by our newest writer: Robert Visconti. He primarily photographs wildlife (especially birds), and he’s got some really cool ideas for DIY projects and optimizing your camera gear. In this post, he talks about using flash extenders and how to make one work better.

A flash extender is just that: it extends the flash’s output to a much greater distance by using a Fresnel lens. A flash without the extender literally “floods” the entire subject area with light. The extender takes this conical shape of light and concentrates it into a beam, hence its name. [Read more…] about Benefits of Using a Flash Extender

Introduction To The Types of Natural Light

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Mojave Desert at Sunset / Photo by Steve Berardi
Mojave Desert at Sunset / Photo by Steve Berardi
Light is something you have very little control over in nature photography, but it has a big effect on the look of your photographs so it’s important to understand how different lighting conditions will affect the look of your photograph.

Here’s a short intro to the different types of light you’ll experience, along with a few ideas of what to photograph in each type of light: [Read more…] about Introduction To The Types of Natural Light

How To Photograph Birds In Bad Light

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Photo by Vic Berardi
Photo by Vic Berardi
You’ve probably said it yourself and you’ve heard it said many times, “I decided to stay home today because the lighting was so awful.”

If you’re like many beginning bird photographers, then you check the weather forecast hoping it calls for sunny blue skies. But, then you get depressed when the forecast calls for “mostly cloudy skies” and a chance for rain or snow. You begin to wonder why you have all that expensive camera equipment!

But don’t fret too hard about it! Yes, it’s true that deep blue skies can be great for photographing birds in flight, but it’s actually cloudy skies that create the lighting situations for the most dynamic or dramatic photos, especially those of perched birds. [Read more…] about How To Photograph Birds In Bad Light

There’s No Such Thing As Bad Light

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California Poppy / Photo by Steve Berardi
California Poppy / Photo by Steve Berardi
In photography, there’s always a lot of talk about “good light” and “bad light.” Especially when it comes to specific subjects (like that popular rule that says the only “good light” for photographing landscapes is at sunrise or sunset).

But, as I create and look at more and more images, the more I’ve realized that these “rules” always have exceptions. There’s really no such thing as a type of light that’s always bad for a specific subject.

For example, it’s often said that the best light for photographing wildflowers is under overcast skies (I’ve even said it myself here on PN!). And, for a long time, I would only photograph wildflowers under overcast skies (or with some kind of light diffuser). But, then I started seeing all these great images of wildflowers under bright sunlight. I really liked how the bright sunlight helped “light up” the inside of the flower, so I started looking at wildflowers differently ever since then, and now I have numerous photos of wildflowers under bright sunlight (like the one above). [Read more…] about There’s No Such Thing As Bad Light

How a Light Diffuser Can Help Your Close-Up Photos

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In a previous post, I talked about how you can build a light diffuser out of a shower curtain and wire clothes hanger. You can use this diffuser to help cast a soft light on your subjects, which helps eliminate harsh shadows and really makes the colors of your subject pop. It’s especially helpful for photographing wildflowers.

Here’s an example of the difference this diffuser can make: [Read more…] about How a Light Diffuser Can Help Your Close-Up Photos