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The Warmup

August 9, 2017 by Vic Berardi 8 Comments

The WarmupWhat photo would you say is the one you’re least prepared to take? For me, it’s the very first photo on any given day. Have you ever gone out for a day of nature photography, regardless of your subject preference, and find that when you go to shoot that very first photo something is “off?” I’m not referring to an equipment checklist, I’m talking about a preparedness checklist.

Although an equipment checklist is a good idea and you should always make sure you are bringing everything you think you will possibly need on any given day. But here’s what happens to me. And, if it happens to you then read on. When I’m done photographing for the day I usually just download my images and put my batteries on a charger. I might check a few things and rearrange my pack to the order I had but that’s pretty much it. I rarely go and look at anything else as far as where I left my camera settings at.

So, to help with the potential mistake of not being 100% ready the next day, what I’ve begun to do as part of my routine is to go through the motions of taking that first photo as soon as I step out of my vehicle. That’s when you’ll notice you had your ISO set for the last time you were out and it may not be what you want to use right now. Maybe it was near dark and you pushed your ISO to 800 but today is bright and sunny. You might prefer something in the low 100’s. You may have forgotten to re-format your card. Or, perhaps you left your lens on manual focus because you were photographing wildflowers the day before, but today you’re shooting something where you’d want autofocus. Each of us I’m sure will have different circumstances and issues. [Read more…] about The Warmup

Filed Under: Tips Tagged With: camera, equipment, nature photography, settings, warmup

How To Show Depth In Landscapes

July 24, 2017 by Steve Berardi 23 Comments

Mojave DesertOne of the common goals of a landscape photograph is to show depth—either to show the viewer how vast a landscape is or to help lead the viewer’s eye from the foreground into the background.

You might think that adding depth is as simple as using a wide angle lens, but it’s a little more subtle than that.

Here are a few ways to show depth in a landscape photo:

1. Focus on elements that lead the viewer’s eye

The general thing to remember with capturing depth in a landscape is to focus on elements that naturally lead the viewer’s eyes through all dimensions of the landscape. This could be things like a fallen tree that points towards the back of the frame and leads the eye to the base of a mountain, or a stream that serves a similar purpose. [Read more…] about How To Show Depth In Landscapes

Filed Under: Landscapes, Tips Tagged With: composition, depth, Landscapes, nature photography, Tips

Photographing a Subject for Multiple Uses

May 5, 2015 by Jim Braswell 3 Comments

Bluebell wildflowers blooming in the spring
Spring Bluebells / Photo by Jim Braswell

When photographing a subject, do you picture in your mind just how that photo will be used? Do you ever consider multiple uses? I got caught in the trap of shooting for a single use, early in my photographic endeavors.

When putting together a series of images for a nature calendar, I found some older images that would have been wonderful to include in the calendar. But these images were all shot as verticals (or, “portraits”) and were not able to be cropped to a suitable horizontal format. In some cases, you may be able to re-crop a vertical into a horizontal, but sometimes the result is not what you are looking for. In this post, I’ll share a few things I learned along the way and how I try to shoot all my nature subjects today. [Read more…] about Photographing a Subject for Multiple Uses

Filed Under: Landscapes, Philosophy, Tips, Wildlife Tagged With: composition, horizontal, landscape, nature photography, photography, portrait, Tips, vertical

How To Use A Photographic Blind

February 23, 2015 by Jim Braswell 1 Comment

Shooting from a photographic blind can be very useful, particularly when photographing wary animals. Although I do not routinely use a blind, there are situations where I do. Such as when shooting birds at a feeding station, or at a watering hole.

On one occasion, I was photographing songbirds at a watering hole in the south Rio Grande River Valley of Texas, when this Greater Roadrunner showed up:

Greater Roadrunner
Greater Roadrunner with Grasshopper / Photo by Jim Braswell
[Read more…] about How To Use A Photographic Blind

Filed Under: Wildlife Tagged With: bird photography, blinds, nature photography, photography, Wildlife

The Most Useful Filters for Nature Photography

October 28, 2014 by Jim Braswell Leave a Comment

When photographing nature, there are many times when a photographic filter on the end of the lens can help improve the image, or give the image a different effect. Such is the case when I captured Maroon Creek (Colorado) with a Neutral Density filter:

Maroon Creek landscape, Colorado
Maroon Creek / Photo by Jim Braswell

Kind of like “creativity in a can.” What filters are most useful for shooting nature? [Read more…] about The Most Useful Filters for Nature Photography

Filed Under: Landscapes, Tips, Wildlife Tagged With: filter, filters, nature photography, neutral density, photography, polarizer, uv

Should You Always Isolate Your Subject?

November 12, 2013 by Steve Berardi 27 Comments

Photo by Steve Berardi
Photo by Steve Berardi
One of the things we’re commonly taught about photographing wildlife is to always isolate your subject by making the background completely out of focus (like in the photo on the right).

This helps the viewer immediately focus on the subject, but should that always be your goal?

When you choose not to isolate your subject against it’s background, you can reveal much more about your subject (such as it’s habitat, size, what it might be doing at the moment, etc).

Here are a few examples to help illustrate what I mean: [Read more…] about Should You Always Isolate Your Subject?

Filed Under: Tips, Wildlife Tagged With: composition, how to isolate subject, isolate subject, isolation, minimalism, nature photography, photo composition, subject, wildflowers, wildlife photography

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