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The Most Common Problem In Nature Photography

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Pitcher Sage (underexposed) / Photo by Steve Berardi
Pitcher Sage (underexposed) / Photo by Steve Berardi
One of the most common problems in nature photography is getting a good exposure. There seems to be a common tendency to underexpose nature photos.

There could be a lot of reasons why this happens. Maybe your camera’s metering mode doesn’t work well for a particular scene.

Or, the more likely issue is that your camera’s LCD screen appears much brighter when you’re outdoors in the sunlight. So, when you take a photo and preview it on your camera, the photo looks a lot brighter than it actually is.

Have you ever gone out and shot a bunch of photos that looked totally fine on your camera’s LCD screen, but then when you got home and opened the photos on your computer they looked super underexposed? [Read more…] about The Most Common Problem In Nature Photography

Learn The Secrets Behind Incredible Photos

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FotozaarHave you ever seen an incredible photo and wondered: how on earth did the photographer create that image?

Sometimes, if you’re lucky, the photographer will share what settings they used on their camera (such as aperture, shutter speed, and ISO).

But, as I’m sure you know, this kind of information only begins to tell the story of how the image was made. What you really want to know is stuff like: how the composition was chosen, what the lighting conditions were like, what kind of special equipment was needed, or what inspired the photographer to create the image.

Unfortunately, photographers rarely share this kind of detailed information.

Well, today I’m super excited to announce a new solution to this problem: [Read more…] about Learn The Secrets Behind Incredible Photos

Three Quick Tips For Close-Ups

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California Wild Rose / Photo by Steve Berardi
California Wild Rose / Photo by Steve Berardi
Now that spring has arrived here in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s time to start thinking about photographing all those wonderful wildflowers and insects. It’s the perfect season for close-up photography.

So, here are three quick tips to get you started:

#1 – Get down to your subject’s level

Many of the plants and insects that come out in the spring live very low to the ground, so your first reaction may be to photograph them from where you first spot them (standing up and looking down at them). But, many times it’s better to get down to your subject’s level and photograph them from there because it captures a more friendly point of view (almost as if you’re seeing eye-to-eye with your subject). [Read more…] about Three Quick Tips For Close-Ups

Nature Photography In The Least Expected Places

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Photo by Vic Berardi
Photo by Vic Berardi
It’s the dead of winter, you live in an area that doesn’t have classic winter scenery, then you look outside and see that it’s cold and dreary. The last snowfall was at least a week ago, so taking photos with beautiful fresh snow in the background or foreground isn’t an option. So, you decide to stay home and wait for a better day…you shouldn’t. There are opportunities out there on any given day to take nature photos, if you just look hard enough.

A couple of weeks ago I ventured out on such a day and after becoming exhausted at trying to find something to photograph, I happened to drive over a small creek and stopped to look and see if any water was moving. There wasn’t but something else caught my eye: autumn leaves & ice! I pulled over to the side of the road, got out with my camera and tripod and slowly looked at all the small scenery along this very small and mostly frozen creek. What I saw was limitless in compositions and beauty! [Read more…] about Nature Photography In The Least Expected Places

6 Tips For Photographing Shorebirds

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Sanderling / Photo by Steve Berardi
Sanderling / Photo by Steve Berardi
We’ve talked a lot about photographing birds here on PN: how to photograph them in flight, how to photograph perched birds, and even a few tips for photographing hummingbirds. But, we haven’t talked a whole lot about shorebirds specifically, so I thought it’d be good to share a few tips for photographing these types of birds:

#1 – Get down low to the ground

The single most important thing to do when photographing shorebirds is to get down to their level. This usually means lying down on the ground, so it’s helpful to bring a towel or something to lie down on. Photographing the birds at their eye level does two things: it makes the image more intimate and it usually results in a better background (because from this low angle, the background will usually be farther away). [Read more…] about 6 Tips For Photographing Shorebirds

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)