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Top 10 PhotoNaturalist Posts of 2011

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Photo by Steve Berardi
With 2011 coming to a close in about a week, I thought it’d be good to check out the top posts of the year. So, here they are:

  1. When NOT to Use Lens Stabilization
  2. The Perfect Tripod For a Hiking Photographer
  3. How to Fix a Washed Out Sky in Photoshop
  4. 5 Essential Tools For Closeup Photography
  5. 9 Tips For Photographing Perched Birds
  6. Keys To Getting Sharp Photos of Birds In Flight
  7. How To Make Your Camera Shoot Faster
  8. How Perspective Affects Your Photos
  9. How to Keep Your Camera Ready For Action
  10. How to Photograph Landscapes With The Moon

I hope you enjoyed all the articles at PhotoNaturalist this year! I’m looking forward to another great year of capturing natural light 🙂 [Read more…] about Top 10 PhotoNaturalist Posts of 2011

How to Drive Your Passion as a Photonaturalist to the Next Level

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Dickcissel (Spiza americana) / Photo by Wes Gibson
Dickcissel (Spiza americana) / Photo by Wes Gibson

This is a guest post by Wes Gibson, who’s been reading PhotoNaturalist for a few years now, but has been a photographer for over 20 years. After reading his post, please be sure to check out his blog for more of his posts. And, if you’re also interested in writing a guest post here on PhotoNaturalist, please contact me, thanks! –Steve

One of the things that attracted me to the PhotoNaturalist blog a few years ago was Steve’s philosophy of being more than a nature photographer. How we should go beyond just making images of our environment. How we should expand our knowledge and learn more about what we photograph. How we should become photonaturalists.

And, while I have a bookshelf full of nature books that I routinely refer to, I have recently discovered something that propelled my journey in becoming a photonaturalist to the next level: I started donating my photographs to local nature organizations. [Read more…] about How to Drive Your Passion as a Photonaturalist to the Next Level

Top 10 PhotoNaturalist Posts of 2010

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With 2010 coming to a close in a few days, I thought it’d be good to check out the top posts of the year. So, here they are:

  1. How to Photograph Dragonflies (free ebook)
  2. 5 Reasons to Minimize Your Gear
  3. 5 Great Resources for Nature Photographers
  4. Why You Should Memorize the F-Number Series
  5. Quick Tip For Getting Sharper Wildlife Photos
  6. 9 Tips For Photographing Wildflowers With a Point and Shoot Camera
  7. How to Photograph Wildflowers With Flash
  8. The OTHER Reason to Use a Tripod
  9. How Do You Know When to Upgrade Your Equipment?
  10. What Went Wrong With This Sand Dune Photo?

I hope you had a great holiday season and a great year! And, cheers to a whole new year of capturing natural light 🙂 [Read more…] about Top 10 PhotoNaturalist Posts of 2010

Top 10 PhotoNaturalist posts of 2009

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With 2009 coming to a close last week, I thought it’d be good to take a look back at some of the most popular posts from the year. So, without further ado, here are the top 10 posts from 2009:

  1. 7 tips for getting sharper photographs
  2. 5 things every landscape photographer should carry at all times
  3. Three elements of a great landscape photograph
  4. How to resize your photos (the “sharp” way)
  5. 11 great resources for night photography
  6. What to photograph on an overcast day
  7. 7 great resources for winter photography
  8. How to get sharp photos of birds in flight
  9. 7 tips for photographing silhouettes
  10. Wow, you must have a really good camera!

I hope you had a great holiday season and a great year! And, cheers to a whole new year of capturing natural light 🙂 [Read more…] about Top 10 PhotoNaturalist posts of 2009

Connect with other photonaturalists on our new Facebook page!

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pnat-facebookFor awhile now, I’ve been trying to think of the best way to create an online forum for us, where you can meet other photonaturalists, and share your photos, stories, and useful links.

Well, I just created a Facebook fan page that I hope will become a part of that.

Why you should join our Facebook fan page

Facebook has become the premier social network, so it seems natural that we should have a fan page on there, but why should you join? Well, here are 3 great reasons:

  • Meet other photonaturalists
  • Share photos and ask for critiques
  • Participate in discussions (check out our first one: how do you feel about HDR?)

So, if you’re on Facebook, please join our page at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/PhotoNaturalist/72505424246

I’m looking forward to seeing you there! [Read more…] about Connect with other photonaturalists on our new Facebook page!

Why timing is everything for landscape photography

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Photo by Jurvetson (used under the CC-Attr-2.0 license)
Photo by Jurvetson (used under the CC-Attr-2.0 license)
During the day, lighting conditions are usually pretty consistent. Sure, the Sun may hide behind a cloud for a minute or two, or a storm may roll in, but on most days, you’ll have pretty consistent light throughout the day (at least from the perspective of a landscape photographer).

But, that all changes during the golden hours–those precious moments of warm sunlight that occur around sunrise and sunset.

During these times, the quality of light constantly changes as the Sun rises or sets and the light scatters more through the atmosphere. Add some clouds in there, and you’ll see some really drastic changes–in minutes or seconds.

To illustrate just how drastic the light can change during a sunrise, here’s a photo I took at the Alabama Hills (Eastern Sierra, California), about 15 minutes before sunrise: [Read more…] about Why timing is everything for landscape photography