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Flowers in Black and White

April 10, 2018 by Steve Berardi 2 Comments

Photo by Steve BerardiWhen you think about photographing flowers, you probably think about capturing their vibrant colors and how they contrast against the landscape around them. Most things in nature have evolved to blend in with their environment, but flowers have evolved to stand out from the crowd by displaying some of the most wonderful colors found in nature.

So, the thought of creating black and white images of flowers might sound crazy. But, it’s a great way to draw the viewer’s attention to other aspects of the flower. By de-emphasizing color, you move that emphasis to other things.

For example, consider the black and white photo above of a Desert Sunflower and compare it with a few color images of the same type of flower: [Read more…] about Flowers in Black and White

Filed Under: Close-Up, Macro, Philosophy, Tips, Wildflowers Tagged With: black and white, bw, color, monochrome, wildflowers

Sharpness – Relative vs Absolute

August 30, 2017 by Steve Berardi 9 Comments

ManzanitaThe more I photograph nature, the less I’ve been concerned about sharpness. It’s not out of laziness, but from the realization that relative sharpness is much more important than absolute sharpness.

Absolute sharpness is about making your subject as sharp as possible, within the limits of your camera and lens.

On the other hand, relative sharpness is about making your subject as sharp as possible relative to other elements in that image.

This also applies to depth of field, and in this article when I mention sharpness I also mean depth of field/focus.

For example, here’s a photo with a lot of absolute sharpness: [Read more…] about Sharpness – Relative vs Absolute

Filed Under: Close-Up, Macro, Tips, Wildflowers, Wildlife Tagged With: butterfly, depth of field, dragonfly, focus, sharp, sharpness, wildflowers

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

How To Focus Closer With your Lenses

March 5, 2013 by Steve Berardi 3 Comments

Every lens has a minimum focusing distance: the closest point where the lens can get a sharp focus. Generally, the longer the focal length of the lens, the greater the minimum focusing distance.

Most of the time, this distance isn’t a problem because with longer lenses you’ll generally be photographing a distant subject.

But, those longer telephoto lenses are also great for close-up photography, because they help you isolate your subject against a specific part of the background. In these cases, this minimum focus distance often becomes a problem because many lenses won’t let you get close enough to fill the frame with a small subject (such as a wildflower or insect).

So, how do you make your lens focus closer? [Read more…] about How To Focus Closer With your Lenses

Filed Under: Macro, Tips, Wildflowers Tagged With: close, close up, distance, focus, insects, lens, lenses, Macro, minimum, photography, up, wildflowers

What To Photograph On An Overcast Day

June 12, 2012 by Steve Berardi 24 Comments

Photo by Steven Burke (used under the CC-Attr-NC-ND license)
Photo by Steven Burke (used under the CC-Attr-NC-ND license)
In Southern California, we have this thing called “June Gloom” where pretty much every day in the month of June is overcast or cloudy. Some people call it our punishment for having bright sunny days for the rest of the year.

But, I look forward to the overcast skies because although they produce some gloomy feelings, they also create some very unique lighting conditions that bring out some of the best colors found in nature. [Read more…] about What To Photograph On An Overcast Day

Filed Under: Landscapes, Tips, Wildflowers Tagged With: balanced light, clouds, cloudy days, diffused light, green, Landscapes, natural light, natural light diffuser, overcast, overcast day, rainy days, streams, Tips, waterfalls, weather, wildflowers

Free eBook on Wildflower Photography

February 27, 2012 by Steve Berardi 28 Comments

With spring beginning here in the southwestern United States, I thought it was time to update our free ebook on wildflower photography. The original version was released about three years ago, so it was due for an update.

Most of the content is the same, but I’ve learned a lot in the last three years, so I’ve updated just about every page in the book, and replaced a few tips with newer articles.

Anyway, here’s a sneak peak of what you’ll learn in this ebook: [Read more…] about Free eBook on Wildflower Photography

Filed Under: Tips, Wildflowers Tagged With: bloom, close up, ebook, flower, focus, free, light, Macro, nature, overcast, photo, photographer, photography, photonaturalist, sharp, spring, telephoto, wild, wildflower, wildflowers

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