PhotoNaturalist - nature photography tips and tutorials
nature photography tips and tutorials
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?
Okay, maybe the headline gave it away, but in case you haven’t figured it out yet, the problem is that big dark shadow on the bird’s breast.
Why did this happen? Simple: I wasn’t keeping an eye on the Sun. I don’t mean that literally, of course. If you really kept an eye on the Sun, you’d go blind pretty quickly (not a good condition for photographers!).
But, when you’re photographing wildlife, it’s a good idea to keep track of the Sun’s position, to avoid harsh shadows from appearing on your subject. You’ll most likely want an evenly lit subject, unless you’re exploring a creative type of photo. [Read more…] about When photographing wildlife, always keep an eye on the Sun
Shorebirds can be both very rewarding and very challenging to photograph. To start with, their environment is often muddy, sandy, salty, or a combination of all three. Add to that, shorebirds are usually very timid and you rarely have much cover to hide behind, making for a very challenging subject.
But when you get home tired, with wet clothes and sand in your shoes, with a big cheesy grin on your face because you know you just got some great shots, you know it was all worthwhile.
Now, let’s take a look at some of the key aspects of taking photographs of shorebirds… [Read more…] about Tips for photographing shorebirds
In a previous article, Vic Berardi discussed the ethics of baiting owls in order to get a good photograph. He explained how it’s important to keep nature natural, and how it’s possible to get great photos without baiting wild animals. It just takes patience, and knowledge.
Well, the photo above by Mike McDowell is proof that you can get a stunning photograph of a Northern Hawk Owl without baiting them. Mike also wrote an article on the subject, which is worth checking out!
Photography is all about light and the use of it. Photographing birds in winter brings a special kind of lighting not available during the rest of the year–reflective snow cover. Fresh fallen snow and bright sunlight offer both spectacular results as well as tricky exposure decisions.
Bird photography presents many challenges with the various plumages that are exhibited. Some birds are very pale underneath and some are very dark, creating exposure difficulties for the photographer. Do you expose for the sky but leave the undersides of the bird either overexposed or underexposed? The result of these decisions is many times a poorly exposed photograph. The front lighting that reflective snow cover brings can alleviate some of these decisions. [Read more…] about How snow can help you get better bird photos
Sometimes as nature photographers, our minds focus too much on getting a good photograph, instead of just enjoying nature and being there to capture some of the light we come across.
It’s important to keep nature natural, and I’ll tell you a story to help illustrate what I mean. It’s about the ethics of attracting animals by “baiting” them–feeding them in an effort to get them to come closer to you, so you can get a photograph. [Read more…] about What is a natural photograph?