Nature Photography

Nature photography is often the domain of the fine art photographer but is also used for scientific reference, travel photography and can be seen in some of the greatest magazines of all time, such as National Geographic and Audubon publications, illustrating the fascination with nature, either seen from very close up as in macro or microscopic photography or at a distance as in landscape or scenic photography. In the case of wildlife photography, nature photography investigates the life of animals, birds, fish, usually in their natural habitat and can expose us to aspects of the natural world that many of us would never otherwise witness.

A wide gamut of equipment is often needed in nature photography. For wildlife, a long telephoto lens is almost essential. For close-ups of the insect world, macro lenses which will give one-to-one magnification and show nature in its infinite detail. When you think of nature photography, you often think of staring into the eyes of a butterfly at close quarters or seeing the intricate details of the inside of a rose or orchid. This is macro photography. Special flash equipment is sometimes used (ring flash ò€“ where the electronic flash goes around the lens) to get even lighting at such close quarters. Lovers of nature photography tend to see details that others miss. The glint of sunlight on a frosty leaf, the patterns made by some plants when you get in really close, and so on. Successful nature photography includes the use of the right equipment which can include the whole range of lenses from extreme telephoto, through wide angle

to macro lenses, a sturdy but lightweight tripod, electronic flash, remote controls and so on.

A sense of lighting, color and composition are all essential to quality results in nature photography. Compare two photos of an eagle taken by different photographers, one an advanced amateur or pro and the other a beginner, and you see right away that beautiful or striking nature photography is not just a matter of being in the right place at the right time, although that is a factor. Patience, particularly in wildlife photographers, can make the difference

between success and failure in nature photography.

So what if all you have is a good point-and-shoot camera ò€“ is nature photography out of the question for you? Not at all. Most decent point-and-shoot cameras have macro settings and zoom lenses that give you a fair range fromÒ  wideangle to telephoto which can be extended with adapters added to the camera. If you love nature and have an eye, you can get some spectacular shots without recourse to more advanced equipment.

The main skill is in seeing and appreciating what is there and then capturing it as you see it sothat you can share with others.

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Tripods - The Photographer'S Best Friends

What a tripod is doing is to create a very stable platform that the camera you have can use and allow you to take long exposures and not have the risk that the camera will shake and spoil the picture you take. Of course, you could just rest the camera somewhere, but with the help of the tripod, you could lock the camera in any position and you dont have to be afraid that the camera will fall over. But you might ask yourself how long would a long exposure be? The factor is the camera shake. Long exposure is considered one which you can not hand-hold steady enough. For example, if you zoom out to wide angle, the time can be somewhere at 1/30 to 1/60th of a second however, if you zoom right in on one long lens, it can be very short, 1/600th or 1/1000th from a second. You might think this is not a very long exposure. Maybe we need a new term for tripod"s little here. Probably you noticed that sports photographers that are doing long lens, they usually work with amono pod, instead of a tripod, on their cameras. Thats not because mono pods are better, but because of their convenience in changing locations really quickly which outweighs the advantages that a tripod brings. Hence, a mono pod is really useful only if you need some quickly shots on a long lens , taken from different positions. Even if you use a tripod, there is a chance that the camera will move while you take the shot. Thats because the act of pressing on the shutter may cause movement. Even if this will be slight, the effect of magnifying of the lens will transform it to camera blur or shake blur. One way to avoid this phenomenon is using a cable release or a remote control when you use a tripod. The camera"s self timer can also be used in case you dont have any of these. So in the case where the camera moves at the time when you press the shutter, this will have settled long time before the photograph actually is taken. Some of the cameras do have a self timer option precisely for this purpose, also called a short self timer. A longer shutter speed gives you benefits in the sense that a smaller aperture can be used for some greater depth of field or you can use a lower ISO for better quality. But, its a minor benefit compared to the psychological one brought by the tripod to the process of taking a photo. Simply using a tripod will slow you down, but that"s a beneficial thing. Havent you looked at a photo and said: "it looks great, but there is one little mistake, that I wish I had spotted at that time." So, that"s one helpful thing that the tripod brings. The explanation for you noticing the problem is that more time is spent by you carefully looking at the pictureafter you have taken it. Its always easier to spot mistakes after you made them. I hope that, people will understand the need of a tripod and its usefulness. The best thing I can advice to anybody is to get a tripod and use it in order to improve the skills ofphotographing.


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