Handout #1 - How to Take Better
Wildlife and Nature Photos
- Always have your
camera with you -- ready to take an opportunistic photo.
- Be patient
and spend more time in the field.
- For wildlife, get
closer, and set focus on the subject's eyes.
- Lead a moving
subject so that there is space in
front of it. If necessary, crop your image later to achieve this effect.
- Capture action by using
the burst mode to get a sequence of images to pick
from.
- Be aware of the
background -- does it enhance or detract from your subject?
- Look for interesting
reflections in water.
- Get the sun behind
you -- maximize the light on the "face" of your subject.
- Use your flash to
"fill" shadows, even in bright daylight.
- Steady the camera
with a support (tripod, monopod, tree, strap...).
- Set your camera to
record at maximum resolution and quality -- use RAW if your equipment
supports it. Use "optical zoom," but not "digital" zoom which
only replicates pixels.
- Shoot small subjects
from a low angle... consider a wide-angle lens for effect.
- Compose the image
into "thirds" so that the subject is not centered.
If necessary, crop your image later to get this effect.
- Use the "vertical"
(portrait) vs. "horizontal" (landscape) format for appropriate subjects.
- Getting Technical:
Use the fastest shutter speed possible. One
rule-of-thumb is that shutter speed should be equal to or faster than the
ratio one over the focal length of your lens -- i.e., if you are using a 200
mm lens, the slowest shutter speed should be 1/250th of a second.
A Faster shutter speed comes at the expense of
aperture setting and associated
depth-of-field, and/or ISO "film" speed (which will effect graininess)
settings. Try to keep the aperture setting at the numerical
value of f/11 to f/16 or even higher, and ISO speeds at the numerical value of 400 or
lower. Another rule-of-thumb is that shutter speed should be about one over
your ISO, so, if your ISO is set to 400, your shutter speed would be
1/400th of a second. Obtaining good depth-of-field, for
many scenes, will make the difference between a good shot and a snapshot.
The higher you set the f-stop numerical value, the smaller will be your lens
aperture opening (acting more like a pinhole lens), and the greater will be
the depth of field. An exception
-- when your subject deserves to be the central focus of your image, and you
want the background to be blurred, shoot it at f/8 or f/5.6 or lower.
You will find in low-light situations that you can never achieve all of
these optimized settings, and will have to make compromises. To get
started, take one picture using your camera's totally automated setting
(usually indicated by a green icon) and observe shutter speed, aperture, and
ISO used by the camera. Start making adjustments from that baseline.
The camera is often smarter than we are. Use special "scene" settings
like "sports" for action shots (flying birds), etc.
- If
you find yourself enjoying photography,
invest
in higher quality camera and optics, and Photoshop software when you can.
- Optional Homework: Before
your next Digital Photo Walk, you could read the self-tutorial materials at
howto.digitalchocolate.org
entitled "San
Luis Obispo County California Nature Photographers -- Their Works and
Techniques: Interviews with local nature photographers about how they take
such great photos" - Edited by Docent Mike Baird -- mike [at}
mikebaird d o t com. Also, read what's new at
photomorrobay.com and come to the next session with at least one new
idea to try and share.
Handout #2 - Editing Photos, Sharing
photos online, and getting critique. After the
tour, go home and participate in this free online activity. Select the
"keepers" from your images taken today. Edit these images (straighten,
crop, enhance, sharpen) and post them all online. To do this, open a free account at
http://Flickr.com and post
them there. Go to
http://www.flickr.com/groups/photomorrobay/ and
"join" the Group (Pool) there. Now you can add up to three of your best
images to that group. Go ahead and give critique to other photos in that
group, and you will receive critique and comments from the instructors,
participants, and other photographers who are group members.
Important: If you want other people to critique your photos for something other
than "coolness" (e.g., quality, composition,
technical settings, etc.), be sure to add a note to that effect, e.g., "I want
honest critique" in the photo's
description field. If you need software to prepare your digital images, use Google's free Picasa
http://picasa.google.com/;
Adobe's Photoshop Elements;
the software
that came with your camera; or use
http://picnik.com 's free online services (this can be done on your Flickr
site after uploading one's unprocessed images, and before adding them to the
http://www.flickr.com/groups/photomorrobay/
group; see
http://flickr.com/help/picnik/ for more information). Join our free
photomorrobay Yahoo! Group to keep up-to-date. Go to
http://photomorrobay.com to find it and sign-up.
Handout # 3 (Kevin Cole additions)
(1)
Proper and improper looking Histograms with a brief explanation as to what the
image will look like on the screen with each Histogram.
(2) Best use of built-in metering and when to use exposure compensation.
(3) Image composition do's and don'ts and what's best.
(4) A list of lens that are commonly used for Birding, Landscapes,
grouping shots and Macro.
(5) When and where not to use Circular Polarizing Lens filters and other
effect filters.
(6) Tips and tricks for holding your camera for obtaining sharp images.
(7) Creative angles for more interesting shots.
photomorrobay.com/walks