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ONE Get Out Of The Car  |
It seems simple enough - doesn't it?
I've come to the conclusion that most people are inherently lazy when it
comes to taking photographs - all they want you to do is just slow down to
shoot out the window. Or worse yet - they just shoot through the glass - the
photography Gods are aghast! When you get out of the car your entire view of the world changes. You see things you never saw from inside the vehicle and can actually take photographs now. Take the time to pull over for the photograph right now - instead of thinking that there is better image just around the corner - so why stop? Don't pass up one image to take another. This is a big mistake since you seldom come back. Also, you get out of your car to FIND images - they are all around you if you are willing to slow down, get out of the car, and go look for them. Don't wait until you are stunned by the beauty of something to take photographs - go out and find the stunning beauty just off the road or out in the meadow. TIP
Sometimes you can't get out
of your car - maybe at a bird refuge where your car is your best blind or
possibly the grizzly bear is uncomfortably close to the car already.
In those situations invest in a good bean bag or small pillow
to rest your camera on while shooting through the open window - thus giving
you a stable platform to shoot from. Window mounted tripods are tricky
and cumbersome and difficult to get shooting quickly with. |
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TWO Use a Tripod |
Using a sturdy tripod whenever possible is the
difference between shooting professional quality images and shooting snapshots.
A tripod will improve your photography because it improves the sharpness of
your images by reducing vibrations during the exposure. If I could
take all my images with a tripod I would. Can they be clumsy at times
- yes, can they take precious seconds to set up - yes, are they heavy - yes,
are they worth it - absolutely. A sturdy Bogen (Monfrotto) or Gitzo tripod, while not cheap, should last through many years of rugged use. Buy a tripod, that when just the legs (not the center support) are fully extended, rises to about your eye level with the camera attached. Bending over to look through a short tripod is aggravating. Also, buy a tripod that allows the legs to flair out so it can be either set up low to the ground, or in uneven terrain. TIP
Anytime your shutter-speed drops below the length of your lens (like 1/250
second with a 300mm lens) a tripod is an absolute must for reliably sharp images.
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THREE
Aperture Priority Mode |
Aperture Priority Mode (A
on the Nikon Program Selector Dial, Av on the Canon Program Selector Dial) is the most important Program setting you can use
in most photography situations. It means that you set the aperture, or
f-stop - to the appropriate setting and let the shutter-speed be set by the
camera. Why use this setting? By only needing to change the f-stop you minimize the amount of time it takes to change the camera's exposure settings. You decide what the camera should shoot at quickly - without changing any other control. Small F-stops like F16 or F22 mean greater depth-of-field and slower shutter-speeds, while Large F-stops like F2.8 or F4 mean faster shutter-speeds and less depth-of-field. TIP
The other Camera Exposure
Modes like P or S or the other variations do exactly the same thing -
setting combinations of aperture and shutter-speeds by which mode you select.
One control for everything is much easier and quicker. Since a camera
lens has only a certain number of F-stops it is easier to let the camera
choose the shutter-speed. |
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FOUR The Correct Aperture |
The Aperture or F-stop is
the opening that lets light through the lens to the camera sensor. A
very large aperture - like F2.8, lets in twice as much light as the next
smallest full aperture - F4. A very small aperture like F22 lets in
half as much light as the next biggest full f-stop - F16.
The Aperture setting not only controls how much light enters the sensor but also the corresponding shutter-speed. They have an inverse relationship: when the f-stop gets bigger (more light) the shutter-speed gets faster (less light) thus keeping the exposure in balance. Also, the larger Apertures have less depth-of-field or the amount of the image that appears in focus. The small f-stops have greater depth-of-field - thus, they are the choices for scenic photographers. TIP
Wildlife and sports
photographers shoot at the largest apertures their lens has because high shutter
speeds are important.
Portrait and people photographers are in the middle apertures because greater
depth-of-field is needed.
Landscape and nature photographers use the smallest apertures because they
require the greatest depth-of-field. While these aren't hard and fast
rules - they are logical places to start. |
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FIVE
Focus on the Eyes |
What is the first thing that draws
your attention when you look at a grizzly bear photograph, or at the snapshots
taken of your child? The life of an animal or bird, or even a person, is found
in its eyes. The eyes of the subject are magnetic and attract our attention
immediately. Whether you shoot wildlife or people you focus on the eyes of your
subject. If your subjects eyes are in focus the rest of the image will appear
in greater focus – even if its not. Our mind overrules what we see and we are
left with an impression of greater sharpness – hey, it’s true. One of the great mistakes we can make as wildlife or portrait photographers is to “zone” focus the camera – placing the focusing grid on the largest part of the subject without regard to its eyes. In the case of photographing wildlife – say an adult bull elk, this focusing habit can put the eyes of your subject more than 18 inches out of exact focus. Of all the places on an animal or bird the eyes will show the lack of sharp, clear focus the most. This can be worsened when you are shooting your prime lens “wide-open”, at its largest aperture setting – thus decreasing relative depth-of-field even more. I don’t want the side of a bear or elk sharp, I don’t want the chest or shoulder of a portrait subject sharp – I want the eyes sharp. TIP As time has gone by and I’ve become a more experienced wildlife photographer I find myself framing photographs in terms of focusing grids and eyes. I’ve learned to rapidly change the focusing grid in order to guarantee its placement on the eyes of my subject. Modern digital cameras provided many focusing grid locations but adjusting the active grid when needed can be difficult to learn. Publishable wildlife images or printable portraits mean sharp eyes first. Practice changing the focusing grid location until you can do it without thinking about it – then you will be shooting like a professional! |
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SIX
Shoot Verticals |
Too many people get locked into shooting only
horizontal images of every subject in front of them. Let the
subject dictate the horizontal or vertical angle of the camera.
Vertical images are typical in photographing individuals, sports, and some
wildlife and scenic photography. Fill your frame with the subject and
get closer - and shoot verticals. Personally, I look at verticals
being more portrait oriented photographs - no matter what I'm shooting.
Bridal portraits or Elk portraits - it doesn't matter. Horizontal
images are more environmental in their nature, for example: If I'm
photographing a typically vertical subject - like a person - horizontal
images show more of the environment around the person. Its an image of
a person in a certain environment. Turn the camera vertical and get
closer - now your shooting a portrait image of the person, minimizing the
environment.
TIP
For those of you budding
professional nature photographers - vertical images are Magazine Cover
Images. If you want to be published - then try to grab the best image
offered by a magazine - the COVER Image! The second best images in a
magazine are full-page images . . . also verticals. |
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SEVEN
Rule of Thirds |
The rule of thirds is an easy compositional
rule that can improve the quality of your images. If you take the area
of the film or sensor and equally divide it with two additional lines
vertically and two lines horizontally - you have an area divided up into
thirds - both up and down, and across. Where those lines cross each
other are considered powerful intersection points in composition. For
example, if you are shooting the Grand Canyon from the rim, don't place the
horizon line in the middle - place it at either the top third line (to
emphasize the canyon) or the bottom third line (to emphasize the sky above
the canyon). Simple. Vertical images can be improved the same way. When I'm photographing a cow elk, a vertical animal if walking at me, I try and put its head in the intersection of lines in the top left or right - depending on the direction its walking. This compositional rule can add a great deal of impact and balance to a photograph that would otherwise just be a snapshot. Check out the sunset silhouette image in the Bridal Gallery. Their vertical bodies are my two vertical composition lines and the horizon and setting sun are close to the upper horizontal line. TIP
Many of the
newer digital cameras, and even some of the better, older film cameras -
have a compositional grid in the viewfinder. Turn it on in the menu. Get used to paying
attention to it and use it to improve your compositions, or at least keep your
horizon line square. If there is
no grid then many times the auto-focusing points in the viewfinder form a
grid themselves. |
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EIGHT
Animal Stuff |
Nothing is more boring than an animal just walking along - doing nothing -
sauntering across a meadow. We have all taken countless images of this
type of inaction and sometimes you really have no options. But then
sometimes you do.
Learning about the animals you photograph allows you to anticipate their
movements and put yourself in a position to shoot the best images possible.
I was in Yellowstone recently and ran across a typical black bear walking parallel to the road - dozens of photographers shadowing him along the road as he moved. A hundred yards farther up the road a hillside came down and forced the meadow into a narrower bottleneck. I drove down and parked and set up in a position to safely photograph the bear as he walked towards me in the bottleneck. Bears don't want to climb hillsides if they don't have to - just like people - so I figured he would follow the contour of the hillside past the road - which he did. With the other photographers running down the road in pursuit the bear walked right past me, safely next to my car, giving me plenty of time to shoot much better images of him walking and looking in-camera. Other photographers breathlessly arrived - too late to get the shot I did - and continued to photograph him as he walked across the next meadow. Dull. TIP Centers of attention - like den sites or nests, food sources, meadows with mating activity, or other similar locations - can put a photographer in the best position to shoot quality images of Animals doing Animal Stuff. Photography is not a contact sport - so stay safely back and respect the space needed by wildlife - use long telephoto lenses to capture animals doing animal stuff. |
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NINE Fill Flash for People |
Nothing looks worse than
shooting people that are squinting into the sun. Not only is an image
like that unprofessional, but it casts the subject with the worst possible
look on their face - contorted eyes and cheeks. It is a simple thing
to put the subjects back to the sun - then use either a built-in flash or a
hot-shoe mounted flash to fill the shadow now on the subjects face.
You could also use a reflector or a flash mounted on a bracket. By
doing this your subjects eyes are wide open and they have a normal look on
their face. While some people don't care for the harsher effects of a flash - sometimes it gives flash highlights on the forehead or cheeks - most flash units now can be controlled. When my subject is less than ten feet away I turn down the power of the flash, from -1/3 to -2/3 of a stop - rendering a much more natural effect to lighting the subjects face. TIP
Fill Flash can be used in
wildlife photography to light small subjects or those hidden in the shade.
It is a must piece of equipment in insect macro photography as well - such
as butterflies. |
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TEN
Shoot Fast Lenses |
What is a fast lens and why should I buy them?
It is a lens with a large Aperture or F-stop, such as F2.8 or F4 given the focal
length of the lens. For example, I shoot a Nikon 500mm F4 Silent Wave
Motor Telephoto lens - this is a very FAST lens for its
length. I shoot a Nikon 80-200 F2.8 Zoom lens - another fast lens.
If my 80-200 Zoom lens was F4 or F5.6 - it would be considered a SLOW
lens. Fast lenses let in a lot of light and are crucial for two
reasons: 1. Fast lenses allow you to shoot earlier in the morning and later in the evening at a given shutter-speed. Slow lenses don't allow you to shoot at that crucial shutter-speed because they don't let in enough light except during the brightest part of the day. Blurry images can be the result from the slower shutter-speeds of a slow lens. 2. Fast lenses give you a brighter viewfinder to compose in and to focus on your subject with. An F2.8 lens lets twice as much light in as a F4 lens - this brightens an otherwise dim viewfinder and doubles your shutter-speed. TIP
Slow lenses are entry level lenses only. They aren't made to the same quality as
faster, more expensive lenses. Don't buy them if possible, quickly sell them on E-bay,
or give them away and buy only fast - OEM lenses. (Original Equipment
Manufacturer) Spend the
money on a fast lens and watch the quality of your images increase.
Used fast lenses can always be found on E-bay, or similar sights. If you
shoot Nikon, buy Nikon lenses - same with Canon. |
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ELEVEN Choose a Camera System  |
When you buy a camera body - you are really buying
a camera system. You are buying into a system that will either provide
all the types of equipment you might want as your abilities increase, or one
that will force you to go to off-brand equipment makers to fill the gaps. There are two main camera makers today that offer full systems to their photographers - Nikon and Canon. They offer camera bodies, lenses, flashes, and accessories that fit into any photographer's needs. Also, they are at the front of the technology curve in photography and can be counted on to incorporate that technology into new camera equipment. Both systems offer wide resources to help photographers - from websites and forums to touring equipment displays and repair facilities. I prefer not to go outside a camera system for the equipment I need. TIP Nikon lenses are black - Canon are white. So, your choices are as clear as black and white. Personally, I shoot Nikon. I think they are the most rugged cameras incorporating the best technology in the world. |
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TWELVE
Quick-release |
The best way to buy a tripod is without a
tripod head. More important than the tripod itself - is the tripod
ball head with a snap-in plate quick-release system. A quick release
plate attaches to the bottom of either your camera body or your telephoto
lens. The plate can be quickly snapped and locked onto the
quick-release ball head without the cumbersome screwing in to the camera
body to the tripod. Way to slow and tedious. By moving a lever
the camera/lens and its attached plate quickly snap off the tripod - leaving
it open and ready to be snapped back on quickly. There are some important do's and don'ts to buying a useful head. I learned by sad experience that the more levers a tripod head had the more problems it caused me. While there are many good ball heads and some expensive alternative heads - I use ball heads with just one lever to tighten or loosen. This minimizes the number of movements I have to make in order to get shooting photographs quickly. Keeping your moving subject in-frame and correcting composition quickly are just two important assets of a good ball head. TIP
The bigger your prime lens
the bigger your ball head and quick-release plate should be. I'd spend more
money on the ball head than the tripod itself. |
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THIRTEEN
Set the Correct ISO |
The
ISO Speed is simply an indication of
how sensitive the camera meter will be to light. Low settings - like
50 to 200 - will produce fine, nearly grainless images which are great for
enlargements. These settings will give you slower shutter-speeds but
better images, hence the need for the tripod. Use an ISO setting that is appropriate for the intended subject. Groups of people, portraits,
macro, and
landscape photography are perfect for this ISO range. Also, if the
light is good - some wildlife photography as well. Higher settings - like 200 to 400 - provide higher shutter speeds to capture action photography in poor light conditions. These settings will still produce good images - but add "grain" or "artifacts" to enlargements. The higher the ISO setting - the more the grain. I use these higher settings for sports, action, wildlife, and indoor photography without a flash. I also use the higher settings when light conditions are very poor. TIP
The
higher the ISO setting the more the digital camera meter tends to overexpose
the image (too much light). This can be corrected somewhat by dialing
in -1/3 or a -1/2 stop using the exposure compensation control. |
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FOURTEEN
Which to Shoot in? |
You might want to get more thoughts on this than just mine. Better yet,
try both and see which offers you the highest level of functionality in the
photography you do. Many professional photographers, especially those
sponsored by camera makers - push RAW imaging for everything, but I'm more
selective. All images are initially taken in the RAW format by the camera
sensor. When you have selected JPG mode as the quality of the image to be
saved - your camera processes that RAW image into a JPG and saves it. RAW - Shooting in RAW mode (NEF in Nikon and CR2 in Canon) retains the maximum amount of information that the image contains. RAW files are normally 12-bit images and can display 4,096 different levels of brightness. Images aren't compressed or processed in-camera. They do require you to process them with some type of plug-in or stand-alone program before taking them into an image processing program - like Photoshop, Lightroom, or Aperture. They are large files and eat up loads of space not only on hard-drives, but more particularly on compact flash cards. Suddenly, a 2 gig Card isn't what it used to be. If you don't mind the additional processing time involved and quality is a huge issue to you, then RAW is for you. Shooting in RAW mode often slows down the camera's ability to process images quickly and save them to the CF or SD card, thus affecting your speed of shooting. A program like Photoshop has much more power in processing images than does your camera's built-in processor. JPG - Shooting in high-quality JPG format means the camera processes the image - to some degree set by the photographer - and compresses the image. JPG files are 8-bit images and can display only 256 levels of brightness. The image can then be taken directly into a processing program, e-mailed, even printed without any further work. Because they are compressed they take up less room on hard-drives and shooting cards. These images can still be further processed and retouched, its just that they start out processed once already. If you would rather minimize computer processing time, storage space required, and overall ease of use, the JPG is for you. It is also processed much faster by the camera allowing for more images to be taken and saved to the CF or SD card quickly. TIP I shoot the highest quality JPG's - for wildlife and portrait photography and I shoot RAW for landscapes and nature. At smaller sizes I really can't tell the quality difference, but at larger print sizes I can. The largest prints I make are landscapes. |
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FIFTEEN
Edit Ruthlessly |
Photographs tend to be like children - we protect and save the good as well
as the bad. What this creates over the years is thousands of
unprintable, unpublishable, really unwanted images that clog our hard drives
and back-up files. They make it difficult to find the gems amid the
rubble of poorly executed photographs. Delete them, delete them,
delete them. When I get back from a shoot I usually go through three edits
before I feel like I have a grip on what I really have. |
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SIXTEEN
Process your Images |
When you shoot a digital image you have just begun
the process of creating a printable or publishable image. Whether you
shot in RAW or JPG you need to process those images on your computer.
Without delving into the intricate relationship between monitor calibration
and color management - lets go through some simple digital processing steps
everyone should do. If you shoot in RAW then these steps can be done in
the RAW Converter before opening the image in Photoshop for further image
processing. The steps below are for JPG images in Photoshop. 1. Use Levels (CTL-L on a PC) to balance the light by adjusting the white and black sliders in the histogram until the cover the actual light spectrum. 2. Use the Channel Mixer to increase image color saturation, if needed. RGB digital image files have a red channel, green channel, and blue channel. In the red channel make the percentage 112, with -6 in both the green and blue channels. Select the green channel, make it 112, with -6 in both the red and blue channels. Lastly, select the blue channel and make it 112, with -6 in the red and green channels. Creating an action in photoshop to do this is much less time consuming. Hit OK, you have added 12% to the image color saturation via channels - which is a better way to improve color saturation than by using the Hue/Saturation control in Photoshop. 3. Correct the White Balance of your image. There is a fast way which works sometimes, and a correct way which always works. In Photoshop open the Curves dialog box (CTL-M) and select the white eyedropper. Click it on a spot in the image that should be perfectly white (like bright snow or a bright cloud). This sets that point to pure white and resets the other colors. If that doesn't give satisfactory results - then try this. Create a New Threshold Layer by going to Layers>New Adjustment Layer>Threshold. Click OK. This creates a black and white (no grays or colors) layer image of your photo. Move the slider to the right edge of the histogram to find the whitest point of the image. Select the layer below this layer, probably the background layer or background copy layer. Now, with that eyedropper click in the white spot remaining. View results and either continue or try again. The image may be in correct White Balance and no changes are created, but usually this helps. Then just delete the Threshold Layer and move on. 4. I go to File>File Info and add photographer, copyright, and contact information to the metadata of the image. You can add keywords here as well. Again, this is can be quickly done by creating a macro to perform these tasks for you. 5. Sharpen your image one time at 100% (Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen). Save and close the image with a new name so you don't overwrite the original file. You can continue making image processing corrections if needed, but these 4 steps are always needed on JPG files - and sometimes on RAW images opened in Photoshop.
TIP
I've created an action in Photoshop that
does the Channel Mixer, Sharpen, and File (Metadata) Copyright Info, then opens the Curves
dialog box to start White Balance adjustments - just to make things move
quicker. Once you do a few hundred images you will find a system that
works best for you. |
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SEVENTEEN Shoot with a Professional  |
You get to a point in your photography where you
feel like you have hit a wall. Your images aren't as exciting as you would
like, maybe your composition is suspect, your images aren't as sharp as they
should be - it is time to get help. Participating in a digital photography seminar, going on a 1 day regional workshop, or even a multiple day safari with a professional photographer will open your horizons and show you a better way of doing things. It allows your technique to be refined and your basic photography habits (equipment, camera settings, etc) to be tweaked and improved. Never underestimate the value of watching someone else shoot, seeing through their viewfinder, and seeing how they conduct their photography experiences. So many folks who have gone to my seminars or done the workshops/safaris comment about learning the correct way to do something they have always done wrong. They learn to get into action quickly, look for subjects within the big picture, and thoroughly photograph a subject from all angles. They learn how lens choice affects perspective, and how to best apply the creative controls that are at their finger tips. Enough about me. No matter who you shoot with it is an opportunity to grow and learn as a photographer. Different instructors teach similar concepts in different ways, and sometimes it's those differences that finally unlock your potential as a photographer. I never think I even know 50% about photography. I always treat it like a living, breathing animal that has to be studied and watched. You can never know enough about an animal you are photographing - and you can definitely never know it all. TIP Go to the Photo Workshops and Photo Safaris page to review upcoming events and sign up for a photographic adventure in the American West. |
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EIGHTEEN Back-up Images |
I have two back-up, external hard drives. I
alternate backing up my entire photography library once every two weeks on those
two hard drives. Of course, I also have a my entire photography library on
one of my internal hard drives as well. Thus, I never have a back up copy
more than two weeks old. TIP Never keep your back up external hard drives connected to your computer if you aren't backing things up. A shorted-out motherboard could compromise a plugged in back up hard drive. Upgrade your internal hard-drive, or have two if necessary, in order to keep a complete image library there - it will speed up your access to the images. |
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Nineteen Shoot Now |
Don’t pass up a good subject
because you expect a better one down the road. Shoot now, because you may not
pass that way again and the subject might look totally different on the return
journey. I can't even count
the number of times I've passed up remarkable subjects because I was in a hurry
to get to my prime destination. TIP Like Tip One, You have to stop and get out of your car. Don't expect things to look the same hours later, if you see something that inspires you - stop and shoot. It may very well be the best images you take all day. |
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| If you have your own TIPS or TRICKS - send them to me and I will include them here. |
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© Brent Russell Paull July, 2010 All Rights Reserved under United States and International Laws No Images or Website Content May Be Copied, Printed, Distributed, or Published without written permission. |
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