Welcome to the sixth in a 12 part series about how to improve your nature photography.

Step #6 – Composition is not a four letter word.

Why do so many new artists (photographers included) fear rules?  There seems to be this idea that rules should apply to everyone else, but are not worth of our personal attention.  Lets be clear here, when it comes to composition, there are no rules.  If you do your own thing, no one is going to break down your door late at night and take you away.  To paraphrase Captain Barbossa, “the rules are more like guidelines.”

The rules of composition are well established for a simple reason.  They work!  The idea behind composition is twofold: (1) place elements in the frame so they are visually pleasing and (2) use elements of the frame to draw the eye to where you want it to go.  I assure you, you are not the first person to try to create pleasing images.  Artists have dedicated their lives to solving these challenges.  Their results are the ideas that make up what we now call the rules of composition.

Here is a partial list of the elements of composition and articles covering each in detail.

• The rule of thirds
• Lines
• Picking the subject
• Placing the horizon
• Centering the subject
• Space in the frame
• Angle of view
• Backgrounds
• Relationships
• Horizontal vs. vertical
• Be different
• Repeating patterns
• Cropping

Next time you are out in the field, don’t recreate the wheel.  Use the rules of composition for maximum effect.

Welcome to the fifth in a 12 part series about how to improve your nature photography.

Step #5 – Get closer.

One of the biggest problems photographers have is trying to include too much in an image.  Including too much information in your images is the photographic equivalent of trying to hold an intimate conversation at a rock concert.  We live with distractions all around us.  Over time, we get better at focusing our attention and ignoring distractions.  Hardly a day goes by that I don’t have music playing in the background while I work, yet I would have a difficult time telling you what song was on.  Unfortunately the camera never met a distraction it didn’t like.  It is not selective and is overly inclusive.  As photographers it is our job to organize the visual chaos that makes up the scene into a pleasing whole.  One of the best ways to eliminate the clutter is to get closer.

When photographing a subject, ask yourself what the picture is about?  Try to answer with the fewest words possible.  ”Elephant” is a clearer answer then “an elephant walking across the African savanna while taking in the scenery of the African bush as it searches for other animals.”  Once you have figured out what the picture is about, eliminate everything else.  If the image is about an elephant, don’t include a mountain.  If you can’t decide on one key element, take multiple pictures, each with their own point of focus.

Getting closer, either physically or optically, is an easy way to eliminate the distractions.  By making the subject large in the frame, it increases in importance.  Large subjects demand the viewer’s attention.  As a photographer, that is what you want.

The image of the elephant was captured in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.  The image was captured using a Canon 1D mark 4, 500mm IS lens, at 400 ISO.  The image was taken from a vehicle and the camera and lens were supported using a beanbag.

Welcome to the fourth in a 12 part series about how to improve your nature photography.

Step #4 – Lens do more then get you closer.

From super wide angles to extreme telephotos, lens are a big part of photography.  Every photographer experiences lens lust at some time; the idea that our photographs would be better if we only had a new lens.  Yet many photographers fail to use their lenses effectively.  Take your average photographic situation and think about which lens you would like to use.  Your answer probably depends on how close you are and how big you want the subject to be.  If you wish you were closer, you pull out the telephoto lens.  If you want to keep the subject small, you reach for the wide angle.

It is true that lenses will help get you closer, or move you back, but your feet can do that for free.  Understanding the impact different lenses have on the final image is an important step for the developing photographer.  50mm lenses are commonly referred to as “normal.”  The question is what does normal mean?  Photographically speaking, a normal lens is one that records the scene in a way that is similar to how the human eye sees it.  A similarity in angle of view and perspective is shared.  As we shift away from normal, our lenses began to deviate from reality in a number of ways.

Telephoto lenses start at around 100mm and extend all the way out to 800mm.  Sure these lenses enlarge the subject, but they also manipulate the scene in two unique ways.

First, telephoto lenses have a drastically reduced angle of view.  Where a 50mm lens records 39 degrees, a 500mm lens records a mere 4 degrees.  The impact for photographers is twofold.  As we well know, the reduced angle of view gives the appearance that the subject is closer.  This limited angle of view has the added advantage of limiting how much of the background is included.  This gives the photographer much greater control over what is included in the background because moving a few inches can totally change an image’s background.

Second, telephoto lenses compress distance.  Subjects that are far away from each other appear closer together when viewed through a telephoto lens.  For example, the image above gives the appearance that the rock hoodoos of Bryce Canyon are stacked very close together.  This is an optical illusion as there is often between 30 – 50 feet separating the different hoodoos.  This compression effect gives photographers the ability to show or imply relationships between subjects that might not otherwise be obvious.

Telephoto lenses, with their narrow angle of view, are outstanding tools for visually isolating subjects and removing distractions.

Where telephoto lenses compress, wide angle lenses expand.  Starting at around 35mm, wide angle lenses are the go to tool for landscape photographers who wish to document the grand landscape.  As the name implies, wide angle lenses encompass an expanded angle of view when compared to longer lenses.  Angle of view can range from 54 degrees (35mm) to 108 degrees (13mm).  Yet including more means additional care must be taken when composing the scene if distractions are to be prevented.

At the same time, wide angles distort distance.  While telephoto lenses compress, wide angles exaggerate, giving the appearance of greater distances between subjects.  Again lets look at an example from Bryce Canyon.  The above image shows a trail wandering down into the hoodoos.  Looking at the hoodoos, it is clear that there is a fair amount of space between they.  Yet this is the same basic area that was photographed in the previous image.  By using a wide angle lens, a radically different perspective about how the hoodoos are spaced was created.

Wide angle lenses do not isolate elements the way telephoto lenses do.  Wide angles are more inclusive and should be used so as to take advantage of that inclusivity.  By placing key elements extremely close to the lens (a few inches), size and distance can be manipulated so as to emphasize particular parts of the scene.

Welcome to the third in a 12 part series about how to improve your nature photography.

Step #3 – Use a tripod.

I have heard all the reasons photographers give for not using a tripod.  It’s heavy.  It’s expensive.  I already have enough gear.  It doesn’t offer any benefits, so why bother?  No one says you have to use a tripod.  There aren’t any tripod police running around handing out tickets.  But I will let you in on a little secret.  The single fastest way to improve your photography is to use a tripod.

Tripods offer two distinct advantages over hand holding the camera.

Advantage #1 – Using a tripod results in sharper pictures.  I don’t care how stead your hands are, there are some shutter speeds you just can’t use if you are handholding your camera.  Years ago the advice was that you can successfully take sharp images down to a shutter speed equal to 1/the length of your lens.  If you were using a 50mm lens, you could hand hold down to 1/50 of a second.  A 200mm lens could only be hand held down to 1/200 of a second.  While image stabilizing (IS) technology has helped to push the barrier of what is hand holdable, there are limits.  Hand holding a camera for multi-second exposures will give you a blurry mess.  Not a problem if that is what you are going for, but my guess is that you will be disappointed with your results.

Nature photographers in particular face challenges that make using a tripod beneficial.  For wildlife, we use long telephoto lenses which enhance the slightest mistake.  The smallest movement with a 500m lens will exaggerate the movement 10x.  For landscapes, we strive for large depth of field, which requires tiny apertures.  Tiny apertures mean slow shutter speeds.  Hand holding under either of these conditions almost ensures soft images.  The last thing I want is to return home only to find that my award winning lion image is blurry.  Using a tripod will result in sharper images.

Advantage #2 – Using a tripod slows you down.  I admit it, tripods are a pain in the neck (actually the shoulders, but lets not get picky).  They are heavy and there will be times when you miss a shot because the tripod isn’t set up.  Still, I argue that the extra time it takes to set up a tripod is a good thing.  Knowing that taking a picture will require going through the process of setting up the tripod, we become much more selective in which pictures are worth the effort.  Using a tripod slows you down and makes you think.

This works for fast moving subjects too.  By setting the tripod up ahead of time (while you are still far away or before the action starts) you can be ready to capture images at a moments notice.  Also, when it is necessary to wait for an extended period to capture your image (a common situation in wildlife photography), a tripod supports the camera so that you don’t have to.  This makes the waiting easier and less physically demanding.

So stop thinking about the limitations and get a tripod.  It might be the single best step you could take to improve your photography.

The image above is John BlumenKamp when he was just getting started in nature photography (he has progressed a long way since then).  Looking at the image, it might be difficult to guess that it was taken at 1/3 of a second with a 100mm lens.  John and the rocks are both sharp, yet the water and John’s hand are blurred (he moved as I pressed the shutter).  By using a tripod I was able to remove camera shake from the equation and get the picture I wanted.  The image was captured using a Canon 1Ds, 70-200mm lens (set to 100mm), at 50 ISO.  The camera and lens were mounted on a Gitzo tripod.

Welcome to the second in a 12 part series about how to improve your nature photography.

Step #2 – It is about light.

Take a look at the picture below.  This is a shot of Uluru (more commonly called Ayers rock), the world famous red rock of central Australia.  The rock is famous for its beauty and is a sacred site to the local aborigines.  Yet you would never know it by looking at this picture.  The light is flat and dull, resulting in a picture that is equally dull to look at.

Now, take a look at the same picture, with different light.  This shot was captured moments after the sunrise broke the horizon.  For that brief moment in time, the rock literally glowed (no, the image was not enhanced in Photoshop).  The difference between the two images is striking.  The first image is hardly worth looking at while the second shows a natural spectacle that I travelled over 10,000 miles to witness.  Yet the only difference between the two images is the light.

Photography is about light.  Its angle, color, and intensity all impact the final image.  As we become more involved in photography, we begin to watch the light and see how it changes the subject.  Understanding how light is recorded by the camera and how it changes the appearance of the subject is one of the keys to improving your images.  In the studio, photographers have the ability to manipulate light in many different ways.  They can add it or remove it.  As nature photographers, we are not so fortunate.  We are at nature’s mercy as to what type of light we are going to get.  Sure, we try to stack the deck in our favor by getting up before the dawn and being prepared to take advantage of the golden light of sunrise, but it doesn’t always work out the way we wish.  I remember one getting up one morning hoping for a sunrise and getting a snowstorm instead.  The lack of control is one of nature photography’s greatest challenges.  It is also one of its most interesting elements.  Each time I grab my camera, I don’t know what opportunity I am going to get.  It takes patience and persistence to capture the right light.  You have to keep going back to the same locations again and again in the hope that something magical will happen.

Welcome to the first in a 12 part series about how to improve your nature photography.

Step #1 – Know your equipment.

Modern cameras are amazing.  They take the guess work out of photography.  It is possible to put everything into auto mode and shoot away.  Truth be told, that will even work 90% of the time.  But why would you want to?  If you want to point and shoot, don’t buy a DSLR.  Buy a point and shoot camera and save thousands of dollars.  DSLRs provide the photographer with numerous options.  That is why they cost so much.  Failing to use those functions is similar to purchasing a race car and using it to carpool kids to dance class.  It works, but why do it?

Light meters, autofocus, and other technological innovations have come a long way, but they are not perfect.  In their attempt to automate the photographic process, manufacturers have made assumptions about your photographs.  They assume you want an average depth of field.  They assume your subjects are either still or moving in a predictable manner.  They assume the world you are viewing is not too bright or too dark.  Again, this works in most situations.

The problem is the other 10%.  Those times when situations are most dramatic and the resulting images are the most unique (can something be most unique?  Sorry, side thought).  These are the times when your camera gets it wrong.  Unfortunately, these are also the situations that create the strongest images.

As photographers, our goal is to capture images that share a message in an effective manner.  To accomplish this, it is essential that we understand what our equipment does.  If you don’t know what choices the automatic settings are making for you, or when to override those choices, your images will look like everyone else’s.  They wont stand out and be noticed.  The world is full of good images.  If you want to be noticed, your images have to be better then good.  If you want your images to stand out, you have to be able to answer some questions.

• What are my camera settings and why should I care?
• What is exposure?
• When is aperture priority better then manual?
• How do aperture and shutter speed change the image?
• Why does the camera have dozens of different custom functions and which should I use?

All of these are important questions and your ability to answer them will impact the options available to you in the field.

The idea of sitting down and actually reading the camera manual sends chills up most people’s spines.  Yet it is one of the best things you can do as a photographer.  Find out what the different controls do.  Decide how those controls impact your photography.  Then decide which of those controls you will actually want to use for different aspects of your photography.  Once you understand what you camera is capable of doing, you can make your choice: let the camera make the decisions for you or override the camera and make your own choices.  Both options have a place, but only by understanding your equipment is it possible to consistently get the images you want.

The image above documents one of those magical moments in nature photography.  Each year, thousands of snow geese winter at Bosque del apache national wildlife refuge in New Mexico.  As a result it is a mecca for bird photographers.  Each morning photographers brave the frigid temperatures in the hope of experiencing a blast off in which thousands of geese take to the air as a single flock.  The sound of a blast off is like thunder.  This particular image was made possible because I knew how my camera’s light meter would interpret having the sun directly behind the birds.  The image was created using a Canon 1Ds, 600mm lens with a 1.4 teleconverter, at 200 ISO.  The camera and lens were mounted on a Gitzo tripod and a Wimberly tripod head.