The three most important things in real estate are location, location, location. In wildlife photography, they are position, position, position. As a nature photographer specializing in plants, I offer some suggestions on using position to your advantage when creating your work.
The novelty fish-eye lens has long allowed photographers to explore a unique look and perspective in their picture-taking endeavors. Invented more than 100 years ago, the ultra-wide angle lens has a 180-degree angle of view and produces a hemispherical rather than the linear view that normal rec...
For more than 30 years, I’ve photographed birds and other wildlife. Recently, I’ve put most of my efforts into capturing images of birds and other wildlife depicting their behavior. It’s not easy, but not beyond the reach of those who dedicate the required time and effort. The digital revo...
Using black backgrounds is a divisive issue in nature photography; people tend either to love them or hate them. I’m more selective. I quite like black backgrounds for nocturnal animals as they give a totally natural look. I’ve had people tell me, for instance, that they prefer red-eyed tree...
“The appearance of photography with its dissolved compositional center and melted boundaries between the subject and the background contributed a lot to the new aesthetic vision. Photography taught painters to praise an ‘accidental’ natural look of the artworks.”
“The impressionist p...
Continue readingAlthough I spent my career working with birds and really enjoy bird photography, I have been fascinated by insects and other arthropods from an early age. The seemingly endless number of species, the astonishing life histories and behaviors, and the incredible mimicry that some species have evol...
Composition is the arrangement of visual elements in the image.
Successful composition should lead the viewer’s eye toward the most important parts of the image. It should help portray whatever it is that you wish your image to convey. Good composition is a crucial element of a great photogr...
Continue readingFor the purpose of this article we will consider photo art as anything that has a digital photograph as its base and is created purely using software on a computer and doesn’t involve any paintings with physical objects. The photo art can then be printed on canvas or paper of the artist’s ch...
Composition is an essential aspect of a good photograph. It’s our choice as photographers as to how the elements will be arranged in a photograph. It’s no wonder we take time to setup a photograph, making several technical and creative decisions along the way. However, there is always the op...
When I first began my career in nature photography I went to great pains to avoid including anything man-made in my photos—not an easy task living in a concrete jungle like New York City. I always felt that if I allowed any hint of urban artifacts to enter the frame it would, somehow, lessen t...
As an outdoor nature photographer, I generally prefer to take my pictures, well…outdoors. However, a recent family emergency prevented me from getting out into the field as often as I would have liked. To prevent cobwebs from forming on my equipment, I needed to come up with ways to stay activ...
Double exposures are a fun way to add a little creativity to your flower photographs. Sometimes, I’ll shoot a close-up, then pull back and shoot a much smaller version of the same flower—giving it the appearance that it’s “nestled” within itself. Other times, I’ll combine two totally...
Several years ago, while standing in line at a camera store, I began thumbing through the pages of a book about photographing flowers. I came across a section showing a studio set-up of a single rose wrapped in blue tissue paper in a cone-like fashion. The finished photograph was a close-up of t...
There are several ways to add more color to your photos—many of them in post. But, I’m a little old-school. Although I run all of my photos through Photoshop, I primarily use the software to enhance what’s already there. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a purest who believes it’s a mortal...
Flowers are usually best photographed on overcast days. The cloud cover acts as a giant softbox, effectively evening out the light by eliminating all dark shadows. Sometimes, this flat, contrast-free lighting is exactly what I’m looking for. Other times, when I’m in the mood to spice...