outdoor photography

Great Blue Heron Silhouette In most of my posts about getting proper exposure of subjects outdoors I've suggested that there are a significant number of practices that will help you get your subject properly exposed. However, if you want your subject to be silhouetted against a colorful or dramatic background, you need to toss all that advice out the window.  In fact, when lighting conditions become "poor," I often start thinking about about photographing silhouettes, and then all of the sudden my lighting conditions may become good again. Sunrise and Trees To photograph a silhouette, you need a relatively high contrast situation, which means that you will be better off if your subject is back-lit--that is, with the sun in front of you.  This will make the background very bright.  Then you want to base your exposure on the bright background.  Since your subject is not lit from the front, it will become very dark compared to the background in your...

Alligator Since moving to Florida, I've become very accustomed to alligators [ gallery ].  I see them everywhere.  Now I never go out specifically to photograph alligators, but when they pose for me, I often pause what I'm doing to photograph them.  They are fascinating creatures.  The best place I know of to see them is in the Orlando Wetlands Park .  Sometimes they gather together in one area of the birding loop of the park.  I've seen literally dozens of them gathered in one place catching fish.  Sometimes it becomes a kind of frenzy as they splash and thrash to catch the fish, and the herons and egrets have to move out of the way to avoid their teeth. Alligator When I'm there early or late, I often see them right on the paths.  Usually when I approach they jump to the water, but there's a few that don't budge.  I have either walk right by them (3-5 ft away) or turn around.  I choose to walk by them, and so far I still h...

Hooded Merganser, Viera Wetlands Perhaps I'm over-generalizing here, but I think including reflections will help most any photo.  I can't tell you how many times I've photographed birds, come home and seen that I've cut off the bird's reflection in the water with my composition.  I usually think the photograph would be improved if I included it.  So I've trained myself to look for reflections whenever shooting with water in m compositions. Tricolored Heron, Mead Gardens When shooting photographs with reflections, it is extremely tempting to center the composition.  The temptation can be almost irresistible.  Of course, there's nothing wrong with doing this, but look for ways to take non-centered compositions as well.  The rule of thirds can be helpful here.  Also remember that the reflection will always be somewhat darker than the subject.  You may need to use a little exposure compensation and raise the exposure a little to let you r...

St. Augustine Lighthouse The lighthouse at St. Augustine [ gallery ] is a wonderful place for outdoor photographers to visit, even if you don't pay to go up to the top of the lighthouse.  One day I will do that, but right now I want to show you the wonderful things you can see and photograph for free. St. Augustine Lighthouse (I suppose if I cared more, I should correct the distortion here) First, there's the lighthouse itself.  I don't think it really competes with the lighthouses in Maine, but it's a beautiful lighthouse, and the old Live Oak trees in front of the house are very interesting photographically as well.  I've spent more than an hour just photographing the lighthouse and the grounds around it. Fishing Pier by St. Augustine Lighthouse But I'm more of a nature photographer at heart, so I'd also recommend walking to the beach.  There's a fishing pier there, and fishermen walk out and fish from it.  There's also a cleaning ...

Black Swallowtail Butterfly The Black Swallowtail [ gallery ] is another one of those special treats I love to see when out taking pictures of birds.  This is the kind of distraction from bird photography I like to have. Black Swallowtail Butterfly Black Swallowtail Butterfly  

Giant Swallowtail It's hard to imagine a more beautiful creature than a butterfly, and the Giant Swallowtail [ gallery ][ slideshow ] is one of those butterfly species that I love to see. Giant Swallowtail Giant Swallowtail Giant Swallowtail

Gulf Fritillary The Gulf Fritillary may be my favorite butterfly.  I love the colors and patterns on their wings, and I love the way the patterns on the wings change on the underside of the wing. Gulf Fritillary

Cascade Falls, Avalon Area of Patapsco State Park My first article on this blog was on how to photograph waterfalls and cascades .  I looked at it recently only to notice that that post dealt almost entirely with exposure .  So I thought it fitting add a second about composition .  Waterfalls are often so beautiful that almost any photograph of a waterfall properly exposed will look pretty great.  But there are some strategies you can use to build on the natural beauty of the waterfall. Cascade, Avalon Area of Patapsco State Park Timing.  Obviously, the look of a waterfall will change throughout the year through the seasons, with late Spring, Summer and early Fall giving you the bet colors.  Nothing beats a photograph of a waterfall in fall colors.  But the look of the water fall can also change almost daily depending on the amount of rain your'e having.  So if you don't like the look of a waterfall one day, it may still be great on ...

Rose at Brookside Gardens When I first fell in love with photography, it was largely because of what a photograph could do to a flower, especially getting up close to them to portray them in ways we normally don't look at them.  They are marvels of nature, so I'm excited to begin a series on how to photograph them.  I'm going to concentrate on macro & closeup photography of flowers, at least to start off.  This is not the only or even best way to photograph them (since there is no "best way"), but it is the way that I prefer to photograph them.  Shooting close up photos of flowers properly is demanding and exacting work. It's also painstakingly slow.  But the results you can get are worth far more than the effort it takes to get the photo.  Here's what you need to get started shooting close up photos of flowers. Lilly at Greenspring Valley Park Camera.  Well, of course.  Most any quality DSLR will do just fine photographing flowers...

All my previous posts on the exposure and composition of trees contained examples in color, so I thought it would be good to give some examples of black and white photographs.  To my eyes, presenting photographs in black and white usually has a significant impact on the mood of the photo.  If you decide to present your photos in black and white, you still want to shoot in color.  Convert to black and white in your software.  Programs like Lightroom and Photoshop will let you adjust the tonal values of each color, and this allows you to retain control over the brightness of the various colors in your photograph. In the photograph above, I lowered the red and orange values and raised the yellow and green.  This had the effect of making the green ferns stand out from the forest floor.  In some ways, it's a similar effect to what you would get with an infrared photo. You also place your photograph only partially in black and white.  In the photo...

In my last post , we looked at the exposure challenges when photographing trees, especially in forests.  But the benefits of addressing these challenges are tremendous.  There is such a great diversity of compositional styles for trees in forests that I won't be able to catalog them all.  There are simply too many different ways to approach the subject matter.  Of course, this means you have the opportunity to create your own style while learning from the approaches of others.  I would like to offer here a few things to keep in mind when developing your own style. Tripod.  You'll need your tripod, especially if you shoot in the early morning to avoid the problems that I described in my last post.  But tripods have another benefit beyond keeping your camera still--they slow you down.  By slowing you down, they give you time to think more creatively about your subject.  Don't just take one picture of a scene and move on.  Try lots ...

If you haven't tried to shoot trees in a forest before, you may not realize just  how challenging the task can be.  The biggest challenge you're likely to face is lighting.  Particularly on sunny days, once sunlight begins to filter through leaves of trees, the contrast becomes so great that it's difficult to properly expose  your whole scene. You either lose detail in the highlights or the shadows of your scene. Here are some tips and tricks I use to get good photographs of trees and forests.  In this post, I'll focus mostly on exposure issues.  In a later post, we'll consider issues of composition. Shoot Early Morning. Easily the best time to shoot trees is in the early morning hours before the sun begins to shine into the trees.  You won't have excessive contrast to worry about; sometimes you'll find there's some fog to help separate trees from each other; and you won't have to contend as much with other people.   Shoot on Cloudy Days. ...

Great Egret Birds are often very uncooperative subjects.  They don't often sit still, they tend to fly away from you instead of toward you, and they rarely come close to you, so you always want a longer lens than the one you have.  Lighting is always a challenge--you want fast shutter speeds, but shooting with the sun high in the sky causes problems.  I've found that when shooting birds, I keep a much smaller percentage of my shots than with just about any other subject.  But there are some tips you can use to increase your likelihood of coming home with more keepers. Use The Longest Lens You Have.   Birds are usually wary of coming near you, and they tend to fly off when you approach them.  So get the longest, fastest lens you have and be ready to crop your photos.  I use a 400mm f/5.6 lens, which great for hand-holding.  You can get birds in flight easier this way.  Others opt for longer, faster lenses (and MUCH more expensive). ...