The F Stops Here: Photography Basics Part 1

Photography Basics Part 1: A Practical Guide to Aperture

View Part 2
View Part 3

This is going to be the first post in a small series explaining some technical photography basics which can help you improve your photography skills. With the improving sophistication of automatic metering systems in digital cameras, technical knowledge of photography is becoming less necessary. However, if you want to have artistic control over your images, you should learn a few basics.

What is an F stop?
"F stop" is another term for "aperture." Aperture is the name for the hole through which light reaches the film - or digital chip - when the shutter is lifted. This allows for exposure of the film/chip and also focuses the light onto the surface.
The F stop is expressed as a fraction. Thus, "larger" numbers actually mean a smaller aperture. For example, when people talk about "F 16," they really mean f/16, or f over 16. F/8 is therefore a larger aperture than f/16.
These numbers, by the way, are based on a mathematical sequence and they are scaled such that each number down (bigger number but smaller aperture) represents a halving of the light intensity from the previous stop.
Make sense?

What does that mean for me?
The size of the aperture determines two things: 1. The amount of light that reaches your film (in conjunction with your shutter speed, which is next week's topic), and 2. Depth of Field (which is mostly what we will focus on today).

What is depth of field?
Depth of field is a measure of how far back in the frame objects remain in focus.

This is an example of a picture with a shallow depth of field. It was taken with f/5.

You can see here in the example above that detail has only been captured in the lacewing's head. Objects father away from the camera, the rest of the picture, blur softly out of focus. This technique is often used for pleasing artistic effect.

Here is another example:

This picture also displays a shallow depth of field. It was taken with f/6.3

A shallow depth of field allows all attention to be focused on the subject, because background objects are not rendered in detail. This can be advantageous for macro images.

This photo has a greater depth of field. It was shot at f/9.

This photo has a greater depth of field than the previous examples. Note it was taken with a smaller f/stop. A smaller f/stop (eg, f/22) creates a larger, or deeper, depth of field. You can think of this as a small opening focusing the light more sharply, allowing more items in the frame to be rendered in detail. Notice that even items far away from the camera are recognizable. I could have stopped down even farther in this shot to obtain greater detail.

Another example, taken at f/7

What's the deal with the light?

Remember that we said the f/stop affects two things: the amount of light that reaches the film and the depth of field? Well, the farther down you stop (a smaller f/stop, a bigger number), the less and less light reaches the film. This means that your exposure will have to become longer to compensate - and that will be next week's topic (click here to read Part 2 of Photography Basics and here to read Part 3).

Feel free to leave any questions you have below.

Did you see this post about lighting? Check it out!

Want to see more tips? Click here to follow me on Tumblr and here to follow me on Bloglovin! Don't forget you can also use the handy sidebar to subscribe via email or RSS feed.

Winter Blues

Winter is not always kind to the nature photographer. Either the frigid north winds hound us, bringing ice, snow, and difficulties to our craft, or we find ourselves alone, cameras without subjects. Living in the south, it is the latter problem I suffer from. Once spring fades, insects die or hibernate, flowers wither, birds fly south, and mammals seek shelter in their burrows. In short, all of my favorite subjects suddenly turn up missing. So what's a photographer to do?

There are overall three keys to a good photograph: good subject, good composition, and good lighting. In the winter, if you do not have access to dramatic snowscapes, it can be difficult to find a "good" subject. After all, who really wants to take photos of dead leaves? To give some visual CPR to your lifeless subjects, dramatic lighting and sharp compositions are essential.

In both of these examples, dramatic backlighting perks up static images of dead leaves.

Mood is another consideration. Winter swathes everything in a subdued, nearly monochromatic palette. A good photograph might exploit this tone to create evocative works, expressing peace, loneliness, or beauty.

Placed against grayscale backgrounds, even "dull" colors, such as the brown in the above photograph, suddenly become vivid in comparison. The empty seed pod above almost glows with life in relation to the bland background. Again, composition is pivotal here in ensuring the photograph creates impact. The branch leads the viewer's eye upward toward the lone splotch of color in the frame. As a result, movement is created, and even a photograph of a dead plant becomes eye-catching.

Want more tips on composition? Check out my post here for some brief pointers!

Want even more? You can follow me here on Tumblr, here on Bloglovin', or use the nifty sidebar to subscribe via email or RSS feed.

So what do you think? Is it worth it to brave the cold for photographs or is winter better spent hibernating? Let me know in the comments!

My Slimy Friends: Salamanders in Nature Photography

If I recall correctly, Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes fame), made some remark about how nature was gross, because something was always crawling or oozing slime on you.
Dear reader, I humbly submit that this is not a bad thing.

This week, we are going to talk about salamanders as unique and beautiful nature photography subjects.

Salamanders are some of my favorite animals. Brightly colored or simple brown, they squirm and squiggle their way through quick-moving streams and underneath mossy rocks. Turn over a stone here and who knows - perhaps a translucent dragonfly larva, or possibly a vibrant orange amphibian.

Eurycea cirrigera - Southern Two Lined Salamander

 Amphibians are an oft neglected subject in the world of nature photography. Not as available as insects, pitifully unglamorous next to big mammals, they tend to shrink away into their damp worlds of moss and wet stone.

Desmognathus quadramaculatus - Black-bellied Salamander

Perhaps that is why I am so fond of them. After all, I cannot resist the contrast of soft vegetation against slimy Caudatan skin. It was love at first sight, really.

Salamanders are delicate animals; soft, overcast lighting and macro lenses do them great favors. As with most other subjects, early morning is the best time to photograph them. Not only do you get the most flattering light this way, but the cold-blooded salamanders will be the most sluggish (read: most willing to sit still for you).

If you do handle any salamanders, make sure to do so gently. Do a little research of the species in your area before you go out, however, as some are toxic. And finally, do not remove animals from their habitats or take them far away from where you found them searching for a "better" photo. Remember that you are a guest in the salamander's dank world.

Southern Two-Lined Salamander

The melting ice and warming temperatures simply remind me, in tantalizing whispers, that salamander season is coming again. So, if you should find yourself near a swampy forest or a cold mountain stream, consider (carefully) turning over stones and logs to look for amphibians.

(All photos were taken at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. The Smoky Mountain region is considered to be a biodiversity hotspot for salamanders.)

Nikon D70 + Sigma 100mm macro

Check out this post for some tips on taking great animal portraits! Please remember to share, follow, and subscribe via the fancy sidebar options! Here is my tumblr and here I am on bloglovin.

Evening Walk

It's probably obvious to you, by now, if you've ever picked up a camera, that lighting is important. Many photographers wax poetic about the delicate pre-dawn light that waking up at 5:00 AM affords you. I can't disagree - the morning is beautiful. However, I feel that evening light is under-appreciated. Glowing and golden, it illuminates subjects in dramatic backlight or highlights textures of scale or fur. Plus you don't even have to get up early on your day off.

Taking advantage of the harsh evening light can make for some interesting portraits.

The sun has been blessed with Midas' touch and can charm even the most drab subject into bedazzlement.

Walkingstick - Phasmida

Of course, when working with subjects that are naturally flashy, strong evening light ratchets up their attire to an almost gaudy level. Here, I had to be careful not to overexpose highlights on this Japanese beetle.

Japanese Beetle (invasive)

Unfortunately, this sort of "magic" lighting fades quickly, so if you want to take advantage of it, you'd better work fast!

What's your favorite time of day for photography?
Please remember to share, comment, and subscribe! All my links are in the nifty sidebar :)

Q: How to Give Life to Still Photographs of Still Things

One of the challenges of photography is imparting life and motion to a still record of a scene. In some cases this is quite simple. One frame of an eagle's swoop looks just as exciting as a video of the entire event. Indeed, still photographs of animals in action can intensify the drama, as the viewer begins to anticipate what will happen next, what occurred after the photo.
This is not true of plants. Plants don't swoop, or dive, or flash brilliant and bizarre mating feathers. Plants are the connoisseurs of slow. They grow, they mate, they fight, at a creeping, deliberate pace, too gradual for us to detect.
So how can one lend the same interest and excitement to plant photography as is characteristic of animal photography?

1. Develop an appreciation for color and shape.

Brilliant, saturated colors steep many flowers. However, the key to developing interest and excitement in flower photography is variety of both color and form. An endless field of red flowers may make for a striking landscape, but then become overpowering for a macro shot. To avoid visual oversaturation, try to mix different species of plant in the same frame, if possible. This is often quite easy to do if you are shooting in a botanical garden, where different flowers are arranged for you in ways that are already visually pleasing.

If you are shooting a single type of flower, try to incorporate different parts of the plant (ie stalks or leaves) to add variety. Alternatively, a shallow depth of field can be used to your advantage to paint areas of blurriness and sharpness and avoid monotony.

2. Use Visual Cues to Suggest Motion
In a photograph of a tiger leaping, the brain picks up on visual cues that allow you to interpret the picture as "action" - the stance of the tiger, the position of his paws, or perhaps the fact that he is no longer touching the ground. Similarly, compositional cues in still photos can be used to suggest motion and "trick" the brain.

In this picture, for example, the seed pod has been photographed at a lower angle, making it appear to be emerging from the flowers. This view is much more dynamic than if the pod had been photographed "head-on".

Here's another, more subtle, example.

In this image, the strong vertical lines suggest an upward motion of the flower, which is open to the sun. This composition works to create the feeling that the flower is "reaching" upwards, when, in reality, we know it is (relatively) static.

What sorts of tricks do you use to add interest to your flower photography?

The Strangers

There are a lot of bugs. A mind-bogglingly large number of species, an inconceivably immense biomass of creatures. Many of them are quite familiar to us - they buzz, bump, and crawl their way through our lives, either as pests, terrors, or pieces of wonderment. However, some of them are quite strange and foreign.

Antlion - Myrmeleontidae

Here is one I rarely notice - the antlion. Now, some of you are probably thinking, "that's not what an antlion looks like." This is probably because you are familiar with the larval form, which the pincered creature children often find hiding in tiny sandpits in playgrounds. It undergoes metamorphosis and then becomes this guy. It's still a rampant predator, even in its adult form.

Mayfly - Ephemeroptera, poss. Ephemeridae hexagenia

Here's one you're probably a little more familiar with - the mayfly. Similar to the dragonfly and the damselfly, the mayfly can be distinguished by the characteristic filaments protruding like a tail. They are famous for their incredibly short adult (winged) lifespans, lasting only a few days in some species.

I found both of these guys on the same day, while taking a brief hike in Fort Worth Nature Center. Both of them were resting on vegetation below eye level, reiterating the importance of looking down when insect hunting. Finding insects is a skill that improves with time and practice, as you learn the sometimes subtle clues that announce an arthropod presence. Admittedly, I know that this is not a skill many care to perfect, but, as a macro photographer, insects provide variable and interesting subject manner at finger's reach.

How do you feel about getting close enough to bugs to photograph them?

Want to learn more about bugs? Head over here for a brief lesson in entomology!

How to Take Great Pet Photos with your Smartphone

I'm diverting slightly from my usual content to discus one of the biggest revolutions in photography - the smartphone. Suddenly, everyone is carrying mini digital cameras in their pockets - and these cameras are becoming more and more sophisticated.
So is it possible to take professional-quality photographs with your smartphone?
Well, yes...if you choose your subjects and your lighting carefully. As my facebook feed is constantly flooded with pictures of people's pets, I figured pet photography was a good starting point.

How to Make the Most of your Smartphone Camera 
I mentioned earlier that you can create excellent photographs with your smartphone, if you choose the right scene. My experience here is with the iPhone camera, which does not let you manually adjust camera settings.
Here are a few general smartphone pointers:
1. Avoid contrasty scenes
Scenes with a large difference between the darkest and the brightest point in the picture will turn out over- or -underexposed on many smartphones. Choose a situation with fairly even light to get the best results.

The bright white blown-out computer screen is very distracting in this high contrast photo.

2. Read the manual
This is the first thing you should do with ANY camera. Seriously, the features won't help you if you don't know how to use them.
3. Work with easily available subjects
By this I mean, your subject should fill the frame. However, most smart phones have very limited zoom capabilities. The "digital zoom" most are equipped with usually just results in very low image quality. Instead of resorting to this, your phone's camera is best used for subjects that are very large (ie, landscapes) or that will let you get very close to them (ie, your dog).

All right, so let's say you, like so many others, have found your "available" subject in the form of your adorable, fat puppy. Now what do you do?
Well, the basics of pet photography apply regardless of what kind of camera you are using.

1. Shoot at eye level
While the top of your kitten's head is cute, his face is probably cuter. We have a tendency to "shoot down" at animals because they are shorter than we are. This results in photos of backs and ears from funny perspectives. That's generally not what you want. When you're photographing an animal like this, your camera should generally be at the eye level of your subject.

Top-down, we can't even really see what he looks like

This picture was taken at the same time as the one above, but was taken at eye level. 

2. Think about the composition
One of the biggest advantages of photographing your pet versus a wild animal is that he will generally sit still for you for long periods of time. This should give you ample opportunity to think about the composition of your photograph. Are you following the rule of thirds? Is your underwear unobtrusively sitting in the background of the picture? Is your lighting ok? These are questions to consider before you click the "shutter" button.

This picture is pretty cute, but there is a lot of distracting material in the background that takes away from the subject.

Here, the background is clean, allowing us to focus all of our attention on the subject.

3. Try shooting with natural lighting
Many times when we are with our pets and our phones, we are indoors. This results in photographs that may be dark, yellow (from incandescent light), or "flat" (from the automatic flash). Try to get your subject in front of a window for a little taste of soft, natural lighting inside.

4. Turn off your flash
On a smart phone, the flash feature generally serves to hit your subject right in the face with a blinding burst of light, creating red eye, casting weird shadows, and lending a characteristic "flatness" to the photo. It also tends to startle animals or make them squint. It's no good. Just turn it off.

The flash causes apparent "flattening" of his head against his body, red eye, and squinting. No wonder he looks so mad.

5. Try to capture a mix of interesting behavior and portraits
Here's my final tip for you. A lot of us rush to grab our cameras when our pets are "doing something cute" -- and that's good. One of the keys to pet photography is variety. You don't really need 50 pictures of your overweight cat sleeping on the couch. At the same time, you don't need to spam your grandmother's inbox with photos of him sitting on your head. Or whatever. Try to illustrate elements of your pet's personality in your photos. In the end, your pictures should describe him (or her) as an individual, and not merely be a record of his existence.

Would you rather be taking pictures of flowers? Head over here for some great flower photography tips!

Want to be up to date on my latest tips? Click here to follow me on Tumblr and here to follow me on Bloglovin'. You can also use the nifty sidebar to subscribe via RSS feed or email!