The (Only) 5 Things You Need to Start Nature Photography

This week I bring you...a list! That's right - we're going to talk about nature photography - what you need, and how to get started. Contrary to what you might think, you only need 5 things to start doing nature photography. So, read on to find out!

ITEM #1: ANY CAMERA

Many people falsely believe that they need tons of expensive equipment to get into nature photography. While it is true that some aspects of nature photography do require specialized equipment, all any beginner nature photographer needs is a camera.

It doesn't even have to be a DSLR.

Taken with the iPhone 5 + HDR

As I talk about here and here, you can even use your smartphone.

If you do have some disposable income, an entry-level DSLR is a worthy investment, but don't feel like you "need" to buy an expensive camera to take great pictures. You just don't -- and an expensive piece of equipment won't automatically guarantee beautiful works of art.

#2: A PLACE OUTSIDE

Another myth about nature photography is that it requires one to travel to exotic locales. And, again, if you have the time and money to travel to such places - go for it! But I don't. And you don't need to, either. Like I mention here, the only thing you need for nature photography is a little square of nature.

If you are willing to travel a little bit, there are many beautiful and wonderful state parks. A great resource is to google "your state" + "state parks." Many states have informative websites with maps and widgets that can help you find some lovely green space within a short drive of your house.

For example:

However, even your backyard (if you have one), can host a bevy of interesting creatures and plants. Don't neglect easily accessible areas because they seem unexciting - you never know what you might find!

Grasshopper Nymph spotted in the flower pot outside my apartment

#3: LIGHT

Light, as I discuss here, is very important for photography. You already know this. If you strip away complicated equipment and advanced techniques, the lighting of your subject matter becomes even more important. Luckily, lighting is free - it just takes a little extra effort for you to get up early in the morning (I know, I know).

See how the golden quality of the light on the trees makes them seem more alive? The dappling of the light also adds motion and interest to a still scene, as it encourages the viewer's eye to move around the frame.

This photograph was taken with no special equipment, aside from a DSLR. I used a simple "kit" lens that came with the camera when I bought it. I did not even use a tripod.

With the advances being made in smartphone cameras, they are more and more able to handle dappled lighting conditions like the one above. Additionally, HDR functionality improves their performance in situations with contrast-y lighting. So, in short: you can also use your smartphone, your point-and-shoot camera, whatever, to take images like these.

The keys to a good photograph are the same regardless of what camera you use: lighting, composition, subject matter.

#4: PHOTO EDITING SOFTWARE

Digital cameras are designed to produce low-contrast images so that detail is held in both the highlights and the shadows. However, this means that images usually come out of the camera needing some kind of tweaking. There are many programs you can use to edit your photography, some of which are free. I have a post here in which I detail my own image processing habits.

I usually edit photographs to look how I saw the scene in real life

Gimp is a very powerful free image editing program that mimics photoshop itself. For the iPhone, I personally like the Photoshop Express app (which is free). Picasa is another free editing tool that I haven't personally used.

For someone who is looking to spend a little bit of money, Photoshop Elements is a great program that should satisfy all of your editing desires.

#5: A TRIPOD

Okay, so this one is really a bonus item. You don't need a tripod, but it is a really handy tool to have. As you know, a tripod will stabilize your camera and prevent your shaky hands from blurring the image. 

Tripods become essential for wildlife photography that employs long telephoto lenses which magnify camera shake. However, they are also indispensable tools for the landscape photographer, evening/night photographer, and, really, anyone who can't hold a camera stable (me).

You can even find versions now for smartphones and small point-and-shoot cameras.

So, have you been inspired to start shooting nature images? What equipment do you like the best? Let me know in the comments!

Check back next Friday for the next installment of...TwoFeetPhoto. Please remember to share, follow, and subscribe via the fancy sidebar options! Here is my tumblr and here I am on bloglovin.

How To: Landscape Photos with your Smartphone

So I've had several requests to write an article about smart phone photography. In fact, I have an article here about taking photos of your pet with a phone, but I realize that there's more to be said on the subject.

So, what are some of the keys to great smartphone photography?

Well, the most important thing is to choose your subject wisely. With a phone, you are limited by a fixed (short) focal length, lower resolution, and mediocre exposure metering software. Thus, you want to select a subject that is large, easy to get close to, and evenly lit. In other words, landscapes are excellent subjects for the smartphone photographer.

Anastasia State Park - read more here.

What are the basics of landscape photography?

Well, lucky you! If you are using a smartphone, a lot of the basics of photography are out of your hands - so I won't talk about them here. Normally landscape photography requires a discussion on aperture and depth of field, but you can't control those things with a smartphone. This means that your photographs won't always turn out exactly how you like, but you can still create beautiful images with these simple cameras.

Okay, so what are some of the things that apply to me?

Pick an evenly lit scene. As discussed above, most smartphones do not have advanced exposure metering modes like DSLRs will, and thus they cannot compensate well for scenes with large dynamic ranges. The dynamic range is a description of how much variation there is between the lightest and the darkest part of the image.

This is an example of a scene with a large dynamic range. Notice that in the middle-right section of the image, the subject is almost entirely black. Conversely, in the top left, the sky has been bleached white. This results in loss of detail in both areas of the image, and is considered poor photographic technique.

The dark areas of the frame are termed "underexposed" - that is, they did not get enough light during the exposure. 

The bleached areas of the frame are referred to as "overexposed" - they received way too much light.

Overall, I do still find this photograph pleasing, but it's not a technically great image.

Well, fine, but my phone has HDR, which I know expands the dynamic range.

That's true. Many phones (and DSLRs) now come equipped with HDR (high dynamic range) technology. There are several ways to create an HDR image, but the most commonly employed method is to take several photos in quick succession using different exposure ratings. For example, the camera may take a globally underexposed photo, a globally "normal" photo, and a globally overexposed photo. Computer software then combines these images into one. (Yes, the iPhone HDR feature works like this - I believe it takes 3 images). This does result in an increased dynamic range.

However, this does not solve the dynamic range problem for smartphones, which allow for little user control of exposure. The above image is an example of a nightmare scene for a smarphone camera - dappled light, creating areas of dark and bright scattered randomly across the image. This photo was in fact taken with the HDR setting, and while it is improved against photos of that scene without HDR, it is not great. In short, it's best practice to avoid shooting these types of scenes with smartphones.

(They are no cakewalk with a DSLR either).

What are some other things I can do to improve my smartphone photography?

Well, like I've said before, the basics of all types of photography are the same. Photographs are composed of three main elements: subject, composition, and lighting. Lighting can be broken down into four components: Ambient light, shutter speed, aperture, and ISO rating. With DSLR/SLR photography, we have greater control over the latter 3 items. However, with smartphones, we are largely at the mercy of whatever creative decisions the software makes for us (the amount of control you have of course varies from phone to phone). As a result, it's important to capitalize on the things we CAN control.

Ambient Lighting

Seek out dramatic lighting to illuminate your images - it can transform even the most drab frog into a princess. (Note here that this is one of the few situations a high dynamic range photograph is successful).

Composition

Presumably we do photography because we want to show the world what we see. Bring your photography to life with images that are descriptive, poetic, and unusual. Think carefully about your composition before you click that button - you've got plenty of time; that gazebo's not moving. I find it helpful to do composition "exercises". Challenge yourself to take at least 5 different images of each of your subjects. Then, if you can do 5 easily, stretch to 10. Force yourself to think outside the canonical box to produce artistic images.

You can click here to read my article on pet photography with a smartphone.

Okay, I've talked enough - now it's your turn. What do you think about smartphone photography?

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Very Small Rocks: Macro Photography Basics

Macro Photography Basics

Baby reduviid 

You may have noticed that I kinda have a thing for arthropods. Okay, maybe not "kind of", but definitely certainly. Quite frankly, I love bugs. And while I believe that insects are amazing photography subjects, I realize that macro photography is not as intuitive as other forms of nature photography. Firstly, you need specialized equipment (should I do a post on this? Let me know). Secondly, you need to understand the technical hang-ups with macro work. Finally, you need to really like small things.

So what even is macro photography?

There is actually a technical definition of a "macro" lens - it must render the subject with a 1:2 or 1:1 reproduction ratio. In other words, the subject must be at least half as large on the film as it is in real life. Make sense? (Note: Some sources only consider 1:1 ratios to be true 'macro', but I believe that this is nitpicking).

Dew-laden flowers

Okay, so besides being small, what's the difference?

The main technical difficulty of macro photography is learning how to handle the magnification power of the lens. In short, the extreme magnification creates problems for the photographer.

1. Focusing Problems

At very high magnifications, the depth of field becomes very shallow. Thus it is imperative to focus your images carefully. A few millimeters' change in the focal plane can create entirely different images. Pay close attention that your desired subject is actually the point in the frame you are focusing on. I would recommend using manual focus. As a corollary to this tip, a tripod is helpful in ensuring that you don't accidentally twitch and move your subject out of focus.

Hornet Clearwing Moth

You can see in the image above how shallow the depth of field is. Unless this is the look you are going for, I would suggest stopping down to a very small f-stop to maximize your available depth. 

(If the above discussion about depth of field is confusing you, you may want to head over here to read my article about f-stops.)

2. Choosing the Right Subject

I've spoken (and written) before about how I believe there are 3 main components of a good photograph: lighting, subject, and composition. Depending on the type of photography, these individual elements attain greater or lesser importance. For macro photography, I believe that choosing an appropriate subject is paramount.

Parasitized Tobacco Hornworm Caterpillar

You should seek out subjects with interesting patterns, textures, or behaviors. Okay, you say, I'm supposed to be doing that anyway. And that's true -  but the key here is to discover subjects that are not easily appreciated with the naked eye. With the magic of your macro lens, you are transporting the viewer to place she cannot otherwise go. In short, your camera becomes a tool with which to expose a hidden world. In my obvious opinion, insects make wonderful macro subjects, as their bodies are etched with color and detail we rarely notice at our native scale.

Hover fly

3. Lighting Difficulties

Because of the issues discussed in tip #1, macro photographers often stop down very far. This results in little available light to shoot with, and thus blurry images. To combat this problem, many photographers choose to use flash to illuminate their macro images. Personally, I prefer the appearance of natural light in photographs. However, if you like flash - go for it! But don't let anyone try to convince you that you "need" expensive lighting gear to undertake macro photography. None of my images are shot with flash.

Parting words:

So there are a few technical challenges posed by macro photography, but they are not insurmountable, even for beginning photographers. Overall, the same basics of light, subject, composition hold true with this, and any, genre of photography. While equipment can be expensive, there are entry-level devices that can help elevate your images to the realm of small (macro lenses are even available for smart phones now). Would you like me to write a post about macro equipment? Let me know in the comments.

In the meantime, it's insect season again! Get out there, and get CLOSE.

If you're interested, in this article, I talk briefly about finding great insect subjects.

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Compose Yourself - Photography Basics, Part 3

Photography Basics Part 3: Composition and the Rule of Thirds

Read Part 1 and Part 2

In the previous installments of this series, we've talked about shutter speed and aperture - the foundations of a technically good photograph. However, we both know that there is more to an excellent image than high technical skill. This week, we will talk a little bit about the art of photography.

What does composition even mean?
"Composition" refers to the way elements are arranged in the frame. One of the difficulties of photography is learning to actively "see" all of the items in the frame. The brain naturally has a tendency to filter out superfluous or distracting items in the field, while you are acutely focused on your subject. It may not be until after you get home and are reviewing your shots that you realize your cousin Bob's red hat is glaringly present in the corner of each image. Learn to critically evaluate the scene as you are shooting to avoid these types of errors.

What is that "rule of thirds" thing you mentioned in the title?
The Rule of Thirds is a classic rule of art that helps organize and define what makes a particular composition pleasing, or not. The Rule is simple: divide the frame into thirds both ways, so that you have a grid. Your subject ideally should sit at any of the intersection points in the grid. Make sense?

Here is an example.

You can see that I am close but not exact in aligning the top right flower with the grid.

Here is another example:

The idea is not necessarily to be perfectly aligned with the grid (although if you are that good at geometry, more power to you), but rather to avoid plopping the subject dead center.

Why is a centered shot bad?

A "centered" composition can deaden an image, as it leaves no room for the viewer's eye to wander about the frame. The eye is automatically drawn to the center of the image, where it stays. In an off-center, or rule of thirds obliging image, the eye starts at the center and then is engaged to move around the frame by the off-center subject.

So, what you are telling me is, I should never use a centered composition?

Well, no. There are some instances in which a centered composition can produce a very dynamic image.

Fort Worth Zoo

In this example, the heads of the rhinos are centered, while their bodies act as "interest points" spanning away from the main subject. The viewer's eye fixes initially at the central point, then is drawn out to the edges of the frame, and back again into the center. The central placement of their heads visually "draws" the image together.

A center-heavy composition also emphasizes balance, symmetry, and peace. In short, there are no hard rules, although the rule of thirds is an excellent guideline, particularly for beginners.

Don't forget to read Part 1 and Part 2 of Photography Basics.

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