Nature Photography How To

For Jess Findlay, outdoor photography was a natural. Growing up in British Columbia (BC), Canada, surrounded by lush landscapes, enthralling wilderness, and birds of every feather, nature called to him every time he stepped outside, spurred on by family activities that included hiking, mountain biking, and birdwatching. As a young child, he would buy disposable cameras for family outings, and that only whet his appetite for the photographic arts. Before he knew it, he was thoroughly immersed. Nature and photography were on converging paths, meeting at a crossroads that would mark his future forever.

Some photographers feel that the photograph you capture in camera is the final image. Today, with the advent of the Raw digital format, most photographers can’t get away from applying post-capture processing techniques to their images since, by definition, the format is an unprocessed one. Some Raw files need very little work while others require more time and effort. Since my exposure and white balance was set accurately in the field, little was needed in the processing of these 2 elephant seals (#1).

Guess what? Even professional shooters screw up on occasion; so don’t feel too bad about making mistakes. The trick is to not make the same error twice, and one way to avoid that is to learn from the foibles of experienced pros.

Spring is in full bloom, with summer barely a month away, and it’s time to pull out the macro lens, brush up on your technique, and start thinking about close-up

The first thing most landscape photographers do upon arriving at a location is pull a trusty wide-angle lens out of their bag. It's true that telephoto lenses are growing in popularity for this purpose, but today's tutorial is all about making the most of whatever wide-angle prime or zoom that you own.

Today’s modern digital cameras offer insanely high ISO options, and conventional wisdom is to avoid them and go no higher than at least two settings below the maximum. But according to one top pro, there are times when is OK to use the highest ISO setting available.