Nature Photography How To

You don’t have to head to the country or go on safari to photograph wildlife. In fact, you can capture stunning wildlife photos right in your own town or city if you know where to look.

Have you ever stumbled upon a gorgeous nature scene, only to be disappointed with your images when you viewed them on the computer? As you’ll see in the helpful video below, it’s not enough to discover a great location, if you don’t know how to make the most of the opportunities it presents.

As adventurous as it may be, I am not a professional nature or travel photographer circumnavigating the globe in search of new and exotic destinations—maybe in my next lifetime. The nice thing about visiting new destinations is that you’re exposed to new subject matter to keep you thoroughly engaged and fired up from a photographer’s perspective.

Long lenses are exciting to use because they enable us to view and capture images with far greater magnification than what we can see with our eyes. They also deliver dramatic, compressed perspectives and enable photographers to isolate subjects from busy backgrounds.

One common mistake when photographing action is using a shutter speed that’s too fast to convey motion. When shooting motorcycle races, for example, a high shutter speed results in tack-sharp wheel spokes, yielding static images without a sense of motion. As you’ll see in the five-minute video below, the same is true when photographing birds in flight.

Nature photographer Nigel Danson has followed up his popular video from this summer titled “7 Simple Photography Tips I Wish I Knew Earlier,” with a new clip on a similar subject. Titled “7 Beginner Photography Mistakes to Avoid,” in the below video Danson shares some tips he’s learned along the way to becoming a successful photographer.

One of the most appealing aspects of macro photography is that you can find subjects virtually anywhere: local parks, in your yard, even inside your garage or home.