Outdoor Photography How To

A camera enforces a “framing” of the world before you. While you can choose various aspect ratios (from standard to panoramic, from 3:4 to 6:19) the fact remains that you always have to choose what to include and what to leave out of the photo. It’s like constructing a box and deciding what to put inside it. Making those decisions often involves utilizing certain compositional guidelines and tools that artists have used in the past, although like any rules they “are made to be broken.” When deciding which guidelines to apply always remember that content rules, and that context helps tell the tale.

The Canon Digital Learning Center is now offering free tutorial videos hosted by world-renowned bird photographer Arthur Morris. Arthur demonstrates which techniques, gear and settings he uses to create artistic photos of birds and other wildlife.

As a child, I clearly remember my father taking Kodachrome images of my sister and I in the snow. I always associated childhood winter 35mm slides with the blue cast they possessed. Not understanding color temperature, I assumed photos were always blue because it was cold outside. Summer images were understandably warmer looking.

Not too long ago we received these notes from photographer Daryl Hawk about his April, 2014, journey across the kingdom of Ladakh:
“Traversed the entire region from the Pakistan border in the west to the Tibetan border in the east…crossed the Khardung pass at 18,380 feet on the highest motorable road in the world…lived with both nomads and residents…explored 25 ancient monasteries and fortresses…tracked snow leopards, discovered petroglyphs and sacred lakes…had a meeting and interview with the King of Ladakh.”

“It was a two-month expedition, and it had taken weeks just to hike into the area and weeks to get to this point on the mountain,” photographer Tom Bol recalls about the above image.

For centuries, scientists have labored to understand the nature of light. Some ancient Greeks believed that light was emitted from the eyeball the same way a bat sends out an echolocation chirp which allows him to determine his precise position in physical space. Understandably, there were problems with that hypothesis. Other theories followed. Those who embraced the wave theory were right—mostly. Light behaves like a wave up to a certain point. Similarly, those who professed the particle theory were also correct—partly.

Carleton Watkins was perhaps America’s greatest 19^th century landscape photographer yet today he’s largely unknown. His breathtaking landscapes of the Yosemite Valley were instrumental in preserving the valley for future generations and paving the way for both the National Parks system and the environmental movement.