Outdoor Photography How To

We all learn a bunch of "essential" photography rules when first starting out, and even more as we continue to expand our skills. One of the most familiar is the Rules of Thirds. Today you'll learn how to use the less familiar Rule of Odds, that can be even more beneficial when shooting wildlife and nature images.

If you're like most outdoor photographers you often shoot in dirty environments in which dust can enter your camera and wreak havoc on the sensor, especially on windy days. And every time you switch lenses the odds of contamination will increase.

The Domke PhoTOGS Vest is incredibly functional and versatile. It has room for just about anything you could possibly need on a photo trek (except a large tripod, of course). I'm talking lenses, backup compact camera, light meter, H₂O, lunch, bear spray, pens, business cards—more room than I have stuff.

Achieving fast and precise focus is a primary goal of all outdoor photographers, whether they shoot wildlife, sports, adventure, or travel images. Even landscape photographers want to hit the proper point of focus when capturing static scenes.

Yesterday we featured a straightforward guide to using Selective Exposure adjustments to get the light right in complicated images with a wide range of brightness levels throughout the frame. Today's tutorial from another image-editing expert demonstrates how to take a similar approach with Lightroom's powerful Selective Color tools.

Filing the frame with the critter isn’t required for great wildlife photography. Reflecting on how I first slanted my wildlife photography in this direction, it has its roots in the first lens I had to shoot wildlife. I started with a Vivitar 400mm f/5.6 on an old Minolta that was soon replaced with a Nikon 400mm f/5.6 on an F2. That 400mm was my main lens for a long time and it taught me lessons about wildlife photography that I still depend on to this day.

Regular readers know that I emphasize in these columns the idea of visualizing opportunities that will set your images apart from the rest. There is another aspect to that idea, and that’s setting your images apart from each other. In other words, adding variety to your photography by adding, and even combining, techniques.