How-To
Outdoor Photography Techniques
Master the skills you need with photography techniques from the experts. Whether you're a novice seeking advice on landscape, wildlife or nature photography or a pro looking for more advanced techniques, you'll find all the information you need, here.
Tuesday, August 1, 2006 Mastering The Wide-AngleExploring with the wide end of the focal spectrum opens up a world of creative compositional possibilities  My high-school chemistry teacher’s favorite phrase was "Everything is relative" and so it is with wide-angle lenses. A lens of a given focal length can be wide-angle, normal or even telephoto. It depends on the format of the camera on which you’re using it. The larger the film frame (or image sensor), the wider a given focal length’s angle of view. |
Saturday, July 1, 2006 Light On The LandscapeRediscover the world around you by "seeing" light  Several years ago, I got stuck. Though I had been shooting for more than 20 years, I found that a day’s worth of shooting was delivering only lackluster results. The images were sharp, the compositions tight, the exposures dead-on, but as I contemplated my images, I recognized that I was repeating myself. I was creating the same shots week after week, month after month. The photographs were technically good, but they left me uninspired. |
Thursday, June 1, 2006 Craft & Control In PhotoshopInterpret a scene optimally to match your vision of the subject  One of the great challenges for any nature photographer is to use photographic tools, such as lens, filter, film, flash and digital camera choices, to control the photographic process so that you can interpret the world true to how you saw the scene. Perhaps an even greater challenge, though, is to use tools with discretion and craft—in other words, use that lens choice in a way that enhances the subject, the filter so that its use doesn’t overpower the subject, the film so colors aren’t garish and the flash so it doesn’t look alien. |
Monday, May 1, 2006 Bare EssentialsFour professional photographers share how they travel light in the field Getting the image sometimes involves leaving equipment back home. When you’re hiking six miles into the wilderness or climbing up to a higher elevation, the weight of the gear you carry makes a big difference. All the best equipment in the world means little if you’re too physically spent to hold the camera steady. Some of these items weigh only a few ounces individually, but all this gear combined can result in photographers carrying pounds of gear on their backs or over their shoulders. |
Saturday, April 1, 2006 The Workshop ExperienceMaster new skills, explore spectacular locations and make new friends who share your passion as you learn together from experienced pros  The day begins with a predawn breakfast surrounded by fellow photographers who are chatting quietly about lenses, plug-ins and graduated filters. You yawn and stretch, eager to greet daybreak and the magical light. It’s the first day of the photographic workshop you’ve been looking forward to all year, and you listen while Lonnie Brock, who with Roger Devore founded The Nature Workshops, describes the area that the group will visit for the sunrise shoot.
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Saturday, April 1, 2006 Of Mice & TabletsA graphic pen and tablet can make a difference in the digital darkroom  How do you work with images in the computer? I’m not asking what program you use, what file formats are preferred or even if you use Mac vs. Windows. Nor am I wondering what workflow you choose or if you have a certain style of image processing. |
Saturday, April 1, 2006 Photo GuaranteesUse these tips to get immediate results for better, more interesting landscape, close-up and wildlife photographs  If you mount your camera on a tripod and focus carefully, you’ll get sharper landscape photos—guaranteed. Why? Because a good tripod holds a camera steadier than a person can. And tripods aren’t just for large-format and super-telephoto shooters: Even if you shoot with a "little" 35mm or digital SLR and never use a long lens, you’ll still get sharper photos if you mount your camera on a sturdy tripod. |
Saturday, April 1, 2006 Action FlashUse this blur technique to add a spicy kick to sports and wildlife photography  Flip through any sports magazine and you’ll find flash-blur photos. You know the look: an image of an athlete caught in mid-action, illuminated by a strobe and trailed by a colorful blur of motion. |
Wednesday, March 1, 2006 Depth Of FieldIt's easy to put this versatile creative control to work for you  Here’s a handy creative control that takes up no space in your gadget bag (and costs nothing!): depth of field, the zone of apparent sharpness in a photo in front of and beyond the focused subject. With great depth of field, everything from nearby objects to a distant background will appear sharp in a photo; with limited depth of field, only the focused subject—or a portion of it if depth of field is really limited—will appear sharp.
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