Wild Around The Globe and Time

WANNA TRAP ALL THOSE MAGNIFICENT CREATURES IN YOUR CAMERA REEL?? THESE TIPS WILL GET YOU A LONG WAY IN GETTING THAT PERFECT SNAP ..

• Photo Tip: Macro photography is photography magnified. It is generally recognized as “macro” when you are increasing the size of an object in your picture from about half life-size, as represented on the image sensor, to five times life-size.Here, a macro lens and diffused macro twin flash capture the intricate detail on a bee and flower.
• As a general rule you should use an f-stop no wider/larger than f/16 to get all or most of the main subject in focus. If you are photographing a subject that can’t be arranged more or less on the same plane, you will have to decide which parts of it you want in focus.
• When shooting macro photography, using a narrow depth of field is unavoidable. This actually causes a pleasant result, since the background will appear totally out of focus, and you can usually use a natural setting to compose your picture. While you won't have to fuss too much with what's going on behind your subject, don't forget to check for any distracting or jarring background elements.
• Get creative with macro photography by shooting the subject from an unexpected angle. Try different lighting, as well, using front lighting for deeper color saturation and side lighting to highlight texture.
•  Macro photography is really successful when the image has a main point of interest and that point or subject is composed well within the frame. Choose a simple background so it doesn’t compete with the main subject for a viewer’s attention.
•  A close-up attachment is a flat, filter-like lens that mounts to the front of your normal lens (it usually screws into the filter thread) and allows you to focus more closely. You will be able to focus at closer distances, although the maximum magnification will depend on the focal length of the lens you’re attaching it to.
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Maya Tomb, Honduras

•  When you feel that something wonderful is about to happen, trust your instinct. Be patient and ready for that magical moment when it all comes together. Resist the temptation to shoot too much or too soon, or you may miss the decisive moment.

• F-stop matters somewhat less than is generally taught. Yes, you can control the range of focus from any given subject distance, but just controlling the f-stop won't usually turn a crystal-sharp background into a dreamy-soft background.
• Closeness to subject matters a lot. Put simply, if you really want to throw the background out of focus, get really close to your main subject. Even an extreme wide-angle lens like my Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 has a really shallow depth of field when the subject is six inches [15 centimeters] in front of the lens. Getting close to your subject has a huge influence on the background sharpness.
• Relative subject distance matters a lot, too. Separating your subject from its background by a large relative factor is a powerful way to control depth of field. If the subject is two feet [0.6 meters] away and the background is 50 feet [15 meters] away, you get very shallow focus. On the other hand, I remember shooting football games in bright sunshine and trying to make the players stand out from the crowd behind them. If the players were on the other side of the field and the crowd was just a bit farther off it didn't matter what f-stop I used, even with a 300mm f/2.8 lens. But just a little change in angle put the crowd further away and the players popped out nicely.
• Get lower to the ground. Huh? This sounds really stupid. But consider this: If you are standing up while taking a picture of a flower on the ground, then the background behind the flower is virtually the same distance away. But if you get down low the background is now much, much farther away and perfectly out of focus. This phenomenon was well known in the days of twin-lens reflex cameras, which were easy to set on the ground and view looking down into the viewfinder. Take a look at fashion photos from the '50s shot on a Rolleiflex to see the effect. Works like a dream.
• Choose a background lacking in specular highlights. Lots of small bright highlights are always harder to get pleasingly out of focus than something large and featureless. (And if the background is a perfectly plain sky it probably doesn't need to be out of focus at all.)

• The phrase “wait for it” must have been coined by a photographer, because it is such an essential part of what we do. When photographing wildlife, capturing the perfect moment is just as important as it is with humans—and requires even more patience.

• Everything about this photographic moment is tender. The light, the gesture, the color are perfect. But there is also a small detail that completes the intimacy of this scene by photographer Mitsuaki Iwago. It is the small catch-light in the lion cub’s eye.Capturing the catch-light in a subject’s eye can take a photograph from lovely to sublime. Eyes are the windows to the soul, so when the eye reflects a beam of light, it draws viewers in and makes them feel a greater intimacy with the subject.

                                        

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 17, 2011 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response.