PhotoNaturalist

The Perfect Tripod For a Hiking Photographer

February 10, 2011 By Steve Berardi 10 Comments

After the camera and lens, the tripod is the most important piece of camera gear you’ll own. In some of my favorite words from Scott Kelby, you should “become married to your tripod.”

Nothing will keep your camera more still than a tripod. If you want the sharpest photos possible, then you gotta use one whenever possible. Tripods have another benefit too though: they force you to slow down and think more about your composition.

But, carrying around a tripod can also be pretty annoying. They’re big, they’re heavy, and it usually takes a while to get it in the exact position you need it. So, it’s helpful to get a tripod that’s easy to setup and carry around. [Read more...]

How to Fix a Washed Out Sky In Photoshop

January 27, 2011 By Steve Berardi 12 Comments

Photo by Steve Berardi

One of the common problems you’ll run into while using a wide-angle lens with a polarizer is a partly washed out sky. The photo on the left illustrates this ugly problem.

It happens because the polarizer works better on some parts of the sky than others. And, since you’re capturing such a wide part of the sky with a wide-angle lens, you’re almost always going to run into this problem.

Sure, you could avoid this problem all together by not using a polarizer on a wide-angle lens, but then you wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the other great benefits of the polarizer: reducing unwanted reflections, and saturating colors. [Read more...]

7 Tips For Photographing Landscapes In Extreme Wind

December 8, 2010 By Steve Berardi 5 Comments

Photo by Steve Berardi

I recently found myself on an extremely windy mountaintop trying to photograph a distant rock spire. The wind was blowing at 45 mph, with gusts over 60 mph!

I’m used to dealing with some light 15 mph winds when photographing wildflowers, but this 60 mph stuff was strong enough to start shaking my tripod. So, I had to think quickly about how to keep my camera still and come away with a sharp photo of the beautiful sunset that was approaching.

Here are a few things I came up with to ensure I got an acceptably sharp photo: [Read more...]

What a TV Show Can Teach You About Photography

November 9, 2010 By Steve Berardi 7 Comments

Photo by Michael Pereckas / Used under the CC-Attr license

A few months ago, I was lucky enough to have one of my favorite TV shows (Dexter) filmed right outside my apartment building. They filmed a scene in the alley of my building, and I was able to watch the whole thing from my porch! If you’re a fan of the show, pay close attention to that scene in the alley of Episode 4 in Season 5–that’s my alley!

Anyway, I watched them film the scene for a few hours and actually learned a couple of things about photography: [Read more...]

Understanding Perspective and Focal Length

August 31, 2010 By Steve Berardi 11 Comments

Image by SharkD / Used under the GFDL

In photography, there’s a common misconception that focal length determines the perspective of an image, but the only thing that really determines perspective is where you put the camera.

For example, the telephoto lens is often said to “compress” your scene and make everything look flat. But, it’s not the focal length that’s doing this. It’s actually because you’re so far from the scene you’re photographing (which is how telephoto lenses are commonly used: to photograph something far away). And, it’s because of this great distance that the scene looks “flat” in the final image.

As you move farther and farther away from something, you lose visual depth. For example, if you stare at someone’s face when you’re only a foot away from them, you’ll be able to see all the curves of their face pretty clearly, but as you step farther away from them, their face will begin to look “flat.” [Read more...]

Take a Second Look at Your Subject

July 21, 2010 By Vic Berardi 8 Comments

Photos by Vic Berardi

Ever wonder why some photographers see things that you donʼt? True, there is some degree of “right brain” thinking going on with the more experienced photographer, but I think thereʼs more to it than just that.

Whatʼs most important is perseverance and taking a second look at your subject. [Read more...]