Today I’m happy to announce the release of a free eBook about photographing one of the most unique insects on the planet: dragonflies. The eBook was written by my father, Vic Berardi, who is an outstanding photographer of hawks, dragonflies, and wildflowers.
This 18-page eBook is not meant to be a complete guide on the subject of photographing dragonflies, but it includes many great tips for dealing with the unique challenges of dragonfly photography. You’ll get the most out of the book if you already have a basic understanding of how to use your camera (you’re familiar with the terms aperture, shutter speed, ISO, depth of field, etc). [read more…]
Photo by Steve Berardi (shot with a Canon G10 point and shoot camera)
Although wildflowers are best photographed with an SLR camera, it’s still possible to take some pretty good shots with a plain old point and shoot camera. And, sometimes this may be the only camera you have with you at the time, either because you’re backpacking far into the wilderness and want to travel light, or maybe you haven’t made the jump to an SLR just yet.
The biggest problem you’ll run into with the point and shoot camera is the large depth of field you get from the super small sensor. This limits some of your options, but there’s a few ways to get around it, and as always, light also plays a huge role in the success of a photo.
So, here are a few tips for photographing wildflowers when you’re limited to a point and shoot camera: [read more…]
Bigelow's Monkeyflower / Photos by Steve Berardi
Which of the two photos above do you like better?
They were both taken of the same flower, with the same camera settings. The only difference between the two shots is the position of the camera.
I’ll take a wild guess that you like the first one more. And, I think this photo is better because it has more of an intimate and friendly feeling to it. [read more…]
Diagram by Jared C. Benedict (used under the CC-Attr-SA license)
I was planning to write about the three things that affect
depth of field this week, but by pure coincidence (seriously!), I discovered this great blog post that Brian Auer wrote a few days ago:
Three Ways to Control Depth of Field
I’d highly recommend checking it out. Brian did a nice job of explaining the three things that affect depth of field (aperture, camera to subject distance, and focal length), including some sample images too.
There’s a few things I’d like to add though: [read more…]
(c) iStockPhoto / Johanna Goodyear
One of the things that makes macro photography so interesting is its ability to show us the world as we normally don’t see it: up close and personal.
For this very reason, sometimes it’s hard to find good subjects for macro shots. We just don’t normally look at things up close, and even when we do, it’s hard to see detail with the naked eye.
Sure, you could just pop on your macro lens and look everywhere, but it’s hard to see things through that tiny viewfinder. [read more…]
