PhotoNaturalist

How To Reduce Noise In Your Close-Up Photos (using Photoshop)

May 8, 2012 By Steve Berardi 5 Comments

Photo by Steve Berardi

In close-up photography, you often use fast shutter speeds to help battle the wind or freeze the action of your subject (such as a butterfly feeding on a flower).

To get these faster shutter speeds without sacrificing your desired depth of field, your only option is to use higher ISOs (making your camera’s sensor more sensitive).

Unfortunately, at these higher ISOs, sometimes you get some really ugly noise in the background.

Well, there just happens to be a great way to reduce this noise in Photoshop. Here’s how: [Read more...]

Three Reasons to Avoid Relying on the Crop Tool

April 16, 2012 By Steve Berardi 9 Comments

Photo by Steve Berardi

In this age of digital photo editing, it’s tempting to get lazy when you’re taking a photo out in the field and just say to yourself, “well, if I don’t like how I framed this, I could always crop it later.” But, there are a few disadvantages to relying on that crop tool too much: [Read more...]

A Fun Way To Improve Your Wildflower Photography

March 13, 2012 By Vic Berardi 18 Comments

Photo by Vic Berardi

As spring approaches and the dreary overcast days of winter are still upon us, we anxiously await going out in the field for some wildflower photography. But, while you’re waiting for those flowers to pop up, you can still do something to help you prepare for those wildflower photos.

Over the winter, I picked up several excellent flower photography books and a few showed some techniques for indoor photography. So, I thought, why not give this a try and see if I can apply what I learned to outdoor wildflower photography. I didn’t have any studio lighting, so I decided to experiment with what I already had. [Read more...]

How to Win the Battle of Close-up Photography

March 7, 2012 By Steve Berardi 9 Comments

Pitcher Sage / Photo by Steve Berardi

In close-up nature photography, there’s a constant battle of trying to find that perfect balance between a sharp subject and an out-of-focus background.

An out-of-focus background is essential to a good close-up photo, because it helps draw attention to your main subject.

But, it’s not always easy to get that nice background. Sometimes the background is just too close, or your subject has a lot of depth (forcing you to try a smaller aperture, which then puts more of the background in focus).

So, how do you deal with this constant battle? Well, here are a few ways: [Read more...]

Evolution of a Nature Photograph

November 28, 2011 By Vic Berardi 15 Comments

Fringed Gentian / Photo by Vic Berardi

Sometimes when you come across a subject, you immediately know how to photograph it and create a pleasing image. But, other times (and perhaps, most of the time), it takes some thought and experimenting to find that image you’re looking for. You start off with a basic shot, and continue tweaking or evolving it, until you eventually obtain that image you set out to create.

For example, one day earlier this fall, I set out to photograph one of my favorite fall wildflowers: the Fringed Gentian (Gentiana crinita). They’re generally found in open areas next to higher quality wetlands, and usually grow in clumps of a hundred or more flowering plants.

Photographing them can be challenging since their habit of growing in clumps can make it hard to isolate one or a few of them in an image. Nevertheless, the Fringed Gentian is a beautifully delicate wildflower that deserves the very best attention in depicting that very beauty and fragility. [Read more...]

When NOT to Use Lens Stabilization

September 6, 2011 By Steve Berardi 23 Comments

Many camera lenses come with some kind of lens stabilization technology. It’s usually called something different by every camera manufacturer (e.g. Nikon calls it “vibration reduction” and Canon calls it “image stabilization”), but they all have the same goal: helping to stabilize your lens.

It works great for those times when you’re forced to hand-hold your camera, but you should always make sure to turn it off when your camera is on a tripod. [Read more...]