From the category archives:

Wildlife

How to Photograph Hummingbirds in the Wild

by Steve Berardi

Black-chinned Hummingbird / Photo by Steve Berardi

Black-chinned Hummingbird (juvenile female) / Photo by Steve Berardi

Hummingbirds are amazing little birds: they’re the only birds that can fly backwards, and they’re the fastest animal on the planet (if you measure speed in body lengths per second, heh).

They’re fairly easy to photograph if you setup a feeder, but I prefer to photograph them in the wild, since my goal is to photograph truly wild moments. Sometimes that means waiting awhile for a hummingbird to show up at the perfect flower, but your patience pays off when you get that truly wild photo.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve learned so far about photographing hummingbirds in the wild: [read more…]

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When NOT to Use a Battery Grip

by Steve Berardi

The battery grip is a great accessory for an SLR: not only does it allow you to plug in two batteries to your camera, but it also helps give you a much better grip on the camera, making it easier to handle.

But, there’s at least one situation where you should avoid using this great accessory: whenever you’re shooting handheld.

Yeah, yeah.. I know, “always use a tripod.” But, there are times when it’s just not possible to use a tripod, like when you’re trying to photograph birds in flight. In these situations, you’ll likely be changing camera positions pretty quickly. [read more…]

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How to Photograph Grizzly Bears

by Robert Berdan

Grizzly Bear / Photo by Robert Berdan

Grizzly Bear / Photo by Robert Berdan

Note from Steve: Today Iʼm happy to publish our first guest post here at PhotoNaturalist. This post was written by Robert Berdan, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Robert has a lot of experience with photographing mammals (something I pretty much have NO experience with!), so I was pleased to accept his post about photographing grizzly bears. After you finish reading, be sure to check out his great website for more articles and photos!

And, if youʼre also interested in writing a guest post, please feel free to contact me. Thanks!
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I will never forget the first time I encountered a Grizzly bear on the trail. I was walking with my friend Frank toward Siffleur Falls on the North Saskatchewan river just west of Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada.

The grizzly bear raised its large head to get a good look, sniffed and continued moving towards us. I remember saying to my friend, “F- F- F- F- Frank there is a grizzly bear coming towards us!” You are not supposed to stare into the eyes of a bear or run as either might trigger an attack. [read more…]

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How to create intimate portraits of nature

by Steve Berardi

Bigelow's Monkeyflower / Photos by Steve Berardi

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…]

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3 things that affect depth of field

by Steve Berardi

Diagram by Jared C. Benedict (used under the CC-Attr-SA license)

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…]

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