(c) iStockPhoto / Lucas Cornwell
One of the hardest parts about photographing wildlife is learning how to use a long lens. There’s a lot of little things you have to get used to with that big lens.
One of those is simply learning how to quickly locate your subject in the viewfinder. With such a long lens (around 400mm or greater), you have such a small field of view that it becomes hard to locate your subject.
Being able to locate your subject quickly is important because you usually only have a second or two to take a shot. This is something I learned pretty quick when I went to photograph hawks with my dad a few weeks ago.
Well, I’ve thought of a little exercise that will help you get used to locating your subjects through that long lens–and it involves three bananas. And, don’t worry: I’m not gonna tell you to use the bananas as bait! [read more…]
Diagram by Chris Buckley / Used under the GFDL
In photography there’s something known as the standard f-number series. It’s a
geometric sequence of f-numbers that goes like this:
| f/1 |
1.4 |
2 |
2.8 |
4 |
5.6 |
8 |
11 |
16 |
22 |
32 |
At first this may look like a random series of numbers, but there’s actually a method to this madness, and memorizing this series can help you make quick adjustments to exposure when switching between f-numbers. [read more…]
In a previous post, I explained how to use the histogram to get a better exposure (and then how to do it better with the RGB version). The histogram is a great tool, and it can even tell you a lot more than just the exposure of your image. It can also help show you properties like contrast.
Brian Auer recently wrote some wonderful articles on his blog that illustrate some of the other things you can learn from the histogram, so I thought I’d share them:
I usually just share these kinds of links on our Twitter or Facebook pages, but I thought these were so good that they deserved a blog post 
[read more…]
Anna's Hummingbird (male) / Photo by Steve Berardi
Getting sharp photos of wildlife is a constant battle. With an uncontrollable and constantly moving subject, you usually end up with a lot more blurry shots than sharp ones.
To increase your chances of getting a sharp shot, you can do things like shoot in JPEG to help you take a lot more photos in a burst.
And, if you’re shooting in JPEG, there’s one more setting you should adjust to make your sharp photos even sharper. It won’t do anything for the blurry shots, but it’ll make those good shots even better. [read more…]
