Final 30!

Nikon D70, 18-50mm, 50mm, Aperture Priority

f/9, 1/320^th sec, ISO 200, exposure compensation +0.3

This photo was taken on the Rocky campus. I like the colors in it and the focus on the berries, but don’t necessarily like the composition of the picture, I’m just not sure how to make it better. I set the aperture at f/9 because it would give me decent depth of field, and had worked for me in the snow before. The exposure compensation of +0.3 was from a different day and I forgot it was on, but it worked for the picture. In Photoshop I made it a bit brighter to bring out the snow, upped the contrast a bit, and moved my red saturation up a bit to bring out the berries.

Nikon D70, 18-50mm, 50mm, Aperture Priority

f/9, 1/250^th sec, ISO 200, exposure compensation +0.3

This photo was also taken on the Rocky campus. It is one of my favorite pictures, I mostly love the color. Again, I chose f/9 because it had worked for me on snow, and I forgot I had set exposure compensation. In Photoshop, I made it a touch brighter and upped contrast a bit. Then I messed with the saturation to bring out the orange and de-saturate the rest a bit. I did not adjust the saturation more than 5 points in any direction. In the bottom left corner,  there was a tree with the same colors, and I thought having color there too distracted from the real focus of the image. I made another saturation layer and de-saturated it to about 70, then masked it everywhere but the bottom left. There is still a bit of color so it looks natural but isn’t distracting.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm, 56mm, Shutter Priority

f/20, 1/50^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation -1.0

This photo was taken in Yellowstone. I like the color, the clouds and the light on the hill. Somehow, either in my camera’s reading the scene or, more likely, a mistake in my editing, part of the sky seems to have turned to a slightly off aqua color, which is the only part of this photo I don’t like. This was another photo taken in shutter priority that probably should have been taken in aperture priority, but I still wasn’t sure what aperture to set it at and was afraid to screw up the picture and figured I was less likely to do so in shutter priority. I had an exposure compensation of -1.0 to keep it from blowing out the clouds and making the light on the hill too bright. In Photoshop, I made upped both brightness and contrast a bit as well as saturation.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm, 86mm, Shutter Priority

f/5.6, 1/250^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation -0.7

This photo was taken in Yellowstone. I like the color, focus, and the composition of this image. The shutter priority mode worked for this one because I was having problems getting the right shutter speed to get anything underwater in focus. The exposure compensation kept any light on the water from getting blown out. In Photoshop I made it a bit brighter, upped the contrast, upped my black point, and adjusted saturation.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm, 86mm, Shutter Priority

f/5.6, 1/250^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation -0.7

This was also taken in Yellowstone. The focus is not the greatest, but I like the lines, they illustrate that diagonal lines are more attractive than vertical ones, and I like that the light looks blue. The exposure compensation kept the light from blowing out, and the shutter speed should have helped me get better focus. In Photoshop, I only upped my brightness and contrast by a few points.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm, 56mm, Aperture Priority

f/4.5, 1/1600^th sec, ISO 200

I took this photo in Whitehall. I like the color, the river, and the sky. I was taking pictures of clouds on this day and experimenting with apertures. I was taking the same pictures stopped all the way down, then all the way up to see what the difference was. I took this picture with the camera opened all the way. I would not set it that way again, but I still got a good picture. The colors are actually original, the only thing I adjusted was brightness and contrast.

Nikon D70, 18-50mm, 50mm, Aperture Priority

f/9, 1/80^th sec, ISO 200, exposure compensation +0.3

This photo was taken on the Rocky campus. I like the color and focus. It was another one set at f/9 because it worked in the past, but if I took it again I would go for more depth of field. In Photoshop I made it a bit brighter and upped saturation a few points.

Nikon D70, 18-50mm, 50mm, Aperture Priority

f/9, 1/250^th sec, ISO 200, exposure compensation +0.3

This is another picture taken on Rocky’s campus. It is another one of my favorites. The settings are the same as the others taken the same day for the same reason. I love the color in this picture. In Photoshop, I made it a bit brighter, and only upped the saturation by a few points.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm, 86mm, Shutter Priority

F14, 1/100^th sec., ISO 200

This is another Yellowstone photo. I like the colors and the reflection in the river. I was still messing around in shutter priority for this one. In Photoshop I made it brighter, upped the contrast, and played around with the saturation until I got the colors how I wanted them.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm, 56mm, Shutter Priority

F8, 1/200^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation -0.3

This one was taken in Whitehall. I turned it black and white because only the grass in the foreground even looked like it had color in the original. It was still on shutter priority after taking pictures of antelope, and it was at -0.3 because it kept blowing out what little snow there was. In Photoshop, I cloned a fence post out of the bottom right, the turned it black and white.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm, 56mm, Shutter Priority

F10, 1/200^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation -0.3

This one was taken in Whitehall a few seconds after the one above it, which is why the settings are the same. I like the road leading to the mountains, and that part of it looks black and white even though it’s not. In Photoshop I made it brighter and upped contrast and saturation.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm lens, 200mm, Shutter Priority

 f/6.3, 1/800^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation -0.7

This was taken on the rims. I was working in shutter priority this day. Again, I don’t know why I thought 1/800^th of a second was appropriate. I like the focus on the needles and that the needles are the brightest part. I upped my black point and levels a bit, as well as brightness, contrast, and saturation.  

Nikon D70, 55-200mm, 86mm, Aperture Priority

F9, 1/400^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation -0.3

Taken in Whitehall a in the same few minutes as the other ones. I switched to aperture priority without changing exposure compensation. I like the fence and road going off into the distance. In Photoshop, it was made a bit brighter and the saturation was upped a bit.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm lens, 200mm, Shutter Priority

 f/5.6, 1/800^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation -0.7

This was another photo taken on the rims. I like that the pine cones in front are in focus, but the ones behind are blurry. I was still working in shutter priority. In Photoshop, I upped saturation a bit as well as contrast and brightness.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm lens, 60mm, Automatic

 f/10, 1/320^th sec., ISO 200

This was taken in my friend’s back yard in Whitehall. It is on an automatic setting because I really wanted to get the picture but didn’t know what to set it at and knew the fog would be gone quickly. In Photoshop, it was made a bit brighter.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm lens, 200mm, Shutter Priority

 f/5.6, 1/800^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation -0.7

This was also taken on the rims while working in shutter priority. The shutter speed was too fast for the picture but it still came out. I like the purple flowers blurred in from of the red leaves. In Photoshop, I spent a few hours making the background completely black. Then I upped saturation levels to bring out the reds and purples.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm lens, 200mm, Shutter Priority

 f/5.6, 1/800^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation -0.7

The rims again, I don’t know what is with the shutter speed. I mostly just like that it looks a bit like a watercolor. In Photoshop, I just made it a bit brighter.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm, 80mm, Shutter Priority

F/7.1, 1/200^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation +0.3

                                                          

Taken up in the mountains outside of Whitehall. I had just been taking pictures of my friends dog running, so when I took this picture it was still in shutter priority. I like the red branches over the white snow and water. I brought the red using saturation in Photoshop, and made it a bit brighter.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm lens, 95mm, Automatic

 f/9, 1/250^th sec., ISO 200

Again taken in my friend’s back yard in Whitehall. It was still on automatic because I had no idea what to set it at but wanted the picture. The horse came out just as I was about to leave to make the picture perfect. I only made it a bit brighter in Photoshop.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm, 200mm, Aperture Priority

F11, 1/60^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation +0.3

Another photo taken in the mountains above Whitehall. I don’t really know what it is, but I like the focus and the white background. I kind of just guessed at what aperture would work. In Photoshop I upped the brightness and contrast and used saturation to bring out some of the color in the seeds.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm lens, 165mm, Shutter Priority

 f/8, 1/800^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation -0.7

This was also taken on the rims. I obviously did not actually ever change my shutter speed that day. I like the focus on the needles and the color. I made it a bit brighter in Photoshop, and used saturation to bring out the color of the needles.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm, 200mm, Shutter Priority

F13, 1/125^th sec., ISO 200

A photo taken in Yellowstone. I love the composition with the tree and heron off to the side, the color is good too. I was still working in shutter priority. In Photoshop, I made it a bit brighter and upped saturation a bit, as well as cropping some distracting hillside out from the top of the photo.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm, 200mm, Shutter Priority

F5.6, 1/320^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation +0.3

Another Yellowstone picture. I cropped it down quite a bit from the original to put the coyote in the top left corner. Exposure compensation kept light in the coyote’s face, and the shutter speed was to stop any movement, although it was a bit high. Other than cropping, I only made it brighter in Photoshop.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm, 56mm, Shutter Priority

F22, 1/100^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation -1.0

This picture was taken in Yellowstone, I took all of those pictures in shutter priority. I like the slanted line coming through the picture. I did nothing in Photoshop.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm, 50mm, Aperture Priority

F10, 1/640^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation -0.3

Taken in Whitehall. I like the mountains but wish there was either more of the grass in the foreground or none. In Photoshop, I adjusted the saturation.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm lens, 200mm, Shutter Priority

 f/18, 1/125^th sec., ISO 200

Taken on the rims. I like the light coming through the leaves. I took my shutter speed down to something that made a little more sense for the picture. Nothing was done in Photoshop.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm lens, 200mm, Shutter Priority

 f/5.6, 1/800^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation -2.0

This was another picture from the rims. I did the exposure compensation to make it dark, which worked, and I actually like the effect. I was I had done it in aperture priority to get a slightly larger depth of field. In Photoshop, I brought out the color a bit with saturation and made it a bit brighter.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm, 72mm, Shutter Priority

F4.2, 1/125^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation -0.7

This picture was taken in Yellowstone. I like that it is in perfect focus, all the lines, and the one hair off to the right. I am actually happy with the settings I used because this picture worked so well. I did nothing in Photoshop.

Nikon D70, 18-50mm, 50mm, Aperture Priority

f/9, 1/160^th sec, ISO 200, exposure compensation +0.3

Taken on the Rocky campus. I love the focus on the leaves and the color and spots on them. Everything worked well for this picture. I didn’t do anything in Photoshop.

Nikon D70, 55-200mm lens, 200mm, Shutter Priority

 f/5.6, 1/800^th sec., ISO 200, exposure compensation -0.7

This photo was taken on the rims. I like that the milk weed is bright and in focus in the foreground and the background is black. This photo was from early September when I was just learning about priority modes and how to use them, so on this day I decided to try working in shutter priority. I am not sure why I thought 1/800^th of a second was the appropriate shutter speed for this picture, it’s not as though the plant was moving. I set the exposure compensation at -0.7 to try and get the background dark, of course this also made the milk weed a bit too dark and turned it grey, along with my too fast shutter speed. I fixed it in Photoshop by making it a bit brighter and adjusting the levels to make the background darker and the foreground brighter. I also adjusted saturation a bit.

Nature Photography Section 6

Now we finally get to the digital equipment itself, starting with compact flash cards. Apparently, and 1-2 gigabyte card is enough for half a day’s worth of shooting. Carrying multiple smaller-capacity cards guards against card malfunction or loss, a sensible tip. If you are working without a laptop, you can offload photos onto an image storage tank to clear your cards.

This is where we start talking about photo imaging software, the best being (surprise) Adobe Photoshop. I was surprised that the author said there was very little difference between Apple, Dell, HP and other computer brands. Somehow I expected him to be an Apple guy, along with every other professional photographer. He does say to get the fastest processor you can afford. For additional security, you should have photos on an external hard drive and on DVD’s or another external hard drive at a different location.

Now for preparing images. Photos should be taken in RAW format. Once on the computer, they should be converted to either TIFF or PSD. A JPEG format will lose data in compression. Before editing, you should set the color space, either ProPhoto RGB, Adobe RGB, or Adobe sRGB. Once the color space is set, you cannot go back or retrieve the data.

When you first open the RAW picture, it will not look very sharp, but Photoshop’s many controls will change that. Changes should be made using adjustment layers. The first adjustment is usually brightness, followed by adjusting the levels curve. After that, it is color saturation.

Now you look at the overall color balance, before adjusting the contrast. Contrast can be done in three different ways, either in standard overall adjustment, shadows and highlights, or midtone contrast. The first way can lose data, and before and after images should be checked on the histogram to see how much was lost. There are also dodge and burn tools, and selective contrast adjustment, where you isolate one region that needs adjusting, without doing anything to the rest. Retouching the image can be done with a healing brush or a clone stamp tool. The healing brush is used more for blending, and the clone stamp is used for larger jobs.

File formats are different for websites, art prints, and books or magazines. Websites require only 90 pixels per inch, whereas art prints require 225, and books and magazines require 300. Once the format is done, we enter the final stage of editing, which is sharpening. Analyzing the effects at 100% is important to be sure it is not overdone. The whole thing should be examined for noise, but once you are happy you can are done. These are obviously only a few of the things you can do in Photoshop.

The only annoying part about this section is that the process the author outlines is his. Everyone does it differently, and everyone should figure out their own way. I would have preferred more of an overview of what can be done with Photoshop, rather than what his process is. He did, however, explain all of the steps that go into it very well.

Overall I liked this book. The first time reading it I found everything that was even a little bit confusing. The second time I noticed all of the obvious or useless information. I may have to read it a third time to find and actually absorb all of the important information. It is a good book, and has a lot of good information and pictures. Although I still hate the blurry pictures of animals moving.

Nature Photography Section 5

The close-up world seems to be featured in a lot of photos, and having taken, or attempted to take, macro photos, I can see how proper equipment like macro lenses is essential to take the best possible pictures. Extension tubes sound like the most cost effective alternative, but they also reduce the amount of light. Supplementary lenses don’t reduce light, but they won’t fit all lenses, making them more expensive. Then there are teleconverters, which allow close up pictures from a bigger distance, but reduce image quality. A special lens may be the best solution.

Wide-angle lenses for close up work is apparently best accomplished with extension tubes, and creates a feeling of expanded perspective. Tilt-shift lenses make the best use of depth of field, allowing the photographer to use larger apertures, and use faster shutter speeds to capture motion. These lenses can be used with teleconverters, extension tubes and supplementary lenses.

If you magnify a picture past life size, the image quality is reduced. This requires special procedures to avoid the problem. However, it is restored by reversing the lens. If the lens is reversed, just about everything must be done manually.   

Electronic flashes can be used in this kind of work, but you have to be careful so it doesn’t look artificial. This can be done in a variety of ways. Placing the lens away from the camera is one, using multiple flashes is another. Reflectors or diffusers can help make the light look more natural. Just a Kleenex is an effective diffuser.

Wild flowers are probably one of the most things taken close up. One problem here can be the wind, blowing the flowers and blurring them in the picture. A plamp can be used on the flower to hold it in place, or the movement can be used with a long exposure to create a blur of color, an effect I don’t particularly like. For portraits of wildflowers, the bloom should occupy most of the image, and the sharpest focus should be on the pistils and stamens. Shooting at a large aperture for shallow depth of field allows for a composition where everything but the subject blurs.

I found this section to actually be helpful, although much of it was about equipment and not taking the pictures themselves. There was nothing in this section that seemed particularly obvious or common sense; I actually thought this section was very good.

Nature Photography Section 4

Doing research first to find a photogenic landscape seems to me like another one of those obvious tips that I am finding more and more frequently in this book. Color being one of the most important things in finding a good landscape is also fairly obvious. He does bring visual priorities back in this section, saying that red is the attractive color, and can create a great landscape. Finding more subtle color harmonies with fog or sand dunes seems to be an afterthought, but I thought it was a good one.

Clouds really do make the difference. I have to completely agree with him on this one, the clouds can completely change a landscape, taking it from okay to amazing. Planning for interesting clouds is a little bit harder. The author says both a still, clear atmosphere and fog, mist, haze and falling snow can create amazing pictures. The atmosphere really does have a lot to do with getting a good picture.

Taking pictures at northern or southern angles allows for great sidelight, especially at sunrise and sunset, but I don’t know how much effort I would put forth to take a picture in those particular directions. A landscape may not be as attractive from those angles. Having open horizons to allow for the best light is also important, but seems like another thing that cannot necessarily be helped.

Perspective is another important part of landscape photographs. Size cues help us figure out the scale of a scene, these can include trees, animals, or even clouds. Wide angle lenses increase the perceived distance between elements, promoting a feeling of deeper space, telephoto lenses have the opposite effect. Overlapping elements in a photo also help with feelings of perspective. One thing to look for when taking landscapes is something with five planes: foreground, mid-ground, feature, cloud plane, and sky plane. These add interest and help with perspective. All of these tips make perfect sense and I have no doubt that they make for better photographs, but I will definitely have to work on actually noticing and using them when I take pictures.

The final part of this section is about nature’s mirrors, or water. I would agree that pictures of reflections are beautiful and they add a lot of interest to the photo. However, as with sitting in a blind all day to take pictures of animals, I am not sure if I am committed enough to wade into the water to get the best possible picture of the reflection. Maybe this will have to be an experiment to try during the summer months.  

Nature Photography Section 3

Adventures with wildlife is not something I have had much experience with, and I can’t say I really see myself spending an entire day waiting in a blind for an animal that may or may not show up. Getting close to wildlife, even with a big lens, is not something that seems particularly intelligent to me, and I have to say “keeping your distance” seems a lot like common sense. Only shooting animals that are okay with you being near them seems the same. I only had two other thoughts on the “Getting Close” section: I have never seen a bumper sticker that says my other car is a bird blind, and using peanut butter as an incentive sounds an awful lot like baiting, and there is probably a reason it’s illegal in national parks.

I said it about the last section, but I find the blurry pictures of animals running very unattractive. Knowing your habitats seems like an obvious tip, and the fact that wildlife activity is seasonally dependent is exactly that: a well known fact. But being on site before the sun rises is a good idea, and something that I probably would not have thought of on my own. Lowering the tri-pod for an eye level view is also a good tip, although I knew that before. As for shooting first and editing later, I can’t help but wonder what other order he thinks we might be doing it in.

The first way he suggests for sharpening your focus does not seem like it could be used in many wildlife situations. How often do you ever have time to switch your camera to manual mode and adjust the focus when shooting wildlife? And pre-focusing on a certain spot and waiting for the animal to enter it is a good idea that would take a lot of practice (just like anything else in photography), but it also assumes the animal will go through that spot. If it doesn’t, you just missed your chance.

“Making a compelling portrait of a wild animal is not as simple as it may at first seem.” This sentence scares me, simply because getting a good portrait of a wild animal did not sound simple in the first place. Using a telephoto lens to capture these images again seems obvious. Building a three layer picture space is a useful tip, though. Although I find it hard to believe anyone can truly plan these things. Wild animals don’t tend to cooperate that well.

Focusing on eye, and making sure its face is properly lit and in focus is another good tip for taking pictures of animals, but much easier said than done. I guess it just takes a lot of practice to look through the view finder and be able to tell if the animal’s face is lit properly, the eyes are easily visible, and even the whiskers are in focus, and still be able to take the picture before the animal is gone. But then everything is about practice.

Nature Photography Section 2

Essential skills. I will just start off by saying not only did I not understand this section at all the first time. I’m also relatively certain that I did not have any of these skills at the beginning of the semester, since I actually get this section now. The histogram is a good place to start. I had seen it pop up on my pictures a thousand times before, but never knew what it was or how to use it. Now I know exactly what it is, and can look at a picture I took and know about how it is going to look. It is actually a very helpful feature, although I do not use it a whole lot.

The parts on metering, priority modes (and which to use), and exposure compensations make much more sense to me now that I have had it pounded into my head that my camera sees everything as fourteen percent grey. Reading light actually made sense the first time I read it, but I have started noticing light conditions when I am outside, not even taking pictures.

Depth of field is something important for pictures, and something I have been noticing in my pictures more and more. Hyper-focal distance is something I have not yet used, but still find interesting. Designing the photo to have blur in the background and foreground is an effect that I always like, and have worked more and more on doing in my own photos.

The other type of blur is motion effects, and as much as I hate to admit it, I have to agree with Lorne, that purposely having moving animals blur just a little in photos looks bad and a lot like you messed up. I do like the rule for shutter speed, setting it to no less than the inverse of the lens length. I wish I had known that one before. The only blurred motion pictures I do like are those of running water. I think when done correctly, these pictures can look amazing.

Modifying natural light with reflectors and filters is something I have not done, but have come to see the importance of. Using reflectors to bounce light onto flowers or graduated filters to darken out the sky would have been very beneficial in a lot of my pictures. I can also see where using polarizing would be useful, though I have not tried that either. Things like color modifiers seem like they would be just as easy to do in Photoshop, but I suppose doing it that way could be considered cheating.

Now we have the most important section in the book: dominance. Red is more attractive than yellow, large draws more attention than small, light is more attractive than dark, and so on. And then of course there is the rule of thirds. This is something I always try to use. The other visual priorities are something I have started noticing in other people’s pictures as well as my own, but never notice when I am actually in the field taking pictures. I guess that is something I will have to work on.    

Nature Photography Section 1

In reviewing this section of the book, I noticed something that I did not notice the first time. The author spends the first page of the book explaining why digital is better than film, or at least equal to it. He also has a paragraph explaining how to turn film images into digital ones. I point this out simply because I think anyone buying the Nature Photography Digital Edition has probably already decided for themselves that digital is better. Anyway rereading the section on selecting the right equipment made a lot more sense the second time.

I didn’t really worry too much about the section on camera selection, since all he is explaining is that you need an SLR, which I already have. I did notice this time that he says amateur photographers don’t need to go higher than a 6-megapixel camera. I found this interesting because my D70 has only 6.1 megapixels, which is not great anymore, but it’s good to know that the author thinks my camera is “adequate”.

The parts about tripods I actually paid more attention to this time. After a semester’s worth of shooting, I have come to realize that a tripod really is essential. The first time I read the book, I thought it was a little odd that he would devote an entire chapter to the subject, but now I realize why. It is almost impossible to get a lot of shots without a tripod, and a tripod would make many other shots much easier.

The lenses also made more sense this time around. He talks about how every photographer should have telephoto converters, and lenses 300mm to 400mm. I have none of those things, and I understood why I should have them the first time I read this, but now other parts in the super-telephoto section make sense this time. I can completely see why a lens with vibration reduction or image stabilization is important; having gotten many slightly out of focus pictures with just a 200mm. Lens speed was actually understandable this time around too. After this class, I’ve realized just how important one extra stop can be on a camera, and that it probably is worth the extra thousands of dollars.

Now for my favorite parts: working in the field and winter photography. All I really have to say about the “working in the field” part is that I still have a very hard time believing that a tight-fitting floppy hat is an essential part of being equipped for the field. As for the winter photography, I still find most of the section obvious and have a hard time believing anyone would go to do a winter shoot in jeans flip flops and a t-shirt. However, I actually did learn something from the paragraph about bringing equipment into warmth after being outside. Having just faced this problem a week ago, I was glad to have an actual solution.

As for the rest of this section, I doubt if I will follow his suggestions for when to shoot where. While I am sure they are excellent places to shoot, I won’t be getting ideas for a travel destination from a photography book.