NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
Nature Photography is a way by which a person can depict some organism or group of organisms in the natural habitat where they naturally occur.Taking photographs of natural objects range from landscapes, forests, deserts and oceanic islands to small animals and even microbes seen only with the aid of microscopes. To be an acceptable natural image, there are a number of rules one must follow to qualify when entering competition events:
- There must not be any evidence of the hand of man.
This means that all buildings, power lines, paved highways, dirt roads and even trails in a forest constructed by people are excluded. Even if the power lines are miles away, if they can be seen they are obtrusive and disqualifies the image from being natural in the strict definition.
- The image must be identifiable.
For example a landscape should clearly be identifiable as some type of forest, a specific type of lake or a particular type if coral island. If it is an animal or plant, one must be able to clearly identify it as a particular genus or species. Silhouettes or organisms that are difficult to see and cannot be identified are considered poor photographs and will be quickly eliminated from any competition.
- Good photographic techniques must be used.
As with all other types of photography. (More will be said in this web site on these issues.) These techniques include:
- Image in focus, or use carefully chosen selective focusing.
- Good formatting including a center of interest, the rules of thirds, not cutting off feet, ears or other body structures unless it is a deliberate closeup.
- Avoiding bright or other distracting objects in some parts of the overall photograph, such as a bright glaring object or sky that is not the main topic of the image.
- Show the eyes with a highlight
Usually, but not always, it is an advantage to reflecting off of the cornea or eye surface. Two such reflecting highlights are not usually good because it shows the use of dual strobes and is a distraction.
- Photograph plants or animals in groups of threes or fives
As hinted above, it is better to , unless you have chosen a large group numbering in the dozens or hundreds. In the case of threes, it is often best to have one of the objects larger than the other two and well formatted in the photograph. This gives a definite center of interest. Avoid a large mass of poorly arranged plants or animals because the photograph seems busy without that definite center of interest.
- The very best photographs show action.
Examples include a predator capturing its prey, mating or courtship, care and protection of young. If it is a flower, take one with a pollinator visiting taking a bit of nectar such as an insect, hummingbird, bat or even a monkey. In other words, a photograph that tells a story has many advantages in competition.
Nature can be realtivly simple such as taking a picture of a tree or a landscape. Even these are not like falling off of a log or dropping an expensive camera. Many things must be considered to take prize winning photgraphs at all times.
But at the other end of the scale, many birds are extremely difficult to take without special lenses and bird blinds. Even more dificult are scarce animals such as jaguars or underwater photography. Nature photography is definitely not the most difficult, just think of the difficulties that are faced by war correspondants and photographers who face life threating situations at all times.
One final note, some people consider true blue " nature" photography only if the photographer crawls on his or her belly through stinging nettles, thorny blackberry bushes or poisen oak to take the photograph. Personally, I don't agree with this viewpoint. Many fine nature photographs can be taken in a studio setting or even in a zoo as long as there is no evidence of the hand of man and it pictures the plant or animal as depicted in its natural habitat.
There are many aspects of nature photgraphy, so many that not all can be covered in this web site.However, it is hoped that this site can give a person some tips to improve their natural images and perhaps even compete successfully in international competition.