Out of all the pursuits I've tried, I think wildlife photography has got to be one of the most difficult - and I'm including my doctorate in pure mathematics on that list. That's why I like to take some time at the end of the year and go through my...
Composition and Art Category Archive
Visual Echoes: The Threads of Personal Style in Photography
One year ago, we changed the tagline of our website to say “Photography Life: AI-Free Since 2008.” Even though it was largely a statement against generating our articles and photos artificially, it was also a statement for something I consider essential in photography, perhaps today more than ever: personal style and artistic expression.
How to Simplify Compositions in Wildlife Photography
Imagine a parrot on a branch about to fly away, or a monkey peering its head around a tree. Do you want to hit that shutter right away and take a shot? How could you not? It's a beautiful animal - and surely in wildlife photography, we can't control much......
The Importance of Going Out There in Landscape Photography
A couple of months ago, I asked whether photography can be considered a numbers game. My answer was yes – but not in the volume of photos you take. Instead, it’s how many times you go out and take photos in the first place. I experienced a great reminder of this recently.
The Obvious Shot and the Hidden Shot
Often in photography, there is what I’d call the “obvious shot.” The obvious shot can sometimes be a cliché image that tons of people have photographed before, but it doesn’t have to be. Instead, it’s really just the most straightforward view of a particular scene.
An Alternative to Eye-Level Photos in Wildlife Photography
A great technique in bird and wildlife photography is shooting at eye level. Eye-level shots are often more intimate - they give better subject isolation and are typically more engaging. Libor and Massimo have recently written about how much they love this approach to wildlife photography, and I don't disagree. But...
How to Work with Plants in Wildlife Photography
“To hills of green and shadows cool,” wrote Rudyard Kipling in his poem A Coming May. And although green vegetation is always welcome after harsh winters, lively plants can complicate bird photography. Grass and leaves can sometimes be overpowering in their distracting randomness and in their crazy effects on background blur.
Is Photography a Numbers Game?
I’m not sure precisely when I crossed 100,000 photos, but I’m well past that mark now. In another few weeks, my Lightroom catalog will hit 200,000. Even these might be rookie numbers if you’re a sports or wildlife photographer, or if you’ve been doing wedding photography for a while.
How to Choose Between Similar Versions of a Photo
Something tough about photography is choosing between similar variations of the same photo. If you're especially shutter-happy, you might end up with many similar photos on your hard drive without a clear "best" image among them. Although you could just pick one of these photos at random, I think that...
Landscape Photography with a Shallow Depth of Field
As a landscape photographer, you have many different ways to control the emotional message of your work. The time of day, your focal length, the direction you face, how you edit the image, and so on – all of these impact the creative feel of a photo. But what about depth of field?