30 July 2011

Tips for Outdoor Photography

Susan Brannon
6 August 201
Outdoor photography is similar to landscape photography.  But more than landscape, you take images of mother- nature, animals, trees, or water!

Here are some quick tips to help you get out of the box:
•    Blur your background.  Make your focal point that beautiful flower or bee using your macro lens, and open your aperture! 
•    Create Abstracts:  Look at the stones capture the interweaving of the mountain
•    Use the color around you, if you see bright purple flowers in the middle of a field; create a line with the flowers leading to the hills behind them.  Take images of just the color of the object.
•    Use a Polarizer Filter- This is a must, to reduce reflections and haze.
•    Use a tripod- to get the sharpest image possible
•    Pay attention to your background- don’t let that tree stick out of the middle of your image from a persons head.
•    Get low- gives a great perspective
•    Use the “golden hours”- It is called that for a reason!  These are the perfect times to take outdoor images.  The colors can be so brilliant!
•    Have Patience, for those bird and animal images!  A virtue.
•    Look at the verticals and horizontals- the tree trunks all in a row with the glitter of light shining down on them.  Take a shot of just the trunks!
•    Symmetry and Balance- Balance your image
•    Keep it simple- don’t put too many confusing things in your image
•    Put people in the landscape.  It can provide both a focal point and a perspective.
•    Dial down your exposure by a half-step.  This can give colors a boost! Your blacks will really be black.  Everything seems to come more alive.
•    Look down at your feet and see the details, like the cracked soil, or the small flowers growing from a stone.  Slow down while you are walking around.  Sit down and look around.
•    Try to take images without depending on PhotoShop.  Really.
Related lessons:
Aperture and f/16 Rule
Shutter Speed Basics

Bracketing
Depth of Field
Focused Bracketing or Photo Stacking

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