Habt Ihr schon einmal von „Textfreiraum“ gehört? Wenn Ihr in der Stock- oder Werbefotografie unterwegs seid, ganz sicher. Aber auch, wenn Ihr fotografisch auf einem ganz anderen Gebiet arbeitet, ist es gut, diese Technik zu kennen. In unserer Wochenaufgabe sollt Ihr dieses Mal also Freiraum im Bild lassen.

Oft nutzt man statt Freiraum auch den englischen Begriff „copyspace“. Dieser macht schon eher klar, um was es in erster Linie geht: Platz lassen zum Hineinkopieren – von Texten, Logos oder anderen Bildern. Dies erreicht man, indem man das Hauptmotiv nicht formatfüllend im Bild platziert, sondern Platz zum Bildrand lässt. Um das anschaulicher zu machen, gibt es hier einige Beispiele:

© Andrej Lisakov

© Diogo Sousa

Der blaue Himmel oder Wasser eignet sich hervorragend als Freiraum, da beides als Hintergrund sehr ruhig ist und ein möglicher Text darauf gesetzt optimal wirken kann. Wie Ihr seht, funktioniert Freiraum aber auch ganz ohne Texte. Er lässt das Auge wandern und das Hauptmotiv auf besondere Weise wirken.

Vielleicht habt Ihr schon intuitiv in Euren bisherigen Bildern Platz gelassen, weil dieser freie Raum Ruhe ins Bild bringt, wie in diesem nächsten Beispiel.

© Frederik Löwer

Der zusätzliche Platz macht die Größenverhältnisse bewusster. Der Steg ist winzig im Vergleich zum weiten See. Oben wirkt das Segelboot fast verloren im riesigen Ozean. Auch solche Wirkungen lassen sich ganz besonders gut mit dem Textfreiraum erreichen.

Neben solchen Bildern, die ohne Texte großartig wirken, gibt es aber auch Freiräume, die geradezu danach schreien, gefüllt zu werden. Der freie Raum ist im nächsten Bild so angelegt, dass kein Hauptmotiv erkennbar ist und der fehlende Text diese Rolle einnehmen soll.

© Brooke Lark

Bilder mit Textfreiraum könnt Ihr auch für die Eigenwerbung sehr gut nutzen. Denkt einmal an Eure Webseite oder ein eigenes Fotobuchcover. Vielleicht braucht Ihr neue Visitenkarten oder wollt Flyer auslegen? Für all das könnt Ihr ein Bild nutzen, das genügend Raum für einen Titel oder Logo bietet.

Also los! Schnappt Euch die Kamera und experimentiert. Sucht Euch ein Motiv und lasst Platz oben, unten, rechts oder links. Vielleicht schiebt Ihr Euer Hauptmotiv auch ganz in die untere linke Ecke und schaut, wie es wirkt. Ich bin sehr gespannt, was Ihr aus dem zugegebenermaßen eher abstrakten Thema macht.

© Nicola Fioravanti

Ablauf

Ihr habt wieder eine Woche Zeit, um dieses Thema umzusetzen. Auch wenn Ihr das Bild direkt mit Text oder Logo nutzt, würden wir es gern erst einmal ohne sehen. Verlinkt Euer Bild in den Kommentaren oder schickt es uns bis zum Dienstag, den 9. Juni per E-Mail.

Jeden Montag gibt es im Magazin ein neues Thema für Euch. Ihr könnt jederzeit mit einsteigen oder die Themen als Inspiration für Euch nutzen – wie und wann es Euch eben passt. Dabei soll es nicht um einen Wettbewerb gehen, sondern eine Herausforderung für jede*n von Euch ganz persönlich sein.

Damit es auch wirklich eine Herausforderung ist, bitten wir darum, zu jedem Thema neue Bilder aufzunehmen und nicht nur alte Highlights aus dem Archiv zu kramen. Als Hashtag hat sich #kwerfeldein52 ergeben, wenn Ihr Eure Werke online zeigen möchtet. Einen Einblick in die Ergebnisse des letzten Themas findet Ihr jeweils am Samstag im Magazin!

Das Titelbild stammt von Simone Scarano.

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Nikon’s business is among the many that are being negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Photo by Milo Young

And as a result, the company is going to resort to cost-cutting measures (read: firing people) to reign in a bleeding balance sheet
But what’s really got everyone’s attention is the diversification aspect of this all in that Nikon’s cameras aren’t really what the company is all about as FStoppers points out.
The thesis underpinning this is the declining share of company revenue that the Imaging Division represents. The COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the other trends prevalent in the consumer camera market, might be accelerating declines in camera sales.
Indeed, Nikon blames the virus for much of the downturn it has experienced lately, writing in their report for March 2020:
“Revenue had been progressing mostly in line with previous forecasts until the middle of February. However, Revenue decreased due to declined demand and delay in new products launches such as high-end DSLR cameras and lenses for ML by the impact of COVID-19. …Compared to last year, sales volumes of ML and its lenses increased. Volume/sales ratio of mid-range and high-end cameras for professionals and hobbyist improved steadily, as well as IL tie ratio against camera. Online sales ratio also grew.”
Moving forward, the company is going to layoff employees, with a big hit coming to southeast Asia, as well as redouble its efforts on products.
The pandemic isn’t just hurting Nikon, however, as this is one of those events that is hurting just about everyone and in a pretty big way.
What do you think of Nikon’s financial results? What do you think the rest of the industry is experiencing because of the pandemic and lockdown? Let us know your thoughts on this story in the comments section below.
Don’t forget to check out our other photography news by clicking here.
[FStoppers]

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Composition For Macro

Now that we've covered some of the technical challenges associated with macro photography, it's time to address the matter of composition. Yes, as if macro photography weren't tricky enough, we also need to consider the artistic side.

When shooting close-up and macro, there are a lot of things competing for your attention. You have to have everything just so. The camera back needs to be carefully positioned and aligned with your selected subject. Even then, focus can be challenging, given the shallow depth of field. In your quest for the perfect shot, everything seems stacked against you. Macro shooting demands a lot of care and focus.

As a result, thoughts of composition tend to be neglected or lost in the shuffle. Once you overcome all the technical obstacles, it can be tempting to breathe a sigh of relief, and fire away on the shutter release. Later on, it's all too easy to judge your success by how sharp an image is and little else. But when others see your work, they may appreciate the effort, but what will impress them most is your results. Put simply, are your images compelling and well-composed?

I can attest to this phenomenon from my own experience. I find I do the same thing with when shooting wildlife. I'm so happy to get a wild animal in focus that I proceed to snap away. Indeed, to make sure I get the shot, I'm subconsciously apt to position my prey in the center of the frame so as not to lose the beast. Smack dab in the middle, like a bulls-eye. Only later do I realize I once again forgot about composition. Unless I stop to think about it, I can end up in a similar situation with macro. Even though that flower isn't likely to run away like a wild animal might, it's still far too easy to have it end up in the center, almost as if I had tried to have it so.

But macro photography is still photography, despite its smaller scale and preponderance of technical hurdles. And there's still a difference between photography and good photography. Close-up photography benefits from attention to composition and esthetic concerns, not merely focus and other technical matters. The artistic side of photography is still there waiting for us. It never went anywhere; it was our attention that did. We were preoccupied with the technical side.

As luck would have it though, composition for macro isn't as hard as it might seem. Everything you have learned about creating strong, compelling images still applies, regardless of how close you may approach your subject. So while you may need to master a few new skills to deal with all the technical aspects, at least you don't need to learn much new when it comes to the artistic elements.

For starters, consider the "rule" of thirds. While not an actual rule that results in any penalty if you disobey, the guideline to place your subject at an intersection of thirds lines at least helps you prevent the bulls-eye phenomenon. And that's a good thing. Imagine the viewfinder frame divided up like a tic-tac-toe board with lines both horizontal and vertical. Placing your subject along one of these lines can help create a more compelling image. You can improve your photo even more by positioning your main point of interest where two such lines intersect. This trick works well, whether you're shooting an alpine meadow or just a single flower therein.

You can help guide your viewers into the frame with a "leading line" formed with an available stem or twig. You can create a color contrast, play with symmetry, repetition and pattern, perspective, and scale, just as you could, were you to be shooting larger-scale reality. Through the selection of shooting position and distance, focal length, aperture, and other choices, you can exercise a great deal of control over how your chosen subject gets portrayed. A photographer's responsibility extends to more than the selection of subject matter, leaving all the rest to automatic everything.

If we take this as something we can agree on, it turns out that composition for macro can be much easier than for larger quarry. Yes, it does mean it's going to take even more time and effort to shoot macro, but the time generally does turn out to be well spent. And there are certain compositional advantages uniquely present when shooting macro, so it makes sense to be aware of them.

As photographers, we have to deal with what we find on location. Often, I've wished I could find a better background for an image I had in mind. Yet when shooting something large, it might mean traveling miles to find a more pleasing vantage point. That's not always possible, especially when traveling on foot or short on time. But with macro, a shift of but a few feet or inches could do the trick. It wouldn't take very many footsteps to swing around to the opposite side of a small subject. When shooting even higher magnification, a shift of your tripod position by a couple of inches may be all it takes.

I've also found that many macro images lack an obvious horizon line. Especially when shooting at a downward angle, I'm almost sure to crop out the entire sky. Doing so affords me at least some freedom to tilt the camera to improve my composition without fear of having the result appear as though I goofed. I love pointing the camera straight down at the ground and rotating the frame to find the best composition. Of course, I also love lying flat on the ground to view my subject from its height. Good thing I have such good control over my background with macro, isn't it?

So long as I have the time to invest, I also appreciate that macro photography forces me to slow down and consider every detail. Such a deliberative approach lends itself well, too, when focusing on composition. It's nice to go out in the middle of the forest somewhere and just get into the "macro groove," so to speak. Indeed, it's often at times like this that macro photography can be most rewarding.

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Das Bild des Tages von: Daniel Guy

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Und schon wieder ist Sonntag und es gibt unsere Linksammlung mit Themen und Neuigkeiten rund um die Fotografie. Wir hoffen, dass für Euch wieder etwas dabei ist und auch, dass Ihr bei diesem sommerlichem Wetter überhaupt dazu kommt, in den Links zu stöbern. Vielleicht ja schon in der Hängematte im Garten.

Linktipps

• Die Seite „Don’t delete art“ sammelt Bilder, die in den sozialen Medien zensiert wurden. → ansehen

• Ihr seid selbstständig, leidet unter dem faktischen Berufsverbot und seht es mit Sorge, dass die Soforthilfe für Selbstständige nicht da ankommt, wo sie hingehört? Oder wollt die Belange von Selbstständigen einfach nur unterstützen? Dann lest und zeichnet diese Petition. → ansehen

• Die Zeit erklärt, warum die fehlenden Fotos von Opfern der Corona-Pandemie ein Problem sind. → ansehen

• Auf Salt Editions gibt es ein Interview mit der georgischen Fotografin Natela Grigalashvili.→ ansehen

• Der Südkurier berichtet von den Bildern von Gottlieb Theodor Hase, der 1870 den Alltag in Freiburg festhielt. → ansehen

• Jessica Rinaldi hat drei Tage lang sechs Beerdigungen fotografiert, wobei jeder Tod durch COVID-19 verursacht wurde. → ansehen

• Der MDR berichtet über Karl Heinz Mai, der im Krieg beide Beine verlor und im Rollstuhl die Entwicklung Leipzigs nach dem Krieg dokumentierte. → ansehen

• Die Süddeutsche Zeitung stellt den Reisefotografen Andreas Trenker vor und wie er mit seinem neuen Alltag ohne Reisen umgeht. → ansehen

• Spiegel Online hat ein Interview mit Art Wolfe. Dieser spricht über das perfekte Bild, den Angriff eines Panzernashorns – und erklärt, warum man für ein gutes Foto keine teure Kamera braucht. → ansehen

• Original oder Fälschung? Der Spiegel stellt ein Bild von 1886 vor und erklärt die Geschichte dahinter. → ansehen

• Durch COVID-19 bleiben viele Flugzeuge auf dem Boden. Luftbildfotograf Andy Luten nutzte die Chance, um die parkenden Flugzeuge von oben zu zeigen. → ansehen

Buchempfehlungen

„Anton’s Berlin“ : Kristian Schuller ist den Charakteren des Berliner Nachtlebens auf der Spur. Entstanden ist ein Album von Portraits, das eine ganz eigene Kartografie der pulsierenden Hauptstadt zeichnet. Ob dezentes Schwarzweiß oder explodierende Farbenpracht, für jedes Portrait wird der individuelle Ausdruck, das Persönliche und Eigentümliche gesucht. Das Buch ist im Verlag Hatje Cantz erschienen und kostet 48 €.

„Das Herz der Fotografie“ : Was ist eigentlich ein gutes Bild? Bildkritik ist nicht leicht, vor allem die kritische Analyse der eigenen Arbeiten. David duChemin gibt in seinem Buch auch keine Antwort, aber stellt Fragen, die Fotograf*innen helfen sollen, Bilder besser zu verstehen, ihre Qualität zu erkennen, den kreativen Prozess des Fotografierens bewusster zu steuern und die Qualität der eigenen Arbeit zu verbessern. Erschienen ist das Buch im dpunkt.Verlag und kostet 29,90 €.

Ausstellungen

Recommended Olympus Fellowship
Zeit: 7. Mai – 30. August 2020
Ort: Haus der Photographie / Deichtorhallen, Deichtorstr. 1–2, 20095 Hamburg

Robert Lebeck: Portraits von Menschen und Ländern
Zeit: 30. Mai – 13. September 2020
Ort: KUK Kunst- und Kulturzentrum, Austr. 9, 52156 Monschau

Drüben auf Instagram

@sieben.tage – ist ein spannendes Projekt von sieben Kreativen. Jedes Bild wurde vom vorherigen Foto inspriert.

Videos

Sean Tucker spricht darüber, dass es nicht nur völlig egal ist, welches Label andere Deinen Arbeiten geben, sondern auch, was dieses Verhalten über die jeweiligen „Labelmakers and Gatekeepers“ aussagt.

Jan Kocovski spricht in dieser Folge über das digitale und analoge Portfolio.

Das Titelbild stammt von Grzegorz Rakowski. Vielen Dank dafür!

Sourced by Time Trap Photography sharing the best photography tips, news and tricks throughout the industry. Time Trap Photography is dedicated to freezing those special moments in life that can be revisited and admired for generations to come. - Shannon Bourque
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I can almost feel the rising tide of indignation heading towards me even as it type this headline. Learn to compose? Don’t be ridiculous some might comment. How can you simulate the creativity of the mind other might chip in. And for the most part, at this moment in time you are correct.

Technology, however waits for no one. Just by looking back at the last 10-15 years, we have gone from fiddly phones with buttons to devices that can do incredible things at the by touch or even voice. Those devices also now have incredible photographic and video capabilities often underpinned by computational photography. 

Computational photography is where a computer processor merges multiple, almost identical images to create a hard to achieve effect. This might be simulating Bokeh, creating a high key portrait under normal lighting or giving low noise, handheld night shots. It’s not perfect but it is already very impressive. So could a camera compose?

Will Our Cameras Be Able To Compose?

I think the short answer is yes. I also think that we will start to see this happening within the next five years.

Again I think that again it will be smartphone technology that will drive this forward. As photographers we are introduced to the rules of composition at a very early stage. The word rules is key here because computers love rules. They work on the basis of 0 and 1s, yes and no, right and wrong. 

The basic rules of composition are pretty easy to understand. Rule of thirds, leading lines, symmetry and geometry. These are things that would not take a huge amount of computation power to work out. Would would take the processing power is isolating subjects and interests within the frame and then applying a compositional rule to them. 

Think about what we already have today. Beyond the compositional photography power of our smartphones, we have cameras that can track fast moving subjects. Face detect systems that can pinpoint and track the eyes of multiple subjects simultaneously. The processing power in our cameras is incredible. But is it enough to compute a composition? At the moment that answer is no.

How Can Computational Composition Be Implemented?

As mentioned earlier, the driving factor will be smartphones. The simple reason for this is internet connectivity. With the advent of 5G data services we are now on the cusp of having significantly  faster connections than our home internet, on our mobile devices. 

Computational composition is going to take a lot or processing power and a lot of AI and machine learning. There are however already many of the building blocks we need for it, already in place.

GPS locates the position of the phone down an accuracy of 3 meters. Our phones have sensors that detect the orientation and direction that the phone is pointing. Services such as Google and Bing maps have huge databases not only of the base maps but of the objects sitting on the maps.  The algorithms that Google and Microsoft use are staggering and combined with visual reference such as Streetview can give in incredible virtual picture of what’s in front of the smartphones camera.

Add in live weather reports and an ephemeris and your phone can also get a good impression of how the light is within that scene. Now the phone would feed all that data back up to a server. It would also send a live feed from the phone’s camera and the server would start to work it’s AI magic. 

Of course the compositional information would be advisory. It would be sent back to your phone in the form of arrows and indicators on screen that would pick out the key elements of the shot. It would then advise you to move either the position of the phone or your position to get the right composition. Once in the optimum location the phone would lock the indicators and then receive data about the very best exposure. 

When Will This Happen?

I think that we might start seeing computational composition within the next five years. It will probably come from one of the big tech companies such as Apple, Samsung or Google. These tech giants are likely to be the only companies with the server and data resources needed for such a venture. 

It would also be a USP – unique selling point for a smartphone. Many new, high-end smartphones are sold on their photographic and video capabilities. This particularly true in the battle between Apple and Samsung, both of whom have the resources to develop such a technology.

Initially computational composition will be a very simplistic affair. Very basic compositional advice based around low level compositional rules. As mentioned at the top, some of the rules are pretty easy to compute and these will be the ones that are integrated first.

Overtime, artificial intelligence and machine learning will allow cameras to determine more and more complex compositions. The technology will slowly drip down from smartphones to our main cameras and will become commonplace.

Should I Be Worried About Computational Composition?

In short, no. A photograph is and always will be a unique representation of your mind’s eye in digital form. Whilst a computer might be able to advise on compositions, the very best images are often the ones that bend or break the rules. We will always have the option to switch off or ignore what the camera is telling us.

Another way to look at computational composition is as another auto mode. Useful to have when you are in a hurry but there’s nothing like switching to manual to get the creative juices flowing.

I think that it’s just a matter of time before we start to see computational composition. However like the advent of digital or smartphones, it will not signal the death of photography. Instead it will be another way to enhance it and to introduce newcomers to it. 

In my opinion, in the early days of computational photography, we will start to see lots of identikit images. The servers will have dished up similar compositions to anyone that has shot at that location. Which is, if you think about it, a little like looking through an Instagram feed today.

As the technology progresses, we may find it will become a very powerful tool that we can use to advise us on composition. The keyword being advise. 

The march of photographic technology is relentless and as photographers we have to either embrace it or get left behind. 

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Das Bild des Tages von: nicolas.hbnr

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Wie schön es ist, regelmäßig Blumen geschickt zu bekommen! In den letzten Tagen landeten in meinem Posteingang mehrere Blumenbouquets, einzelne Blüten und schön wilde Wiesen. Vielen Dank dafür! Natürlich dienten die Bilder nicht dazu, mir eine Freude zu machen, sondern waren das Ergebnis der letzten Wochendaufgabe mit dem Titel: Blumen und Blüten.

Dass nicht nur ich mich über Blumen freue, zeigt die große Zahl der Einreichungen. Über 80 Fotos haben mich erreicht oder wurden mit dem Hashtag #kwerfeldein52 markiert. Im Folgenden findet Ihr eine kleine, wunderbar farbenfrohe Auswahl. Viel Freude damit!

© Johannes Wittmann

Auf dem Bild ist eine vertrocknete Rose, aufgenommen mit 4 s Belichtungszeit und unter langsamem Bewegen der Kamera. Mir gefällt, dass die Rose auf dem Bild gar nicht mehr vetrocknet, alt oder verdorrt wirkt, sondern eine frische und grazile Dynamik entsteht.

© Walter Griese

Spontan hatte ich beim Thema „Blumen und Blüten“ eher konventionelle Blumenbilder vor Augen. Gleichzeitig war mir klar, dass das nicht mein gewünschter Ansatz sein sollte. Das als Grundlage für meinen Beitrag dienende Foto ist eines von mehreren, die ich zu diesem Zweck in meinem Garten aufgenommen habe. Letztlich habe ich mich für dieses entschieden und begonnen, damit zu „spielen“ und zu experimentieren. Heraus kam eine abstrakte Umsetzung.

© Willi Krug

© Elsa Barthel

© Martin Busch

© vandusengrafix

© Eric Mazath

© crustedink

© Sophia Hegewald

© linsenkinder

© Kenneth Bochnik

© Jeannine Dan

© Roland Mühler

© fotojaegerin.outdoors

© Sven B.

© Friedericke

© peter_f_gerhard

© soniaepplefotografie

© Dierk Topp

© Sabrina Caliskan

© xjuliaxfuchsx

© Katja Kemnitz

© hartungute

© Monika Keller-Romig

Nächsten Montag gibt es ein neues Thema als Herausforderung. Bis dahin könnt Ihr noch am aktuellen Thema Silhouetten teilnehmen. Seid gespannt und verratet uns noch kurz, welches Bild dieses Mal Euer persönlicher Favorit ist.

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To many (probably most) photographers, composition reigns supreme when it comes to the most important component of a good photograph. Of course, individual stylistic choices should always be considered, but the general consensus is that composition is often the make or break factor.

All the talk about composition — its importance, its varied and sometimes complicated iterations — can be intimidating for new photographers (and maybe even some not-so-new photographers). But learning how to place a subject in the frame for maximum visual impact will do wonders for your photography.

Here are 4 simple yet effective techniques that will help you improve your photographic composition skills and give you the confidence you need to expand your creative boundaries.

Don’t Get Stuck In The Middle

I’m quite sure everyone does it when starting out in photography: place the subject dead center of the frame. Yes, there are times when this approach works wonderfully, but not all the time and not for every subject.

Centering everything all the time gets boring. You can add a bit of dynamism to your shots by simply moving your camera in such a way that places your subject in or along the upper, lower, left or right third of the frame.

This is the rule of thirds and it allows you to create balance and depth in a scene.

Get In Line

Whether literal or abstract, lines are everywhere. Use them. From telephone wires to roads, walls to fences, shorelines to sun rays, use lines to draw the viewer’s eye to your intended point of interest.

This composition technique, referred to as leading lines, helps you create depth and perspective and serves as something of a visual map for the viewer.

Play To Your Strengths

If you regularly use a cell phone for photography, it’s likely you default to portrait orientation to take all your shots. It feels natural; the shape of the phone sort of lends itself to shooting that way.

If you’re accustomed to shooting with a DSLR or mirrorless camera, horizontal orientation may be your preferred manner of shooting.

To be sure, there aren’t different “rules” that apply separately to horizontal and portrait orientations, but you sometimes have to apply the rules in different ways.

While some might argue that it’s easier to learn composition with the camera in horizontal position, I think the prevalence of mobile devices being used as cameras has somewhat shifted that paradigm. 

If using a cell phone has normalized shooting in portrait orientation for you, then carry those concepts over whenever you use a dedicated camera body. Similarly, you should apply your knowledge of horizontal compositional methods when using a cell phone. 

Experiment

It is indeed possible to play fast and loose with these compositional guidelines and still create powerful imagery. First, however, you’ll want to get a solid grasp on the basics in order to build a strong foundation for your creative vision.

After that, it’s game on. Try new things, make tweaks to techniques you’ve already learned, combine multiple styles.

Don’t underestimate the value of trial and error as a learning tool.

Final Thoughts

There’s a lot to learn about composition and it’s not something you’re going to master quickly. In fact, you may spend the rest of your life seeking mastery of various composition guidelines. 

Don’t let this stress you out; rather, know that you’ll always have something new to learn.

Above all, have fun.

Further Reading

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Das Bild des Tages von: Marco Bergner

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Learning to use the three components of the exposure triangle (aperture, shutter speed, and ISO) to get a proper exposure is often one of the first things we master as new nature photographers. We must carefully balance all three to allow just the right amount of light into the camera so that the photograph is not too dark and not too light… but just right. However, getting the exposure correct is just one result of your choice of shutter speed and aperture.  Both shutter speed and aperture have profound effects on your nature photography beyond just the exposure. Using them to pursue creative photography, with intention, will set your photographs apart from just snapshots.

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is the amount of time the shutter is open to allow light to hit the sensor. Beyond controlling the amount of light, the shutter speed also has a profound effect on the perceived motion in your photos. A slow shutter speed is open for a longer time, allowing anything within the frame that is moving to blur. Conversely, a very short shutter speed freezes the motion of even a quickly moving subject.  The creative choice of shutter speed in nature photography depends on whether you want to show motion with some degree of blur or whether you want the moving subject to be sharp and still in the frame. Thus, the choice of shutter speed when there is movement is a creative decision.

The following photo from the Smoky Mountains demonstrates this perfectly. I chose a rather slow shutter speed to allow the water flowing over the rock to blur a bit, thus enhancing the sense of motion in the image.  Had I chosen a fast shutter speed, the water would have appeared frozen and would have had no feeling of movement. In an nature photos like this, I chose the shutter speed first, then balance the aperture and ISO to get a proper exposure.

Smoky Mountain stream reflections by Jane Palmer – 1/[email protected] f5.6

In contrast, the following image of a loon during a preening wing flap was captured at a shutter speed of 1/1600 of a second. I had observed the loons over several days and could anticipate when they would rise out of the water and spin their heads around. I wanted to capture the water droplets flying off of their feathers. After a few missed shots with slower shutter speeds, I determined that I needed 1/1600 to freeze the water droplets. I balanced the aperture and ISO to get a good exposure as always. Because of the shutter speed I chose, the resulting photograph tells exactly the story that I wanted to tell.

Preening behavior of Common Loon – 1/[email protected], ISO 1000 by Jane Palmer

These two nature photography examples demonstrate a critical concept about using shutter speed creatively in your work.  You must first determine what you want to say with your image and then decide what shutter speed is required to tell that story. You still must be mindful of balancing your shutter speed with aperture and ISO for proper exposure.

Aperture

Just as shutter speed has a dual personality controlling exposure and perceived motion, aperture also has two sides to its coin. We know that aperture is the size of the opening in the lens that allows light to enter and hit the sensor. Obviously, a larger opening (smaller f-stop number) lets in more light.

But, in addition to having an effect on the exposure, the choice of aperture has a profound effect on the depth of field and how much of your image is in focus. A tiny aperture (larger f=stop number like f16) produces a large depth of field; you can have everything in focus from fairly close to your camera all the way to infinity. In contrast, a large aperture (small number like f2.8) results in a shallow depth of field. Depending on where you focus, a large part of your image may be out of focus.

So, depending on the story you want to tell, the choice of aperture is critical for nature photography. In fact, in my work, my decision about aperture is usually the first choice I make when determining a proper exposure.

When I am taking wide angle nature photos, I usually want everything to be in focus. This is particularly true when I have a strong foreground element. It is important that the foreground element be critically sharp and the distant background be acceptably sharp. I achieve this by using a wide-angle lens, a relatively small aperture, and focus just past the foreground element. I choose my aperture first, then balance shutter speed and ISO for exposure.

The following image from the Oregon Coast is a good example of this. I needed the foreground rock to be in focus as well as the distant sea stacks. Choosing an aperture of f14 gave me the depth of field that I needed and also allowed me to use a slightly slower shutter speed which helped to smooth out the reflection on the sand.

Creative photography to capture reflections on wet sand – 1/[email protected], ISO 100

There are times when you want to highlight a part of your nature photo and don’t necessarily want everything in focus. Because our eyes always go to the brightest and sharpest part of a photograph, you can use this fact to bring attention to your subject and reduce background distractions. You do this by selecting an aperture that allows only your subject to be in focus.

For wildlife photography, I often use an aperture of 2.8 or 4 to have the subject’s face in focus and the background totally out of focus. When I photograph hummingbirds, I want the background to be out of focus to place attention on the sharply focused bird. In addition to selecting an aperture that blurs the background (in this case f8), I also make sure that the background is far enough away from the subject so that it is quite blurry. I couldn’t use an aperture of f4 on a hummingbird because they move too erratically and I need that extra depth of field to ensure a sharp eye on the bird.

Aperture set at F8 for extra DOF by Jane Palmer – 1/[email protected], ISO 100 with multiple flash setup

Putting It All Together

When selecting the camera exposure for nature photography, remember that shutter speed and aperture control a lot more than just the amount of light entering the camera. You must get a proper exposure to avoid blown highlights, of course. But beyond that, remember the secondary effects of shutter speed and aperture and use that information in a creative way to tell your own story with your photograph.

Once you understand the basics of the exposure triangle and can get a properly exposed nature photo, you are ready to move beyond just a “proper image.” You are ready to use your camera settings to “paint” an image that conveys your message clearly to your viewer.

So, the next time you are setting up a shot, remember to think creatively about your choice of shutter speed and aperture.  They can add much needed creativity to your nature photography than just exposure!

About Author Jane Palmer

Jane Palmer divides her time between being a Nurse Anesthetist and a landscape and underwater photographer. A lifelong passion for nature and animals led her to spend more time outdoors with her camera, observing animal behavior and photographing them in action. She has been an avid underwater photographer for 10 years and recently began teaching photography. She often leads dive trips to exotic locations and assists divers who want to learn more about underwater photography. Jane currently lives in St. Louis MO with her husband, who loves scuba diving as well. Jane’s strong background in Lightroom and Photoshop allows her to help her underwater students get the most out of their images. So whether she is hiking in the Smokies or scuba diving in the Philippines, you can be sure Jane has her camera in hand to capture the beauty that nature provides for us.

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