I’m gradually building a resource of photography hints and tips from my experience as a professional photographer since 2008. Hopefully this will be useful information, so let me know if you have topic suggestions and I’ll do my best to include them.
WILDLIFE BABIES
I’ve been a professional wildlife photographer since 2008 and for all of that time I’ve been trying to take pictures that will invoke an emotional response with people. In my experience, there is nothing that does that quite as well as baby animals. It’s probably got a lot to do with the cute factor. I’ve collected [...]
ANIMAL PORTRAITS
Look this way big fella! It's like herding cats... I tend to think of wildlife portraits as finding the essence of an animal. Just like human portraits, taking animal portraits follows a lot of the same rules with a few major differences. Whilst you'll have the advantage of not having to worry about hair styling, wardrobe [...]
THE BEAUTY OF BACK-LIGHT GalleryTHE BEAUTY OF BACK-LIGHT
Africa, Birds, Birds of prey, Costa Rica, Deer, Hummingbirds, Kenya, Landscapes, Newcastle & Tyneside, North East England, Northumberland, RAW, Red deer, Running, Short-eared owls, Sport, Technique, Tips, Ultra running, Wildebeest, Wildlife, Yorkshire, zebras
THE BEAUTY OF BACK-LIGHT
A rufous-tailed hummingbird in Costa Rica Back-light is, as you might expect, where the light on the subject is predominantly from behind. What this does is produce a dramatic effect, outlining the subject in rim light. All the more stunning if that light is warm in colour and there is some detail in the subject, like [...]
TEXTURE
I don't know how other photographers describe texture, but I always think of it as visually representing what you would feel if you reached into the photograph and touched the surface of the subject. By the way, don't do this to an elephant! Speaking of elephants, they're one of the best subjects for showing texture in [...]
STUNNING SUNSETS
There's something incredibly evocative about the colours at sunset and sunrise. (In fact, I wrote a whole article a while ago about it for Landscape Photography Magazine) In this blog post, I've collected a few thoughts about what I look for when creating a good sunset image. In most cases, simply shooting an orange sky [...]
CHIAROSCURO
"What's that?" I hear you say. Chiaroscuro is an Italian word which literally means "bright-dark". It's an artistic term used to describe the use of strong contrasts between light and dark areas to enhance the 3D modelling of the subject and create drama. And I love it! If you're after a dramatic finish to a photograph, [...]
CLUTTER: THE ENEMY OF PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION
A good photograph must grab the viewer's attention. That usually means that the subject of the photo mustn't have to fight with a lot of other distracting stuff in the frame. If there's one thing that kills a photo immediately, it's having a cluttered background. The eye likes things simple. Try to simplify the photograph into its most basic [...]
How To Prepare and Pack For a Photography Safari to Africa
I'm writing this article because I remember the mixture of excitement and bewilderment at tackling my first African photography safari in 2008. What to take? What to leave at home? What to prepare? What clothing, money, insurance, visas? All these questions and more I'll attempt to answer here. Going away on your first photography safari is an incredibly exhilarating thing to [...]
How to use Auto ISO
Auto ISO is something that, until I wrote this article, I simply didn't use. Now I find it indispensable: the ability to use ISO as a third control (in addition to aperture and shutter speed) that automatically adjusts based on the available light - particularly in manual exposure mode - has change the way I shoot. This article was written [...]
Is Professional Photography Gear Worth The Money?
In this short article for Landscape Photography Magazine (when it had a wildlife photography section), I contemplate whether pro gear really is worth the money. You can download the PDF for free here: LPM Is Pro Gear Really Worth The Money? The latest pro-specification DSLRs are bristling with features that sometimes make even a technophile like me scratch his head [...]
Bird Photography
In this article for Landscape Photography Magazine (when it had a wildlife photography section) I looked at how to get the best out of bird photography. You can download a PDF of the full article for free here: LPM Bird Photography I was a reluctant birder. It took my first safari trip to Africa in 2008 to truly appreciate what [...]
Wild Angle – Shooting Wildlife Wide
Landscape photography is all about short focal lengths for wide vistas and wildlife photography requires gargantuan lenses that can pick out a grain of sand on Mars. There you go, photography neatly segregated. In this article for Landscape Photography Magazine (when it had a wildlife photography section), I explored the use of wide lenses for creative wildlife images. In the same [...]