the most important skills/knowledge for What is the most important skills/knowledge for nature photography?

[priimak]

Hi All.

<br><br>

I was wandering what would you consider the most important skills/knowledge for

nature photography? In my limited and unsuccessful attempts at capturing great

images I came to some conclusions and thought you would want comment and give

some advice. First of all, what we are trying to capture is something

unusual and fleeting. Taking another picture of El Capitan or Golden Gate bridge

would hardly present much value unless unusual conditions are present. Unless

capturing animals or rare events sunset and sunrise offer more opportunities

than rough midday sun, which means that photographer has to freeze his/her butt

off to get truly captivating pictures.

[mlfly1]

Love what you are photographing. It will show through in the final result.

 

Mike

[dbcooper]

...and lose sleep. Hard to beat dawn and dusk...best light and it's when the animals 'do their thing' the most (other than at night). A lot of folks freeze their butts off or endure other hardships to get their (way better than mine) photos. Read a book by any nature photog you respect, and you'll find out they sure enough don't go to the zoo at 10 am to get their stuff.

 

Most important thing - time...to wait for the light, and to wait for the animals to do something unique that's in range of your lens. And be ready.

[mark_chappell]

Having a good knowledge of your subjects' natural history (if it's animals you're after), and

patience, patience, patience.

 

Getting up before dawn is almost always a good idea.

[ellis_vener_photography]

knowledge of your subject. Everything else flows from that.

[erik_loza]

One answer: The will to make it happen.

 

"I didn't have the lens I needed, the light was bad, I didn't get there in time/ got there too early, the animals weren't doing their thing, blah, blah, blah".

 

You're either committed to making something happen or you aren't. That's the difference.

[mark_morancy]

I would echo the previous responses and offer that as to "common subjects" - what nature subject hasn't been photographed over and over again?

 

You might want to check out Frederic Larson's blog, particularly the "sunrise" section. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/photoblogfl/index

 

The Golden Gate Bridge is a recurring subject of his, but he's always presenting it in different compositions and light. He takes a "common subject" and presents it in a new way all the time. That is the challenge for us after we become proficient at the technical aspects of photography. Of course, he's obviously up before dawn a lot too. ;)<div></div>

[ellis_vener_photography]

"Unless capturing animals or rare events sunset and sunrise offer more opportunities than

rough midday sun, which means that photographer has to freeze his/her butt off to get truly

captivating pictures. "

 

Yes you are right of course. To do great work, you must work at it. You must know your

subject and have a deep emotional passion for it. You must know light and be sensitive to the

different effects it can create. You must know color and composition.

 

And you must be lucky too. But remember: luck favors the prepared mind.

[stephen hazelton]

It seems to me that one of the major differences is just the time devoted to the photography. I'll hike past the pretty rock, and snap a shot, but I'm not going to sit there 3 hours waiting for the light to be right, and not going to hike back up there 18 times with 50 lbs of gear looking for the perfect cloud/sun/shadow/foliage, etc.

[priimak]

Thank you guys for all your inspirational words.<br><br>

In response to Mark Morancy. Those pictures of Golden Gate bridge are very nice indeed. It

only proves that even in a most common objects one can find uncommon way of looking at.

It also clear that Frederic Larson wakes up before sunrise :).<br><br>I will also ask a

question asked probably hundreds of times. What would you recommend with regards to

books?<br><br>P.S. Sorry about subject line. It got messed up with some cut and paste job.

[studor13]

The one thing that simply can not be taught is timing. Sometimes, perhaps even often you can be good at everything, but when you have two or more compositions in mind and say only 1 second of that perfect light which one do you choose?

 

Getting a great photograph (or life?) is not about the chances we take, but more often than not it is about the choices me make.

 

Can't get out of bed before 4:30? There's no can't. You do, or you don't.

 

Enough philosophy. Just do it!

[ellis_vener_photography]

"The one thing that simply can not be taught is timing."

 

Not true! There are lots of ways you can get better at timing! Timing is a skill that can be

learned just like anything else.

 

When I first started my reaction times weren't very good. So I practiced : I practiced by

playing pinball ( this was the 1970s & '80s -- Bally Fireball was the best) -- not video

games-- as pinball is both physical and has an element of randomness to it. It treaches

you to pay attention. Later I practised by shooting Polo, where I had to learn a sport that

iwas completelky unfamiliar with, and later, by learnign how to shoot skeet. IMost of my

practice these days is just with a camera.

[studor13]

I can not and will not argue with a man who knows his pinball.

 

Remember in the early 80's when we worked out how to zap those Space Invaders machines with an electronic buzzer to get 99 credits? Those were the days!

 

Incidently, I once had a dog named Pinball. True story.

[Two23]

The most important skill for nature photograhpy? Why, the same skill you need for ALL photography. The ability to recognize good light. Second would be the skill of previsualization. Without either, you're going to strike out almost every time. Doesn't matter what kind of photography you are doing.

 

 

 

Kent in SD

[mike_broderick]

I'd agree with basically all of the answers so far. Something I'd add in is that to capture the transient excellent images that sometimes show up in nature and wildlife photography, it really helps to know your equipment intimately--To know exactly where all the controls are, which button does what, and ideally be able to set them by touch.

 

I'm not there yet, unfortunately. But I'm trying, as best a weekend photographer can.

 

There are some other good ones (and there have been previous posts on this) but a book I found helpful in learning how professionals look at images was "The Art of Photographing Nature" by Art Wolfe and Martha Hill.

[ellis_vener_photography]

If I could only learn to pay attention to my spelling!

<P><I>When I first started my reaction times weren't very good. So I practiced : I

practiced

by playing pinball ( this was the 1970s & '80s -- Bally Fireball was the best) -- not video

games-- as pinball is both physical and has an element of randomness to it. It teaches

you to

pay attention. Later I practised by shooting polo, where I had to learn a sport that I was

completely unfamiliar with, and later, by learning how to shoot skeet. Most of my practice

these days is just with a camera.</I><P><P>And except for Galaga I hated and still hate

video games.

[greg s]

put yourself in the right place at the right time with the right equipment, then compose a photo

[david_senesac]

For my body of work as a long time landscape photographer, the most important skill I have that allows my work from others is natural science knowledge of and photographic experience with subjects.

 

To get an idea of what I am referring to read the four stories on the right side at the top of my below home page, for example "Shadow & Minaret Creek Headwaters Backpack August 2006". Accordingly I tend to seek out scenery that has never been shot because I know from experience that there are a considerable amount of such virgin landscapes out here in the West. On the other hand, when targeting icon images, one had better be prepared to regularly visit such locations while considering weather, time of year and day, while understanding that if one keeps plugging away, that sooner or later exceptional conditions might occur simply due to chance. In some cases I've never got a successful image at places I've been to too many times. But overall I've had enough fortunate opportunaties to make a difference. Of course one needs the skills to pull off such captures when those opportunities occur that is the other facet of that issue.

[ole_tjugen]

The most important skill is a certain degree of understanding of nature.

 

Every year we lose a few "idiots", and spend millions trying to save them (or recover the remains). These are people who completely fail to understand how a 300 ft drop can be dangerous if there's no guardrail there, or that a raging torrent of glacial runoff is not a good place for a "refreshing dip".

 

"Nature" is by definition untamed. As such is can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing.

[hique]

It would agree that it's the knowledge about nature and patience...

[Mary Doo]

From the perspective of composition, I think the most important skill is the ability to "SEE". In other words, to have an acute visual awareness of the various design elements of the scene and to have the ability to combine or isolate these elements into the view in a pleasing manner that evokes an emotional response. In other words, to have a sense of artistic balance.

 

Mary

[rick_wong]

all good advice but the one thing I haven't seen is: the Love of nature to experience the outdoors and make it your #1 requirement.

 

I have been an outdoorsmen for most of my life and just being with nature is my reward. When I was young I would get upset when I came home with nothing, now just beening outdoors is my reward.

 

I had a student come and ask the same question. infact he even ask why having the same camera and lens that I had and using a good photo skills his photos were missing somthing. When I asked him if he ever been backpacking? Had he ever photographed in a downpour? Did he know that there was a wild salmon run with in two miles of his home? His answer was no to all three, He loved seeing photos of nature but did not love being with nature. (he turned out to be a pretty good wedding photographer)

 

The 2nd thing is when you are going to Photograph Nature that is the #1 task not making 10 miles by the end of the day. I have gone out into the backcountry and only traveled 1 mile from the trailhead and spent the weekend there because that was where the photo was.

[the lone ranger]

Knowing how to stay alive with all your body parts intact.<br>

<a href="http://www.rwongphoto.com">Two-Lane Road Photography by Richard Wong<br><a href="http://www.rwongphoto.com/fieldreport/">In the Field - Photography Blog