Pixiq

As a taster for my latest book Digital Outdoor Photography: 101 Top Tips, published by Lark Books, I have selected 5 tips from the 13 sections covering topics including Planning & Preparation, Gear to Go, Camera Supports, Enhance the Light, Work the Weather, Action Shots, Wildlife Wonders and After a Shoot. To make this post a manageable length, the original copy has been edited and just one image included per tip. Five more tips will follow in a later post.

Tip 31: Sensuous Curves

Curvaceous lines introduce a more elegant and sensuous element to a picture than a hard diagonal. Large-scale curves visible from the air include ox bow lakes and streams snaking through gallery forests. On the ground, curves appear in coves, in meandering streams and paths, in bowed rock arches and along the knife-edge of mobile sand dunes.

© Heather Angel – A flamingo filter-feeds in a curious way, by lowering its long neck and bending it over so the bill is turned upside down creating the dramatic curve of the pink neck.

An S-curve is a bonus because it is the key element in the composition, especially if it is an attractive stream or river, a backlit liana hanging from a branch or a snake moving across sand or swimming in a river. A small sunlit stream viewed against the light, can appear as a line leading to a bird or two silhouetted on the water in the distance.

Tip 35: First and Last Light

For many landscape photographers the prime shooting time is just before sunrise or after sunset; when a clear sky becomes transformed by a pink or orange glow for a very brief time. As the sun rises above the horizon, mountaintops are bathed in a pink cast known as alpenglow.

© Heather Angel – Briefly, after the sun set, the sky turned deep blue giving a perfect foil for the huge ice sculptures lit by colored internal lights created in Harbin, China's ice city.

'Wow' dusk and dawn shots arise from meticulous planning: by researching viewpoints on the web or buying local postcards. Make a recce beforehand to check which viewpoints work best with which lens. This site provides a worldwide map, which when you click on a location and set the time zone, it gives the sunrise and sunset times. Aim to arrive on site well beforehand and take a head torch to set up the tripod and camera safely and to reset the ISO setting if necessary.

Use a graduated neutral density filter to balance the exposure between a bright sky above and a darker scene below. For a scene with highlight and shadow areas, bracket the exposures and blend them using HDR.

Tip 59: Animals on Location

A long telephoto lens is an essential tool for any dedicated wildlife photographer, but a short lens better reveals the animal's natural habitat. This is by no means an easy option, since careful consideration of both composition and lighting is crucial.

Lines of animals such as penguins walking or tobogganing over snow or wildebeest migrating across an African savannah, add a dynamic dimension to an image. Avoid placing the line in the center of the frame, since this will cut the picture in two. Wide-open places with a 360º view makes it possible to spot animals moving into a scene and set up a tripod in readiness for them to enter the pre-composed landscape.

© Heather Angel – Gaining height by climbing a hillock was the only way to show a portion of wall-to-wall king penguins with their brown chicks on South Georgia.

If the sky is dramatic, there is a spectacular sand dune or mountain backdrop, position the animals within the lower third of the frame. Silhouettes of large distinctive animals – such as giraffe or elephant – against a vibrant sunrise or sunset, makes a dramatic opener for a photo essay.

Tip 66: Facial Expressions

Use a long lens to crop in tight on an animal's face and you may capture a comical expression. Mammals have pliable faces with soft lips, which make them more interesting than birds; indeed, many primates communicate different moods to their family or to intruders by means of graphic expressions. Birds simply open and close their bills; although a pair of any birds 'billing', changes the pace of a gallery of single heads.

© Heather Angel – A baby snow monkey calls out in a hot pool in Jigokudani Monkey Park, Japan.

Look also for eye-to-eye shots for greater impact. Animals with outsized eyes, such as many frogs and nocturnal lemurs, or animals with a colorful tapetum around their pupils like snowy owls, are all great subjects for eye-to-eye shots.

In dim light or at night, beware of colored eye-shine caused when an on-camera flash reflects back from a layer inside the eye. Eye-shine color varies with the animal and the angle of the light, but the problem is usually cured by using the flash off-camera.

Tip 72: Capturing Action

Capturing fleeting action within a single still frame is always a challenge. Making a rapid blast using continuous motor drive, interspersed with chimping the monitor is a sure recipe for missing the prime action. Getting action shots of large animals such as elephants or polar bears is a matter of luck, although being in the right place at the right time helps. Use a beanbag or a monopod to support the camera inside a vehicle. A long fast lens is useful, but a wide-angle lens maybe the only way to take a whale surfacing beside a boat or a flock of large birds lifting off at close range.

© Heather Angel – A shutter speed of 1/1,000 second froze the moment when a perentie extended its long forked tongue to taste the surroundings.

A cliff top, where seabirds nest, is a good place to get flight shots because birds tend to fly in against the wind to land. Here, there will be repeated opportunities to capture flight and landing shots and to fine-tune the shutter speed or to change the ISO.

For Digital Outdoor Photography Tips click here for USA and here for the UK.