diy camera tips – Growing Forward

Taking pictures of wildlife can be quite challenging as opposed to shooting non-living objects. They keep moving, and you need to capture them in their best form to make the images look amazing. Your position, the right lens, camera focus, angle, and numerous other factors go into creating an exceptional collection of wildlife images. If you want to do it just right and create an exclusive wildlife photography album for personal collection or to exhibit, you should follow the suggestions mentioned below.

Know your camera ins and outs

Although it sounds cliché, this is the foremost thing you should do to ensure your images come beautiful and nearly of the same quality as that of magazines and large-scale exhibitions. You surely won’t want to miss an exceptional moment, which may last for 5-10 seconds only.

Being aware of all the intrinsic features of your camera like shutter speed, focus points, focus modes, and altering ISO settings of your camera is integral to taking high-quality pictures. If you’re yet to buy your camera, make sure you go for a weather-sealed one to reduce the risks of harsh outdoor conditions. The additional layer of protection will be expensive, no doubt, but it’s going to be a worthy investment.

Choose the right lens

For taking pictures of wildlife, you should get a lens that allows you to shoot from a distance. These lenses are also known as telephotos and are exceptionally beneficial for wildlife photography. The birds and animals you want to shoot may get scared or agitated on noticing humans too close, then long-distance shots are the best way to capture them naturally.

The telephotos have optical stabilization (OS) that helps minimize blurring or shaking because of extreme magnification. In the learning phase, you can use a more affordable plastic lens to get acquainted with the same. Although they don’t have the required OS, you can use high shutter speed while fixing them on the tripod to reduce the chances of blurring.

However, if you want to take pictures of small organisms like insects, you should use a macro lens (100 mm lens) with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 to capture them up close. You can also use a telephoto zoom to zoom into your subject from a long distance for near-Macro effects.

Opt for photography workshops

Do you want to be an expert in wildlife and nature photography for professional reasons? You can take photography classes that professionals offer to learn new concepts and practice your skills. You can start your search with Google. Use search terms like photography classes Boise, for example, to find a professional teacher in the Boise region. Getting into professional photography can be a dream career option for you.

You will also get the chance to go on photography excursions and capture the native and exotic wildlife of North America. These excursions will also provide you with the opportunity to try your hands in landscapes, buildings, and architecture, Macro photography and a lot more to expand your skills.

Know the basic rules of wildlife photography

In your photography lessons and excursions, you will learn a whole set of rules for taking pictures of wildlife, and you should know them hard before thinking of improvising them or breaking them altogether. Yes, you’re going to do that eventually with experience, but firstly, you need to abide by these rules to realize where you can do better by breaking them.

Developing eye contact with the subject, knowing the right exposure, use of histogram and a lot of other rules will be taught to you in your photography classes. You will also learn about making the light work in your favor while taking pictures in the open. Once you get a grip on things, you can create your own rules to excel in wildlife photography.

Protect your gear from natural elements

While shooting in the open, you should take maximum protection for your photography gear. From the direct rays of the sun to rains, splashes of water, snow, frost, or hail, you should protect your camera and lens from these natural elements. Investing in some simple protective equipment, like waterproof camera backpack, rain cover, hat and raincoat for you, can go a long way to serve the purpose.

Observe your subject carefully

To capture exceptional photos of your subject, you need to first observe them and try to get an idea about their general behavior. Every species differs from each other, and most of them are quite unpredictable, hence the need for observing them. Once you get a rough idea about their attitudes in the open, you can click mind-blowing pictures of them.

When you’re taking pictures of birds, you should know when they are about to flap their wings and fly off, or when they are ready to swoop down and catch their prey. This knowledge will help you choose the perfect moments to take those perfect shots that you see on the pages of the wildlife magazines. You should follow the same pattern in the case of animals.

Wrapping it up

Wildlife photography is an interesting hobby and a dream ambition to pursue. If you can invest in the right gear, proper lens, opt for photography classes, and know the basic rules of photography, few things can prevent you from making a career of nature and wildlife photography. If you seek thrill and adventure in your life, this is something that will help you love your work more than anything else.

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Photography used to be a hobby that only those with larger bank accounts could afford to indulge in. Now high-grade cameras are available and targeted at the average consumer. Meaning more and more photography businesses are thriving. The current climate with digital work and the gig economy means that photographers are in demand for everything from weddings to helping to create some unique website content for small businesses. Of course, with a surge in any field the competition becomes fierce, and with platforms like Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay and more offering amazing images for free it can become just a touch harder to make a living. But, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a whole host of successful photographers out there making their mark on the world. But how?

Let’s take a look at how to set up a photography business.

It is imperative to know that just because you own a camera, this doesn’t automatically make you a photographer and the chances are if you were to say that, in some circles, you’ll leave with a bad taste in your mouth. It is also important to note that a high-end camera, an iPhone, a point and click from the ’60s are all perfectly reasonable mediums to begin your career. Some photographers choose to take some qualifications, online course or even a degree. But, knowing and doing are very different things.

Before you charge anyone for anything, you should spend a lot of time practicing. Learning how to use your camera, and your own eye. Essentially your eye will be what sets you apart and what will get your hired.

Get Started

The first step is pretty self-explanatory. You need to get out there and start taking photos. At first, you will likely take pictures and videos of everything. Which is great, because you will enjoy some of this more than others. Eventually, you will begin to narrow down what you love and what you can tell a story with. Most modern cameras will help guide you in the first few months with its own auto settings. Most of the time in the early days your camera will give you what you want. The further on you get, the more you’re going to turn some of those setting from auto to manual. It is trial and error. You will take plenty of too dark, too light and out of focus shots. Learn from it. There is space in the early days to experiment with instant photography and film. Both of these will add to your overall skill level and help you understand different concepts.

Technology

Once upon a time photography was a lengthy process, involving dark rooms, and before that sitting still for hours on end. Now it is fast and furious. Depending on the type of photography you do. There are a whole host of post-processing programs that you might like to play with when you are creating your works of art. Photoshop is brilliant for post-processing and creating astounding works of art, Lightroom can help you build a distinct feel to your work via a range of presets (downloaded and created), and there are great video options too. Although the video does tend to be a little bit more expensive so it might be worth outsourcing that and focusing on your strengths. Companies like Perfect Image Video are the perfect solution to help you either backup all of the work that is on discs (many computers and laptops no longer have disc drives, but you might just need that footage at a later date), or for those times you need to produce many duplicates quickly.

You might also like to spend some time getting to grips with software like iMovie, Final Cut Pro or simply Windows Media Player – to help create your promotion reels.

Technology will play an active roll in you creating your visions in the form of photos.

Work, Work, Work

Once you feel confident enough, it’s time to head out and pick up a couple of jobs. Now, your first one or two will nerve-wracking, to the point you might completely blow the whole thing. Consider that part of your learning. Reach out to local businesses and ask for the opportunity to work on any upcoming campaigns they have. Or, get in touch with a local school, sports team or a friend you know is getting married and ask if you can take some photos. Try to keep your first ‘big job’ as small as possible.

Try to stick to the niche of photography that you have fallen in love with as much as you can that will give you the best results, but to make money, you might end up taking a few jobs that provide a stopgap on the road to what you enjoy doing. And, it’s all experience.

Every time you complete a job, reach out for feedback and keep the lines of communication open with the clients. If you have a good working relationship, you provided an excellent service and managed their (and your) expectations then you are likely to get follow up work. When it comes to photography businesses like to work with someone they trust to give them the best results.

Portfolio

All of that practice and job big and small will give you a lot of fodder when it comes to choosing your portfolio photographs. When you are building your online portfolio, try to work on the SEO aspect and the content at the same time. You need to show off your best work, or the work that has the most amount of positive feedback – they aren’t always the same piece. Hook up some business-specific social media and be sure to share new snaps and talk about what you are doing on your Instagram, a blog on your website. The best advice is to stick with the platforms you enjoy and get the most engagement from. The rest are nice to have, so you can reserve the name, but don’t feel pressure to use them. Rather than flood your site with 900 black and white images, take some time to display a few different styles so people can see what you are capable of.

Never Stop

Photography is as much a passion as breathing and when you get the bug, and even if you don’t make a full-time income, don’t give up and never stop taking photos and learning.