How to Take Proffessional Nature Photographs

Here is what I have learned over the many years of taking pictures of a simple flower for example. I used to take photos in full sunlight thinking it would bring out the widest range of color contained in any particular flower. Though my thoughts were scientifically correct it is more important that you are able to capture detail rather than vibrant color. Jt is even better if you can capture both.

When we take a photo we usually look at the scene and just try to center the object or multiple objects of greatest interest. Taking a family group photo doesn't really demand the need for observing highlight and shadow detail but photographing your favorite flower closeup does demand the lighting to be more selective. If you are snapping the photo at an outdoor nursery try to select a day which is cloudy but not necessarily overcast. This will naturally decrease the contrast ratio of the photo. If your camera is set on "auto" it will take care of the exposure parameters. When you view the replay in your camera window or your computer display after download you will see the softened colors. The highlights should show some detail as the petals of the mum spoon flower which contain fine lines as shown in the accompanying photograph and some detail in the shadow or darker areas. Another very important criteria is the focus of the main subject which is the mum spoon flower in this case. If the photo is taken using a 10 mega pixel camera you should be able to enlarge the photo to 11x14 or even larger to hang on your favorite wall.

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SOP In Planning Any Photo Session

My personal standard operating procedure in planning any photo excursion is to first carry my camera in a jacket pocket and making sure I have a fresh set of batteries with me in my pants or jacket pocket. I have had an unpleasant incident of running into a scene of great interest and my camera batteries were unfortunately dead. Always keep a fresh set for these kind of situations.

If you are planning to submit one or more of your top photos to a company or website that could distribute your photo(s) for sale they are very strict on pre-editing and usually will only accept raw those which have been slightly cropped with some contrast and lightening or darkening. Whatever the case shooting of the original scene is the key and that paying close attention to ambient lighting conditions along with subject background is most important. For instance, shooting a magnolia would be more favorable if you can have a dark background instead of a bright sky since your camera on "auto" would "close" the lens because of the bright sky and render the near white magnolia with no detail at all. The reason I mention this is because I have lost many good photos until I selected my subject backgrounds.