Just wanted to let all my web visitors know that Show-Me Nature Photography is now on “Twitter”. Although I am completely new at this new technology, I envision being able to publish up-to-the minute activities in my business (limited-time special offers, arts & craft shows, etc.), recent photos, funny stories, and maybe just some plain, ol’ fun! If you wish to follow me on Twitter, click on the following link (if you are not currently signed up with Twitter, no problem; just click the “Join Twitter” buttom at the top of my Twitter home page and join me). Here is my link: http://twitter.com/ShowMeNature
August 31, 2009
August 24, 2009
Today In My “Big Backyard”
Had a wonderful morning shooting at my south Cass County location. Had 3 green herons right in front of me for about 90 minutes (try staying still for that long in a kayak!). The herons were busy catching/eating small fish. About an hour into their visit, an immature Red-Tailed Hawk (I think, will have to confirm that when I download my images in a while) swooped in and tried to “catch” one of the herons. All 3 herons flew a few yards away, into a different tree as the hawk landed on a branch where one of the herons had been sitting. After a few minutes, the hawk moved to the tree where the herons were sitting. This caused the herons to be very vocal at the hawk and after a few minutes, the hawk gave up and flew off across the water to a tree on the opposite bank. The herons then flew back down to water-level branches and resumed fishing. Pretty comical to watch! Here is one of the images I took as the youngster eyed the 3 green herons (on a low-hanging branch, below the hawk):
Juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk
I received an e-mail from my web designer this morning. He has been working on some of the “bugs” in the new website software and has resolved most of the issues. Robert has been doing a great job with the website. If anyone ever needs assistance with a website, I have Roberts contact information on my “Links” page of the website. Have a great day!
August 23, 2009
Photography Update
Just a short note to update all my readers of my current activities. If you are a Show-Me Nature Photography Newsletter reader (if you’re not, shame on you! You can sign up for this free, monthly newsletter on this website; go to the Home page) you know about my recent photo experiences at my “Garden of Eden”, a recently discovered little place here in southern Cass County. I am still going out with “Rubber Duckie” (my trusty kayak) every morning I have the chance. Last week, I was fortunate to run into a diamondback water snake catching a nice-sized catfish (probably 1 1/2 to 2 pounds) and watched him for 45 minutes as he tried to eat it. This was quite a challenge for the little guy! Just yesterday, I ran into a momma raccoon with 2 juveniles. One of the juvies let me get extremely close, so managed to get a few decent shots of him. Also, been getting back into macro photography (close-ups), which I had been away from for a while. Had a lot of fun and also managed to get some interesting shots of such things as tiny little frogs, water spiders, and various insects. I will be hightlighting some macro shots, as well as the raccoons and other wildlife from “my garden” in the September issue of Show-Me Nature Photography Newsletter, which will be published early in September. So if you haven’t subscribed yet, you still have time to do so and receive this issue. Until next post, “Happy Shooting”!
August 20, 2009
The “Missing Link” Found!
I’m glad to report that, after many hours of searching and trying different things, I have found out how to successfully link the larger image pages to their respective thumbnails! I am now in the process of going back and adding links to all the new thumbnail images I have been adding to the website. This should not take very long to do. When all of these thumbnails have been linked to their corresponding larger image pages, I will again be adding new images to the website. I’ve also noticed that in the process of preparing new, larger image pages, that the background color is not right (should be black). I will work on this shortly. Check Back Often!
August 17, 2009
Adding New Images – Status
I have successfully added 15 new images to my website Photo Galleries. You can find them in the following Galleries: “Birds of Prey”, “Reptiles”, “Missouri Scenics”, “Insects”, “Alaska Scenics”, and “Brown Bears”. I am, however, having some difficulties getting the larger images of these thumbnails to link to these galleries. I will continue to work on this issue, but you can still view the thumbnails by viewing the specified galleries. Thank you for your patience.
August 14, 2009
Welcome to the Refurbished Website!
Just a quick note to announce that conversion of the website to the new software is now complete. With that done, I’m busy preparing images for uploading and adding to the site photo galleries. This will be a slow process for me, as the process is completely different than before. But once I get the hang of it, this process should go very quickly. I already see the potential for making my life easier! Until then, enjoy and be sure to check back often!
August 1, 2009
“Keying in on the Background” (August issue of Show-Me Nature Photography Newsletter)
Anytime we read or talk about composition, about 99% of the time is spent on the “subject” of the composition … “center the subject”, “place the subject off-center”, do this … do that. While placing the subject in a certain area, in a certain light, etc., is important to the overall composition, the often overlooked background can be just as important. This is especially true for new or inexperienced photographers.
This Photo Tip is going to discuss some things to consider whenever making an image, particularly when the subject matter is a person or an animal. Whenever we are making travel images or landscapes, these tips will not always apply, at least for a lot of images. With that said, let’s discuss some things we can do to enhance our background.
First, try simplifying the background. In other words, let’s try not to shoot a subject in front of a “busy” background. And what is a busy background? Basically anything that distracts the eye away from the main subject matter (unless that is your goal). Distracting backgrounds can include a lot of bare tree branches, specular hightlights on water, reflections, basically anything that clutters up the background and drags viewers away from the subject. How can we improve these situations? Several things should be considered. First, if it is possible, move a bit to one side or the other. This will often cause the background to change from a busy or distracting background to one that is much more subtle. If this is not possible, maybe a change in the lens will help. If you use a tighter lens (i.e., more of a telephoto lens), you will likely minimize the amount of background, which might help make it less busy/distracting. Also, a telephoto lens, due to it’s tendancy to compress items in the composition, will often blur the background and make it less busy.
Another thing to try is to use as large an Aperture setting (lens opening) as you can. Remember, the smaller the f/stop number is, the larger the Aperture opening. Using a large Aperture will tend to cause the background to fall more out of focus (this is why landscapes should always be shot with a very small (i.e., f/22 or smaller) Aperture). For example, using an Aperture of f/2.8 or f/4 would be much better for shooting a person or animal in front of a busy background, since the background would be more out of focus. This technique is of great importance if you are trying to photograph wild animals in a busy/distracting surrounding, since moving around is often not a viable option.
If possible, you could always move the subject farther away from the distracting background. This will usually work because the depth of field will cause a further-away background to be in soft focus, or even totally blurry. In either situation, this will cause the background to be less distracting, which is the purpose of moving back.
If all else fails, in many cases you can select and then blur the background by using an image editing program, such as Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. But this technique is reserved for the serious photographer, due to the enormous cost of these programs and the relative difficulty in learning them.
So the next time you are photographing a person or animal in a busy or distracting surrounding, try these tips to see if they work for you. If you have some other techniques you’d like to share with everyone, just e-mail me your suggestions and I will include them in next month’s Show-Me Nature Photography Newsletter. You can e-mail me at at this convenient link: showmenaturepix@hotmail.com