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Live Show Recap: Nature

If you missed the memo, we had our show on Monday this week because T&C will be away on Thursday. We looked at your lovely nature photos, once I get my -ish together.

From cannibals to Schweddy Balls, we’re on an upturn!

Our live show won’t be back until April 27th reviewing your landscape photos.

Starting with Chit-Chat! Where we reply to your mean/weird/funny comments on our videos:

  • take Tony to dinner
  • good joke?
  • Chelsea IS very funny

Now to your photos! Here are our picks:

Over to me for some questions:

  • non-photography gear that’s useful for shooting wildlife? Camoflauge, bug spray, boots, warm clothes, hand warmers, USB gloves, a stadium seat? Snacks. A big sandwich? 

Back to photos:

  • stunning puffin shot
  • “this is like me at a party”
  • leading line
  • “you are having intimate physical contact with 5 or 6 strangers at any time” “what happened to you at Watkins Glen?”
  • “this dog has no fur. This dog is merely a shadow dog.”
  • white tailed eagle

Back to me for cool questions:

  • where do you find inspiration? Lots of Instagram, Easton Chang, Roxy Rodriquez. Classic photographers, TV and film. The Cohen brothers, PT Anderson.
  • what bird would you like to photograph? A kingfisher, a crow for Chelsea.
  • what photographic cliche bugs you the most and why? Spot color for Chelsea, glamour photography for Tony and me, over-processed skin for Justin.

There are some picks that happen during the questions:

And now back to the photos:

Back to me for some questions:

  • the most interesting story you’ve seen told in a landscape photo? That’s hard.
  • did you feel intimidated when you started shooting wildlife? No, it was fun to be outside shooting. National Geographic was about it when Tony started, so he did well online.

Time for a portfolio review. John Doddato Photography. Good simple layout and cover photo. All your work is incredible! Maybe format your about me a bit better and take your name off of the blog link. You may want to set up a store for your prints as well. Otherwise you did everything right!

More questions:

  • any suggestions for doing nature photography at home or from a fixed location? Try different times of day and weather conditions, practice your technique. Set up a bird studio.

Back to your photos:

Some last questions before we end:

  • do y’all have any photos of puffins? Nope.
  • I had chili cheese fries for dinner
  • how to make the most of a cheap, soft lens? You just need to focus on mood and storytelling than something like wildlife that needs detail.

And that’s our show! Chelsea was hungry. So again, no live show until April 27th when we do landscapes.

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Beginner Photography: Nature

Schedule change this week! We’re having the live show tonight since Tony and Chelsea will be traveling on Thursday, so I’m also posting my blog today. Our theme this week is “nature.” While we don’t have a ton of it in the city, all the flowers in our neighborhood have started blooming, so that’s what I went with.

Honestly, nature shots don’t do a whole lot for me, so I don’t have much faith in my skills as a nature photographer. But at the very least I captured some light and color.

Nature certainly encompasses a lot, from landscapes to macro. T&C have a great video on shooting macro here:

I did end up shooting a bee this week, but I didn’t plan for it. I also wish I’d remembered this focus stacking video!

Then again, there are a lot of distractions in the city, and shooting flowers in front of people’s houses, you don’t really want to get much more than a flower or two in focus. So I was shooting with a low aperture. Here’s what I came up with:

f/4.5, 1/160th, ISO 200

 

f/4.6, 1/1600th, ISO 200

 

f/5.6, 1/160th, ISO 200

 

f/5.3, 1/640th, ISO 200

 

So that’s some nature! I dunno, none of these thrilled me. I adjusted the exposure on all of them, bumped the luminance a bit, and cropped of course. Do any of these do it for you?