Re: books on outdoor photography
- From: hlillywh@xxxxxxxx
- Date: 13 Jan 2006 17:24:45 -0800
vman76@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Anyone know of any gooks books on outdoor photogrpahy. I wanna take
> better pictures on my backpacks and hikes. This would include wildlife
> but my focus is on landscapes, sunrises, sunsets. I've taken nice
> pictures in the past but not on purpose. I was just lucky enough to
> catch the sunset or landscape at a good moment. I would like to PLAN on
> taking nice pictures instead of just getting lucking time to time. for
> example my yosemite pictures totally sucked ass and that was a
> beautiful trip.
Well, as Eugene says, you need to start with the basics, there are a
lot of things that beginners don't know. Things like composition, use
of light, use of different tools etc. You don't say if you want to do
digital or film but if it's digital I would suggest _The Joy of Digital
Photography_ by Jeff Wignall. My kids gave it to me for Christmas a
year ago and I've found it very useful. Covers not only taking of
photographs but equipment and the use of computer programs to make them
look better. He uses Photoshop for his examples but most of what he
says also applies to other programs Paintshop which I have and which is
much less expensive while doing nearly everything Photoshop will do.
If you are considering a new camera, with today's technology I would
suggest you go digital. The initial expense for good resulution is
more but
You will save in film and processing costs
You can fix a lot of problems with your computer
You can take lots of images then just save the ones you want.
You can even look at the images you took and toss the ones you want in
the field, freeing up memory for more photos.
If you're serious get at least a moderately higher end camera that will
do things like allow you to modify contrast, do focus lock, set f-stop
etc. My camera offers an exposure bracket which I almost always use,
takes one at what looks like the best exposure setting, then one a bit
under exposed and one a bit over exposed. That gives you the
opportunity to pick the best one and I often find that the under
exposed landscapes look better than the normal ones. Of course a
tripod is useful for things like that, I have one that is fairly light
(2-3 lbs) and collapses to the size of a medium back pack. It also has
a built in spirit level so I can be sure the camera is level.
Of course another option is to get one of the compact cameras. They do
not offer the features of the higher end versions (little lens
flexibility, no filters, usually no control over f-stop etc.) but they
are light and compact. You can carry them in your shirt pocket and
whip them out when you want a picture. They come with the most popular
settings which means that most of the time they can get a good picture.
However they cannot do things like cut the glare with a filter or
focus on one point then allow you to change aim without changing the
focus. They do often come with a zoom lens which is nice. A compact
may or may not allow you to change memory cards. That is a very useful
feature, you can carry a spare card or upgrade the memory to hold more
images. Some compacts only offer built-in memory which is very
limiting.
Another thing you want to do is to either buy a spare battery pack or
be sure your camera uses alkaline batteries so you don't get stuck with
your rechargeable having a dead battery. Actually instead of alkalines
I prefer nickel metal hydride, they are rechargeable and work in the
cold much better than do alkalines.
One thing I would warn about is to pretty much ignore digital "zoom"
when buying a camera. That is not a real zoom, all it does is magnify
the center of the captured image. You can do that, and do it better,
with your computer at home. Digital zoom gives you no resolution
improvement. It might be useful to help reduce the memory required if
you only want part of the image you see, but I can't think of any other
good use for it.
You might look in a book such as I recommend above before you decide
what to buy if you're considering a new camera. That book describes
the different types of digital cameras available with their advantages
and disadvantages. Though the particular models have changed, his
description of this is generic enough that it is still current.
.
- References:
- books on outdoor photography
- From: vman76
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