The first decision every photographer must make is simply what to photograph. The best place to start, of course, is finding what appeals to you. If finding subject matter to photograph is easy, making it stand out is harder. Our first impulse when something catches our eye is to simply point the camera, center the subject, and shoot the picture. No surprise, then, that when we look at it later, we are all too often disappointed and wonder, “Why did I take that?”
The novelist and critic Henry James wrote, “In art, economy is always beauty.”
In a landscape, there is often a glut of information. For that reason, artists who sketch in the field will often take a piece of cardboard with a rectangle cut from the middle. By holding it
up to frame various sections in the scene, they can isolate what has potential to make a strong composition.
This can also be a valuable aid for photographers who have trouble visualizing the potential field of view of different focal length lenses. The closer you hold the hole in the board to your eye, the more it approximates the field of view of a wide-angle lens. The farther away you hold it, the more it resembles what a telephoto lens might see.
Isolating the subject is the first step in making a strong composition. This can be achieved in a number of ways-coming in close, backing up, looking down, looking up, changing the direction
of the light on the subject, waiting for another time of day, blurring the action or stopping the action, using selective focus to blur unwanted elements, putting a light subject against a dark background. All of these are potential creative solutions that We will address throughout this book.
Isolating your emotional response to the subject may be more complicated and take time and practice, but it is an important step for an artist. If you can analyze why you feel drawn to make a picture, and work to express the feeling clearly, chances are someone looking at it will ah respond with more than passing interest.
The image gallery above are all examples from my travels to Kenya in which I wanted to focus more on the emotions, textures, and compositions of isolated subjects and families. I’ll be heading back to Kenya in January – join me and make your own memories!
Happy Cinco De Mayo! Raise a toast to long-time friend and prolific ecologist Gregory A. Green. Greg has received much-deserved recognition with a lifetime achievement award for Leadership in Conservation by the Washington Chapter of The Wildlife Society.
While devoting nearly five decades of his life to conservation biology, Greg is a prolific photographer in his own right. We have been frequent travel companions, and Greg has been the perfect fit as the written voice accompanying the many photos in my latest project, Wild Lives—due out this October with pre-orders available soon. Sign up for my mailing list to be informed as soon as it’s available. Learn more about Greg and check out his photography on his website, greggreenphoto.com.
Red alert for fans & collectors of wildlife books! There are a couple titles that I am involved in that I want to highlight that are either being funded or published this week. While they are different in their subject matter and approach, they both deserve your consideration and support.
Remembering Wildlife is now funding Remembering Leopards, their eighth in the Remembering series which has raised over $1.3 million for wildlife conservation. My photo of a leopard is a featured print in the limited edition book, of which there will be fifty copies. The aim of the creators is to make the most beautiful book ever seen on the featured species and to use that to not only raise awareness of conservation issues but also, more importantly, to raise funds for organizations working for its protection. The Kickstarter for this book is now live. You can pre-order the book (as well as grab many other rewards) to give the producers the cashflow to make it happen!
Being published this week is author/photographer Graeme Green’s The New Big 5: A Global Photography Project for Endangered Wildlife. Over five years ago he contacted us about an idea he had about creating a new Big Five of wildlife photography. The Big Five was a term coined by game hunters and includes the African lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and buffalo. Graeme took this phrase and has turned it on its head. In his book being published on April 4th, he has brought together 165 wildlife photographers (including me) and conservationists to raise awareness of the crucial issues facing the world’s wildlife. Order your copy today!
Today is World Elephant Day, and as you know – I’ve got at least a couple of photos of these amazing beasts! Enjoy the slide show, and if you’re so inclined I happen to be running a sale on all my books through the end of the month – treat yourself or get some early holiday shopping done with a singed/inscribed copy of Wild Elephants! Use code AUG22SAVE20 and get a 20% discount. Request a signature or inscription if you’d like one – just keep in mind this could delay your order as I can only sign when I’m in town!
I’m currently headed out of town to lead our Katmai tours but I’ll be back in mid-August to sign any orders that we receive prior to my return and my staff will then get those shipped out ASAP. orders coming after Aug. 15th will be shipped in September when Gav and I return from our Africa tours.
Live like an artist and surround yourself with inspiration! Use code AUG22SAVE20 at checkout on the store on artwolfe.com – and don’t forget to leave a note with your order any special notes you might want with your signature!
It’s no secret that I’ve been working on a wildlife book coming out Fall 2023. Editing images has been an exercise of joyous frustration—if only I had better equipment on that photo shoot in 1983 (or really, if only I had been a better photographer!). Putting together books is a great way to relive past successes, missed opportunities, and just plain great memories. But the editing is far from done, I will be photographing and editing images up until the very last minute when the files get sent off to the printers next year.
Sign up for our mailing list and follow me on social media and you will get the first news of progress reports and special offers – if you’ve enjoyed and purchased any of my previous books you won’t want to miss this massive collection of my best wildlife shots!
This week (April 22 – 30) is International Dark Sky Week!
It may seem like a small thing that most may not ever think about, but artificial light pollution can be problematic for a number of reasons. Not only does it disrupt the natural habitat of wildlife by stifling reproduction, disrupting migration, and increase predation – it can also have harmful effects on human health and negatively impact climate change. Last but not least if you’re a photography enthusiast or simply someone who enjoys staring up at the heavens, light pollution greatly obscures our view of the universe around us.
There are a number of ways to get involved in curbing light pollution in your community. Most major cities may already have an organization or two to join or work along side. Community members can help measure light pollution and share data using their cell phone, and there are several things you can evaluate at your own home to cut down on the amount of artificial light contributed to the evening skies.
For more information and to find out what you can do to be an advocate for curbing light pollution in your community, visit darksky.org. Following the release of my latest book Night On Earth I had the pleasure of presenting with the International Dark-Sky Association’s Executive Director Ruskin Hartley. This is a fantastic and well-organized group doing great work. Check them out and get educated on light pollution and how you can help minimize it!
Recently my staff received the following question in regards to the above image:
“Was this photo a single shot, an HDR composite, or some other technique?”
Short Answer:
this is from the good ol’ days when you shot a slide (single exposure in this case) and waited a few months to see if anything turned out…
Medium answer:
All the details – Canon EOS-1N, Canon EF 17-35mm lens, f/2.8 at 30 seconds, Fujichrome Provia 400 film, Gitzo G1325 tripod.
Loooong Answer:
The aurora borealis, or the “northern lights” as they are often called is an atmospheric phenomenon that occurs as electrically charged particles from the sun make gases glow in the upper atmosphere. Despite the dryness of this scientific explanation, it is difficult to view the aurora borealis without experiencing a sense of wonderment and mysticism. It remains one of the most dazzling sights in the natural world.
To get this image, I flew to Fairbanks, Alaska, then drove eight hours north to the Brooks Range on the famous pipeline road to Prudhoe Bay. The Brooks Range lies within the Arctic Circle and thus provides a more predictable chance to see the aurora borealis. I timed my journey to coincide with a half moon because the snow-clad range would be properly illuminated by the half moon’s light. A full moon might actually have been too bright during the required 30-second exposure. I discovered that despite the fact that the aurora is in continuous motion, a 30-second exposure is usually fast enough to yield proper exposure and reasonably sharp lines within the displays. When I photographed this display, I was unhappy with its color, which appeared to be a dull, pale green. When I returned home and developed the film, I was delightfully surprised to discover that the film picked up the reds.
This photo is featured in the book “Edge of the Earth, Corner of the Sky” as well as being available as a fine are print.
Are there any photos in my collection you’d like to hear the story behind? Drop a comment below – your suggestion could spark an idea for a future blog post!
You never know what you will find when wandering around a city with a camera in hand. When light and subject and circumstance come together, magic can occur.
In this particular case, the facts behind the shot are nothing special. Workers had been putting gravel onto the parking lot of a restaurant in Panjim, Goa, which kicked a lot of dust into the air. Pedestrians were simply going about their business. However, when backlit by a late sun, the scene became street art–performance art. The activity of putting gravel down created an amazing atmosphere for a nicely layered image.
Standing back from the scene, I used a 70–200mm zoom, which enabled me to shoot a series of shots without interfering with the people so that they would not pay attention to my presence. I positioned myself looking directly into the late afternoon light so that the dust kicked into the air would be filled with light. I was not so much concerned about capturing details and faces of the people, as much as I was with the positions of the bodies within the frame. I kept shooting and reframing the shot as the scene changed every couple of seconds when the workers threw on the next load of gravel and different people came through the scene. I love the layering effect of the light and dust that comes from the backlight.
Photo tip: Dust, rain, humidity, fog, haze all add dimension to a scene when shot with backlight, light behind the conditions. It creates atmosphere and interesting changes in tonality and light, as well as creating layers in depth. Be careful that bright atmospheric conditions do not cause your camera to underexpose the scene.
Camera & settings used: Canon EOS-1Ds, EF 70–200mm F2.8 lens, f/7.1 for 1/160 sec., ISO 100
The following is an abbreviated excerpt from The New Art of Photographing Nature.
You never know what you will find when wandering around a city with a camera in hand. When light and subject and circumstance come together, magic can occur.
