What’s a good attribute to have if you are an outdoor/nature photographer?

To me, the ability to see “everything”, and do so with “fresh eyes” every time you are in the field, comes first.

Be curious and explore, explore, explore.

Look in every direction at every time of day. Look at things, beyond things, under things, and to some degree (safety first) do so when you are driving.

When you sort out images at the computer, imagine what they might look like if you had made any given image earlier or later in the day. Or if a new angle to the light, might gain texture.

No matter what your favorite subject is, learn to photograph others.

Unless you are doing grayscale, imagine the subject with a different shade of light in different seasons as then the color will be different.

It’s okay to feature specific subjects if you like, but never say no to a new one.

I cannot tell you, how many photographers I have met in the field, or at a function, or attending my workshops, who said well I only photograph this or that. I am a specialist.

Everyone needs to make a decision for themselves, but when you narrow the subject, you narrow your value, as a seller of images, as a teacher of photography, and everything else.

Photographers who say, I only photograph birds, or insects, or flowers, or landscapes, will often miss the award winning images that were right there waiting for them

Today’s subjects are a conglomerate of whatever I “tripped over”, so to speak, when going through an old hard drive.

Lifting to the skies.

First we have a Sandhill Crane ascending into the cold blue skies above.

There are a lot of shadows on this bird but I think the shadowy light makes the image more dramatic. Drama can be good. This bird, can be identified from this photo. Now if this was to be my only image of a Sandhill Crane in my files, I might wish for a light that bathed this subject evenly. Of course then my files would be absent the more dramatic image below.

This is a soaring Snow Goose who is looking for something below. Food, a place to rest, a mate?

Every picture tells a story.

These Great White Egrets pop out of the shadowy background like the image was posed. It was not and harsh, contrasty light, can at times give birth to an image that “pops” if you will. We would not want every wildlife image to be like this, but as a change from the every day shot, then maybe!

Take note that on the right side of the image, way back on shore, there is a lone Great-blue Heron. Things like that can matter in an image. For bad maybe, but for good as well.

There are as many ways to create a close-up image as there are a grand landscape.

These beetles were ravishing this plant when I arrived. Sort of like gang warfare. I wanted multiple beetles in the same shot. Maybe on another day, I would prefer to single out one beetle.

The damselfly, the dragonfly, and the Mourning Cloak butterfly below, were nice single subject opportunities.

Variety, is indeed one type of the spice of life.

Full or nearly full framed, single subject portraits of critters of course can be good.

The Leopard Frog below was a perfect subject for “almost” filling the frame. On another day, I might have backed off, (he probably hopped away after this), but a close-up was my goal when I spotted it. Notice, there is a bit more space in the direction the subject is pointed.

A full frame image of this miserably wet grackle, worked well although somewhere in the quagmire I call my files, I believe there are more loosely composed images as well. Variety is good.

Finally, let us close with a lake Michigan winter’s sunrise. That is indeed an iceberg sticking out in the lake.

The warm colors of sunrise, and the cold thoughts of an iceberg, contrast, but do so in a symbiotic way that says they too can live in harmony’

Now if man could just learn from what we see.

Photography can be a joy. We can capture what presents itself, what our personal interpretation divulges, and the contrasts between warm and cold and everything else.

Psalm 46:1-3

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”

From Franklin Graham
@Franklin_Graham
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We all have a heart problem, and the only way it will ever be fixed is through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

May God Bless,
Wayne.