Friday, December 04, 2009

Photography tips from the Photography Department

It turns out that all of Lindblad’s trips to Antarctica include photography experts who are there to help the guests. It has been great asking both Flip Nicklin (the National Geographic photographer on board) and Ralf Hopkins (the Lindblad staff photographer on our trip) for advice and help. Besides the one-on-one help they provide, Ralph did a session in the lounge on Ten Tips to Improve Your Images. Here are some tips I really liked:

  1. Seeing the light: think about the direction of light (for example, sometimes it works great to have back-light or side-light. Sometimes light is too harsh. Sometimes there is too much contrast. Sometimes using fill-flash will help. “Find the best light and shot what’s in it.” For back-light, sometimes have the sun in the picture--just shoot at a high f-stop and pinch the sun with mountains or trees or rocks. Side-light can set up great reflections (e.g. the light in an animal’s eye.
  2. Choose the Right Lens. A murphy’s rule in photography: “No matter what lens you have on your camera for a specific situation, it is always the wrong lens.”
  3. Look for Color: “Vivid and saturated colors make your images pop.
  4. Show motion: Experiment with slow shutter speeds (e.g. 1/8 second for flowing water). Pan with moving objects--hopefully the object will be clear and the background will show a blur.

(From Ralph Lee Hopkins, RalphLeeHopkins.com)

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