ONE
Get Out Of The Car
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It seems simple enough - doesn't it?
I've come to the conclusion that most people are inherently lazy when it
comes to taking photographs - all they want you to do is just slow down to
shoot out the window. Or worse yet - they just shoot through the glass - the
photography Gods are aghast!
When you get out of the car your entire view of the world changes. You
see things you never saw from inside the vehicle and can actually take
photographs now. Take the time to pull over for the photograph right
now - instead of thinking that there is better image just around the corner
- so why stop? Don't pass up one image to take another. This is
a big mistake since you seldom come back.
Also, you get out of your car to FIND images - they are all
around you if you are willing to slow down, get out of the car, and go look
for them. Don't wait until you are stunned by the beauty of something
to take photographs - go out and find the stunning beauty just off the road
or out in the meadow.
TIP
Sometimes you can't get out
of your car - maybe at a bird refuge where your car is your best blind or
possibly the grizzly bear is uncomfortably close to the car already.
In those situations invest in a good bean bag or small pillow
to rest your camera on while shooting through the open window - thus giving
you a stable platform to shoot from. Window mounted tripods are tricky
and cumbersome and difficult to get shooting quickly with.
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TWO
Use a Tripod
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Using a sturdy tripod whenever possible is the
difference between shooting professional quality images and shooting snapshots.
A tripod will improve your photography because it improves the sharpness of
your images by reducing vibrations during the exposure. If I could
take all my images with a tripod I would. Can they be clumsy at times
- yes, can they take precious seconds to set up - yes, are they heavy - yes,
are they worth it - absolutely. A sturdy
Bogen (Monfrotto) or Gitzo tripod, while not cheap, should last through many
years of rugged use. Buy a tripod, that when just the legs (not the
center support) are fully extended, rises to about your eye level with the
camera attached. Bending over to look through a short tripod is
aggravating. Also, buy a tripod that allows the legs to flair out so
it can be either set up low to the ground, or in uneven terrain.
TIP
Anytime your shutter-speed drops below the length of your lens (like 1/250
second with a 300mm lens) a tripod is an absolute must for reliably sharp images.
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THREE
Shoot in
Aperture Priority Mode
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Aperture Priority Mode (A
on the Nikon Program Selector Dial, Av on the Canon Program Selector Dial) is the most important Program setting you can use
in most photography situations. It means that you set the aperture, or
f-stop - to the appropriate setting and let the shutter-speed be set by the
camera. Why use this setting? By only needing to change the f-stop
you minimize the amount of time it takes to change the camera's exposure
settings. You decide what the camera should shoot at quickly -
without changing any other control. Small F-stops like F16 or F22 mean
greater depth-of-field and slower shutter-speeds, while Large F-stops like
F2.8 or F4 mean faster shutter-speeds and less depth-of-field.
TIP
The other Camera Exposure
Modes like P or S or the other variations do exactly the same thing -
setting combinations of aperture and shutter-speeds by which mode you select.
One control for everything is much easier and quicker. Since a camera
lens has only a certain number of F-stops it is easier to let the camera
choose the shutter-speed.
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FOUR
The Correct Aperture
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The Aperture or F-stop is
the opening that lets light through the lens to the camera sensor. A
very large aperture - like F2.8, lets in twice as much light as the next
smallest full aperture - F4. A very small aperture like F22 lets in
half as much light as the next biggest full f-stop - F16.
The Aperture setting not only controls how much light enters the sensor
but also the corresponding shutter-speed. They have an inverse
relationship: when the f-stop gets bigger (more light) the shutter-speed
gets faster (less light) thus keeping the exposure in balance. Also,
the larger Apertures have less depth-of-field or the amount of the image
that appears in focus. The small f-stops have greater depth-of-field -
thus, they are the choices for scenic photographers.
TIP
Wildlife and sports
photographers shoot at the largest apertures their lens has because high shutter
speeds are important.
Portrait and people photographers are in the middle apertures because greater
depth-of-field is needed.
Landscape and nature photographers use the smallest apertures because they
require the greatest depth-of-field. While these aren't hard and fast
rules - they are logical places to start.
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FIVE
Focus on the Eyes
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What is the first thing that draws
your attention when you look at a grizzly bear photograph, or at the snapshots
taken of your child? The life of an animal or bird, or even a person, is found
in its eyes. The eyes of the subject are magnetic and attract our attention
immediately. Whether you shoot wildlife or people you focus on the eyes of your
subject. If your subjects eyes are in focus the rest of the image will appear
in greater focus – even if its not. Our mind overrules what we see and we are
left with an impression of greater sharpness – hey, it’s true.
One of the great mistakes we can
make as wildlife or portrait photographers is to “zone” focus the camera –
placing the focusing grid on the largest part of the subject without regard to
its eyes. In the case of photographing wildlife – say an adult bull elk, this
focusing habit can put the eyes of your subject more than 18 inches out of exact
focus. Of all the places on an animal or bird the eyes will show the lack of
sharp, clear focus the most. This can be worsened when you are shooting your
prime lens “wide-open”, at its largest aperture setting – thus decreasing
relative depth-of-field even more. I don’t want the side of a bear or elk
sharp, I don’t want the chest or shoulder of a portrait subject sharp – I want
the eyes sharp.
TIP As time has gone by and I’ve
become a more experienced wildlife photographer I find myself framing
photographs in terms of focusing grids and eyes. I’ve learned to rapidly change
the focusing grid in order to guarantee its placement on the eyes of my
subject. Modern digital cameras provided many focusing grid locations but
adjusting the active grid when needed can be difficult to learn. Publishable wildlife
images or printable portraits mean sharp eyes first. Practice changing the
focusing grid location until you can do it without thinking about it – then you
will be shooting like a professional!
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SIX
Shoot Verticals |
Too many people get locked into shooting only
horizontal images of every subject in front of them. Let the
subject dictate the horizontal or vertical angle of the camera.
Vertical images are typical in photographing individuals, sports, and some
wildlife and scenic photography. Fill your frame with the subject and
get closer - and shoot verticals. Personally, I look at verticals
being more portrait oriented photographs - no matter what I'm shooting.
Bridal portraits or Elk portraits - it doesn't matter. Horizontal
images are more environmental in their nature, for example: If I'm
photographing a typically vertical subject - like a person - horizontal
images show more of the environment around the person. Its an image of
a person in a certain environment. Turn the camera vertical and get
closer - now your shooting a portrait image of the person, minimizing the
environment.
TIP
For those of you budding
professional nature photographers - vertical images are Magazine Cover
Images. If you want to be published - then try to grab the best image
offered by a magazine - the COVER Image! The second best images in a
magazine are full-page images . . . also verticals.
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SEVEN
Rule of Thirds |
The rule of thirds is an easy compositional
rule that can improve the quality of your images. If you take the area
of the film or sensor and equally divide it with two additional lines
vertically and two lines horizontally - you have an area divided up into
thirds - both up and down, and across. Where those lines cross each
other are considered powerful intersection points in composition. For
example, if you are shooting the Grand Canyon from the rim, don't place the
horizon line in the middle - place it at either the top third line (to
emphasize the canyon) or the bottom third line (to emphasize the sky above
the canyon). Simple. Vertical images can be improved the same way.
When I'm photographing a cow elk, a vertical animal if walking at me, I try
and put its head in the intersection of lines in the top left or right -
depending on the direction its walking. This compositional rule can
add a great deal of impact and balance to a photograph that would otherwise
just be a snapshot. Check out the sunset silhouette image in the
Bridal Gallery. Their vertical bodies are my two vertical composition
lines and the horizon and setting sun are close to the upper horizontal
line.TIP
Many of the
newer digital cameras, and even some of the better, older film cameras -
have a compositional grid in the viewfinder. Turn it on in the menu. Get used to paying
attention to it and use it to improve your compositions, or at least keep your
horizon line square. If there is
no grid then many times the auto-focusing points in the viewfinder form a
grid themselves.
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EIGHT
Animal Stuff |
Nothing is more boring than an animal just walking along - doing nothing -
sauntering across a meadow. We have all taken countless images of this
type of inaction and sometimes you really have no options. But then
sometimes you do.
Learning about the animals you photograph allows you to anticipate their
movements and put yourself in a position to shoot the best images possible.
I was in Yellowstone recently and ran across a typical black bear walking
parallel to the road - dozens of photographers shadowing him along the road
as he moved. A hundred yards farther up the road a hillside came down
and forced the meadow into a narrower bottleneck. I drove down and
parked and set up in a position to safely photograph the bear as he walked
towards me in the bottleneck. Bears don't want to climb hillsides if
they don't have to - just like people - so I figured he would follow the
contour of the hillside past the road - which he did. With the other
photographers running down the road in pursuit the bear walked right past
me, safely next to my car, giving me plenty of time to shoot much better
images of him walking and looking in-camera. Other photographers
breathlessly arrived - too late to get the shot I did - and continued to
photograph him as he walked across the next meadow. Dull.
TIP
Centers of attention -
like den sites or nests, food sources, meadows with mating activity, or
other similar locations - can put a photographer in the best position to
shoot quality images of Animals doing Animal Stuff. Photography is not
a contact sport - so stay safely back and respect the space needed by
wildlife - use long telephoto lenses to capture animals doing animal stuff.
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NINE
Fill Flash for People
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Nothing looks worse than
shooting people that are squinting into the sun. Not only is an image
like that unprofessional, but it casts the subject with the worst possible
look on their face - contorted eyes and cheeks. It is a simple thing
to put the subjects back to the sun - then use either a built-in flash or a
hot-shoe mounted flash to fill the shadow now on the subjects face.
You could also use a reflector or a flash mounted on a bracket. By
doing this your subjects eyes are wide open and they have a normal look on
their face. While some people don't care for the harsher effects of a
flash - sometimes it gives flash highlights on the forehead or cheeks - most
flash units now can be controlled. When my subject is less than ten
feet away I turn down the power of the flash, from -1/3 to -2/3 of a stop -
rendering a much more natural effect to lighting the subjects face.
TIP
Fill Flash can be used in
wildlife photography to light small subjects or those hidden in the shade.
It is a must piece of equipment in insect macro photography as well - such
as butterflies.
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TEN
Shoot Fast Lenses
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What is a fast lens and why should I buy them?
It is a lens with a large Aperture or F-stop, such as F2.8 or F4 given the focal
length of the lens. For example, I shoot a Nikon 500mm F4 Silent Wave
Motor Telephoto lens - this is a very FAST lens for its
length. I shoot a Nikon 80-200 F2.8 Zoom lens - another fast lens.
If my 80-200 Zoom lens was F4 or F5.6 - it would be considered a SLOW
lens. Fast lenses let in a lot of light and are crucial for two
reasons:
1. Fast lenses allow you to shoot earlier in the morning and later in
the evening at a given shutter-speed. Slow lenses don't allow you to
shoot at that crucial shutter-speed because they don't let in enough light
except during the brightest part of the day. Blurry images can be the
result from the slower shutter-speeds of a slow lens.
2. Fast lenses give you a brighter viewfinder to compose in and to
focus on your subject with. An F2.8 lens lets twice as much light in
as a F4 lens - this brightens an otherwise dim viewfinder and doubles
your shutter-speed.TIP
Slow lenses are entry level lenses only. They aren't made to the same quality as
faster, more expensive lenses. Don't buy them if possible, quickly sell them on E-bay,
or give them away and buy only fast - OEM lenses. (Original Equipment
Manufacturer) Spend the
money on a fast lens and watch the quality of your images increase.
Used fast lenses can always be found on E-bay, or similar sights. If you
shoot Nikon, buy Nikon lenses - same with Canon.
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ELEVEN
Choose a Camera System
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When you buy a camera body - you are really buying
a camera system. You are buying into a system that will either provide
all the types of equipment you might want as your abilities increase, or one
that will force you to go to off-brand equipment makers to fill the gaps.
There are two main camera makers today that offer full systems to their
photographers - Nikon and Canon. They offer camera bodies, lenses,
flashes, and accessories that fit into any photographer's needs. Also,
they are at the front of the technology curve in photography and can be
counted on to incorporate that technology into new camera equipment.
Both systems offer wide resources to help photographers - from websites and
forums to touring equipment displays and repair facilities. I prefer
not to go outside a camera system for the equipment I need.
TIP
Nikon
lenses are black - Canon are white. So, your choices are as clear as
black and white. Personally, I shoot Nikon. I think they are the
most rugged cameras incorporating the best technology in the world.
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TWELVE
Quick-release
Tripod Head |
The best way to buy a tripod is without a
tripod head. More important than the tripod itself - is the tripod
ball head with a snap-in plate quick-release system. A quick release
plate attaches to the bottom of either your camera body or your telephoto
lens. The plate can be quickly snapped and locked onto the
quick-release ball head without the cumbersome screwing in to the camera
body to the tripod. Way to slow and tedious. By moving a lever
the camera/lens and its attached plate quickly snap off the tripod - leaving
it open and ready to be snapped back on quickly.
There are some important do's and don'ts to buying a useful head. I
learned by sad experience that the more levers a tripod head had the more
problems it caused me. While there are many good ball heads and
some expensive alternative heads - I use ball heads with just one lever to
tighten or loosen. This minimizes the number of movements I have to
make in order to get shooting photographs quickly. Keeping your moving
subject in-frame and correcting composition quickly are just two important
assets of a good ball head.
TIP
The bigger your prime lens
the bigger your ball head and quick-release plate should be. I'd spend more
money on the ball head than the tripod itself.
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THIRTEEN
Set the Correct ISO
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The
ISO Speed is simply an indication of
how sensitive the camera meter will be to light. Low settings - like
50 to 200 - will produce fine, nearly grainless images which are great for
enlargements. These settings will give you slower shutter-speeds but
better images, hence the need for the tripod. Use an ISO setting that is appropriate for the intended subject. Groups of people, portraits,
macro, and
landscape photography are perfect for this ISO range. Also, if the
light is good - some wildlife photography as well.
Higher settings - like 200 to
400 - provide higher shutter speeds to capture
action photography in poor light conditions. These settings
will still produce good images - but add "grain" or "artifacts" to
enlargements. The higher the ISO setting - the more the grain. I
use these higher settings for sports, action, wildlife, and indoor
photography without a flash. I also use the higher settings when light
conditions are very poor.
TIP
The
higher the ISO setting the more the digital camera meter tends to overexpose
the image (too much light). This can be corrected somewhat by dialing
in -1/3 or a -1/2 stop using the exposure compensation control.
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FOURTEEN
Which to Shoot in?
JPEG or RAW
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You might want to get more thoughts on this than just mine. Better yet,
try both and see which offers you the highest level of functionality in the
photography you do. Many professional photographers, especially those
sponsored by camera makers - push RAW imaging for everything, but I'm more
selective. All images are initially taken in the RAW format by the camera
sensor. When you have selected JPG mode as the quality of the image to be
saved - your camera processes that RAW image into a JPG and saves it.
RAW - Shooting in RAW mode (NEF in Nikon and CR2 in Canon) retains the maximum amount of information that
the image contains. RAW files are normally 12-bit images and can display
4,096 different levels of brightness. Images aren't compressed or processed in-camera.
They do require you to process them with some type of plug-in or stand-alone
program before taking them into an image processing program - like
Photoshop, Lightroom, or Aperture. They are large files and eat up loads of space not only on
hard-drives, but more particularly on compact flash cards. Suddenly, a
2 gig Card isn't what it used to be. If you don't mind the additional
processing time involved and quality is a huge issue to you, then RAW is for
you. Shooting in RAW mode often slows down the camera's ability to process
images quickly and save them to the CF or SD card, thus affecting your speed of
shooting. A program like Photoshop has much more power in processing
images than does your camera's built-in processor.
JPG - Shooting in high-quality JPG format means the camera processes
the image - to some degree set by the photographer - and compresses the
image. JPG files are 8-bit images and can display only 256 levels of
brightness. The image can then be taken directly into a processing program,
e-mailed, even printed without any further work. Because they are
compressed they take up less room on hard-drives and shooting cards.
These images can still be further processed and retouched, its just that they
start out processed once already. If you would rather minimize computer
processing time, storage space required, and overall ease of use, the JPG is for
you. It is also processed much faster by the camera allowing for more
images to be taken and saved to the CF or SD card quickly.
TIP
I
shoot the highest quality JPG's - for wildlife and portrait photography and
I shoot RAW for landscapes and nature. At smaller sizes I really can't
tell the quality difference, but at larger print sizes I can. The largest
prints I make are landscapes.
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FIFTEEN
Edit Ruthlessly
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Photographs tend to be like children - we protect and save the good as well
as the bad. What this creates over the years is thousands of
unprintable, unpublishable, really unwanted images that clog our hard drives
and back-up files. They make it difficult to find the gems amid the
rubble of poorly executed photographs. Delete them, delete them,
delete them. When I get back from a shoot I usually go through three edits
before I feel like I have a grip on what I really have.
1. Edit for out-of-focus, blurry, bad exposures, unanticipated lens
flare, and just plain poor images that are technically defective.
2. Edit for images with subject problems, like: animals with closed eyes,
heads obscured by branches, cluttered backgrounds (like with cars when your
shooting bears in Yellowstone), or other things that degrade the image subject.
3. Divide the remaining images into two directories - label one Good
and the other Fair. Once divided - delete the Fair sub-directory.
Don't allow yourself to have some emotional bond to poor images, unless of
course, their your good and bad kids. Ok, keep those.
Ruthless editing keeps your image library filled with only your best, most
promising images.
TIP
Editing images is an intensely personal thing.
Don't allow clients or others to edit your photos. Only show them the
post-edit images, they don't need to see your mistakes or take a sudden liking
to poor images you would prefer to delete. After editing, re-order the
images by renaming them sequentially using a batch tool in ACDSee or Adobe
Bridge.
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SIXTEEN
Process your Images
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When you shoot a digital image you have just begun
the process of creating a printable or publishable image. Whether you
shot in RAW or JPG you need to process those images on your computer.
Without delving into the intricate relationship between monitor calibration
and color management - lets go through some simple digital processing steps
everyone should do. If you shoot in RAW then these steps can be done in
the RAW Converter before opening the image in Photoshop for further image
processing. The steps below are for JPG images in Photoshop.
1. Use Levels (CTL-L on a PC) to balance the light by adjusting the
white and black sliders in the histogram until the cover the actual light
spectrum.
2. Use the Channel Mixer to increase image color saturation, if
needed. RGB digital image files have a red channel, green channel, and
blue channel. In the red channel make the percentage 112, with -6 in both
the green and blue channels. Select the green channel, make it 112, with
-6 in both the red and blue channels. Lastly, select the blue channel and
make it 112, with -6 in the red and green channels. Creating an action in
photoshop to do this is much less time consuming. Hit OK, you have added
12% to the image color saturation via channels - which is a better way to
improve color saturation than by using the Hue/Saturation control in Photoshop.
3. Correct the White Balance of your image. There is a fast
way which works sometimes, and a correct way which always works. In
Photoshop open the Curves dialog box (CTL-M) and select the white eyedropper.
Click it on a spot in the image that should be perfectly white (like bright snow
or a bright cloud). This sets
that point to pure white and resets the other colors. If that doesn't give
satisfactory results - then try this. Create a New Threshold Layer by
going to Layers>New Adjustment Layer>Threshold. Click OK. This
creates a black and white (no grays or colors) layer image of your photo.
Move the slider to the right edge of the histogram to find the whitest point of
the image. Select the layer below this layer, probably the background
layer or background copy layer. Now, with that eyedropper click in the
white spot remaining. View results and either continue or try again.
The image may be in correct White Balance and no changes are created, but
usually this helps. Then just delete the Threshold Layer and move on.
4. I go to File>File Info and add photographer, copyright, and
contact information to the metadata of the image. You can add
keywords here as well. Again, this is can be quickly done by
creating a macro to perform these tasks for you.
5. Sharpen your image one time at 100% (Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen).
Save and close the image with a new name so you don't overwrite the original
file. You can continue making image processing corrections if needed, but
these 4 steps are always needed on JPG files - and sometimes on RAW images
opened in Photoshop.
TIP
I've created an action in Photoshop that
does the Channel Mixer, Sharpen, and File (Metadata) Copyright Info, then opens the Curves
dialog box to start White Balance adjustments - just to make things move
quicker. Once you do a few hundred images you will find a system that
works best for you.
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SEVENTEEN
Shoot with a Professional
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You get to a point in your photography where you
feel like you have hit a wall. Your images aren't as exciting as you would
like, maybe your composition is suspect, your images aren't as sharp as they
should be - it is time to get help.
Participating in a digital photography seminar, going on a 1 day regional
workshop, or even a multiple day safari with a professional photographer will
open your horizons and show you a better way of doing things. It allows
your technique to be refined and your basic photography habits (equipment,
camera settings, etc) to be tweaked and improved. Never underestimate the
value of watching someone else shoot, seeing through their viewfinder, and
seeing how they conduct their photography experiences.
So many folks who have gone to my seminars or done the workshops/safaris comment
about learning the correct way to do something they have always done wrong.
They learn to get into action quickly, look for subjects within the big picture,
and thoroughly photograph a subject from all angles. They learn how lens
choice affects perspective, and how to best apply the creative controls that are
at their finger tips.
Enough about me. No matter who you shoot with it is an opportunity to grow
and learn as a photographer. Different instructors teach similar concepts
in different ways, and sometimes it's those differences that finally unlock your
potential as a photographer. I never think I even know 50% about
photography. I always treat it like a living, breathing animal that has to
be studied and watched. You can never know enough about an animal you are
photographing - and you can definitely never know it all.
TIP
Go to the
Photo Workshops and Photo Safaris page to review upcoming events and sign
up for a photographic adventure in the American West.
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EIGHTEEN
Back-up Images
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I have two back-up, external hard drives. I
alternate backing up my entire photography library once every two weeks on those
two hard drives. Of course, I also have a my entire photography library on
one of my internal hard drives as well. Thus, I never have a back up copy
more than two weeks old.
TIP
Never keep your back up external hard drives connected to your computer if
you aren't backing things up. A shorted-out motherboard could compromise a
plugged in back up hard drive. Upgrade your internal hard-drive, or have
two if necessary, in order to keep a complete image library there - it will
speed up your access to the images.
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Nineteen
Shoot Now
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Don’t pass up a good subject
because you expect a better one down the road. Shoot now, because you may not
pass that way again and the subject might look totally different on the return
journey. I can't even count
the number of times I've passed up remarkable subjects because I was in a hurry
to get to my prime destination.
TIP
Like Tip One, You have to stop and get out of your car. Don't expect
things to look the same hours later, if you see something that inspires you
- stop and shoot. It may very well be the best images you take all day.
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Twenty
Shoot at
Eye Level |
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If you have your own TIPS or TRICKS - send them to me and
I will include them here.
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