Mark W. Decker Articles

By: Ted Burns

Photography is a type of art. With the skillful use of the artist’s hands, photography can bring out the subject’s “personality” and create almost magical moments which might not ordinarily be achieved through other means of self-expression. However, this magic can only be accomplished by those with technical skills, good taste, and a deep sense of appreciation for the object of that artistic expression. Many people eventually harness their skills and knowledge into a role as a professional photographer.

Nature is an important creative part of our lives. Capturing nature’s beauty and creatures in the wild is a thrilling experience. Specifically, birds are subjects that have attracted many nature photographers because of their exquisite beauty and graceful “aerial dance.”

For photographers, a bird can be an amazing focus of attention due to its incredible flight capabilities. If you are interested in mastering nature photography - birds in particular - below are some techniques to aid in improving and developing your skills to help guide you toward capturing these fascinating creatures.

1. The first step is to determine which types of birds interest you most. Familiarity with your own interests will help steer your direction, motivating you even more to develop expertise in those particular niches. After deciding, try to gather as much information as you can about those birds by soliciting advice from a professional or consulting a bird guide book. These will help you in taking great pictures once you’re familiar with the bird’s eating habits, behaviors, and even breeding seasons.

2. Always keep the bird’s concerns in mind and try to capture it on film only when it is involved in its natural habitat. Temporarily leave the bird alone if you sense it is stressed by your presence, and instead wait until it is relaxed and comfortable. The disturbance might simply be that the bird has laid eggs in the vicinity and is invoking its protective behavior. A good photographer should always give priority to the well-being of his subject above his work.

3. In some areas, birds are accustomed to vehicles coming to and parking in the vicinity; however, few are familiar with a person standing on the top of a vehicle watching its every move while attempting to capture its movements on camera. Instead, take photographs of birds while sitting inside your vehicle. With that in mind, bring to the picture sight a vehicle from which you can easily capture a beautiful, natural shot of a bird. And position the vehicle in a location where birds seem comfortable in your presence. Be patient while waiting for them to adjust to their new “visitor.”

4. To capture great bird images, use cameras with fast shutter speeds. We all know that birds zip through the air in a flash and are gone in the blink of an eye. Getting a fast flying bird on film must then be accomplished through a lightening fast shutter speed, preferably one that is 0.002 seconds quick.

A nature photographer should explore his surroundings. A great, simple, and inexpensive way to begin developing early expertise in capturing nature with your camera is to start in your own backyard.

By: Steve Grant

Landscape photography is essentially all about one’s ability to see. No matter what camera you might have, unless the photographer has the ability to see the essence of a landscape, he or she will never end up with any images out of the ordinary. This ability to see, distinguish, and isolate the extraordinary from the ordinary, and then have the technical knowledge to be able to capture it photographically, is what separates the best photographers from the crowd. Too many people get obsessed with the equipment, and it tends to distract them away from what photography is really all about, which is seeing.

Subject matter, location, lighting and timing are also very important aspects in any type of photographic work, but particularly so in landscape photography. You must do your homework, learn about the location and what are its main features. You also need to find out what season, and what time of day is the best to capture the location at its aesthetically best. You then need to have the patience and preparation to capture that magic moment in time when the lighting is just right, and when captured, you end up with an image that will be appreciated by all who see it. .

Emotion is another feature that plays a part in landscape photography. Keep in mind that if a location doesn’t affect you emotionally in some way, it is probably not going to be a great image either. Also be aware of the fact that emotion is very different from one person to another, and what might affect you deeply, might not have any affect on some other people who will see you images, but who were not present at the time of capture. So don’t be disappointed if others don’t share your emotional attachment to an image. If it is important to you, then that is all that matters. .

The choice of photographic equipment is very important. You must select the camera, lenses, and tripod that suit your style of travelling and general lifestyle. There is no point in being burdened down with a mass of equipment if it negatively affects your travelling and ability to actually capture images.

By: MIKE SELVON

One way that photographers share their work with the world is through stock photography. The average person may wonder what exactly stock photography is. Stock photography is when photographs are shared with licensing attached.

Anyone can use it, but in order to do that, understanding of all the legal aspects is critical in order to avoid being sued.

Stock photography has been around for a long time. According to wikipedia.org, H. Armstrong Roberts started the first agency for this type of photography in 1920, and the company is still going strong today under the name RobertStock. For years, photography stock was composed of “outtakes (”seconds”) from commercial magazine assignments.”

But, in the eighties, it had become unique, and photographers began making photographs just for photo sharing. Today several online photography stock houses exist, but before being used, the legal terms and aspects must be completely understood in order to avoid being sued.

One type of stock photography is royalty-free. This does not mean that the photograph can be used for free. What royalty-free means is that in order to use a specific picture, a photo buyer pays a one time fee to use the picture many times for a multitude of purposes within certain guidelines. Usually a time limit does not exist as to when the image can be used.

However, a royalty-free image does have a limit on exactly how many times the photograph can be reproduced. All of these restrictions will depend exactly on the contract that is decided upon.

One thing to consider with stock photography regarding royalty-free is that exclusive rights are non-existent. If a publication wants to be unique from the others, than royalty-free images are not the way to go. The best bet for uniqueness is to have an photographer on staff.

Stock photography has another kind called rights-managed that is sometimes difficult to understand. Rights-managed photography stock is when an image is negotiated exclusively for a certain allotted time frame.

During this time frame, no one else will be able to use that particular image for any reason. How long that this will go on will depend on the contract negotiations that are made for the image.

Because of online photography sharing, it has become readily accessible for all to use. Some agencies allow for images to be used for free, and others are based on contracts for their photography gallery.

Photojournalism uses it regularly, but the in’s and outs of the business must be fully understood to take advantage of all of the images that are flooding the market.

Whether or not to use rights-managed or royalty-free images will depend on what can be negotiated within a contract, and the legalities can get sticky.