Photographing nature a photo workshop from Brooks Institute's top nature photography instructor

321 Pages·50.847 MB·English

by  Clevenger, Ralph A

PHOTOGRAPHING
NATURE
A photo workshop from Brooks Institute’s
top nature photography instructor
Ralph a. ClevengeR
Photographing Nature
A photo workshop from Brooks Institute’s top nature
photography instructor
Ralph A. Clevenger
new Riders
1249 eighth Street
Berkeley, Ca 94710
510/524-2178
510/524-2221 (fax)
Find us on the Web at www.newriders.com
To report errors, please send a note to [email protected]
new Riders is an imprint of peachpit, a division of pearson education.
Copyright © 2010 by Ralph a. Clevenger
all photography © Ralph a. Clevenger except author photo on
about the author page © Misty Schmidt
project editor: nikki echler McDonald
Development and Copy editor: Robin Drake
production editor: hilal Sala
proofreader: nikki echler McDonald
Indexer: James Minkin
Interior design and composition: Kim Scott, Bumpy Design
Cover design: Charlene Charles-Will
Cover image: Ralph Clevenger
Notice of Rights
all rights reserved. no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher. For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts,
contact [email protected].
Notice of Liability
The information in this book is distributed on an “as Is” basis, without warranty. While every
precaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the author nor peachpit shall
have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged
to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer
software and hardware products described in it.
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claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and peachpit was aware of
a trademark claim, the designations appear as requested by the owner of the trademark. all other
product names and services identified throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and
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ISBn 13 978-0-321-63754-3
ISBn 10 0-321-63754-2
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
printed and bound in the United States of america
For MJ
Acknowledgments
To the people who shaped my life: my dad, Chuck Farwell, ernie Brooks II,
george lepp, and Craig aurness.
To my mom, for obvious reasons.
To my peers, who helped me to make this book a reality: Chris Orwig,
Mike verbois, Christy Schuler, Kelly Kirlin, and Michael lussier.
To my editors: nikki McDonald, who had the vision for this book;
and Robin Drake, who helped pull all the pieces together. To Kim Scott,
hilal Sala, Charlene Charles-Will, and the rest of the production team at
peachpit press.
Thank you.
iv
About the author
Ralph Clevenger grew up on the coast of north
africa and began diving in the waters of the Medi-
terranean Sea at the age of seven with his father.
he eventually went on to study zoology and
worked as a diver/biologist for the Scripps Institu-
tion of Oceanography in la Jolla, California before
attending Brooks Institute of photography in Santa
Barbara, California. Ralph went on to work as an associate photographer
with renowned nature photographer george lepp and, in 1983, was
offered a teaching position at Brooks Institute. he teaches courses in
nature photography, stock photography, video production, and undersea
photography.
Ralph has traveled throughout the world on assignment, includ-
ing australia, South america, antarctica, and africa. his clients include
Monterey Bay aquarium, Macgillivray Freeman Films, Fox Sports net, The
nature Conservancy, Denali national park & preserve Wilderness access
Center, the U.S. national park Service, and the nOaa national Marine
Sanctuaries. his publication credits include audubon, aQUa Magazine,
Islands, Oceans, Outside, Orion nature Quarterly, national geographic,
national geographic Traveler, popular photography & Imaging, nature’s
Best photography, national geographic Books, Smithsonian Books, Sierra
Club Books, and many other national and international publications.
Ralph’s stock images are represented worldwide by Corbis.
v
Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .x
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xii
1 Play nice 2
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Knowledge and creativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
Becoming part of the solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Questions & Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
2 You need more stuff? 24
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Questions & Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3 It’s all about the light 50
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Qualities of light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Questions & Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Assignments to try . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
vi PHOTOGRAPHING NATURE
4 Not everything’s black-and-white 74
....
The color of nature ....................................76
equipment ........................................... 83
lighting ............................................. 85
Questions & answers ................................. 88
assignments to try ....................................91
5 Flash! And you’re in control 92
..........
light at 1/20,000 of a second .......................... 94
equipment ........................................... 99
lighting .............................................102
Questions & answers .................................104
assignments to try ...................................108
6 Wet-belly photography 110
.................
Finding flowers and chasing bugs ......................112
equipment ........................................... 117
lighting .............................................118
Questions & answers .................................122
assignments to try ...................................127
COnTenTS vii
7 Garden variety shots 128
..................
nature so close ......................................130
equipment ...........................................135
lighting .............................................137
Questions & answers .................................140
assignments to try ...................................145
8 The wonder of wildlife 146
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
lions and tigers and bears, oh my! .....................148
equipment ...........................................153
lighting .............................................158
Questions & answers .................................160
assignments to try ...................................165
9 An ounce of prevention 166
..............
Zoos ................................................168
equipment ...........................................175
lighting .............................................178
Questions & answers .................................180
assignments to try ...................................185
10 Land, sea, and sky 186
......................
The wide view .......................................188
Telling the story ......................................191
equipment ...........................................193
lighting .............................................196
Questions & answers .................................199
assignments to try ..................................205
viii phOTOgRaphIng naTURe
11 Looking through the frame 206
.........
The frame ..........................................208
Composing the image ................................211
equipment ...........................................215
lighting .............................................221
Questions & answers ................................222
assignments to try ..................................226
12 What are you looking at? 228
.............
preconceptions .....................................230
equipment ..........................................236
lighting ............................................ 240
Questions & answers ................................ 242
assignments to try .................................. 247
13 On the road 248
..............................
Road trip ...........................................250
a ‘typical day’ of shooting ............................255
equipment .......................................... 259
lighting ............................................ 263
Questions & answers ................................265
assignments to try .................................. 270
14 Back in the lab 272
..........................
Becoming the lab ................................... 274
Manipulation ........................................ 276
equipment .......................................... 278
lighting ............................................285
Questions & answers ................................288
assignments to try ..................................290
appendix: Resources ................................ 292
Index .............................................. 297
COnTenTS ix