posted by Travel Cat on Jun 30
If you haven’t got your camera with you when you see something amazing – how can you capture it?
Yes, I admit that it is sometimes lovely to just sit there and absorb the beauty of what is in front of you – but there are times when you could have got the most amazing pictures! Sometimes – it is a once only display as well…..
Sunsets and wildlife don’t often repeat themselves for the sake of your photo! You might be able to get people to stand still for ages while you try to get things into focus, and they might even move a bit to the left as well – but tigers, whales, toucans and butterflies will not be so obliging!
So make sure that you are prepared in advance for these things.
Preparation:
How can you be sure how to take the best picture of the rising sun unless you take a few before it’s important. For example, if you get yourself up a few mornings and take a few snaps on a normal day – you can see how they came out. What angle was best, what type of photo settings worked best.
Was the one with the sun in the lower third better than the one in the upper third – to the left or to the right – with a tree or without? Can you hold it steady or do you need a tripod.
How long does the sun take to rise anyway? And is the first glimpse of light better than half the sun in view? Or the whole sun just balanced on the horizon?
You need to practice these things to be sure of the best shot – so when you are confronted with the potential for the best sunrise shot of your life so far – you will know exactly what shots to try for. It’s not good after the event to say’ well if I was a bit to the right or if those mountains were off centre instead! The sun won’t come back and tomorrow might bring different cloud, different colour – or a lay in!
And, it isn’t just static things that are best planned. Locations need to be found and tried out. What if you always see a certain animal in a certain location – why not find out what angle gives you the best background for your shot before the centrepiece arrives the next day?
Technical Stuff:
And practice taking photos with the different settings on your camera. Now unless you are a pro – you probably haven’t read about all the different settings on your camera and what they do – so take a little time to try them all out on just everyday things rather than waiting for that all important encounter!
And, by trying out your settings and options, you might find that there aren’t the things that you want to do on there – and all this can count towards the specs for your next camera or attachment.
Same goes for other requirements – like focus. Sometimes the focus gets it spot on for that great shot, and other times it will not behave! You can see a great shot of a bird behind some blurry foreground reeds – but no, It only wants to focus on the reeds!
All this is valuable in making sure that you get the right camera for your specific needs and requirements. The more you get frustrated with your current model – the better your next one will be!
Another vital part of practising your shots is to find out what they look like larger! If you are looking at images in your digital screen – this is in no way a true representation of what they will look like on your laptop screen or printed out in larger sizes.
So you need to make sure that you get your new images onto a pc as soon as possible after taking them so that you can remember how you took the shot and which settings you prefer – that way you will know what best to do next time!
Well – what are you waiting for?
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