Home » » Downloaf The Complete Guide to Nature Photography : Proffesional Techniques For Capturing Digital Images of Nature and Wildlife by Sean Arbabi

Downloaf The Complete Guide to Nature Photography : Proffesional Techniques For Capturing Digital Images of Nature and Wildlife by Sean Arbabi



Sinopsis

Some of the first photographic images were of the natural world. Today nature remains the most popular subject in photography, dating back to the late nineteenth century, when photographers like William Henry Jackson and Carleton Watkins were capturing the frontiers of the American West, documenting locations such as Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks. By permanently recording the natural world for millions to see, Jackson, Watkins, and others started the process that led to saving lands, protecting species, and eventually preserving habitats around the world. Thus the power of the still image was born. Illustrating the awe-inspiring force of nature has been an important form of communication as well as a tool for educating. Trees that were seedlings before the time of the pyramids, waterfalls thundering down half a mile into lush valleys, deep canyons carved over millennia, the smallest of living things—intricate leaves, alien-looking insects, and delicate wildflowers—all have been captured on camera and are changing our perception of the world.
I was inherently drawn to the outdoors as a kid. It frightened me a bit, the unknown and its strength; it probably still does in small ways. Even so, I found nature to be an amazing, exciting, and unpredictable experience. Whether I was pulling up the rear on a family walk, rock and shell hunting, searching with the secret hopes of finding a history-changing fossil along a Northern California beach, or fishing for trout and catching water snakes from a paddleboat in Karag Dam—a lake nestled between the Caspian Sea and Tehran in northern Iran—it was all a world of discovery for a small boy, fraught with beauty, danger, and wonder.
Nature is the closest thing to religion in my life. Derived from the Latin word natura, which means “birth,” it is where my belief in self-education was born and my spirituality was found. To paraphrase Ralph Waldo Emerson, there is no closer place to God than to be in nature. John Muir wrote, “I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in,” describing the cerebral journey that occurs just as much in nature as anywhere else. Whether sacred or secular, this is what I was most drawn to about the natural world; that is, a transcendent place where you learn on your own, push beyond your limits, stretch your imagination, and discover a peace you cannot find anywhere else.
When I found photography early on I could not have known how it would enhance my life and expand my interest in the outdoors. Recording nature onto film was my first photographic love, and although I capture a mix of commercial outdoor and travel work in digital form today, creating images of the wild still remains my favorite. From taking pictures with a 110 camera on my seventh-grade Albany Middle School class camping trip in Yosemite Valley, to treks as a teenager through California’s Sierra Nevada, my fervor for photographing the outdoors quickly formed. Traveling to the far corners of the globe as a young pro, I rafted down class IV rivers in Argentina and carried a 75-pound backpack through the rain-soaked jungles of Borneo. The camera has pushed me to go places I never would have gone and to do things I never would have done had it not been for the thrill and hope of returning with great images. Through it all, a plethora of amazing moments were added to my life, yet I had my fair share of less-than-positive experiences, too. I’ve been attacked and stung more than 25 times by wasps in Mendocino, experienced back spasms while hiking trails in the Caribbean, acquired food poisoning on assignment through the Mexican Riviera, ran out of water backpacking through Yosemite, and even felt the dreaded homesickness while camping in the Channel Islands. None of it cured me of the wanderlust to see more of the world. In fact, most people assume I love nature wholeheartedly, but I don’t see it that way. I describe it more as having a full relationship with the outdoors. I have felt enlightenment, fear, joy, frustration, exhaustion, vulnerability, solitude, and exhilaration—every emotion that makes you feel alive.
So when asked to write a book on the topic, I was excited to merge these two major interests in my life. Some may wonder why I would write a book on nature photography; hasn’t it been done? Sure it has, but advances in digital photography have steered the art in a new direction, providing state-of-the-art features and cutting-edge ways to capture the natural world that require a bit of a learning curve to master. The black-and-white masters most likely would have embraced the precise control of programs like Photoshop, the lack of generational loss when creating digital duplicates, new techniques such as high-dynamic range imagery, as well as the mobility of today’s small and lightweight equipment. Combining these new digital aspects with the technical knowledge needed to understand and master your camera, such as composition and exposure, is yet another part of the puzzle. However, as important as it is to be technically sound, great nature photography is not about applying a cookie-cutter approach, merely picking up technical details and attempting them on location. This cannot do the job alone. None of the new digital features or well-established techniques override the importance of developing your vision, a critical skill since the beginning of photography. Producing high-quality nature photography is about the marriage of three facets: learning photographic techniques, knowing how to react to a scene, and having the ability to be creative at a moment’s notice. We each bring our philosophical approach to the art. This book not only covers new aspects as well as tried and true methods, but also describes and defines my modus operandi.
When it comes to art, there is only so much you can teach; the rest is up to the individual. The passion to rise at ungodly hours before sunrise, slide out of your warm bed or sleeping bag, and head out into the cold morning for a beautiful landscape image; to hike the long, steep trail on a blazing hot day, by yourself, in hopes of finding some wildlife to capture; fighting the cold permeating through your body on a frigid winter day to catch amazing dusk light—these ventures aren’t for everyone. My goal is to help photographers find their personal vision, an enigmatic trait only truly defined through the work each individual produces, combining their skill, technique, experience, and effort. As you read this book, I encourage you to take notes, to try not to get ahead of yourself, to focus on one feature at a time, to reread chapters, to limit your variables, to build a method, and to test yourself in the field. These steps will help you improve over time in a way you can recognize and in a manner that is easily understandable. Part of the goal is to show you my process of capturing nature, to give you ways and ideas on how to document places, to discuss rules of thumb when it comes to photographing wild places, and to share my thought process on the subject. Let your goal be to practice these rules and to find your own system, to mold your particular method and approach to nature photography. You can’t work like others when it comes to art and photography. The best strategy is to learn how others do it and adopt a way that works best for you and to exhibit to others how you see the world. Don’t just take pictures—capture the way it feels out there; convey the power of a storm, the strength of a tree, the movement of a river, and the ephemeral quality of the moment. By doing so, part of the awe and impact of the natural world will come through in your photographs to educate and inspire others.
Ultimately, you cannot forget about the reason for being out there. I simply enjoy the feeling of being in nature and the anticipation of discovering a new area, what it may look like and what I may come back with. Most of the time my experiences are nothing like I expected, and my images are hardly what I could have ever imagined capturing. I believe nature changes people. The process of photographing nature changed me. Documenting places that lift our souls and give our lives balance reveals the power of photography and the splendor of wilderness. Even at times today, the phrase “O God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small” fits my outlook so well when I’m in nature. I am humbled and overwhelmed by it. I fear and embrace it. Nature is an integral part of my enthusiasm for life and an innate part of all of us. Capturing emotionally driven images to share with others is a privilege I cherish, one that has increased my passion for my art and my love for the outdoors



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