June 17, 2008

Wildlife Photography

As you can probably figure out, photographing the wild comes with many challenges. Yep, capturing wildlife on your camera is a completely different type of photography. It requires tremendous patience, it's a little daring and most of all, you need finely tuned instincts. So, without further ado, below are a few things you can do to get beautiful wildlife photos with ease!

Start Early

Most insects are late risers, which means they can't fly until they're warmed up enough. Because of that, you have the advantage of capturing them in their sleepy state before they fly away. That also means you can get much closer to them to take better photos.

Hide Yourself

It’s best to hide yourself while you wait for your subject to arrive. That way, you won’t disturb its natural habitat just for the sake of photography. It also helps with your own security, especially when you're in the middle of a large national park where potentially dangerous animals live.

Be Stealth

You also need to be very stealth. Move at a slow pace and stay close to the ground. A sudden movement could frighten your subject and you could miss a once in a lifetime shot. Also, make sure you don’t move in too close. You just need to be close enough to fill your frame with the subject. Similarly, when you're done taking your pictures, move back out with the same motions. After all, animals do deserve their privacy and you have no right to alarm them once you're done.

Keep Your Distance

It's agreed that you can get the best detail when your camera is as close to the subject as possible. Yes, that's great, but if you get too close, you're putting your own safety at risk. Wild animals are masters of surprise and you never know what could trigger them to attack. You can still get great photos from a safe distance!

Nesting Principle

If you find a bird nesting in a thick cover, do not try to uncover it! The best thing to do is wait until the bird emerges from the nest. Of course, that demands patience, but you already know that's a requirement of wildlife photography. You can’t make things happen. You just have to wait for them to occur. Wildlife photography gives you the chance to observe and learn. Yes, it may take awhile for you to get the photo you're looking for, but if you're patient and you simply slow down, you'll get what you want.

Rules of Composition

You should also strive for balance in your images. Try to incorporate different elements into your picture that have equal weight. For example, something at the edge of your picture will have more appeal than something in the center. Similarly, an element in the foreground has less weight than one in the background. Elements with higher contrast to their surroundings also have greater attraction. Colors play an important part as well, so while you're composing your image, always make the most of compositional lines. They could be a row of trees, a shoreline or a rocky hillside in the background. Special effects like that can really make a photo.

See Better and Think Faster

Wildlife photography requires you to think on your feet and be far more observant than ever before. Some of the things you need to keep in mind include: the direction of light and its effect on your picture, the colors you can balance in your frame and the textures in the scene that could form your foreground/background or the subject itself. You should also think about the animal's direction in the frame. For example, while most photographers are happy with a bird in the center of the frame, it might be even better to capture the bird leaving the frame so that you can convey dynamism and movement.

Focusing Principles

No wildlife photograph is good if you can't capture the eye of your subject. Therefore, it’s important to do that with precision, care and skill. You should use either the manual or auto focus on the eye and then use the focus lock to recompose your image. If the eye isn’t sharp, your photo will be lifeless. For instance, when a bird is in flight, focus on its head and you'll get one of the best images you've ever taken.

Time of Day

Photographers will tell you it's not wise to go on wildlife shoots in midday when the sun is directly over you. During that time of day, the sun has a nasty habit of forming harsh shadows over your subjects. The best time to go is either early in the morning or past 4 p.m.

Catch the Light

Light is essential in bringing life to your wildlife pictures. If you use flash without forming shadows of your subjects, you are on your way to creating a "catch light" in the final image, which is a localized edge contrast boost that gives a perceived increase in image sharpness. It can also be used to balance the exposure of a back-lit subject.

Watch Your Shadow

It’s very easy to get close to an insect, but you should also bear in mind that your shadow how can i get propecia can easily fall on the subject. If that happens, your picture will look a little odd and you won't be happy with the result.

Eye Level

Wildlife photography is just like taking pictures of people. Therefore, the same principle of shooting at eye level applies here as well. Not only will it connect with the viewer, but the subject will look far more down to earth and less intimidating. Now, go out there and take some wild photos!

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XP era ends: Will Vista step up?

June 16th, 2008

Posted by Larry Dignan

The Windows XP era ends June 30 and soon hardware vendors will be shipping you all Vista all the time (in most cases). The save XP effort failed. The whining should cease. And now it’s time for Vista to sink or swim.

Ina Fried has a good overview of where Windows XP will stand with PC manufacturers. And Matt Asay highlights a report from Evans Data noting that 92 percent of developers are ignoring Vista. Coupling these two items together and you come to one conclusion: Folks are skeptical about Vista, but a lot of that skepticism is because XP is still lingering.

If you’re a Vista complainer you have two options from here:

  • Move away from Windows completely (users try a new OS and developers jump ship).
  • Or shut up and go with Vista.

My hunch is most folks will do that latter. I’d love to believe that Microsoft’s Vista miscues would result in a mass exodus, but I doubt that will happen. I also wonder why people live in New Jersey and pay those ridiculous property taxes, but shockingly enough people stay. Based on my Libertarian leanings I’d reckon there would be four people left in Jersey by now.

But I digress. Once consumers no longer have the XP option they’ll fall in line with Vista. Sure some percentage will go Mac, but if you didn’t jump yet–after a gazillion brilliant Apple ads knocking Vista–you probably won’t. And the developer worries: Developers will fall in line too. Evans Data notes:

Only eight percent of North American software developers are currently writing applications to run on Microsoft’s Vista operating system, while half are still writing programs for XP, according to Evans Data’s Spring 2008, North American Development Survey. These same developers forecast a fragmented Windows market in 2009 with only 24 percent expecting to target Vista and 29% expecting to continue with XP.

“Developers have taken a wait and see approach to Vista”, said John Andrews, Evans Data’s President and CEO. “The new operating system has had more than its share of problems and the desire to move from XP on the Windows platform is still lagging – that coupled with interest in alternative operating systems is suppressing development activity and that in turn will further erode Vista’s acceptance.”

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Also see: Ed Bott, Mary Jo Foley, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes and all resources on Vista.

Should Vista supporters be worried? Probably not. Developers have clearly hedged their bets, but that’s because XP was still being distributed. Once that distribution ends developers will have to step up their efforts on Vista. Corporations will complain but still roll out Vista. There’s a reason Microsoft cuts off previous versions of Windows–it works. And it’ll probably work this time too.

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