Winter will soon be upon us and while many photographers revel in the unique opportunities for winter photography, I always look forward to spring in the southern Appalachian Mountains with my camera in hand. My annual visits there quite literally put a spring in my step. Birds sing for mates from the newly green trees, waterfalls flow from spring rains, flowers bloom in profusion and it seems that the whole world is new again.
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Flowers are definitely one of the most popular subjects in nature photography. They’ve been photographed with limited depths of field to convey a soft, romantic look. They’ve been photographed with large depths of field to show the abundance of a large group. Sometimes, the sun is included for a more dynamic shot. A vast array of special effects have been employed to produce some truly stunning imagery. Indeed, flowers have been photographed in every conceivable way imaginable. However, the one way in which I hardly ever see is from the rear. I did a Google search of “Creative Flower Photography,” and out of the 100 or so results, only 2 or 3 photos featured the backside. That’s a shame because so many great opportunities are going unrealized.
Continue readingAll of this week’s Weekly Wow! images can be seen in the slideshow on the NANPA homepage at nanpa.org.
Showcase 2019 Top 100 winner: “Cottonweed,” High Ridge Scrub Natural Area, Lake Worth, Florida. © Kevin Barry.
The following Showcase images have been selected to appear on the NANPA home page for the week beginning Monday, August 12, 2019. To view all of the top 250 photographs from NANPA’s 2019 Showcase competition, see the photo gallery on the NANPA website. The period for entering your best shots in this year’s Showcase began August 1st and runs through September 16th. What are you waiting for? Let’s get shooting! Your best shot might be your next one.
Cumulus clouds over Dickenson Bay, St. John’s, Antigua, West Indies.
Story & photos by F. M. Kearney
I’m a late-comer. I didn’t make the switch to digital until 2014. As a film shooter, I relied heavily on filters. Everything from warming to ND grads to a vast array of special effect filters were permanent residents in my camera bag. Nowadays, digital imaging can replicate many of those filter effects – often much easier and with far more control. But, as good as digital technology is, it still can’t duplicate the effects of a polarizer filter. The photo above is a classic beach scene where a polarizer works most of its magic. By filtering out the glare and atmospheric haze, the true color of the sky comes forth revealing puffy, white cumulus clouds as far as the eye can see.
Lily-flowered tulips beginning to “show their age”
Story & photos by F. M. Kearney
Timing is everything. As nature photographers, we’re constantly trying to schedule our shoots during times when our subjects will be seen at their best. For landscapes, this is generally during the “Magic Hours” of the day – the hour just before sunrise or after sunset. Flowers can benefit from the warm light at this time of day as well, but more important than that is catching them at the peak period in their blooming cycle. It’s an absolute obsession for some photographers. A field of tulips in pristine condition is truly breathtaking. The photo below is one such example.
All of this week’s Weekly Wow! images can be seen in the slideshow on the NANPA homepage at nanpa.org.
Showcase 2019 Top 100 winner: “Red Pine Tree Trunks in Snow Storm,” near Reno, Nevada, © Susan Dykstra.
The following Showcase images have been selected to appear on the NANPA home page for the week beginning Monday, June 10, 2019. To view all of the top 250 photographs from NANPA’s 2019 Showcase competition, see the photo gallery on the NANPA website. Nature Photography Day is coming up on June 15 so let’s get shooting! And, the period for entering your best shots in this year’s Showcase starts in August. What are you waiting for? Your best shot might be your next one.
Showcase 2019 Altered Reality, Judges’ Choice: Flowers Barbados – Tabernaemontana divaricata , Pinwheel Flower © Arabella Dane.
Bio:
Arabella Dane is an accredited photography judge, a member of two camera clubs in New England, 2 Photography Society of America study groups ,as well as a serving as an emeritus Garden Club of America photography judge and instructor. She is the founder of the GCA Photography Study Group, and is the coordinator for the photography initiatives of the National Garden Clubs, working with Charlie Burke, PSA past president, to develop online photography programs and competitions for the NGC membership (250,000 members).
She regularly competes in photography competitions and takes courses in photography. She shares with her husband Nat a love for nature, gardening, conservation, fishing, bird shooting, traveling, and photography. Arabella is an avid horticulture student – working most recently on the correlations between our native plants and their pollinators. Her online www.plantipedia.com web site includes more than 150,000 plants and 25,000 plant photographs as well as photos of many of our native butterflies and is a favorite resource for plant huggers.
Looking up through a tulip bed. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY.
(Digitized from film.)
Story & photos by F. M. Kearney
If you’ve had your gear packed away since the final vestiges of colorful foliage faded from the landscape last fall, now is the time to dust off the cobwebs. Spring is finally here – bringing an abundance of subject matter. Fresh flowers are popping up everywhere and demanding attention. But, you don’t want to fall into a habit of taking the same types of pictures year after year. A change in perspective is a good way to view an old subject in a new light.
All of this week’s Weekly Wow! images can be seen in the slideshow on the NANPA homepage at nanpa.org.
Showcase 2019 Top 100 winner: Bluebird Yoga, Beverly Hills, Florida © Ken Dunwoody.
The following Showcase images have been selected to appear on the NANPA home page for the week beginning Monday, March 25, 2019. To view all of the top 250 photographs from NANPA’s 2019 Showcase competition, see the photo gallery on the NANPA website.
Snow-covered branches frame urban landscape of Central Park, New York, NY.
Making a subject stand out is the primary goal of all photographers. There are a number of ways to accomplish this and your subject matter will usually dictate the best method. Common techniques may include special lighting, subject placement, extreme angles or contrasting colors. If you delve into the world of digital imaging, your choices will be virtually unlimited. But, if you prefer to keep your images looking as natural as possible, you may want to stick with the in-camera methods.
One of my favorite ways to highlight a subject is to place it within a natural frame. This might consist of leaves, flowers, bushes … just about anything nearby that you can find to encircle your subject. In the opening photo above, I used the snow-covered branches to frame the distant buildings in this Central Park winter scene. Besides serving as decorative foreground elements, they were a great way to cover up the dead space of a white, featureless sky.