Conservation Nature Photography Final Project

Hey Everyone here are 30 photographs that I took this semester for conservation nature photography. A lot of my photos are of animals that. I took the time to change the point of view and perspective of the subject and experimented with framing the photo. Hope that you enjoy looking through them and hope you have a great day.

 ISO 200, 500mm, F/6.7, 1/250sec
This Photo that I took  with a low f/ to get the chipmunk and the rock that it was on in the depth the field while blurring the background of the bush with the blue dots, to create different exposures which adds focus to the chipmunk. I cropped this photo and tilted it so that the  rock comes in from the top right corner and moves toward the bottom left side of the Photo creating a diagonal line.Subject placed in the ideal left top right third of the photo.
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

 ISO 400, 170mm, F/6.7,1/60sec
Photo taken with a lower f/ and a slower shutter speed to bring more light into the photo. The photo was cropped and tilted so that the branches created good red diagonal. The back round behind the photo has a nice Fall color blur. The subject was placed to the right rule of third.
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

 ISO 400, 300mm, F/16, 1/500sec
Detailed center photo of a bunny used a high F/ to get not only the bunny in the depth the field, but almost all of the photo. Added space toward the bunny;s head view point and above his ears so that the photo was not as compressed making a better portrait of the bunny. Photo was taken very underexposed, but light room exposure changes were able to brighten it up to be a presentable photo. 
Pentax Zoom 100-300mm F4.7-5.8 lens

 ISO 400, 200mm, f/6.7, 1/500sec
Photo was taken as experimentation with the position of the bird to the branches. The solid blue background adds effect and interest to the photo with the curved branches and spiked seed.
Pentax Zoom 100-300mm F4.7-5.8 lens

 ISO 200,  500mm,  f/6.7, 1/180sec
Photos taken of the mule deer in the prairie is experimentation of position of subject and point of view. This photo shows the position of mule deer moving away from home toward the right side of the photo.
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

 ISO 200, 500mm, f/6.7, 1/180sec
Photos taken of the mule deer in the prairie is experimentation of position of subject and point of view.  Position of rule of thirds taken into account and use of direct contact with the subject looking directly at the camera.
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

 ISO 400, 200mm, F/6.7, 1/1000
Photo was taken as experimentation with the position of the bird to the branches. The solid blue background adds effect and interest to the photo with the curved branches and spiked seed.
Pentax Zoom 100-300mm F4.7-5.8 lens

 ISO 400, 200mm, F/6.7, 1/500sec
Photo was taken as experimentation with the position of the bird to the branches. The solid blue background adds effect and interest to the photo with the curved branches and spiked seed.  Position has a good diagonal with the branches going through the phot and I like the position of the seeds directly above the birds head making a crown.
Pentax Zoom 100-300mm F4.7-5.8 lens

 ISO 200, 500mm, f/8, 1/180sec
Photos taken of the mule deer in the prairie is experimentation of position of subject and point of view. phot taken not as a landscape with two subjects facing camera.
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

 ISO200, 290mm, F/5.6 1/125
Photo taken with low ISO and low f/ to capture the depth of field of the female mallard facing the camera positioned in the rule of thirds.
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

ISO 400, 18mm, f/6.7, 180sec
Portrait picture of Micky side view (the greatest dog ever.) has an interesting effect of the sunlight hitting his fur and also creating the diagonal line in the back ground.
Pentax Standard 18-55mm Lens

 ISO400, 170mm, f/5.6, 1/30sec
Portrait photo of a Male Mallard, Hard to get his dark eye in full focus.
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

 ISO400, 170mm, F/5.6, 1/30sec
Portrait front view photo of a Female Mallard in in the depth the field with the fore ground in the depth the field and the background not in the depth the field. 
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

 ISO400, 170mm, F/4.5, 1/90sec
Portrait side view photo of a Female Mallard in in the depth the field with the fore ground in the depth the field and the background not in the depth the field. 
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

 ISO400, 55mm, f/5.6, 1/45sec
Colorado Sunset experimenting with colors and Point of view
Pentax Standard 18-55mm Lens

 ISO400, 55mm, f/5.6, 1/45sec
Side view of the Male Mallard
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

 ISO400, 55mm, f/5.6, 1/45sec
Colorado Sunset experimenting with colors and Point of view
Pentax Standard 18-55mm Lens

ISO400, 500mm, F/6.7, 1/125
Photo was taken of a seagull staning in the water with somthing in its beak. The water gives a good ripple effect that contrasts the seagull.
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

 ISO400, 55mm, f/5.6, 1/45sec
Colorado Sunset experimenting with colors and Point of view 
Pentax Standard 18-55mm Lens

ISO400, 330mm, f/6.7, 1/500sec
Photo was taken of a seagull in mid-flight changed the photo to black and white and adjusted the exposure to give it the photo more of a drawing effect while cropping the photo so that the body of the seagull creates a diagonal line with an exposure spectrum from the two corners of the portrait.
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

ISO200, 350mm, f/6.7, 1/500sec
Photo of a woodpecker taken with head turned down.
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

ISO 400, 30.63mm, f/6.7, 1/250sec
Portrait picture of Micky front view (the greatest dog ever.) has an interesting effect of the sunlight hitting his fur and also creating the diagonal line in the back ground.
Pentax Standard 18-55mm Lens

ISO200, 350mm, f/6.7, 1/500sec
Photo of a woodpecker taken with head turned up.
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

ISO200, 500mm, F/6.7, 1/500sec0
Picture of a coot in an elaborate position centered in the photo creating a nice reflection in the water.
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

ISO200, 500mm, F/6.7, 1/500sec
Side view of a Male Mallard like how his black tail feathers curl up giving him more character and how he has a white spot on his chest also adding difference and character to the duck.
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

ISO200, 500mm, F/6.7, 1/1/180sec
Filled photo of a premature seagull whose colors have not come in all of the way.
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

ISO100, f/22, 1/30sec
Landscape photo taken at the top of the rims.
Pentax Zoom 100-300mm F4.7-5.8 lens

ISO100, f/22, 1/30sec
Landscape photo taken at the top of the rims.
Pentax Zoom 100-300mm F4.7-5.8 lens

ISO200, 400mm, f/6.7, 1/350sec
Photo taken of bird cropped to the angle were the red branches cut through the photo diagonally and there is drawn interest to the red berries and yellow leaves in the depth the field. The light gray background out the depth the field adds focus to the main subject.
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3

ISO100, f/22, 1/30sec
Landscape photo taken at the top of the rims.
Pentax Zoom 100-300mm F4.7-5.8 lens

All photos were taken using a Pentax K10 Camera in Manual Setting with No Flash
Lens Used: Pentax Standard 18-55mm Lens
Telephoto Zoom Lens 170-500mm F5-6.3
SMC Pentax F3.5 15mm
Pentax Zoom 100-300mm F4.7-5.8 lens

The World of Underwater Photography

http://www.richardcareyphotos.com/

Richard Carey A professional underwater photographer combines both scuba diving and photography to get some of the best underwater images possible. It is interesting to think about how expensive and how much energy it takes to be a professional photographer and then take into account how much extra planning, equipment and cost it is to be a professional underwater photographer. In terms of how difficult it is to keep the exposure at the right level it takes a lot of planning and most professional underwater photographers will take an array of equipment to fill this need.

Richard Carey uses a Canon EOS 60D, with Seacam housing and two Ikelite DS160 strobes. His lenses include a Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye zoom, Canon 10-22mm Wide Angle, and Canon 60mm Macro. All of this equipment although expensive captures the underwater world the way that it really is. The deeper that you dive the less sun touches surroundings changing the colors the deeper an underwater photographer goes (that is why they take down the strobes). It takes a lot of certification, time, energy and equipment to be able to become a professional underwater photographer, but it opens up an entire new world.

The Impacts of Photography Wild Life Tourism/ Ethics/ Wildlife Conservation

Wild Life Tourism – Wild Life Tourism can be either a good thing or a bad thing it really matter the size and impact from the tourism on the ecosystem. Wild life tourism brings in a lot a lot of money to the areas that are around the ecosystem that is being toured. But tourism can have a disruptive effect on the ecosystem and this causes the ecosystem to depreciate. When I went to Belize and had the great opportunity to explore the coral reefs we were brief on how to swim around the coral and never to actually touch the coral because out hands have oils in them that kills the coral. This briefing is an example of a precaution to prevent the negative effects of deteriorating ecosystems from wild life tourism. I think that it is a good situation if the environment is not being hurt from the tourism income is being driven into the area from tourism. But if it hurts the wildlife habitat it is as bad as poaching animals in the environment.

Photography Ethics—The different ethics that photographers have toward nature photography ranges from the most conservative that refuse to disturb the wildlife completely at all to the photographers that are willing to peanut butter bait animals so that they can get a good photo. I think that it is important to find out where you are comfortable with disturbing the environment and stick with where that is. I usually disturb animals as least as possible to the point where I always shoot without a flash to avoid scaring the animal and making them waste energy that they could use for the winter. Of course this semester I got some great pictures of a woodpecker eating a nut ball that someone had put in the tree. I feel okay taking those pictures because I was not the one that set the bait.

Wildlife Conservation—We only have this one Earth to live on and it is important that we conserve the resources of the natural environment not only for ourselves, but also for future generations. Wildlife conservation is a huge business that creates jobs, sustains environments and sets a health relationship between the world and us. It is not impossible to make an animal go extinct from changing its habitat and that is one thing that I am incredibly opposed to is taking away an animals chance of survival for our own benefit.

Tips for Going to Africa

Pack and be prepared for the trip before you go to Africa. Get all of your stuff together before going to Africa and test it out make sure that everything is working properly and that you have packed light enough for the trip. Also make sure that all of the stuff that you are going to be bringing is essential and that you will use because carrying around items that you will not be using is a pain and does take up potential space.

Invest in a good DSLR camera and a good lens so that you can document this once in a lifetime trip. Think how often people get to go to Africa and experience it. Most of the time unless your job is constantly sending you there it is a once in a lifetime trip. That is why it is important to capture your experience and get the most out of your trip. I recommend getting a versatile (100-400mm) telephoto lens that will be mainly focused on animal shoots but will be very useful when photographing most of the animals in Africa (may have some trouble with the smaller birds) and most DSLR cameras will give you more quality over a point and shoot.

Take into account the amount of dust in Africa with getting into your equipment (Camera sensors and lens). It is good to have a blower to blow dust off the lens so that you will not have to be constantly wiping it with a cleaning cloth. I would also recommend investing in a cleaning kit in case lens does get on your actual camera sensor. Another precaution that you can take is not to remove the lens from the camera to completely minimize the chance of dust getting on the cameras sensor since DSLR(Nikon and Canon) are made very well sealed.

Investigate what kind of animals you will be seeing and the environment that you will be going to in Africa to give you a good briefing on the area so that you can figure out patterns that animals are set into and what there behavior is like a=in different situations. If you already the behavior of the animal and what its pattern is it will be easier to get a good shot of them in their natural habitat and lifestyle with out disturbing them. 

Prepare everything that you need to get early and don’t do it just in one sitting plan ahead and prepare a set game plan of what you want to get out of this trip to Africa. Whether it is to see a certain kind of animal and doing major investigation of it or taking the best photographs that you can. Have a plan with set goals that you can follow because when you arrive in Africa the change is going to be huge and you will be exposed to a completely new culture so on top of that find what you truly want out of this trip and take in everything that they give you.