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.

Around the World as Professional Photographer

http://www.johnshawphoto.com/2012-2/

I was looking through different websites set up by professional nature photographers and I found John Shaw and I was just mesmerized by how well traveled he is from his job as a photographer. All of his pictures focus on the beauty of animals and landscapes in nature and each is so unique with all of the different photography techniques he used to capture the images. Please use the link above to see his 2012 gallery. There is a technique in his photos that captures the basis of the natural world in action and the photos really stood out to me. I think it would be amazing to have this job and travel the world capturing its beauty for a living. I look up to all professional photographers for being able to compete in the fast world of nature photography and I respect that they make a living doing something that they love to do, one of my greatest goals.

Biography About John Shaw---John has been a professional nature photographer since the early 1970s. His work has been published in many publications and books, including National Geographic, Nature’s Best, National Wildlife, Audubon, Outdoor Photographer, and many others. In 1997 he received the first-ever Outstanding Photographer Award given by NANPA (North American Nature Photography Association).  Nikon chose him as a featured Legend Behind the Lens in 2002, while Microsoft designated him an Icon of Imaging in 2006.  He has been part of Epson’s Stylus Pro fine art print makers group since 2001.

John has published six books on nature photography, plus six eBooks on Photoshop and Lightroom.  He has photographed on every continent, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, from Provence to Patagonia.

Prairie Deer

Photograph: ISO 200, F/ 8, 1/180 Sec, 500mm

This Photo was taken in a wide field prairie when I was hiking. It was very hard to not be noticed by the deer and get in for a close shot. I used a technique of crouching low and walking in a diagonal toward the deer. I noticed that as I kept the camera to my face the deer did not seem very threatened and they became curious to see what kind of creature that I was. This Picture was taken when the deer were walking toward me and I was able to still myself for a good shoot. I used the low ISO for better image quality and I needed the low F/ because it was a cloudy day and I did not want the picture to be underexposed. The shutter speed of 1/180 was good for the shot because I was not using a tripod and the fast shutter speed made it a still clear picture. When working with the photo in light-room I used the black/white option because it gives the Deer a better distinction from the ground in the photo making them the subject. I used the rule of thirds when I cropped the photo and made sure that the deer on the right side of the were in the Top Right rule of third. But I made sure that the photo was not weighted completely on the right side, by lining the single deer up on the top left side of the the rule thirds. Deer are very delicate animals and I like this photo in Black/White because it shows their simplicity of just being out in an open field in a group.

Stingray

Camera Setting: ISO 80, f/ 5.1, 1/125 sec, 15.1mm
Photo was take with a Kodak EasyShare M1093IS
 This photo has a stingray that has taking shelter in a group of mangrove trees. I like how the photo has the stingray placed on the diagonal line that the algae is on. Also there is a long curved branch coming out from the mangrove tree that brings you attention to the sting ray at the end of the branch. In lightroom I made adjustments to make the stingray darker so that he would pop out of the water better. I did not make any adjustments to the greens on the mangrove leaves that is their true color.  I also like the bottom right corner has the diagonal branches from the mangrove adding weight to the bottom of the photo. The glare on the top of the water has a big effect of the picture and I tried multiple ways to lessen it on light room, but the best way to get rid of glare is to use a polarized filter when shooting water. Also if you look closely under the stingray there is a barracuda that was also taking shelter in the mangroves.

This photo was taken in Belize when we traveled to the actual shore line. One of the things that makes Belize such a popular place for tourism is that it has the 3rd largest coral reef in the world. This coral reef is protected by mangrove trees which grow in salt water. The mangrove trees thrive in the high nutrient water that the animals that habitat in the coral reefs provide. Mangrove trees act as barriers that grow around the reefs and protect them from powerful waves and storms. Mangrove also use a lot of the nutrients in the water to grow and they cleanse it so that it is low nutrient which is the kind of environment that coral reefs thrive in. The mangrove trees and the coral reef have a symbiotic relationship that nature has established so that they can both survive.