High-tech cameras can help us create a good exposure and focused image, but they still can’t replace the artist’s eye for composition, visual depth, and design, nor their instinct for knowing when to click the shutter. There are many books out there on the basics of photography technique that teach people how to make a technically good photograph. This book is about the marriage of the craft with personal vision and the process of translating what you see into a dynamic landscape, a delicate macro study, an outstanding nighttime image, or an artistic impression of a subject in nature.
This manual will be a toolbox of concepts and techniques that intermediate photographers can use to help them create more expressive nature photographs. Using single images that pertain to the topic, along with before-and-after and with-or-without examples where necessary, the book will be illustrated with inspiring and informative photographs and packed with articulate, informative text to help readers envision and embrace a more creative approach to outdoor photography.
Expressive Nature Photography will teach how to make creative exposures, not just correct ones. It will inspire photographers to get out early and stay out late, working with lower angles of light at dawn and twilight. It will teach them how see in the dark and use filters to create very long exposures that show a different view of our world in low light. Readers will learn light painting for a natural effect, how to photograph night skies and moonlit landscapes; they’ll also learn how to make the best use of available natural light. In short, they’ll learn how to use light, an essential element of outdoor photography. Readers will learn how to use aperture for any type of photograph; how to use shutter speeds to express motion and capture the energy of fast action (especially useful for moving streams, ocean swells, and moving wildlife). A chapter on the art of visual flow will teach them how to create compositions that direct the viewer’s eye through the frame for maximum impact. They’ll develop a sense of when to break the rules of composition, how to use elements to frame subjects, decide what to include and exclude in the frame, create the feeling of depth and dimension in a scene, and push the boundaries of composition to make memorable nature images that capture and convey fresh viewpoints.
