Nature Photography

Ahh yes, one of my favorite subset of photography. Something about nature photography just speaks to me (and maybe you as well) about how big the world is.

In this entry, I want to talk about what nature photography is, how to capture nature shots and my thought process behind shooting these photos.

Overview of Nature Photography

Nature Photography is a subset of photography capturing a large mass of area. Whether its a large body of water, mountains, waterfalls, the purpose is to emphasize a part of nature to draw the viewer in. (Making them want to go and be jealous of your adventure :D )

Various focal lengths can be used to capture nature photographs but typically, wide angle (typically 12-24mm) and mid-range (typically 24-75mm) lenses would be adequate in capturing landscapes. In some instances telephoto lenses (75mm+) may work as well. Nature photos can be captured by day or at night.

Focal Lengths that I use

With the versatile 24mm - 105mm f4 Sony Lens, I typically use all ranges. Each of the lens tells a different story.

On the wider angles (24mm), I can capture the area as a whole. This is intended to show how grandeur the area is. Sometimes, I add in a subject in the foreground to emphasize how large the landscape is relative to the subject. Besides the 24mm, other wider focal lengths can capture wider views of an area but can start to fish-eye a bit as the focal length number decreases. This can be corrected with a software editing program such as Adobe Lightroom.

The telephoto shots (~50mm+) tends to be a lens where I want to isolate a particular land area from the rest of the environment

First Photo: Wide angle shot, showing the size of me compared to the rest of the environment.

Second Photo: Mid range shot, a good balance between me and what the environment that I was at.

Third Photo: Telephoto shot, isolating a subject in a photo, specifically an island and focusing on that with the surrounding objects as foreground elements.

Environment 1: Mountain

Mountains are cool. Shooting from the ground up, the photos can send the message to the audience “oh wow, that looks tall”. A subject as the foreground may appear tiny as well depending on how it is framed to emphasize how large the mountain is.

First Photo: Photo of Olomana Trail, Hawaii. First peak only since the other two looked a bit sketch and I was tired. But wanted to have some of the grass on the bottom to show gradient and depth as your eyes look at the peak.

Second Photo: Mount Diablo. Me overlooking all of the other mountains from above. Wanted to show a bit of depth in the photo and give the audience a little bit of “oh wow, that looks pretty, where is this photo taken?” response.

Third Photo: Castle Rock Hike (I think it was at a ridge? ~shrugs~), I wanted to focus on the cloud as it was the closest cloud to the camera and showing the surrounding elements of the landscape.

Environment 2: Waterfalls

Waterfalls are cool only if they are tall and massive...and not dried out (ahem California). Taking photos of them standing straight and directly at it does not emphasize how tall they are. To get a good shot at them, get low for the shot or stand somewhat away from them. I always use a wide angle lens for these type of shots to show how amazing they are.

First Photo: Alamere Falls, a long exposure shot showing a flowing / smooth exposure of the water that passes by in a 0.125”.

Second Photo: Hanawi Falls, a scale of the waterfall compared to me to show proportion.

Third Photo: Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge, from a top perspective.

Environment 3: Gorge / Canyons

Canyons / Gorges are interesting. They provide a cool symmetry that is appealing to look at, almost like an alleyway. I usually frame my shot directly at the middle to show a bowl shape / alleyway effect. This can be also framed where the leading lines of the canyon / gorge can lead to a candid subject walking. Like being lost in the woods.

First Photo: Somewhere in Santa Cruz lol (my bad). This photo has a symmetrical look which can be attractive for viewers to see how grand the area is.

Second Photo: Santa Ynez Falls. Suppose to be a waterfall but it ended up being dried up (because California). Ended up looking pretty neat as an alleyway.

Environment #4: Forests

Forests are astonishing. I personally love greens and cool colors in photos as they are usually my style. I wanted to take a picture of trees / plants mainly because we rarely get to see how green they are (at least in California but mainly on a day to day basis). In color theory, green is suppose to be calming and gives off a nice serene feel.

First Photo: Castle Rock Hike. The photo gives off a mysterious vibe to it with the mossy trees.

Second Photo: Somewhere in Marin County. The leaves gives a nice texture to the forest. Very calming.

Third Photo: Bamboo Forest. I shot from the bottom of the tree, mainly to have the bamboos be a form of leading lines that leads in various directions.

Tip #1: Lining up your subject

Leading lines create a sense of direction for the viewer. It provides a depth in the photo for the viewers to see where the lines are going. Our eyes tends to want to see where the lines go to in an image. The photos that I took below show the concept of a leading line.

First Photo: Mission Peak. Leading lines show a pathway to the rest of the mountains.

Second Photo: Kualoa Ranch. Leading lines from the fence that looks like it is wrapping around the mountain.

Third Photo: Palos Verdes. Leading lines that leads out to the unknown. In between, you can see the landscape.

Tip #2: Symmetry

Symmetry is an important aspect in photography. Imagine folding an image to the right, it should be a near identical copy on the right hand area as the left hand side. The rule of thirds is something that I follow as well but at times, rules are made to be broken so that something new / creative can come out of it. Our eyes likes symmetry.

First Photo: Kualoa Ranch. The mountains are almost symmetrical in the picture.

Second Photo: Somewhere in Big Sur. The landscape is shaped as if both sides of the land is converging towards the middle.

Third Photo: A rare one at Big Sur. Leading lines from the bridge and bridge symmetry all leading to me.