Tag: photography education

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Wildlife Photography – Basic Rule Number 4 – Keep the eyes in focus!

Wildlife Photography – Basic Rule Number 4 – Keep the eyes in focus!

Make sure the eyes of the animals are sharp and in focus.  With using “center point focus” you are in control of the focus, not your camera. Make sure the eyes are in the center of your picture (and therefore in focus). Leave a bit of extra room around your major object. You can crop the image on the computer. An animal is not a cathedral – the time for composition is mostly measured in seconds, not minutes or hours.

Round Eye!
Uroplatus fimbriatus (Leaf Tailed Gecko) – native to Madagascar.
Picture taken at a private breeder facility in Nashville, Tennessee, USA  (Uroplatus Specialties).

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Wildlife Photography – Basic Rule Number 2 – Shoot a lot – Waste Space!

Rule Number 2 – Shoot a lot – Waste Space!

Give up your old “film” habits and shoot a lot. I often take dozens of pictures of one scene. Like humans animals have “good” and “bad” expressions and postures. Shooting a lot and selecting the right image later on your computer will get you there. In a four hour game drive I will sometimes shoot 500 images.

Don’t worry about all the “bad” pictures you take, the good ones will make up for it!

Sparring
Two Elephant bulls sparring at Tembe Elephant Park, South Africa

This was part of a large series of images. Only a few of them I would ever show to anyone!

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New “Unseen New World” Photography Work Shop at the Nashville Zoo

A large number of animals species at the Nashville Zoo live in the Unseen New World. Their habitats (Terrariums and Aquariums) provide a completely different set of photographic challenges than outdoor exhibits. Join this new workshop if you would like to learn how Nashville Zoo Photographer, Christian Sperka, deals with those challenges.
Participants will also get the chance to photograph special animal feeding sessions.

The course is limited to ten participants, so don’t hesitate to take advantage of this unique opportunity.

For more information and/or book the 4 hour program on December 11, 2011 go to http://www.nashvillezoo.org/education/usnw-photography-class.
 
Earlier this year Christian has recorded a video about photography in the Unseen New World. Here is the link to the video in case you are interested:
http://www.youtube.com/user/NewMediaEdge#p/u/28/mCMi2Ncik2k

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