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Fest offers inside tips on outdoor photography(The Sun (Yuma, AZ)(KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 23--Behind Henry Detwiler, a photo he took of a hummingbird resting on the branch of a colorful bush lit up a large screen. "See his open mouth?" Detwiler asked his audience. "He's talking to me. He's saying, ‘my, what a handsome man you are!' " Detwiler, a Bureau of Reclamation computer programmer, birding guide and nature photographer, combined wit and expertise during the Introduction to Nature Photography seminar at the Shilo Inn on Saturday, as part of the 2006 Yuma Birding & Nature Festival. "A good place to take pictures is in your back yard -- or front yard," he said. "Gardens are good places to take pictures of plants, insects and birds. If you have bird feeders out, you can wait and take pictures when birds come in to eat." He said zoos as well as city and national parks are also great places for nature photography. While he spoke, he presented a slide show photos he'd taken in such places. Showing his own lenses and cameras to an audience of about 20, Detwiler began the seminar with the pros and cons of using automatic versus single lens reflex (SLR) cameras. With an automatic camera, one looks through the viewfinder at the subject, it's easy to use, compact, portable and less expensive that a SLR, he said. But a SLR allows one to look through the lens at the subject, seeing exactly what's being photographed. And SLR lenses can be interchanged for more creativity, he said. Detwiler also discussed the differences between digital and film cameras. "Digital is a wonderful medium, but film is still popular," he said, adding that film produces fine pictures that can be enlarged, whereas digital enlargements can sometimes be too grainy. And digital photography is more expensive up front. A digital SLR camera body can cost $1,000 or more, compared to a film SLR camera body, which starts at about $300, he said. But film and processing fees can add up, so in the long run, digital photography can be cheaper, he said. That's because one digital card can hold hundreds of images compared to a roll of film that maxes out at about 48 images, he explained. With digital, one can print one's own photos, bypassing the processing fee, he said. But depending on the printer, ink and paper used, the digital prints may not be as good as film prints from a professional processor, he said. But "you can also get digital processed," he added. Detwiler also talked about the different lens options available. For a SLR camera, the prime lens is a zoom lens, he said. With it, one can zoom in or out, and there is one focal length, so the subject being photographed would be in focus while the background would be blurred. But with a 50 mm, also known as a wide-angle lens, both the background and the foreground would be in focus, he said. Showing a shot he took of Green Beach in Hawaii, he said wide-angle lenses are good for such beach and cliff photos. "Macro lenses are good for close up work, like butterflies, ladybugs, flowers ... ," he said while showing close up photos of such subjects. By contrast, a telephoto lens is good for photographing wild animals from a distance, he said while showing a photo he took of an elk lying nonchalantly in tall, green grass. The problem with long, heavy telephoto lenses, however, is that if one moves while taking photos, the photo will likely be blurred. But Detwiler said the use of tripods and internal stabilizers are two ways of reducing lens movement when using a telephoto lens. As far as composition, he stressed patience in nature photography and showed samples of vertical and horizontal photos. He also suggested using the "rule of thirds," where the subject is placed in one third of the photo rather than in the center, for visual interest. Detwiler also discussed the difference between backlighting, which is sunlight coming over one's shoulder onto the subject, and front lighting. In the latter, the subject is between the photographer and the sun, and this type of lighting is used for certain effects, such as to emphasize water droplets on a flower, for instance. At noon, the sun washes out colors, so it's best to take photos early in the morning or late in the afternoon, he said. This leads to exposure, another topic he discussed. "When photographing sunsets, I let the camera figure everything for me," he said. "I don't try to figure out the aperture or shutter speeds." But the aperture can be controlled to let in a little or a lot of light. And the shutter speed can be controlled to stop action or to show action. Shooting at a fast shutter speed can make water droplets look as if they're frozen in place. And shooting at a slow shutter speed can show make a still shot of a waterfall look as if it's moving. Using a photo he took of a bird, Detwiler gave a digital photo editing demonstration. He cropped the photo, improved the color and removed a reed that was across the bird's chest in the original image. "You can't take a horrible picture and make a masterpiece," he said of digital manipulation. "But you can improve a good one. "And this is the end," Detwiler said, gesturing to a photo of a sunset on the large screen. "I think that it (the seminar) was very informative," said Rose Seward, who came to the birding festival from San Diego. She's been taking photos for about five years, but she said she learned a lot about digital editing from the seminar. "I enjoyed it very much," she said. For more information, contact Detwiler at www.southwest birders.com. Nancy Gilkey can be reached at [email protected] or 539-6851. |