Outdoor Photography Tips

"Outdoor photography is a wonderful past time for the whole family. Outdoor photography tips in this article should enable
anyone to do it."

Landscape photography is probably the most popular type of outdoor photography enjoyed by most amateurs. Even if you do not have a professional camera, you can take great pictures. One of the best digital cameras that is available and is not very expensive, is the Kodak Easyshare Camera. This is a small compact camera with an 8.0 megapixel resolution, which is extremely high quality for an amateur camera.

If you do, however, have access to a professional grade camera, such as a Nikon or a Pentax, you would be able to more with the wide variety of wide angle and telephoto lenses available at your disposal and practicing these outdoor photography tips will be much easier.

I do understand, however, that for most people a thousand dollars for a high quality professional grade camera might be a steep price to pay in these hard financial times. This is why this article is aimed at anyone who can and wants to take good pictures.

Outdoor Photography Tips: Composition

The most important tip for your outdoor photography is composition. Composition is key. Composition is what makes a good photograph come alive.

One important tip for composition is never to have an object in the center of the photograph. For example, see figure 1. This photo was taken in Dedoplistsqaro, Georgia. Notice how these rock formations are dead-center in the photograph. This does not work.

If you look at figure just below, this same rock formation, Tamartsikhe. This is a close up. Now this photo is a much better composition. Notice that Tamartsikhe has an unusual shape and has one formation that is higher and larger than the other.

Other Outdoor Photography Tips

Outdoor Photography Tips:
Panoramic Photography

One other neat little technique you can do with an average camera is panoramic photos. Panoramic photographs are usually the types of photographs that are taken form those disposable panoramic cameras or from one of those Kodak Advantix camera set at the panoramic setting.

If you have a high-quality camera made for amateurs, such as a Kodak Easyshare you can take excellent panoramic photos with a little editing on a photo editor such as Photoshop or Aperture.

All you need to do to get that great panoramic effect, first you need to be in a wide open area with vast expansive views. In Georgia, for example, there are many areas that are great subject matter for panoramic photography. Have your basic camera set at the widest angle as possible.

If you look at the next picture, for example, this panoramic shot was taken on a hill north of Ruisi, Georgia with Tskhinvali in view and the high caucasian mountains. I personally have a basic Kodak EasyShare camera which may not look like much, but it can take some amazing pictures.

In order for me to get the effect that I got from this photo, I first chose my subject. I found a good spot on top of that hill where the view was the best for the shot. On my camera, I had the wide angle setting to the widest setting.

Once I returned to my computer, I went ahead to work on the photo. Being on a Mac, I use Aperture. Some of you prefer Photoshop. That is a good program too. In fact, I like Photoshop. The only thing that keeps me from having it is that it is very expensive.

Aperture is actually a professional grade program which is made by Apple for its MacIntosh computers. After adjusting the color and doing the dodging and burning to make the photo come out just right, I cropped the photo, allowing the mountains, part of the sky, and part of the land in the foreground to be visible. Further more, I had cropped the photo in the typical oblong rectangular shape that is classic of a panoramic photo.

Other wonderful outdoor photography ideas are having landscape photos in a standard format as well. You can take great photos with an amateur camera as long as it has a high mega pixel range.

Do not use anything below 7.5 mega pixels. 8.0 is actually the best around. There may even be higher mega pixel ranges available as well. You can have some great compositions. For example, note the next three shots. The first one is an example of a good telephoto shot. This shot was taken of my friend’s house in Dedoplistsqaro from on top of the hill above his house.

It is amazing how powerful some of the telephoto functions are on some of the higher quality amateur cameras.

The second shot below shows another result of these outdoor photography tips. Any mountainous landscape regardless where it is, be it in Georgia or the United States, has many large boulders. These boulders can be wonderful subjects for close-up photography. Many of these boulders or other rock formations have unique organic shapes.

Notice the composition of the photograph in the second shot below. Notice the unique egg-shape of the boulder and notice that it is not in the center of the image. This is a great example of a perfectly composed image.

The last picture is another example of a well composed photograph. When visiting places that are high up and have breathtaking views, you can always work with certain features up on the top of that mountain or plateau and use them in the foreground with the view as the background. This allows for a stunning photograph.

This image was taken on the top of Elias Mountain, also in Georgia. Notice how I used the church and the formations near the church as the foreground and the view into Azerbaijan as the background. I chose to use a vertical format in composing this photograph, creating an image that leads the eye from the foreground to the vast open view in the background.

These pictures are to show examples of composition.

All these outdoor photography tips can be very useful for the outdoor photographer. Now when you travel or go outdoors, take your camera along and take some great photos. The outdoors are great and there are wonderful areas that make great subjects for great pictures.

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