Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
There are plenty of great wildlife photographers who take awe-inspiring and interesting shots. But when these animals do funny things and take silly poses: it adds a whole new level to wildlife photography.
The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards is centered on the photos of animals that are sure to improve your day. The finalists of the 2018 contest have just been announced, and these will definitely brighten up your mood.
We’ve seen animals snatching cameras before. While penguins, chimps and polar bears took some selfies, this lioness decided to use a pricey camera as a toy for her cubs. It happened when wildlife photographer Barbara Jensen Vorster dropped her camera, and the big cat snatched it and give her little ones something to play with. Luckily, Vorster had a second camera, so she managed to capture the playful bunch dragging $2,600 worth of gear around.
All photographers have their favorite accessories they couldn’t imagine their lives without. In this video, Steve Perry suggests eight of those accessories that could make your life much easier if you’re a nature photographer and often use big lenses. Most of them are pretty affordable, and some are even DIY, so you won’t spend a fortune on them, yet you could really find them handy.
Wildlife photography and filming has come an extremely long way in the last few decades. This is thanks in large part to organisations like the BBC and National Geographic. The development of cameras and ingenuity of their teams has allowed them to see things that were never before possible, and they continue this trend today.
National Geographic recently posted an article and video on their website covering some of their photographic inventions since founding the Remote Imaging Lab in National Geographic’s Washington, D.C. headquarters.
When photographing wildlife – much like hiring a new employee or going on a date with someone you met online – it’s essential to do a background check. What is behind the animal that you’re photographing?
The background can completely make or break an image. It’s essentially the canvas that you’re painting the rest of your picture on top of. By paying more attention to what’s going on back there you can vastly improve your images.
I’m going to show you four photos. They all feature the same Tenerife Lizard and were all taken a handful of seconds apart. The only thing I changed between each image was my physical position in relation to the lizard, giving me an entirely different background each time. Let’s have a look!
We see photo shoots and videos all the time with clickbaity titles like “amazing”, “insane”, “you won’t believe…”, etc. And they rarely live up to expectations. Photographer Mark Smith, however, did capture something pretty amazing. Many of us dream of having bald eagles in front of our lens. But Mark saw not one, but a whole bunch of them hunting and even fighting.
Out with his Nikon D850 and 500mm f/4 lens, he had the perfect opportunity to shoot some great images of the magnificent birds, and he did exactly that. But unlike most videos, this one’s actually narrated by Mark, with a very cool story of the day, what he saw and how he felt.
Tyler Fairbank’s Safari Botswana offers a unique way to see the majestic animals of Africa. This immersive video takes you on an epic journey across the desert and savannas of the country in hyperlapse speed.
Photographer Kevin Ebi has recently captured a dramatic wildlife encounter you definitely don’t see every day. While he was photographing a baby fox that caught a rabbit, a bald eagle stormed down and tried stealing the fox’s dinner. The bird lifted bot the fox and the rabbit off the ground, they fought more than 20 feet in the air, and Kevin was lucky to capture the unusual fight on camera.
You may not have heard of Thomas Mangelsen, but he is one of the most respected icons in the world of wildlife photography. With an illustrious career that spans forty years, he’s responsible for some of the most popular wildlife photos that include the Catch of the Day, an image you’ve most likely seen of a bear catching a fish jumping out of a raging stream. Last weekend, we got a better glimpse of his life on the award-winning show 60 Minutes with Anderson Cooper.
Just a few days ago, Brazilian photographer Marcio Cabral was disqualified from the 2017 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition when it was found out that he placed a stuffed animal in his winning image. The scandal has since gained a lot of attention that even Conan O’ Brien discussed it on his late night show.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.
To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.
JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.
Find my work on My website or follow me on Facebook or My page
