NBPS Flickr Contest: Matthew Sullivan!

No use without photographer’s permission under any circumstances.

Photo Info: Wolf Spider in Alexhauken Creek, NJ

This image is great – When I first opened this image I actually jumped! The crisp detail of the spider’s features made the creature seem like it would leap out of my computer. I love how tight Matthew is with this shot and how the focus is primarily on the spider’s eery eyes. Awesome job Matthew!

New Issue of Magazine

Hi Students!
Here is the link to the newest Nature’s Best Photography for Students online digital interactive edition: http://www.mygazines.com/issue/12125. Take a look and enjoy!

We look forward to seeing YOUR photos from summer break, whether you are relaxing at home, busy with jobs and internships, or off traveling on vacation. We want to hear your ideas for stories and hope you will share your tips and tricks for successful photography.

All the best! The NBP team

Skylarks (Jodie Randall)

In between taking far too many photographs of my local hares, which seems to have turned into a bit of a project, I have become increasingly distracted by the resident skylarks. A small brown and white streaked bird, the skylark predominantly resides on farmland. Due to changing agricultural practices the species is now in trouble, resulting in the bird gaining red list conservation status. Birds on the red list are of the highest conservation priority. Fortunately there are quite a few individuals doing well at my hare site. Personally, I have always thought them to be quite indistinct looking little birds. It is their song that sets them apart. Usually heard as they soar delightfully towards the heavens until to the human eye they are no more than a silhouetted speck, their melodious song cuts through the air. They provide the natural soundtrack as I wait for the hares to appear. Their notes rain down from above drenching the landscape with song. The other day, I came across one perching on a mound of earth. Set among the dew-covered grasses it sang; sharp yet  somehow sweet, every intoxicating note spilled into the misty morning air along with its golden breath. After I had taken some shots, there was nothing left to do but sit and listen.

Archive Issues Now Online

Hi Readers!

Six of our issues are now online. You can go online to http://www.mygazines.com/issue/12125 to launch the magazine viewer. Click on the archive icon (a folder on the top bar) and check out the back issues.

Best, Gabby

Hey! (Jess Findlay)

Hey everyone!

I’m new to this group so I’d thought I’d introduce myself…

My name is Jess Findlay, I’m 17 years old and am from Burnaby B.C. Canada, just outside Vancouver. I shoot mainly birds but I also enjoy shooting mammals, macro’s, scenics etc. My Dad Randy Findlay and my good friend Connor Stefanison shoot at various locations around southwest B.C. I’m very lucky to live in such a great spot. I hope to learn lots from this blog and am excited to showcase some of the cool species from my area.

Btw, check out my website and let me know whatcha think…. http://jessfindlay.zenfolio.com/

Thanks, Jess

A Day with Art Wolfe

Seminar at the Hilton Alexandria Old Town, June 5^th, 2010

By Emma Canfield, Nature’s Best Photography

Art Wolfe, who is probably best known now for his series on Public Television, “Art Wolfe’s Travels to the Edge,” but has also produced more than 65 books and videos of photography and instructional material on photographic technique, recently gave an all-day presentation in Alexandria, Virginia, to an audience of serious amateur photographers. The day was a personal and engaging journey through the creative process of photography as Art Wolfe sees it, starting with some of the fundamentals of composition, and moving on through specific examples.

Art talked about his “Ten Deadly Sins of Composition,” which was a really fantastic summary of what NOT to do as a photographer! As a Junior Photo major at RISD, I felt he gave a great summary of all the basics of composition and technique, whether the audience was serious amateurs or professionals. He covered all the important aspects of composition, including line, and how it controls the viewer’s response to the image, the use of color, texture, lighting, and depth of field. He really focused on the use of light to create drama, and how a simple change in the lighting can completely change the impact of a photograph.

New Member

Hi Natures Best readers!

My name is Emma Canfield, and I am a rising Junior in Photography at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD.)  I am currently a summer intern at Nature’s Best magazine. Now that I have joined the team, I will be adding regular posts to the blog, so stay tuned in and I’ll be giving any advice you all may need or want on photography. Feel free to ask any questions you have, and I’ll try to answer them. I can post some of my own work or give critiques as well (as the other contributors to the blog have already been doing). If you want to see any of my work to get a sense of what I do on my own here is a link to my website: http://emmacanfield.com/

Thanks!

– Emma

NBPS Flickr Contest: Great image by Kristina V!

I love this image – while the ‘rule’ is often to have animals facing into the frame, or with more space in front of the direction they are facing than behind, I think the composition works in this case. The snow and the white birds offer a pleasing color balance. I also love the reflections. Great job Kristina!

NBPS Flickr Contest (Evan Pagano)

This is a great image – instead of just focusing on the insect, Evan has included the environment. I love the shape of the flower! I would like to see a tad more depth-of-field just to compare. More depth-of-field could make the background distracting, in which case I think that this is the best exposure.

Garden fledgelings (Jodie Randall)

A couple of days ago I received a call from a friend to say that a family of Long-tailed tits had fledged in his garden. When I arrived, I could hear the loud high-pitched calls of the parent birds. I quietly crept through into the back garden. One fledgling was sitting by the gate on the low branch of an evergreen tree, the other huddled up against a wall a few metres away by the back door. They looked very young – too young to leave the nest. Their wings and tails had not developed properly and they weren’t able to fly. They were helpless. At least two more I was told, had already met their end at the hand of the local jays, another had been caught by a cat, but then rescued and released back into the shrubbery.

For anyone involved with wildlife the usual policy is to leave well alone and let nature take its course but that can sometimes be very difficult. I noticed that the chick by the door was not getting fed at all, presumably because it was so close to the house. It looked cold and tired, and after some deliberation we decided the best thing to do would be to place it under the bushes with its sibling (using gardening gloves to avoid transferring any scent to the chick). I was relieved to see them minutes later huddled together. The time was getting on, and the light was fading so I had to leave. By now the third tit who had been rescued from the jaws of one of the local cats had joined them, forming a fluffy black and white ball.

I didn’t hold out much hope for them surviving the night. I couldn’t understand why they had left the nest so young. The next day the chicks were nowhere to be seen.

The mystery of why they had fledged so early was discovered the next day. A beautiful nest, carefully crafted with moss lay broken on the ground beneath a grapevine and large pine tree. It had been knocked from its branch, sealing the young birds’ fate.

www.jodierandall.co.uk