Outdoor Photographer April 2020

Telephoto Wildlife Technique How to get the most out of your long telephoto lens for wildlife photography. Tip Of The Week Available on our website—or delivered directly to your inbox—our “Tip of the Week” provides shooting and processing techniques to sharpen your photography skills. Sign up today. Solve Creative & Technical Challenges George Lepp’s “Tech Tips” column explores practical solutions and gear advice for a wide range of photographic subjects. Assignments Share your best shots in our weekly “Assignments” photo challenges. Submit your images that fit the week’s theme—you may be our next Assignment winner. Connect With Us Get the latest news and be inspired by great photos from the Outdoor Photographer community. Newsletter Subscribe today for updates on the latest features, how-to articles and photography news. outdoorphotographer.com/newsletter/…

Photographer: Josh Miller Location: Ansel Adams Wilderness, California Equipment: Nikon D300, AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED Situation: Bordering on the southeastern side of Yosemite National Park, the Ansel Adams Wilderness has long been a favorite area for photographers who are willing to carry their gear deep into the backcountry. Having first seen the location while working as a backpacking guide years prior, when I became a photographer, I knew it was a location I had to get back to. I have made many trips into the area, including by skis in the winter. The trick with this location is being there at the perfect time for both the wildflowers as well as clouds at sunrise. While backpacking in the Sierra Nevada is truly world-class, one of the downfalls of having such stable summer…

Macro photography is a subject you can explore year-round, in any season and just about anywhere. Success in macro can be technically challenging, but that’s also one of its benefits. It’s an opportunity to practice and strengthen your compositional skills, your use of light and your attention to details like precise focus. Plus, you can likely find subjects within a few steps from where you’re reading this. In “Focus On Macro,” Darrell Gulin shares the inspiration and top tips for making close-up images that he has gained over many years of creative macro work. Also in this issue, we present an introductory guide to macro lenses that explains the basic concepts to consider when choosing a lens. Every major camera maker, as well as the leading third-party lens makers, offer…

Darrell Gulin is a past president of the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) and a Canon Explorer of Light. He has traveled to all seven continents and finds macro photographs anywhere he goes. See more of his work at gulinphoto.com. Josh Miller’s photography has appeared in the pages of publications throughout the world. He also leads photo workshops in the western U.S., Alaska and Central America. Learn more at joshmillerphotography.com and follow him on Instagram @joshmillerphotography. Howard Arndt is a wildlife and conservation photographer based in Amherst, New Hampshire. He has been published previously in Outdoor Photographer and has been recognized by Audubon and Adirondack Life. See more of his work at howardarndtphoto.com.…

Nature’s Bouquet By Bill Marson “Immortalized by Claude Monet, water lilies entrance artists with their shapes, patterns and color palette. On a remote lake deep in the wilderness of Quebec, I captured this image that I feel portrays the true essence of this timeless motif. “Alone in a rowboat, and without my polarizing filter, I needed to carefully navigate myself into a position within a large field of lily pads. A light summer breeze kept my boat ever so slowly drifting and turning, making things more amusing. The only way to keep my lens parallel to the water’s surface was to take this picture one-handed, steadily extending my arm precariously over the bow of the boat. With continuous autofocus engaged, I deliberately chose my exposure to balance my unconventional handholding technique with the…

My college graduation present from my parents was a Mamiya 6 rangefinder. I loved that camera. It offered the image quality of medium-format film but in a hand-friendly, rangefinder-style body rather than the boxy form factor of most medium-format cameras. It had its limitations. There were only three lenses available, and rangefinders can be more difficult to use when you’re trying for a precise crop in-camera. But the extra detail captured by the medium-format frame made the trade-offs worth it for me. The Hasselblad X1D 50C, introduced in 2016, and its successor, the X1D II 50C, remind me a lot of the Mamiya 6. It’s a similar story: medium-format image quality in a body that’s familiar, approachable and designed to be used on-the-go rather than stuck in a studio. It, too,…