Photography Techniques
Photography is more than documentation — it is the art of seeing. In nature photography, technique shapes emotion, transforming familiar subjects into moments of clarity, mystery, or wonder. This collection brings together posts that explore the creative choices behind my work: how light, exposure, composition, and timing reveal deeper layers of the natural world.
Here you’ll find short essays that reflect on the craft behind the image. Some entries focus on mood and atmosphere, such as the luminous world of high key photography. Others consider movement, color, texture, or the quiet power of backlighting. Each post offers a way of seeing that elevates both the photograph and the experience of being present in nature.
Recent Popular post
"Behind the Curtain: Editing for Beauty"
A post that has been widely read about editing, showing in a series what each step in my photo editing does for an image.
New Post
Moon thoughts
focusing on the embodied experience of shooting at night in the cold, and on post-processing techniques.
Moon thoughts after photographing the March 2026 total eclipse.
Also Available
LONG EXPOSURE BLOG SERIES
Long Exposure And the Drama of Clouds
Long Exposure Part II: Blurring Trains and Cars
Long Exposure Part I; Blurred Wings First in a promised series exploring long exposure as a technique with important uses, starting with capturing motion through the blurring of birds' wings in flight.
And this launch pad/ introduction to new series on Long Exposure as a photographic technique
Other Technique-Oriented Posts
The Magic of Time Lapse: Science and Art is now joined by The Magic of Time Lapse: Revisited
Flipping Light and Dark— The wonders of backlit subjects
• High Key Photography — How brightness, simplicity, and controlled exposure create airy, fine-art images of birds, flowers, and landscapes.
Macro Photography — How extremely close-up photos with a very shallow depth of field so that the subject is “tack sharp” and the context blurred, achieving a unique focus.
As this series grows, these posts will form a kind of map — a guide to the artistic tools and visual strategies that shape my approach to nature.
Related Galleries
These techniques come alive in the field. To see how they influence my work
•Videos— those shot at normal rate and then sped upas well as those shot as time lapse
• Birds All — Raptors, songbirds, and shorebirds rendered in natural light and subtle motion.
• Flowers — Close studies of color, translucence, and delicate form.
• Animals in Action — Wildlife in motion, where technique and timing meet.
• Bosque del Apache — Migratory birds in the rhythms of morning light
PS— In a "parallel universe," I write "meta-blogs" at Outdoorswithcamera.! See latest post which addresses photo editing techniques like "photo merge."