Photographing Nature: A photo workshop from Brooks Institute's top nature photography instructor

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Product Author Bios

Ralph A. Clevenger teaches courses in nature photography, stock photography, video production, and undersea photography at Brooks Institute. Clevenger has traveled throughout the world on assignment. His clients include the Monterey Bay Aquarium, The Nature Conservancy, Denali National Park Wilderness Center, the National Park Service, and the National Marine Sanctuary. His publication credits include Audubon, Aqua, Islands, Oceans, Outside, National Geographic magazine, National Geographic Traveler, Popular Photography, National Geographic Books, Smithsonian Books, Sierra Club Books, and many other national and international publications. Ralph’s stock images are represented worldwide by Corbis Images.

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25 years of nature photography instruction in one gorgeous, full-color, hands-on course

Anyone can photograph nature—just step outside and you’re on location. But becoming a good nature photographer takes expert training. In Photographing Nature, Ralph Clevenger, whose images have appeared in such publications as Nature’s Best and National Geographic, shares the techniques he’s been personally using and teaching to aspiring photographers for the last 25 years in his popular nature photography course at the elite Brooks Institute.

In this stunning, four-color course-in-a-book, each chapter opens with a spectacular photo spread from the natural world that Clevenger uses to illustrate themes and techniques essential to mastering nature photography. Just as he does in his classroom at Brooks, Clevenger explains how each photo was captured, the tools and techniques used, and typical problems related to capturing such a photo, along with solutions. Chapters also include sample Q&A sessions as well as assignments you can try yourself.

By the time you’ve worked through all of the techniques in this beautiful, yet informative book, you’ll not only photograph the world differently, you’ll see it differently as well. With a foreword by George Lepp, one of North America’s best-known contemporary outdoor and nature photographers.

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Web Resources

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Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful Inspiring nature photography and how you can create it, November 28, 2009 By  Hartley J. Jackson (Lyndonville, VT United States) - See all my reviews    This review is from: Photographing Nature: A photo workshop from Brooks Institute's top nature photography instructor (Paperback) This is a wonderful and inspiring nature photography book for intermediate and advanced photographers. For everyone else it is a beautiful book that will probably get you interested in taking better nature pictures. "Photographing Nature" contains outstanding nature photographs and the instructions for creating them. Ralph Clevenger describes the sometimes very expensive equipment used. He also recommends using a garbage bag for taking "wet belly" photographs, which is about a down to earth as any instructions could get. I really like the author's answer to the moral question of manipulating the picture as opposed to recording the truth. He demonstrates his logic with a picture that has earned a great deal of money. It clearly shows the truth about icebergs with a composite photograph that would be impossible to make with the camera alone. "Photographing Nature" covers composing seeing light, modifying the light when taking the picture, and altering... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you?  Report abuse | Permalink  Comment 33 of 41 people found the following review helpful Meandering, November 10, 2009 By  Conrad J. Obregon (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews          This review is from: Photographing Nature: A photo workshop from Brooks Institute's top nature photography instructor (Paperback) It always seems strange to me that one of the best ways that we can find to keep in touch with the natural world is by using a high tech tool like a digital camera and a computer. Yet I find, as I wander about the woods, mountains and shores, more and more people are there with their cameras, and more and more people are interested in the nature images that I capture. Given this, I was quite eager to see what an instructor from Brooks Institute could offer to help me make better images. The book is divided into sections with titles intended to evoke a smile like "Play Nice", "You Need More Stuff?" and "Wet Belly Photography". The author tries to keep the same light tone throughout the book. You can't always tell from the title what a chapter is about so you must read on to learn that "An Ounce of Prevention" is about photographing in zoos. After an introduction most chapters include the same subheadings: equipment, lighting, questions and answers, and assignments to... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you?  Report abuse | Permalink  Comment 6 of 8 people found the following review helpful A Great Nature Photo Book, December 2, 2009 By  TM Images "Tom" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews This review is from: Photographing Nature: A photo workshop from Brooks Institute's top nature photography instructor (Paperback) I thought this book was really great. My first impressions before even opening the book was that it was heavy a bigger than many photo books out there. The cover also says quite a bit about the info inside. "A photo workshop from Brooks Insitute's top nature photography instructor." This gives you a sense of what this book is, and who it is for. The intended audience seems to be those who have a good grounding in photography but are looking for both basic explanations and detailed advances in their nature photography. As a photographer who leads workshops, I am often amazed that many of my students do not approach the wild with an ethical manner. Therefore, it was refreshing and encouraging to see that the author devoted the first chapter of his book to those ethical issues that all nature photographers should be aware of. To this, I say kudos. All photographers who want to go out into the world should be grounded in these ethical principals. The book is split... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you?  Report abuse | Permalink  Comment

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Praise For Photographing Nature: A photo workshop from Brooks Institute's top nature photography instructor

"I'm impressed! Clevenger covers topics most other books lack including ethics and environmental impact. His Q&A sections give valuable advice we can all use."
– John Nuhn, Photography Director, National Wildlife magazine

"Photographing Nature reminds us that it takes knowledge and an appreciation of the technology, subject, and environment— combined with creativity—to make a great photograph."
– Nancy Carrizales, Vice-President, Animals Animals / Earth Scenes

Online Sample Chapter

Photographing Nature: Not Everything's Black-and-White

Table of Contents

Foreword    x
Introduction    xii

1. Play nice    2
Ethics
Knowledge and creativity
Equipment
Becoming part of the solution
Questions and Answers

2. You need more stuff?    24
Stuff
Practice
Equipment
Lighting
Questions and Answers

3. It’s all about the light    50
Qualities of light
Equipment
Lighting
Questions and Answers
Assignments to try

4. Not everything’s black-and-white    74
The color of nature
Equipment
Lighting
Questions and Answers
Assignments to try

5. Flash! And you’re in control    92
Light at 1/20,000 of a second
Equipment
Lighting
Questions and Answers
Assignments to try

6. Wet-belly photography    110
Finding flowers and chasing bugs
Equipment
Lighting
Questions and Answers
Assignments to try

7. Garden variety shots    128
Nature so close
Equipment
Lighting
Questions and Answers
Assignments to try

8. The wonder of wildlife    146
Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
Equipment
Lighting
Questions and Answers
Assignments to try

9. An ounce of prevention    166
Zoos
Equipment
Lighting
Questions and Answers
Assignments to try

10. Land, sea, and sky    186
The wide view
Telling the story
Equipment
Lighting
Questions and Answers
Assignments to try

11. Looking through the frame    206
The frame
Composing the image
Equipment
Lighting
Questions and Answers
Assignments to try

12. What are you looking at?    228
Preconceptions
Equipment
Lighting
Questions and Answers
Assignments to try

13. On the road    248
Road trip
A ‘typical day’ of shooting
Equipment
Lighting
Questions and Answers
Assignments to try

14. Back in the lab    272
Becoming the lab
Manipulation
Equipment
Lighting
Questions and Answers
Assignments to try

Appendix: Resources
Index

Downloadable Sample Chapter

Download Chapter 10: Land, sea, and sky