By definition, the background isn’t supposed to be as important as the subject, right? Well, that may be true, but the real point should be that you usually have far more control over the background than the wildlife! Here’s a pick-and-mix list of things you can do to improve your backgrounds—either by removing something negative or adding something positive.
Read MoreCapture the Moment!
Here are all my posts on photography, covering techniques, trips, research, exhibitions, talks and workshops. Watch out for my latest article every Saturday.
I’ve also written dozens of articles for Expert Photography and Camera Reviews.
If you’d like to contribute a guest post on any aspect of photography, please email me at nick@nickdalephotography.com. My standard fee is £50 plus £10 for each dofollow link.
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Experiment with Lens Blur
Lightroom's latest release (13.0.1) has just come out, and it offers a cool new AI feature called Lens Blur that works with any image format. It's labelled 'Early Access', so it's experimental and doesn't (yet) work with masking or presets or include sharpening, but it's a great way to add creative blur in post.
Read MoreAperture settings for wildlife photography
The aperture is simply the size of the hole in the lens through which light passes on its way to the sensor, and the principle is similar to that of the shutter speed.
The bigger the aperture, the more light reaches the sensor and therefore the brighter the image (all other things being equal). The smaller the aperture, the less light reaches the sensor and therefore the darker the image.
Read MoreDepth of field
To blur or not to blur. That is the question.
In this article, I’ll tell you how to control depth of field (or DOF) and try to show you when you don’t want it, when you do want it and what to do when it all goes horribly wrong!
Read MoreRules of composition
As everyone knows, "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach" - but that doesn't stop me trying to do both!
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