David Bedry – “Nature photography: basics and more”

Simplicity – always beware the cluttered background
– D. Bedry

Much better…
– D. Bedry

Framing – is your story about the cabin?
– D. Bedry

or the epic landscape it’s surrounded by?
– D. Bedry

That’s a whole lot of snow geese…
– D. Bedry

But this is a better shot. Because of the perfectly focused bird nicely placed using the “Rule of Thirds”
– D. Bedry

Lines – those sunbeams filtering through the forest canopy are really nice…
– D. Bedry

But the path is also a “line” for the eye to follow…and isn’t it more intriguing to have a traveler upon it?
– D. Bedry

Balance – here are two snags with live trees in the background
– D. Bedry

And without moving more than a few steps, here are two snags with the clutted background intentionally minimized, being replaced by the BIG, GIANT sky…
– D. Bedry

Here’s a very nice photo of poppies.
– D. Bedry

I don’t know about you, but I’m seeing “simplicity”,”lines”, “framing” and “balance” all wrapped by a master photographer.
starting to get the idea?
– D. Bedry

Sometimes it’s just better not to over-think things.
– D. Bedry

David Bedry – “Nature photography: basics and more”
by Andrew Bryant, 19 Jan 2019.

Long-time club member and skilled photographer David Bedry provided an informative look at “getting it right” when creating images…no matter what gear you use.

He began with a 1979 Kodak film called The Beginnings of Photographic Composition.  If that sounds dated or dull, well…trust me it wasn’t!  Indeed, it was solid introduction to the principles of good photography…which David’s been kind enough to expand upon here.

In a nutshell, whether you shoot with a smart phone, a basic point-and-shoot, or a high-end DSLR, these principles (framing, lines, balance, rule of thirds, etc) will improve your photography.  Because they’ll make you think about the shot before you pick up the camera!

The second part of David’s talk was solid fun.
We explored a diverse selection of his own images – combined with his humorous and candid appraisal about why this particular shot is a keeper and why, oh my word…
this one’s a dud.

Nicely done.