Jon Cox - Digital Nature Photography

Text and photographs copyright 2003 Jonathan Cox
First published in New York in 2003 byAmphoto Books, an imprint of Watson-Guptill Publications,
a division of VNU Business Media, Inc.
770 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
www.amphotobooks.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cox, Jon, 1975
Digital nature photography / Jon Cox.
p. cm.
Includes index.
eISBN: 978-0-385-34450-0
1. Nature photography. 2. PhotographyDigital techniques. I. Title.
TR267.C69 2003
778.93dc21

2002151855

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any meansgraphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage-and-retrieval systemswithout the written permission of the publisher.

Sunrise, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. Nikon D1X with Nikkor 2870mm 1:4.5 macro lens

: Hay bales in frost, Unionville, Pennsylvania. Nikon D1X with Nikkor 2870mm 1:4.5 macro lens

Front cover: Lake Jenny, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming (see )

Senior Editor: Victoria Craven
Project Editor: Alisa Palazzo
Designer: Jay Anning, Thumb Print

v3.1

Jon Cox is a photographer, writer, and instructor who spends his winters and summers teaching nature/wildlife photography courses for the University of Delaware. His teaching destinations have included Tanzania, Antarctica, and the national parks of both the United States and Canada. During the remainder of the year, he is on staff with Digital Camera magazine as their adventure photographer/writer, and he also owns a freelance digital photography business. When not traveling, he photographs the natural world near his home in Unionville, Pennsylvania.

Gull, Edmonds Ferry, Washington. Nikon D1X with Nikkor AF VR 80400mm lens

To Susan Baldwinwho gave me my first shot and has helped me every
step of the waythanks for being my mentor, inspiration, and friend

Lemarie Channel, Antarctica. Nikon D1X with Nikkor 2870mm 1:4.5 macro lens

I spent most of my childhood exploring the countless facets of nature: collecting insects and snakes, and watching an abundance of creatures interact with their environment. My love of nature led me to study the natural sciences throughout my college career. At the age of twenty-one, I enrolled in a wildlife photography course and purchased my first 35mm SLR camera, the Pentax K1000. From this point, I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life: photograph nature.

After graduating with a bachelors degree in entomology and plant pathology, I began working as an arborist, diagnosing diseases of trees and shrubs for a local tree company. My goal was to work for eight years, save enough money to quit at the age of thirty, and follow my dream of becoming a nature photographer. Well, I lasted only a year and half when I left the arborist position to become a part-time photographer for the University of Delaware.

Wanting to introduce the schools photography system to the new digital age, I purchased the new Nikon Coolpix 950. I fell in love with the new technology. Its rare for me to shoot a roll of film nowadays. In fact, Ive shot only five rolls in the last two years.

I spend my winters and summers teaching nature/wildlife photography courses for the University of Delaware in Tanzania, Antarctica, and the national parks of the United States. During the remainder of the year, Im on staff with Digital Camera magazine as their adventure photographer/writer. I also run a freelance digital photography business shooting a variety of subjects.

The advanced technology of digital nature photography has taken me out of the office and brought me closer to nature. I take my laptop into the field, which gives me my own twenty-four-hour darkroom, film processor, and CD burner (to make sure I have a hard copy of my images). With everything at my fingertips; my only worry is whether or not Ive brought along enough food to sustain myself in the backcountry.

My goal as a nature photographer is to introduce as many people to the natural world as possible. The more that people see and understand nature, the more likely they are to help preserve it. As stewards of the Earth we must conserve and protect what we have leftnot only the endangered pandas and tigers of the world, but the creatures that live in our own backyards.

Wildflowers, median strip on Route 301, Maryland. Nikon D1X with Nikkor 2870mm 1:4.5 macro lens

I used a variety of digital camerasfrom the 2.54 Megapixel Nikon Coolpix 950 to the 5.47 Megapixel Nikon D1Xto shoot all the images in this book. For years, many photographers involved themselves in only part of the photographic process. If they shot negatives or slides, they would most likely send the film away to a lab for processing and prints. With the advent of the digital camera, even beginning photographers can be in charge of the entire photographic process just as professional photographers have been for over a hundred years.

As a digital nature photographer, you capture the scene, download your shot, adjust for quality, and print out the photograph. Seeing your image through the entire photographic process is gratifyingand very possible with todays digital technology.

Im going to guide you through the stages needed to capture, print, and store your digital nature images for years to come. My book teaches the reader to shoot in a variety of lighting situations using a variety of digital photographic techniques. Since every camera is different, this book will not teach you how to use the settings on your specific camera; rather, it offers a guide on how to use the general settings on many cameras to consistently capture fabulous digital nature images. I am not promoting certain cameras or equipment. I take you through the process I go through to capture images like the ones youll see in these pages.

Cattails with spiderweb, Unionville, Pennsylvania. Nikon D1X with Nikkor AF VR 80400mm lens