Shaw J. - Guide to Digital Nature Photography

The act of photography
is the capture
of optimal data.

The art of photography
is the capture
of optimal vision.

Autumn quaking aspens on a frosty morning, near June Lake, California. Nikon D2x, Nikon 2870mm lens, 1/2 sec., f /16, ISO 100

I am thrilled with the digital revolution. In 1984, more than thirty years ago, Amphoto Books published my first book, The Nature Photographers Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques . At that time, Kodachrome was the film of choice. In 2001, John Shaws Nature Photography Field Guide came out. The big news then was the advent of autofocus, autoexposure, and TTL (through-the-lens) flash. Most nature photographers had switched from Kodak to Fuji films. Well, things photographic have continued to change. For most photographers today, Kodak and Fuji are just historic names. Digital capture and processing is the norm: witness the fact that most young photographers have never shot a roll of film or waited days for prints to come back from a lab. Cameras now have menu choices, and publishing most often means uploading an image to the Web.

For me, it has been an exciting journey. I am fascinated by the digital process and amazed at what it allows me to do. When I last shot with a film camera, my high speed film was ISO 200; my current camera goes to ISO 204,800. With my camera, I can wirelessly control multiple flash units, customize how buttons and dials work, and view a live image direct from the sensor. Instead of waiting for film to be processed, thanks to computers and software I can have a finished image shortly after pressing the shutter button.

The process of nature photography is always changing, always evolvingnew products and new techniques come along all the time. I encourage you to develop your own way of working, your own equipment choices, and, most of all, your own vision. The book you are now holding is not in any way intended as a final word on how to take pictures. Rather, it is a summation of my thoughts about camera equipment and a description of some of the methods I currently use. I hope you will consider this work a starting point for your own explorations with a camera.

As you read this book, you will notice that I frequently refer to Nikon equipment. I dont in any way mean to imply that you should buy only Nikon products, although Ive been pleased with the system. I have worked with Nikon equipment all of my professional career, and I have photographed my own equipment when needed for illustration; however, quality nature photos can be taken with any currently produced photographic system. Youll also notice that I often recommend certain equipment or suppliers; I am not sponsored by any manufacturers, nor do I get subsidies or kickbacks for my recommendations.

In all of my books, I have included a statement that I will repeat here. Its as true today as it was thirty years ago:

To be a better nature photographer, be a better naturalist. The more you know about nature, the more you will see to photograph. Develop a deeper compassion for the world around us, and live by an ethic of concern for the subject matter.

Each year, I travel the globe to take pictures, often leading photo tours or workshops. The people in these groups are specifically interested in photographing the natural world, yet its on these trips that I inevitably hear the question What is there to photograph?

Truly this is the wrong question to ask; it leads photographers to take pictures that are empty of emotional content. Without passionate involvement, our pictures are nothing more than records. The question we should be asking is What is there to discover? Only after we have let our minds and eyes deal intimately with the abundance of natural marvels around us should we attempt to photograph them.

Photography should be both a process of discovery and a procedure for recording that discovery. In the process of photography, we order the chaos around us by making decisions. We decide to emphasize one aspect of the worldwhat we have discoveredand ignore all others. We want to represent that subject in a way that conveys how it has emotionally involved us. To do this, we must make conscious decisions about what to include within the photographic frame and how to organize the content. At this point, the procedure of photography enters. Now we must make technical choices involving the mechanics of photography: lenses, light, and exposure.