hi everybody I’m Ashley clean uh thanks
for joining us again we’re here in
beautiful Napa Valley
forget outdoors day and we are here with
National Geographic and our friends at
Nature Valley I’m joined by Ben Horan
the wonderful photographer he’s going to
show you guys some tips and tricks to
take better photos in your own world
thanks for joining us Ben
I’m super excited to be here and just
kind of show people my process on how I
try to get great photos and beautiful
places like this and I think we have a
really great day for it today we do the
light keeps changing which is cool
because it gives us different options
and you know sometimes it’s a little
overcast like this which you know
there’s less big shadows and bright
spots and then sometimes we’re gonna
have that beautiful backlight so nature
is unpredictable you kind of just have
to work with it that’s exactly the point
so if you guys have any questions for
Ben please comment below and he will
answer any questions that you guys have
so do you want to just show what do you
think is gonna be the best you know even
while we were just standing right here I
saw something behind us I thought looked
pretty cool you see this kind of tunnel
going through the trees with the trail
and the beautiful redwoods around it
yeah I see some really tall redwoods
first right there there’s this strip of
light that’s just starting to come
through the clouds right now and I think
it’d be a really cool shot
that would have a little bit of story in
it because I’m gonna have you walk
through it wonderful well direct away
all right yeah you know best all right
so I’m gonna stay right here and what I
want you to do is just to walk up
through there and kind of pause in that
light and then you can take a few more
steps to the top of that Ridge and then
just come back and if you want I can put
the iPad in here that would be great
that’s so helpful so you want me to be
facing this way and then facing back
yeah just walk up and then walk back and
I’ll shoot as you go great is this pace
good that pace is perfect so the idea
here is just to get a little bit of
story in the photo and right now and
she’s walking that light she gets a
little bit of a halo around her and bad
she’s kind of backlit by that light now
you can come back great
really pretty yeah I love taking photos
that tell story that’s you know hard to
do sometimes in pure landscape photos
but when we’re out here together like
this it’s a perfect opportunity and I
think you know what a better place to
tell a story than when you’re surrounded
by these beautiful redwoods and this
wonderful foliage there’s your iPad well
I appreciate it
yeah it’s you know with all this green
and like all the leaves and everything
around us sometimes it can be really
confusing there’s just so many things
going on that it’s hard to focus in on
one thing one of the things that we talk
about in photography a lot of the time
is trying to decide what to keep out of
a picture rather than what to put in you
know if you just went wide and tried to
photograph this whole scene you’d get
lost in the image but there’s so much
yeah there’s just so much going on but
there’s so many details that we can get
close to you know and using light we can
make things like silhouettes it just it
opens up the creative world to us so
that’s that’s tip number one for me is
teaching people how to decide what to
leave out okay so what’s the next
opportunity that you see around here I
see a lot of really small plants yeah
you know I want to get into some macro
photography I think I saw something
further up the trail okay I just kind of
want to walk through and see what we see
because the lights it’s changed since I
was here last so you know taking a look
at all of it fresh perspectives is there
something like a big take away that you
can just give to our fans that they
should just look out for maybe when
they’re in a landscape it would be
really good for them yeah I mean maybe
this is a little bit more complex than
what you’re looking for but my biggest
tip to people with photography is to
show people how you see the world and
that’ll always be a unique perspective
for them well that’s a great story to
tell yeah so like you know when I’m
walking through here I’m seeing like the
pathway the story of somebody moving
through the forest and then you know
these ain’t
Gentry’s around in all these patterns so
I’m I’m taking pictures of things that I
think I’m noticing that other people
might walk right by and as a
photographer I’m looking for light a lot
of the time and like right here this is
really beautiful
this is a beautiful scene right here
yeah it’s so I’ll tell you what I’m
seeing here you know first of all it’s
just a really cool situation where this
log has fallen over the creek but
there’s also it’s layered here there’s a
lot of perspective for us when it’s just
flat our eye really has nothing to dive
into but when you have you know this
foreground middle-ground backgrounds
situation then it’s more interesting for
us a personal look into the picture a
little bit you know probably a good shot
of just you right on the edge of this
log here and that’ll give us our
foreground element and then we’ll get
you know the creek tells the story of
where you are and what you’re doing then
we have the background element of that
big beautiful log in the background
don’t try it so you’re making me take a
little bit I’m not gonna I’m not gonna
make you walk into the middle just right
here on the edge you know and what we’re
doing is I’m actually using you to give
somebody that vicarious experience to
live through so like when they see you
looking off into this view what they’re
doing is they’re putting themselves in
that position right making this world
you know if I was taking just like a
portrait of you that’s a picture of you
and nobody really lives vicariously
through that but you looking off into
the end of the distance that’ll give
somebody something to think about and I
think even that speaks so much to get
outdoors day to day – this is perfect
for getting outdoors it’s perfect yeah
so I will I will get right on over there
I’m gonna trade this off with you I
guess oh I have a nice spot for it
wonderful so I will get up here just let
me know yeah well you just go to where
you’re comfortable in I don’t need you
to go far at all you don’t have to go
over the edge and that probably is
better if you don’t
yeah I don’t think I really want to go
over the edge because that wouldn’t be
good for anybody no right there’s great
okay so what I’m gonna have you do is
actually turn to look out that way
great
now I’m keeping the ground here at this
side of the log out of the photo
you’ve been taking yeah I think that
would be really cool for audience to see
so this here this is the one where it
shows kind of the foreground you see the
ground and it’s it’s not quite as
interesting to me as when you cut it out
and now you see this pathway that you’re
walking along right you have that
background element the big redwoods off
to the right is do you want me to get
back up there no no I think we got it
okay that’s great and I might just take
a couple here of the tree by itself I
will go over here while you do your
thing one of the things that I’ve
learned photographing in the woods
is that if you get the sky in the
picture sometimes it’s a little bit too
bright it’s really dark down here
but up there it’s really bright even on
an overcast day like this the camera
just can’t handle it like our I can so
the trick is when you’re photographing
redwoods like this is just crop the sky
out
sometimes it’s you can try to include it
but you know in this last photo this guy
still just comes out as pure white pure
whites not really that good because
excuse me it’s not really that good
because that’s the first thing that our
eye is gonna go to in the image if
something so bright like that it just it
draws you away from what I’m trying to
get the person to focus on up into that
sky great I’m gonna steal this iPad back
from you to see if there’s any questions
questions are always good questions are
always good they help me think about
what I’m doing you know sometimes it
it’s so much just kind of instinctual
process after shooting for this long so
we have a question says what kind of
lens do you use when you’re in a nature
setting like this my nearest law my
favorite lenses are usually fixed
they’re prime lenses but the lens that I
end up using the most is actually it’s a
24 to 70 it goes a little bit wide it
goes a little bit telephoto and just
through the years having having been in
so many scenarios where I’m trying to
shoot with this lens or that lens that’s
the lens that ends up on my camera the
most it works really great for photos
with people in it as well
now prime lens is always a better lens
and what I like about a prime lens is
you can’t just zoom in what you do is
you walk in and it changes your
perspective it makes you look for a
better shot rather than just say oh I’m
not close enough new zoom in right so
they kind of are those are like too good
lenses that you would recommend for
people to use if they’re trying to take
good pictures yeah you know good
landscape lens can be really wide
depending on what you’re shooting but
the the kind of middle-ground good for a
lot of things lens is 24 to 70
millimeters in my opinion okay do you
have like certain types of things out
here in nature that you do like
photographing more you know like I said
I really like anything with story and a
lot of times that has people in it
I like adventure yeah getting out and
seeing something that other people may
not really have the opportunity to see
on their own you know right here’s a
perfect example of how you can kind of
declutter a scene you know part of me
wants to just photograph everything
that’s here but really what might end up
being interesting is a macro shot of one
of these ferns so much detail in them so
yeah and what what really stands out to
me a lot of the time is patterns so and
this goes back to our question about
lenses is what lens what I choose for
this I’ll try it first of the 24 to 70
but I also have a macro lens okay and
this is a lot of poison oak around here
so I’m gonna be really careful so what I
like about this is that the leaf is in
the Sun but there’s a shadow behind it
so that’s gonna make the leaf stand out
and I’m gonna under expose just a little
bit to make those shadows really drop
down you know in the end of this one
looks pretty cool too
I’m gonna try it with a 100 millimeter
macro lens so that allows me to get a
lot closer and really bring up those
fine details
oh pattern I’ve always liked looking for
patterns in nature you can find them in
something as small as this or you know
up in the way that the leaves are
crossing the redwoods and creating these
kind of layers and there’s just there’s
so much small stuff that you can look
into and one of the tricks I’ve found
for doing that sorry one of the things
that I’ve found for doing that is you
can start wide and then just slowly work
your way in until you’ve found a really
cool detail for me I think that these
these ferns are are the detail that is
most interesting to me around here and
trying to get those different
perspectives without getting in the
poison oak something that’ll be unique
and stand out it’s really hard to get
them in focus though with macro that’s
why I tripods are usually better that’s
kind of cool now what I’m gonna do is
I’m actually gonna open close my
aperture down to 4.5 or maybe 5.0 so I
can try to get more of it in focus
cool I’ll switch back to that 24 to 70
now if anybody has any questions about
how I’m doing this or what I’m doing or
what I’m thinking just post it on the
Facebook page and I’ll try to answer
them
great those photos look absolutely
beautiful
Thanks you know I haven’t really gotten
to photograph the details on a fern like
this in a while and if somebody’s to do
a long time ago and I was living in New
Zealand so it’s been probably 10 years
since I’ve tried that
that photo well it’s beautiful thank you
and I have a present for you too thank
you as we go to this beautiful circle
yeah of redwoods do you want to see
what’s in here
absolutely I think you know we have the
little fairy circles what it’s called of
redwoods in here first I have to ask you
javi wants to know how you would define
a great picture oh well that’s very
subjective but you know it’s in your
opinion right in my opinion a great
picture it really depends on the light
you can have an interesting subject and
terrible light you’ll get an OK picture
you can have a kind of boring subject
great light and you’re going to get a
great picture and you know a great
picture is gonna tell a little bit of
story it’s not something you just look
at that’s why even when I’m shooting
landscapes I like to have one little
person in there something that just
makes you think about what it would be
like to stand there yourself it really
puts you in that story and makes you
part of that scene yeah I mean when you
look at a lot of the pictures in
National Geographic
there’s
alright so we’re gonna continue to just
go back into the Redwoods here and just
what do you see in here that’s speaking
to you I see a few things so you know
see how dark these redwood trees are yes
and how bright the background is so I
mean it’s kind of it’s really contrast
see and it lends itself to silhouettes
so we could try something there or what
we could do is we could expose for the
background which is brighter and you
know try to get some elements of story
in there
these trees are so big it’s hard to tell
their story without putting somebody in
it I might have you in this photo as
well ok wonderful let’s you just direct
me and I will follow your wonderful
guidance all right well you know I’m
probably gonna walk around a little bit
and just look through the lens you know
I think that’s one of the problems that
people run into is they try to be a
little too stationary they just if they
get a feeling for the scene I’ll be over
here alright let’s see
it’s really nice sometimes getting those
flares of light coming from the
background it’s hard to expose for both
so I have to pick one or the other this
is nice it’s really dark in here though
so what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna raise
my ISO up to about eight hundred or a
thousand ISO is the sensitivity of the
camera so it allows me to work with less
light if I don’t increase it and I just
shoot it’s a 100 to 200 ISO what’s gonna
end up happening is my shutter speed is
my shutter speed is gonna be a lot
slower and when it’s slowed down like
that I can’t hold the camera still long
enough to get the photo that I’m trying
to get so right now my shutter speed is
an 80th of a second which depending on
what you’re shooting could be considered
slow let’s see here I’m gonna try
working my way around this way and
looking at the treats from another angle
so our Sun is up there it’s coming this
way
now if I get right in the middle of them
and I shoot straight up it kind of looks
like they’re all coming to a point above
me it’s a really interesting pattern to
work with it’s a shot I’ve seen done a
few times but it’s definitely worth
taking and you know what I’m getting
that son in the photo so it could give
us an interesting little Sun flare I
think that one’s pretty cool
I like working with some players I think
it’s you know it can be an advantage
sometimes but sometimes it can it can
distract from the elements of the
picture that you’re actually trying to
focus on so I’m going to take a few
without it as well one of the reasons I
don’t usually shoot straight up on trees
is because we’re taking something that’s
three-dimensional and then we’re making
it two-dimensional and when we do that
you don’t actually get a sense of how
high the tree is in the actual image
itself so I’m thinking of this more as a
pattern then as hey look at how big
these trees are actually let’s get you
in here for a couple shots great I’m
standing by now if this was
photojournalism I would probably find a
scene like this and I just wait
you know I’d set up the camera I wait
for somebody to come through and then
I’d shoot I’m creating an image like I’m
doing now I’m thinking about how I can
get you to tell the story that I want
told so I want to talk about how big the
trees are now if I got down I shot up at
you would be a terrible angle that would
not nobody liked that angle it is not a
lot so to get a good photo of you I’m
gonna step back a little bit right but I
want to still have that sense of how big
the trees are so I’m gonna have you just
kind of looking up and not strain’d
difficult but just like I’m not here
okay let me know where you want me to
stand I want you to actually just wander
around a little bit just in that front
area and it looks really good with with
that color up against the tree behind
you so this is actually an interesting
shot and I think that there’s a lot to
learn here and you know if you were
wearing something that was the same
color as the trees you might get lost in
there but this stands out great
okay I’m just gonna have you walk out to
this side over here keep going a little
bit right great
wonderful good job well I had great
guidance yeah so I mean you’re pretty
small in the picture but see how you
stand out against this kind of
silhouetted tree right I think it works
pretty well that’s absolutely beautiful
you can see how tall the trees are it
really puts everything in perspective
without distorting you in the image
exactly it’s wonderful yeah I think you
know this would be a great opportunity
here to talk a little bit about things
like polarisers and and maybe even if we
can get some some darker light on the
water we could get some motion blurs
yeah we do have this beautiful stream
right behind us so so I’m gonna throw
the polarizer on the camera and I know
this might be a great opportunity to
answer a couple questions for people as
well sure is there a way to focus on a
subject that has a lens flare and
background in a lens flare that’s like
popping up in the background Alex Alex
is asking this is there a way to focus
on a subject that has a lens flare okay
you know what a lens flare is is it’s
it’s when the Sun is hitting the glass
on the lens it’s not being shaded and
that sunlight is coming through and it’s
getting kind of broken up by all the
different lens elements so if the
question is how to find the lens flare
shoot towards the light if the question
is if there’s a lens flare and you’re
having trouble focusing what I do is I
cover that lens flare up with my hand
get my focus and then when I take my
hand away it’s already in focus I can
just take a picture well that makes a
lot of sense I hope so no one wants to
know what camera are you using right now
right now I’m using a 5d Mark four it’s
one of my favorites I also have the 5d
RS for night photos in here and are
those that usual bodies that you shoot
on these are
almost all the time I used to have one
of the one DS which is very big very
professional camera and I love it but I
did a trip for National Geographic where
a dogsled it across the Arctic and 1,400
miles later I’m carrying this you know
huge camera and I got back and I bought
the 5d because it’s small it’s
technically considered prosumer but it
shoots as well as any professional
camera and a lot of professionals have
moved on to smaller cameras now which is
great for outdoor stuff like this yeah
you know usually goes in a backpack so
for anybody just joining us right now we
are currently live in Napa Valley with
Ben Horan photographer and we are here
with National Geographic and our friends
Nature Valley and Ben is here to answer
all of your photography questions so
make sure you keep commenting below we
want to get to as many questions as
possible so please keep firing away keep
them coming
yeah they’ve been really great so far
guys all right this is a good little
opportunity here to show how a polarizer
works well I’m gonna go let you do your
thing over here all right because this
looks beautiful so what a polarizer does
is it helps get rid of reflections and
it does that by limiting the kinds of
wavelengths that can come into an image
and it screws right onto the front of
the lens right here so what you do to
change the polarization of the light is
you just twist the polarizer right and
I’m gonna take it before and after image
I don’t know if they’re gonna be great
shots but they’re gonna show you the
difference between the two so here is
with all of the reflection taken away
and then I turn it and we have
reflections so you can use that to your
advantage when you want to when you want
the reflection of trees in a creek or
you know something in a pool but you can
also use it when you want to see through
the water to see what’s underneath it
like these rocks I’m gonna step out here
and get a photo downstream
of these redwoods and I’m going to see
if the polarizer can kind of change the
shot around and if one way is going to
work better than another
so let’s try it first with no reflection
that was no reflection let’s try it now
with reflection and then we’re gonna
take it away and actually it’s really
cool because you get to see all those
colors that are coming through from the
wet rocks I don’t know if you’ve ever
seen you now give a seashell and when
it’s dry it looks boring you pop it in
the water it looks really pretty it’s
kind of what’s happening here with the
rocks we’re getting more colors from the
ones that are underwater than from the
ones that are above and I think I’m
gonna grab my tripod and what I’m gonna
do here is I’m going to try to get a
little bit of motion in the water and
and what that’s gonna do is it’s gonna I
feel like it almost adds time to a photo
thank you for holding that set it up
right here you’re getting set up we have
a question that’s pretty relevant for
right here yeah from Nome what’s the
best method to take pictures of
waterfalls the best method well you know
if you’re trying to get that blur
there’s a few different ways and that’s
what I’m gonna go into next which is
getting exact motion blur right which is
by increasing the amount of time that
the shutter is open now maybe it’s
really bright out and you can’t do that
there’s something called a neutral
density filter which just darkens the
scene and allows you to have the shutter
open longer but sometimes I like to
shoot in the dark sometimes honestly
because you can leave that shutter open
for so long it gives you that a
different feel yeah yeah all right I’m
gonna pop back down here
and try not to slip on camera
got a nice stable base here to work off
of what this allows me to do is I’m
gonna drop my ISO back down the opposite
of what I did before and with it this
low it’s gonna allow me to have a longer
shutter speed so right now I actually
have a shutter speed of two and a half
seconds two and a half seconds with the
shutter open I’m gonna record all of the
motion that’s happening here in this
photo level it out a little bit let’s
see
I actually think just a little bit of
reflection with the polarizer helps and
there’s really only one way to see if it
works now we’re at a 3.2 second exposure
let’s give it a go
the water just starts kind of looking
like a fog and to me that’s really fun
it feels more like I’m being creative in
our teeth I’m gonna try a couple others
I’m gonna add more reflection to the
scene see what that does it’s kind of
cool
let’s try a detail shot sometimes a
detail shot of something in here can be
really cool like you know I remember
seeing a picture once of a leaf that was
in the water on a rock I don’t see
anything around here but but maybe I can
find something that’ll give the same
effect what I do is you know as the
water runs over whatever it is that I’m
shooting it just it becomes blurry but
then what’s underneath I here’s one
right here
what’s underneath stays in focus
rocks are moving around underneath me
here
all right so I have a little I don’t
know if it’s a maple leaf or something
like that let’s try it
all right the leaf looks a little bit
blurry and I think the reason is is it’s
moving with the water a little bit so I
might speed up the shutter speed to
reduce some of that motion eighth of a
second it’s kind of cool just keep
looking around and see what else we can
find with it actually this is really
pretty too this moss on this log is an
interesting color this is what I’m
talking about about kind of diving into
a scene you know you start wide and then
you start finding all these really cool
little details that that just you get
absorbed in them and I could stay and I
could just shoot these details for hours
let’s make it a four second exposure
you can’t even tell it’s water
underneath it so I think that exposures
to long sides
speed it up just a little bit
cool do you have any other questions
coming in yeah so first of all Brenda
says you’re awesome you have to take
classes with you do you offer any I do i
do do classes sometimes I teach a lot of
night photography workshops so how to
photograph the Milky Way and things like
that well that’s pretty inspiring it’s
fun – it’s one of my favorite things to
shoot I mean looking up in the stars
there’s always something to see yeah and
it’s it’s really cool because the camera
picks up so many things that our eyes
don’t especially when you’re
photographing something like the Stars
right do you want to keep going on this
journey here and see what else we see on
the trail yeah you know I’ve been
looking down so much for the last few
minutes I kind of want to look up I also
don’t want to forget my bag that’s you
know so I had another question from
Debby UD who was saying he always shoots
in raw but raw and takes up so much
space right
do you always shoot in raw or do you
change up what you shoot in I always
shoot in raw you know the cards I use
usually are 64 gigabytes something like
that and they can hold a lot of photos I
mean a lot yeah that’s a lot but I
always have four or five cards and
sometimes I’ll switch them out even
before it’s full so that if I lose one I
don’t lose everything
seeing a really cool fern over here yeah
we’re pretty shot why don’t you go over
there what I’m actually doing right now
is I have two cards in here one of them
is recording JPEG and one’s recording
raw the reason I do that is I can have a
JPEG card that I just leave and it can
hold hundreds of thousands of photos
because it’s so big so even if I lose
all of my raw pictures from the last two
shoots I’ve got the JPEG in there makes
sense you probably would always like to
have a backup so you don’t lose that
thing that you were taking a picture of
all day that beauty that you were seeing
yeah backing up is really important you
know everything right now
I haven’t I haven’t lost anything in
years because the technology is so good
but I feel like a little piece of
yourself when it happens or even if you
just lose a card that’s why I don’t
shoot cards that are too big because if
I lose you know 128 gigabytes of photos
rather than 64 it’s a big deal I’m gonna
take a picture back here great what I
like about this it really is it’s just
it’s so green it’s another pattern and
you’ve got this super mossy log kind of
working away in the background I think
the worst way to shoot this would be to
just go right up here and shoot straight
at the log where it’s directly across in
front of me but from this angle here I
see it going away from me and that adds
to that perspective that we were talking
about huh let’s change a few settings
here we’re still set up for the creek
interesting you know what they’re not
all winners like I think that this is
really pretty
to my eye I look at this and I think you
know this is some place I’d like to set
up a hammock and just chill out for a
while
but I look at it through the camera and
it’s just not quite working the way that
I imagined it does and I think really
that’s one of the biggest things in
photography is learning how to see
something through the camera before you
actually pull that camera up and it’s
just it gets really complicated
sometimes because you’re looking at
something that’s going to be
two-dimensional we’re looking at it with
emotion too you know right now air
temperature is perfect I like being out
here I’m having a great day in nature I
might see this a different way then I
will see it when I look at a picture of
it later on so I’m gonna keep moving up
the trail so we have another question
for you if you’re if you’re up for it
I’m up for it yeah Andrew wants to know
if you edit all of your photos
especially if you’re shooting raw you
have to edit the best way to really
explain it because there’s this this
dirty feeling around the word editing
right imagine you’re still shooting film
and I got my start shooting film you
have to process the image you know so a
raw image what it is this is actually a
series of grayscale images and the
computer uses those grayscale images to
decide how much color goes where there’s
a red version of blue version a green
version so it comes out really flat and
gray so once you put it into the
computer your you have the capability to
add contrast take contrast away a little
bushwhacking and you get you get to add
that saturation to it I think people can
take it really too far my goal is to
show people how I saw it like we were
talking about earlier to me this there’s
just so much green out here and it’s so
saturated I’ll probably bump up the
saturation of my pictures a little bit
but if it gets that point where the
colors just don’t look natural then I
back it off
a lot of it is experimenting you know if
you’re using Lightroom or Photoshop it’s
pushing it up until you’re like okay
that’s too far you pull it back that’s a
little too far
somewhere right in the middle is where
you want to be that makes sense
so I see like a lot of moss and a lot of
trees down is that something that you
take photos of or something that
interests you I see like a lot of these
woodpecker holes and eating logs so this
goes back to a you know the woodpecker
holes for instance this goes back to
we’re talking about earlier about your
personal connection to an image you know
what that is
if you take a picture of it are people
gonna know what that is right that’s
true
right it’s gonna look just like a hole
in a log so without the story of the
woodpecker there you’re not gonna be
able to translate that idea know what it
is right let’s see I really want to find
something where I get to kind of just
get a big mass of green with the
branches silhouetted in front of it so
with branch of things silhouetted this
actually maybe would be a good question
Amanda wants to know is it okay to use
auto white balance um I always shoot out
a white balance but I’m also shooting
wrong right so with raw you can change
all that you know there is no perfect
white balance it’s always a little bit
different and the depending on what
brand camera are using its gonna tell
you oh you know this is perfect or oh
that’s perfect so if you shoot on auto
and you’re shooting raw you make those
adjustments after the fact so you really
just tell in the moment I guess like
what you’re seeing what’s best yeah and
you know if you’re if you’re under a
tungsten light or a fluorescent light
Otto’s not gonna work so there are
presets for that on your camera and they
can be great but sometimes you have to
just do it manually and just go through
each little setting change it a little
bit by a little bit until it looks right
to you it’s really your perspective
that’s meant to you’re the deciding
factor what you think is right was how
you remember it that’s generally what’s
right
all right well do you have any last
little tips that you want to give to any
of the photographers that are out there
you know what I think the most important
thing is just to get out take as many
photos as you can as you grow throughout
being a photographer you’re gonna look
back you know I look back on pictures
from when I was 18 years old and I was
living in New Zealand there were
pictures from that time period that I
loved I look at them now I don’t like
him so much there’s other pictures from
that time period that I never showed
anybody I didn’t think we’re good at all
but now I look at them I’m like oh this
has a lot of potential like I I can do
this or I could use it for that and my
my eye has grown just because I’ve taken
hundreds of thousands of pictures
throughout my life that makes sense you
grow as you take more photos well I want
to thank you for joining us out here
today this has been really helpful and
I’m sure a lot of people have learned
how to take better photos just how much
you know if for no other reason just
understanding how I think about taking a
picture and you know not every picture I
took out here today was good I took some
really bad pictures sometimes I tell
people the only difference being of
professional and an amateur is I take
more bad pictures than you and really
what that is is me practicing me taking
risks and out of that sometimes you get
an amazing image and I encourage
everybody out there to take their own
pictures and actually share them with
National Geographic using using hashtag
backyard warrior because we want to see
all of your backyard warrior photos and
see what you’re doing out in the world
so thank you so much again for joining
us and thanks to Nature Valley for being
out here with us today and National
Geographic for just letting us be out in
the wilderness and make sure if you want
to see more live wilderness and nature
you watch earth live July 9th and you
will see beautiful nature thank you very
much thank you
for joining us again we’re here in
beautiful Napa Valley
forget outdoors day and we are here with
National Geographic and our friends at
Nature Valley I’m joined by Ben Horan
the wonderful photographer he’s going to
show you guys some tips and tricks to
take better photos in your own world
thanks for joining us Ben
I’m super excited to be here and just
kind of show people my process on how I
try to get great photos and beautiful
places like this and I think we have a
really great day for it today we do the
light keeps changing which is cool
because it gives us different options
and you know sometimes it’s a little
overcast like this which you know
there’s less big shadows and bright
spots and then sometimes we’re gonna
have that beautiful backlight so nature
is unpredictable you kind of just have
to work with it that’s exactly the point
so if you guys have any questions for
Ben please comment below and he will
answer any questions that you guys have
so do you want to just show what do you
think is gonna be the best you know even
while we were just standing right here I
saw something behind us I thought looked
pretty cool you see this kind of tunnel
going through the trees with the trail
and the beautiful redwoods around it
yeah I see some really tall redwoods
first right there there’s this strip of
light that’s just starting to come
through the clouds right now and I think
it’d be a really cool shot
that would have a little bit of story in
it because I’m gonna have you walk
through it wonderful well direct away
all right yeah you know best all right
so I’m gonna stay right here and what I
want you to do is just to walk up
through there and kind of pause in that
light and then you can take a few more
steps to the top of that Ridge and then
just come back and if you want I can put
the iPad in here that would be great
that’s so helpful so you want me to be
facing this way and then facing back
yeah just walk up and then walk back and
I’ll shoot as you go great is this pace
good that pace is perfect so the idea
here is just to get a little bit of
story in the photo and right now and
she’s walking that light she gets a
little bit of a halo around her and bad
she’s kind of backlit by that light now
you can come back great
really pretty yeah I love taking photos
that tell story that’s you know hard to
do sometimes in pure landscape photos
but when we’re out here together like
this it’s a perfect opportunity and I
think you know what a better place to
tell a story than when you’re surrounded
by these beautiful redwoods and this
wonderful foliage there’s your iPad well
I appreciate it
yeah it’s you know with all this green
and like all the leaves and everything
around us sometimes it can be really
confusing there’s just so many things
going on that it’s hard to focus in on
one thing one of the things that we talk
about in photography a lot of the time
is trying to decide what to keep out of
a picture rather than what to put in you
know if you just went wide and tried to
photograph this whole scene you’d get
lost in the image but there’s so much
yeah there’s just so much going on but
there’s so many details that we can get
close to you know and using light we can
make things like silhouettes it just it
opens up the creative world to us so
that’s that’s tip number one for me is
teaching people how to decide what to
leave out okay so what’s the next
opportunity that you see around here I
see a lot of really small plants yeah
you know I want to get into some macro
photography I think I saw something
further up the trail okay I just kind of
want to walk through and see what we see
because the lights it’s changed since I
was here last so you know taking a look
at all of it fresh perspectives is there
something like a big take away that you
can just give to our fans that they
should just look out for maybe when
they’re in a landscape it would be
really good for them yeah I mean maybe
this is a little bit more complex than
what you’re looking for but my biggest
tip to people with photography is to
show people how you see the world and
that’ll always be a unique perspective
for them well that’s a great story to
tell yeah so like you know when I’m
walking through here I’m seeing like the
pathway the story of somebody moving
through the forest and then you know
these ain’t
Gentry’s around in all these patterns so
I’m I’m taking pictures of things that I
think I’m noticing that other people
might walk right by and as a
photographer I’m looking for light a lot
of the time and like right here this is
really beautiful
this is a beautiful scene right here
yeah it’s so I’ll tell you what I’m
seeing here you know first of all it’s
just a really cool situation where this
log has fallen over the creek but
there’s also it’s layered here there’s a
lot of perspective for us when it’s just
flat our eye really has nothing to dive
into but when you have you know this
foreground middle-ground backgrounds
situation then it’s more interesting for
us a personal look into the picture a
little bit you know probably a good shot
of just you right on the edge of this
log here and that’ll give us our
foreground element and then we’ll get
you know the creek tells the story of
where you are and what you’re doing then
we have the background element of that
big beautiful log in the background
don’t try it so you’re making me take a
little bit I’m not gonna I’m not gonna
make you walk into the middle just right
here on the edge you know and what we’re
doing is I’m actually using you to give
somebody that vicarious experience to
live through so like when they see you
looking off into this view what they’re
doing is they’re putting themselves in
that position right making this world
you know if I was taking just like a
portrait of you that’s a picture of you
and nobody really lives vicariously
through that but you looking off into
the end of the distance that’ll give
somebody something to think about and I
think even that speaks so much to get
outdoors day to day – this is perfect
for getting outdoors it’s perfect yeah
so I will I will get right on over there
I’m gonna trade this off with you I
guess oh I have a nice spot for it
wonderful so I will get up here just let
me know yeah well you just go to where
you’re comfortable in I don’t need you
to go far at all you don’t have to go
over the edge and that probably is
better if you don’t
yeah I don’t think I really want to go
over the edge because that wouldn’t be
good for anybody no right there’s great
okay so what I’m gonna have you do is
actually turn to look out that way
great
now I’m keeping the ground here at this
side of the log out of the photo
you’ve been taking yeah I think that
would be really cool for audience to see
so this here this is the one where it
shows kind of the foreground you see the
ground and it’s it’s not quite as
interesting to me as when you cut it out
and now you see this pathway that you’re
walking along right you have that
background element the big redwoods off
to the right is do you want me to get
back up there no no I think we got it
okay that’s great and I might just take
a couple here of the tree by itself I
will go over here while you do your
thing one of the things that I’ve
learned photographing in the woods
is that if you get the sky in the
picture sometimes it’s a little bit too
bright it’s really dark down here
but up there it’s really bright even on
an overcast day like this the camera
just can’t handle it like our I can so
the trick is when you’re photographing
redwoods like this is just crop the sky
out
sometimes it’s you can try to include it
but you know in this last photo this guy
still just comes out as pure white pure
whites not really that good because
excuse me it’s not really that good
because that’s the first thing that our
eye is gonna go to in the image if
something so bright like that it just it
draws you away from what I’m trying to
get the person to focus on up into that
sky great I’m gonna steal this iPad back
from you to see if there’s any questions
questions are always good questions are
always good they help me think about
what I’m doing you know sometimes it
it’s so much just kind of instinctual
process after shooting for this long so
we have a question says what kind of
lens do you use when you’re in a nature
setting like this my nearest law my
favorite lenses are usually fixed
they’re prime lenses but the lens that I
end up using the most is actually it’s a
24 to 70 it goes a little bit wide it
goes a little bit telephoto and just
through the years having having been in
so many scenarios where I’m trying to
shoot with this lens or that lens that’s
the lens that ends up on my camera the
most it works really great for photos
with people in it as well
now prime lens is always a better lens
and what I like about a prime lens is
you can’t just zoom in what you do is
you walk in and it changes your
perspective it makes you look for a
better shot rather than just say oh I’m
not close enough new zoom in right so
they kind of are those are like too good
lenses that you would recommend for
people to use if they’re trying to take
good pictures yeah you know good
landscape lens can be really wide
depending on what you’re shooting but
the the kind of middle-ground good for a
lot of things lens is 24 to 70
millimeters in my opinion okay do you
have like certain types of things out
here in nature that you do like
photographing more you know like I said
I really like anything with story and a
lot of times that has people in it
I like adventure yeah getting out and
seeing something that other people may
not really have the opportunity to see
on their own you know right here’s a
perfect example of how you can kind of
declutter a scene you know part of me
wants to just photograph everything
that’s here but really what might end up
being interesting is a macro shot of one
of these ferns so much detail in them so
yeah and what what really stands out to
me a lot of the time is patterns so and
this goes back to our question about
lenses is what lens what I choose for
this I’ll try it first of the 24 to 70
but I also have a macro lens okay and
this is a lot of poison oak around here
so I’m gonna be really careful so what I
like about this is that the leaf is in
the Sun but there’s a shadow behind it
so that’s gonna make the leaf stand out
and I’m gonna under expose just a little
bit to make those shadows really drop
down you know in the end of this one
looks pretty cool too
I’m gonna try it with a 100 millimeter
macro lens so that allows me to get a
lot closer and really bring up those
fine details
oh pattern I’ve always liked looking for
patterns in nature you can find them in
something as small as this or you know
up in the way that the leaves are
crossing the redwoods and creating these
kind of layers and there’s just there’s
so much small stuff that you can look
into and one of the tricks I’ve found
for doing that sorry one of the things
that I’ve found for doing that is you
can start wide and then just slowly work
your way in until you’ve found a really
cool detail for me I think that these
these ferns are are the detail that is
most interesting to me around here and
trying to get those different
perspectives without getting in the
poison oak something that’ll be unique
and stand out it’s really hard to get
them in focus though with macro that’s
why I tripods are usually better that’s
kind of cool now what I’m gonna do is
I’m actually gonna open close my
aperture down to 4.5 or maybe 5.0 so I
can try to get more of it in focus
cool I’ll switch back to that 24 to 70
now if anybody has any questions about
how I’m doing this or what I’m doing or
what I’m thinking just post it on the
Facebook page and I’ll try to answer
them
great those photos look absolutely
beautiful
Thanks you know I haven’t really gotten
to photograph the details on a fern like
this in a while and if somebody’s to do
a long time ago and I was living in New
Zealand so it’s been probably 10 years
since I’ve tried that
that photo well it’s beautiful thank you
and I have a present for you too thank
you as we go to this beautiful circle
yeah of redwoods do you want to see
what’s in here
absolutely I think you know we have the
little fairy circles what it’s called of
redwoods in here first I have to ask you
javi wants to know how you would define
a great picture oh well that’s very
subjective but you know it’s in your
opinion right in my opinion a great
picture it really depends on the light
you can have an interesting subject and
terrible light you’ll get an OK picture
you can have a kind of boring subject
great light and you’re going to get a
great picture and you know a great
picture is gonna tell a little bit of
story it’s not something you just look
at that’s why even when I’m shooting
landscapes I like to have one little
person in there something that just
makes you think about what it would be
like to stand there yourself it really
puts you in that story and makes you
part of that scene yeah I mean when you
look at a lot of the pictures in
National Geographic
there’s
alright so we’re gonna continue to just
go back into the Redwoods here and just
what do you see in here that’s speaking
to you I see a few things so you know
see how dark these redwood trees are yes
and how bright the background is so I
mean it’s kind of it’s really contrast
see and it lends itself to silhouettes
so we could try something there or what
we could do is we could expose for the
background which is brighter and you
know try to get some elements of story
in there
these trees are so big it’s hard to tell
their story without putting somebody in
it I might have you in this photo as
well ok wonderful let’s you just direct
me and I will follow your wonderful
guidance all right well you know I’m
probably gonna walk around a little bit
and just look through the lens you know
I think that’s one of the problems that
people run into is they try to be a
little too stationary they just if they
get a feeling for the scene I’ll be over
here alright let’s see
it’s really nice sometimes getting those
flares of light coming from the
background it’s hard to expose for both
so I have to pick one or the other this
is nice it’s really dark in here though
so what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna raise
my ISO up to about eight hundred or a
thousand ISO is the sensitivity of the
camera so it allows me to work with less
light if I don’t increase it and I just
shoot it’s a 100 to 200 ISO what’s gonna
end up happening is my shutter speed is
my shutter speed is gonna be a lot
slower and when it’s slowed down like
that I can’t hold the camera still long
enough to get the photo that I’m trying
to get so right now my shutter speed is
an 80th of a second which depending on
what you’re shooting could be considered
slow let’s see here I’m gonna try
working my way around this way and
looking at the treats from another angle
so our Sun is up there it’s coming this
way
now if I get right in the middle of them
and I shoot straight up it kind of looks
like they’re all coming to a point above
me it’s a really interesting pattern to
work with it’s a shot I’ve seen done a
few times but it’s definitely worth
taking and you know what I’m getting
that son in the photo so it could give
us an interesting little Sun flare I
think that one’s pretty cool
I like working with some players I think
it’s you know it can be an advantage
sometimes but sometimes it can it can
distract from the elements of the
picture that you’re actually trying to
focus on so I’m going to take a few
without it as well one of the reasons I
don’t usually shoot straight up on trees
is because we’re taking something that’s
three-dimensional and then we’re making
it two-dimensional and when we do that
you don’t actually get a sense of how
high the tree is in the actual image
itself so I’m thinking of this more as a
pattern then as hey look at how big
these trees are actually let’s get you
in here for a couple shots great I’m
standing by now if this was
photojournalism I would probably find a
scene like this and I just wait
you know I’d set up the camera I wait
for somebody to come through and then
I’d shoot I’m creating an image like I’m
doing now I’m thinking about how I can
get you to tell the story that I want
told so I want to talk about how big the
trees are now if I got down I shot up at
you would be a terrible angle that would
not nobody liked that angle it is not a
lot so to get a good photo of you I’m
gonna step back a little bit right but I
want to still have that sense of how big
the trees are so I’m gonna have you just
kind of looking up and not strain’d
difficult but just like I’m not here
okay let me know where you want me to
stand I want you to actually just wander
around a little bit just in that front
area and it looks really good with with
that color up against the tree behind
you so this is actually an interesting
shot and I think that there’s a lot to
learn here and you know if you were
wearing something that was the same
color as the trees you might get lost in
there but this stands out great
okay I’m just gonna have you walk out to
this side over here keep going a little
bit right great
wonderful good job well I had great
guidance yeah so I mean you’re pretty
small in the picture but see how you
stand out against this kind of
silhouetted tree right I think it works
pretty well that’s absolutely beautiful
you can see how tall the trees are it
really puts everything in perspective
without distorting you in the image
exactly it’s wonderful yeah I think you
know this would be a great opportunity
here to talk a little bit about things
like polarisers and and maybe even if we
can get some some darker light on the
water we could get some motion blurs
yeah we do have this beautiful stream
right behind us so so I’m gonna throw
the polarizer on the camera and I know
this might be a great opportunity to
answer a couple questions for people as
well sure is there a way to focus on a
subject that has a lens flare and
background in a lens flare that’s like
popping up in the background Alex Alex
is asking this is there a way to focus
on a subject that has a lens flare okay
you know what a lens flare is is it’s
it’s when the Sun is hitting the glass
on the lens it’s not being shaded and
that sunlight is coming through and it’s
getting kind of broken up by all the
different lens elements so if the
question is how to find the lens flare
shoot towards the light if the question
is if there’s a lens flare and you’re
having trouble focusing what I do is I
cover that lens flare up with my hand
get my focus and then when I take my
hand away it’s already in focus I can
just take a picture well that makes a
lot of sense I hope so no one wants to
know what camera are you using right now
right now I’m using a 5d Mark four it’s
one of my favorites I also have the 5d
RS for night photos in here and are
those that usual bodies that you shoot
on these are
almost all the time I used to have one
of the one DS which is very big very
professional camera and I love it but I
did a trip for National Geographic where
a dogsled it across the Arctic and 1,400
miles later I’m carrying this you know
huge camera and I got back and I bought
the 5d because it’s small it’s
technically considered prosumer but it
shoots as well as any professional
camera and a lot of professionals have
moved on to smaller cameras now which is
great for outdoor stuff like this yeah
you know usually goes in a backpack so
for anybody just joining us right now we
are currently live in Napa Valley with
Ben Horan photographer and we are here
with National Geographic and our friends
Nature Valley and Ben is here to answer
all of your photography questions so
make sure you keep commenting below we
want to get to as many questions as
possible so please keep firing away keep
them coming
yeah they’ve been really great so far
guys all right this is a good little
opportunity here to show how a polarizer
works well I’m gonna go let you do your
thing over here all right because this
looks beautiful so what a polarizer does
is it helps get rid of reflections and
it does that by limiting the kinds of
wavelengths that can come into an image
and it screws right onto the front of
the lens right here so what you do to
change the polarization of the light is
you just twist the polarizer right and
I’m gonna take it before and after image
I don’t know if they’re gonna be great
shots but they’re gonna show you the
difference between the two so here is
with all of the reflection taken away
and then I turn it and we have
reflections so you can use that to your
advantage when you want to when you want
the reflection of trees in a creek or
you know something in a pool but you can
also use it when you want to see through
the water to see what’s underneath it
like these rocks I’m gonna step out here
and get a photo downstream
of these redwoods and I’m going to see
if the polarizer can kind of change the
shot around and if one way is going to
work better than another
so let’s try it first with no reflection
that was no reflection let’s try it now
with reflection and then we’re gonna
take it away and actually it’s really
cool because you get to see all those
colors that are coming through from the
wet rocks I don’t know if you’ve ever
seen you now give a seashell and when
it’s dry it looks boring you pop it in
the water it looks really pretty it’s
kind of what’s happening here with the
rocks we’re getting more colors from the
ones that are underwater than from the
ones that are above and I think I’m
gonna grab my tripod and what I’m gonna
do here is I’m going to try to get a
little bit of motion in the water and
and what that’s gonna do is it’s gonna I
feel like it almost adds time to a photo
thank you for holding that set it up
right here you’re getting set up we have
a question that’s pretty relevant for
right here yeah from Nome what’s the
best method to take pictures of
waterfalls the best method well you know
if you’re trying to get that blur
there’s a few different ways and that’s
what I’m gonna go into next which is
getting exact motion blur right which is
by increasing the amount of time that
the shutter is open now maybe it’s
really bright out and you can’t do that
there’s something called a neutral
density filter which just darkens the
scene and allows you to have the shutter
open longer but sometimes I like to
shoot in the dark sometimes honestly
because you can leave that shutter open
for so long it gives you that a
different feel yeah yeah all right I’m
gonna pop back down here
and try not to slip on camera
got a nice stable base here to work off
of what this allows me to do is I’m
gonna drop my ISO back down the opposite
of what I did before and with it this
low it’s gonna allow me to have a longer
shutter speed so right now I actually
have a shutter speed of two and a half
seconds two and a half seconds with the
shutter open I’m gonna record all of the
motion that’s happening here in this
photo level it out a little bit let’s
see
I actually think just a little bit of
reflection with the polarizer helps and
there’s really only one way to see if it
works now we’re at a 3.2 second exposure
let’s give it a go
the water just starts kind of looking
like a fog and to me that’s really fun
it feels more like I’m being creative in
our teeth I’m gonna try a couple others
I’m gonna add more reflection to the
scene see what that does it’s kind of
cool
let’s try a detail shot sometimes a
detail shot of something in here can be
really cool like you know I remember
seeing a picture once of a leaf that was
in the water on a rock I don’t see
anything around here but but maybe I can
find something that’ll give the same
effect what I do is you know as the
water runs over whatever it is that I’m
shooting it just it becomes blurry but
then what’s underneath I here’s one
right here
what’s underneath stays in focus
rocks are moving around underneath me
here
all right so I have a little I don’t
know if it’s a maple leaf or something
like that let’s try it
all right the leaf looks a little bit
blurry and I think the reason is is it’s
moving with the water a little bit so I
might speed up the shutter speed to
reduce some of that motion eighth of a
second it’s kind of cool just keep
looking around and see what else we can
find with it actually this is really
pretty too this moss on this log is an
interesting color this is what I’m
talking about about kind of diving into
a scene you know you start wide and then
you start finding all these really cool
little details that that just you get
absorbed in them and I could stay and I
could just shoot these details for hours
let’s make it a four second exposure
you can’t even tell it’s water
underneath it so I think that exposures
to long sides
speed it up just a little bit
cool do you have any other questions
coming in yeah so first of all Brenda
says you’re awesome you have to take
classes with you do you offer any I do i
do do classes sometimes I teach a lot of
night photography workshops so how to
photograph the Milky Way and things like
that well that’s pretty inspiring it’s
fun – it’s one of my favorite things to
shoot I mean looking up in the stars
there’s always something to see yeah and
it’s it’s really cool because the camera
picks up so many things that our eyes
don’t especially when you’re
photographing something like the Stars
right do you want to keep going on this
journey here and see what else we see on
the trail yeah you know I’ve been
looking down so much for the last few
minutes I kind of want to look up I also
don’t want to forget my bag that’s you
know so I had another question from
Debby UD who was saying he always shoots
in raw but raw and takes up so much
space right
do you always shoot in raw or do you
change up what you shoot in I always
shoot in raw you know the cards I use
usually are 64 gigabytes something like
that and they can hold a lot of photos I
mean a lot yeah that’s a lot but I
always have four or five cards and
sometimes I’ll switch them out even
before it’s full so that if I lose one I
don’t lose everything
seeing a really cool fern over here yeah
we’re pretty shot why don’t you go over
there what I’m actually doing right now
is I have two cards in here one of them
is recording JPEG and one’s recording
raw the reason I do that is I can have a
JPEG card that I just leave and it can
hold hundreds of thousands of photos
because it’s so big so even if I lose
all of my raw pictures from the last two
shoots I’ve got the JPEG in there makes
sense you probably would always like to
have a backup so you don’t lose that
thing that you were taking a picture of
all day that beauty that you were seeing
yeah backing up is really important you
know everything right now
I haven’t I haven’t lost anything in
years because the technology is so good
but I feel like a little piece of
yourself when it happens or even if you
just lose a card that’s why I don’t
shoot cards that are too big because if
I lose you know 128 gigabytes of photos
rather than 64 it’s a big deal I’m gonna
take a picture back here great what I
like about this it really is it’s just
it’s so green it’s another pattern and
you’ve got this super mossy log kind of
working away in the background I think
the worst way to shoot this would be to
just go right up here and shoot straight
at the log where it’s directly across in
front of me but from this angle here I
see it going away from me and that adds
to that perspective that we were talking
about huh let’s change a few settings
here we’re still set up for the creek
interesting you know what they’re not
all winners like I think that this is
really pretty
to my eye I look at this and I think you
know this is some place I’d like to set
up a hammock and just chill out for a
while
but I look at it through the camera and
it’s just not quite working the way that
I imagined it does and I think really
that’s one of the biggest things in
photography is learning how to see
something through the camera before you
actually pull that camera up and it’s
just it gets really complicated
sometimes because you’re looking at
something that’s going to be
two-dimensional we’re looking at it with
emotion too you know right now air
temperature is perfect I like being out
here I’m having a great day in nature I
might see this a different way then I
will see it when I look at a picture of
it later on so I’m gonna keep moving up
the trail so we have another question
for you if you’re if you’re up for it
I’m up for it yeah Andrew wants to know
if you edit all of your photos
especially if you’re shooting raw you
have to edit the best way to really
explain it because there’s this this
dirty feeling around the word editing
right imagine you’re still shooting film
and I got my start shooting film you
have to process the image you know so a
raw image what it is this is actually a
series of grayscale images and the
computer uses those grayscale images to
decide how much color goes where there’s
a red version of blue version a green
version so it comes out really flat and
gray so once you put it into the
computer your you have the capability to
add contrast take contrast away a little
bushwhacking and you get you get to add
that saturation to it I think people can
take it really too far my goal is to
show people how I saw it like we were
talking about earlier to me this there’s
just so much green out here and it’s so
saturated I’ll probably bump up the
saturation of my pictures a little bit
but if it gets that point where the
colors just don’t look natural then I
back it off
a lot of it is experimenting you know if
you’re using Lightroom or Photoshop it’s
pushing it up until you’re like okay
that’s too far you pull it back that’s a
little too far
somewhere right in the middle is where
you want to be that makes sense
so I see like a lot of moss and a lot of
trees down is that something that you
take photos of or something that
interests you I see like a lot of these
woodpecker holes and eating logs so this
goes back to a you know the woodpecker
holes for instance this goes back to
we’re talking about earlier about your
personal connection to an image you know
what that is
if you take a picture of it are people
gonna know what that is right that’s
true
right it’s gonna look just like a hole
in a log so without the story of the
woodpecker there you’re not gonna be
able to translate that idea know what it
is right let’s see I really want to find
something where I get to kind of just
get a big mass of green with the
branches silhouetted in front of it so
with branch of things silhouetted this
actually maybe would be a good question
Amanda wants to know is it okay to use
auto white balance um I always shoot out
a white balance but I’m also shooting
wrong right so with raw you can change
all that you know there is no perfect
white balance it’s always a little bit
different and the depending on what
brand camera are using its gonna tell
you oh you know this is perfect or oh
that’s perfect so if you shoot on auto
and you’re shooting raw you make those
adjustments after the fact so you really
just tell in the moment I guess like
what you’re seeing what’s best yeah and
you know if you’re if you’re under a
tungsten light or a fluorescent light
Otto’s not gonna work so there are
presets for that on your camera and they
can be great but sometimes you have to
just do it manually and just go through
each little setting change it a little
bit by a little bit until it looks right
to you it’s really your perspective
that’s meant to you’re the deciding
factor what you think is right was how
you remember it that’s generally what’s
right
all right well do you have any last
little tips that you want to give to any
of the photographers that are out there
you know what I think the most important
thing is just to get out take as many
photos as you can as you grow throughout
being a photographer you’re gonna look
back you know I look back on pictures
from when I was 18 years old and I was
living in New Zealand there were
pictures from that time period that I
loved I look at them now I don’t like
him so much there’s other pictures from
that time period that I never showed
anybody I didn’t think we’re good at all
but now I look at them I’m like oh this
has a lot of potential like I I can do
this or I could use it for that and my
my eye has grown just because I’ve taken
hundreds of thousands of pictures
throughout my life that makes sense you
grow as you take more photos well I want
to thank you for joining us out here
today this has been really helpful and
I’m sure a lot of people have learned
how to take better photos just how much
you know if for no other reason just
understanding how I think about taking a
picture and you know not every picture I
took out here today was good I took some
really bad pictures sometimes I tell
people the only difference being of
professional and an amateur is I take
more bad pictures than you and really
what that is is me practicing me taking
risks and out of that sometimes you get
an amazing image and I encourage
everybody out there to take their own
pictures and actually share them with
National Geographic using using hashtag
backyard warrior because we want to see
all of your backyard warrior photos and
see what you’re doing out in the world
so thank you so much again for joining
us and thanks to Nature Valley for being
out here with us today and National
Geographic for just letting us be out in
the wilderness and make sure if you want
to see more live wilderness and nature
you watch earth live July 9th and you
will see beautiful nature thank you very
much thank you
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