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Photo masterclass part 11: Creative visions of nature
Let your imagination run wild when photographing wildlife - download the pdf at the bottom of the page for some inspiration.
It’s time to free your mind to take truly unforgettable photographs. The aim is to use your imagination to create an inspirational vision – a unique, perhaps abstract view of wildlife or wild places. To achieve this, you’ve got to work hard and think laterally. But it’s very rewarding.
A recent estimate suggests that some 50 billion photographs are taken each year. Several billion are probably shown to family and friends, and a few million are selected for publication.
Goodness knows how many pictures each of us sees in a typical day, week or month. But how many do we remember – how many photographs can you ‘see’ clearly in your mind’s eye?
Surprisingly few pictures make such a big impact that we remember them later. The ones we do recall tend to be iconic images of memorable events or people, such as the famous portrait of Che Guevara by Alberto Korda.
But out-of-the-ordinary images of common subjects can also be memorable. One that comes to mind is Sky Chase by Manuel Presti – a previous Wildlife Photographer of the Year winner – showing a flock of starlings pursued by a peregrine in wonderful graphic simplicity.
This month, we’ll be finding new ways of looking at wildlife and wild places. Producing genuinely creative visions of nature goes far beyond the absence of technical flaws and the use of pleasing composition. It demands ‘visionary imaging’ – a term coined by the late photographer Galen Rowell to describe pulling back from the simple experience of ‘being there’ and using the aesthetic relationships of everything around you to create an image in your mind and, ultimately, in your camera.
So we’ll be taking inspiration from nature, but suggesting methods of tackling age-old subjects in rather more original and artistic ways.
MEET THE EXPERT: Art Wolfe, USA
Renowned for his unique approach to nature photography and his mastery of colour and composition, Art Wolfe has taken an estimated one million images and had over 45 books published.
Art Wolfe knew he was “crazy about photography” by the age of 14, and published his first book just three years after graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Now he spends nine months of the year travelling in search of suitable subjects and the rest of the year planning.
He lives and dreams photography. Even in normal day-to-day life at home in Seattle, he has to force himself to leave his camera behind. “But then my mind is constantly awash with images that are begging to be shot,” he laughs. “If I see a fabulous shot that I can’t photograph, I go cold turkey.”
“Never stop thinking pictures,” he says. “I’m either looking through a camera, wishing I was looking through a camera or sketching ideas to get something down on paper. And I spend a lot of time pre-visualising images I would like to take.”
Art is passionate about conservation and much of his work revolves around the people, places and wildlife he cares most about. “I ignore market forces,” he says, “preferring to turn my private passions, such as rainforests, primates or tribes, into books and prints.”
When we spoke he had just returned from Madagascar, shooting for a new book, Moments of Life. “Even though I am lucky enough to travel most of the time,” Art enthuses, “there are still many subjects on my wishlist. I have a burning ambition, for example, to photograph the remote tribes in southern Sudan.”
And then he was silent for a moment, as yet another series of potential pictures flitted through his mind.
Art Wolfe’s top tips for creative visions photography
- Find new angles
The most important aspect of any photography is to find fresh perspectives. Don’t be lazy and take the pictures that are obvious to everyone. Work hard. Think laterally. Find new angles, wait for better light, look for interesting behaviour, vary the shutter speed and aperture – anything to avoid the classic ‘bird on a stick’ shot.
- Keep stimulated
Keep your mind and imagination stimulated. Find new subjects and visit new places as often as you can. Set yourself challenges. Make your photography fun and inspiring. It’s crucial to keep your creative juices flowing. Art firmly believes that constant stimulation gives him the edge, stops him going stale and keeps his lifelong passion alive.
YOUR STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE: Mark Carwardine shows you how to apply the theory to get the perfect picture.
Look for striking colours
- Use eye-catching colours to produce more dynamic images.
- Learn to balance colours with the greatest visual impact. Primary colours (red, blue and yellow) are particularly striking, but mixing these with certain secondary colours (red-green, blue-orange or yellow-purple, for example) can make each hue even more intense.
- Work with contrasting colours to add depth to two-dimensional photographs. Warm colours such as reds and yellows advance in the image; cool colours such as blues and greens recede.
Shoot abstract landscapes
- Look beyond the traditional broad, sweeping landscapes and try to capture eye-catching vignettes instead. The more abstract your image, the more striking and intriguing it can be.
- Try using a telephoto lens instead of a wide-angle to get something different. Using a telephoto is not the same as moving nearer to a particular part of the picture, because it compresses the scene at the same time as bringing it closer.
- Experiment with blurring – use a long shutter speed to capture wind movement or move your camera as you take the picture.
Experiment with flash
- Don’t be put off by the bad old days of ancient manual flashguns and the guesswork once needed to achieve accurate exposures. Modern flashguns are remarkably powerful and easy to use.
- Try shooting on a dull day, using flash to brighten your main subject and make it jump out of the picture.
- Use flash in bright sunlight, too. It helps to fill in the shadows and reduce contrast. But best of all, it enables you to experiment with more unusual vantage points. With flash you can shoot against a sunny sky, for example, and still get perfect exposures.
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