Esther Beaton

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Photography Techniques

Tutorials and quick tips on different genres of nature photography and different techniques of photography.

Making great people photos

mixed lighting opposite colours

There are so many factors that go into good “people” shots. People photos for geographic magazines are a bit different from standard portraits. Sometimes they are raw photojournalism, but usually they fall into a genre called “environmental portraiture”. I’ve done this for so long now that I’ve come to really love it. The essential elements […]

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Australian Geographic, Behind the Scenes, New South Wales, People Photography, Photography Lighting, Photography Techniques, Professional Photography, Quick Tips, , , ,

Ambient “lighting” is easy

Pearl farmer at dawn, Brisbane Water, NSW

Sometimes you don’t have to work at creating a background because you are blessed with the colours of nature. Or you’re just smart enough to go out at sunrise or sunset. Both of these pictures are pre-dawn. The colour in the sky at this time is called “afterglow” and I especially like this twilight time

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Australian Geographic, Behind the Scenes, New South Wales, People Photography, Photography Lighting, Photography Techniques, Photoshop and Lightroom, Professional Photography, , , ,

Rembrandt artist

Rather than using colour, as in the previous post, to get rid of a busy or dull background, you can accomplish it with exposure control alone. This artist worked in her garage and the best angle of her using her jewellery press had some old storage units behind her. The easiest thing was to turn

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Australian Geographic, Behind the Scenes, People Photography, Photography Lighting, Photography Techniques, Photoshop and Lightroom, Professional Photography, Quick Tips, Studio Photography, , , ,

Building up your lighting

While on the subject of lighting, here are a couple more examples of adding colour. Using coloured flashes is one way to overcome a drab scene – and when you’re indoors, in a clinical environment, it’s always a drab scene. I like to think of it as building my scene, a bit like adding layers

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Australian Geographic, Behind the Scenes, New South Wales, People Photography, Photography Lighting, Photography Techniques, Professional Photography, , , ,

The Worst Drought Ever – are the birds coping?

It’s the worst drought in New South Wales “in six generations” some say. Others say it’s the worst recorded since European settlement. Still others say the worst in 400 years.   Chiltern-Pt Pilot National Park, near the New South Wales border, is one of the world’s birding hotspots. When I was there on an assignment

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Bird photography, Environment, On the Beaton Track, Photography Techniques, Victoria, Wildlife Photography, , ,

Victoria’s Coast and Photo Tip: Charming the Birds

There are some great bird photography locations in Victoria, but during my January trip the drought was playing havoc, with days of unexpected rain, paralytic heat, and dust storms. But even with a little persistence, even in the worst of weather you can still find a few plucky birds. The scenery along the shores of

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Bird Images, Bird photography, Habitats, On the Beaton Track, Photography Techniques, Quick Tips, Victoria, , , ,

Wildlife Photographers to Follow

Black Swan with 3 newly hatched cygnet riding on back,

I’M FEELING PROUD AS PUNCH     I’ve been given another nice “award”. I’m very honoured to be considered one of “25 Amazing Wildlife Photographers to Follow“. You can read the blog post here at Loaded Landscapes. They sell some great Lightroom presets and have very knowledgeable articles in their blog too. As a matter

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Announcements, Beautiful Images, Bird Images, In The Media, Nature and Wildlife, Wildlife Photography, ,

Whitsunday Islands Photography Sailing Safari

I’ve been wanting to do longer than one-day workshops and heres’s one that will thrill some of you to bits. Together with Southern Cross Sailing Adventures, I’ll be running workshops aboard a well-known tall ship, the Solway Lass. But wait, theres’s more! It will be in the Whitsundays, a land beautiful beyond belief. There’s the

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Announcements, Landscape Photography, Photography Tours, Photography Workshops, Queensland, Travel Photography, Workshops & Courses,

A Visit to AWC and the Challenges of Mammal Photography

Wayne Lawler, staff photographer for Australian Wildlife Conservancy, photographing Boodies and Woylies at night with several flash units, Yookamurra Sanctuary, South Australia

I love the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. I love all conservation groups but the AWC has an astounding success rate. Not only are they re-establishing populations of highly threatened species, they are achieving the job at discount rates. They run a mean, tight ship as far as admin spending goes. Income goes almost entirely to field

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Conservation, Nature and Wildlife, Photography Techniques, Professional Photography, South Australia, Threatened species, Wildlife Photography, ,

Think the Reciprocal Rule is safe? It fails with high resolution cameras

Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) on nest among casuarina trees, Lake Tuggerah, Central Coast, New South Wales

The reciprocal rule is handy to know when you are hand-holding your camera, especially with a long lens attached. It  states “always use a shutter speed whose reciprocal is faster than the focal length of the lens”. So if you’re hand-holding a 500 mm lens, you have to use a shutter speed of 1/500 or

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