by Gloria Hopkins

What is the key to making your nature photographs unique -- to rising above today’s oceans of spectacular nature photographs? How do you get noticed in a saturated market? It’s simple, and for many artists it happens well before the camera is pulled out of the bag. It is the art of observation.

There is one person in this world who sees nature through your eyes, and that’s your edge. Nobody can see exactly like you, so it stands to reason that nobody can render your vision exactly like you. That’s the easy part. It is up to you to develop and nurture the skills required to make your unique vision a reality.

One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned for making images that stand out can be summed up in one sentence: know it intimately and render it uniquely. This is a simple yet tremendously valuable insight that makes perfect sense for painters and writers. It also happens to be very true for nature photographers.

It is common practice for many visual artists and writers to study their subjects intensely so they may most effectively portray their unique and special interpretation. For example, when walking along a trail, instead of remarking on the particularly pretty shape of a leaf, stop and look at it. Don’t pluck it out or harm it, but observe it. Turn the leaf over and look at it from different angles. Is it the same color on both sides? Anything living or growing on it? Is it rough, slick, wet, dry? Does the color or texture invoke any significant feelings or memories for you? Does that give you an idea for a photograph? There can be dozens of photo worthy things about the simple leaf, but would have you known had you not stopped? Surely you wouldn’t have seen them!

The ability to look for that which others would never see, and to lookfrom creative perspectives are critical skills for the artistwho wants to give theiraudience something unique. Getting into the habit of reallyexamining your subject is also very healthy for the artist within and helps develop your sense of visual awareness.

Photograph it Well

While photographing sandhill cranes from the back of Arthur Morris’ car one morning, I got a very nice close-up portrait of a rare whooping crane. He asked me “did you photograph it? Or did you photograph it well?”

Not wanting to sound dumb, of course I said “I photographed it well!” I hadn’t a clue what he meant.

He went on to explain that with birds, it is important to understand their behaviors and breeding cycles so we can anticipate the best action or plumage opportunities. I went on to study whooping cranes a bit and the next time you can believe I photographed them very well indeed.

How can we expect to photograph something well if we don’t know it intimately? If we don’t look at it from every angle? Without first exploring its intricacies and its relationship to its surroundings and our cameras and us? And in the cases when we can control it, in every lighting situation, in different compositions and at various times of the year?

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excerpt from Natural Design: Image Design for Nature Photographers

Text and images copyright Gloria Hopkins