Nature photographer Angie Birmingham shares five tips for beginners: shoot each scene twice (wide and close-up), try many subjects before specializing, use fast shutter speeds and denoise software like Topaz Photo AI, study photographers like Ansel Adams and Kevin Dooley, and share your work to get feedback.
Hey there, I'm Angie Birmingham, and I have been a nature photographer for over 20 years. And today we're going to dive into 5 epic tips that I wish I had known when I started my photography journey. These tips are absolute game changers, so let's dive into this. All right, so let's get started. Tip number 1, when you approach the scene, whether it's an animal, landscape, person, whatever, you need to take at least 2 images. Take a close-up and take a wide-angle shot. With your subject in it. This is a must. The wide angle will tell the crucial story of where your subject is, what it's doing, where it lives. And the close-up will show expressions of the wildlife or the bird or the person. And with landscapes, it'll give you a more intimate landscape. So instead of a wide, vast landscape. You're going to focus in on the most important subject of that landscape and take a very close-up intimate landscape shot. This will help you find your style as you're starting out. And one thing to keep in mind, style and your niche that you picked for photography are 2 separate things and they are not to be confused. Tip number 2, shoot a variety of subjects. Shoot it all. Don't limit yourself to one subject like animals, flowers, people, landscape, or bugs. If it catches your eye, capture it. Don't niche down your photography until you learn what you like. My niche is still a very broad one. I identify as a nature photographer. If it's in nature, I'm going to photograph it. Exploring different subjects helps you learn and grow as a photographer. You might discover a passion that you never expected. This is how I learned that I love wildflower photography. I look forward to every spring because all the beautiful flowers like the bluebonnets and the lupines are in bloom, and they— I love the flowers. So what's your passion? What are you going to learn that you love to photograph? All right. Tip number 3, don't be afraid to crank that shutter speed up, especially when you're handholding your camera. Remember, you can fix noise, but you can't fix motion blur. Here's a good golden rule for you to follow. Match your shutter speed to your focal length. For example, If you're shooting at, say, 200mm, you're going to want your shutter speed to be at 1/200th of a second or more. And if you have very shaky hands, go ahead and double that. Take it to 400— 1/400th of a second on your shutter speed. So just remember that. That you can fix noise with the denoise program. My denoise program that I really, really like— it's kind of a toss-up between 2. I like the Topaz Photo AI, and then I also like the DxO PureRAW 4. And I'll have links for both of those below for you, along with a discount code if it's available, and I think both have a free trial if you use my link. So try them out, you never know, you might like it. All right, tip number 4 is to connect with other photographers. Join local groups, attend meetups, join some online communities. There's so many of online forums and communities to join. ViewBug is one where you can upload photos and you can actually win photo contests, and a lot of them are free to enter. Look at images from other photographers that you admire and try to mimic their style but add your own little twist to it. Some of my favorite wildlife photographers are Kevin Dooley and Thomas Mangelsen. And for landscapes, I really enjoy Ansel Adams' stuff, and Mandy Lee is an amazing landscape photographer. You really need to find you a photographer and try to mimic it with your own little twist. It'll really help. It really will. All right, tip number 5 is share your work and ask for feedback. Yes, you heard me. Tip 5 is don't be shy, share your work and ask for feedback, but be ready to take the good with the bad and don't let it get you down. Remember, Photography is a form of art, and your photo is your masterpiece, so share them with pride. Constructive feedback is a fantastic tool to help improve, so embrace it and keep growing. So there you have it, all 5 tips that I wish I'd known when I was a beginner photographer. These tips will help you level up your skills and find your unique voice in the huge world of photography.
