Pierre Steenberg

Setting gear up for wildlife photography

August 11, 2019 • Leave a Comment

Pre-setup Before actual photography should take place, watch a few videos to setup your autofocus system for wildlife. There are all sorts of trade-offs. Setting this up usually involves menu-systems which you do not want to be reading as the Lion focused on its prey. Have your camera setup, before the shoot. Set your focus tracking, its stickines...

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Wildlife photography tips

August 04, 2019 • Leave a Comment

During August I will be co-teaching a wildlife safari workshop in Zimbabwe and Botswana. Having grown up in South Africa I love to photograph wildlife. My wife and I owned time-share inside a game park and spent many wonderful weeks there, year in and year out. During the next few weeks, I will talk about photographing wildlife. Today we will focus...

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Color gradation

July 28, 2019 • Leave a Comment

Smooth color gradation is one of the most tricky tasks for your camera's sensor. This is one area that can be used to determine the quality of your camera's sensor. Check out the technical specifications of your sensor. The higher the bit rate the better for color gradations. The number of possible color combinations impact color gradation. The hig...

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Know when to stay after sunset

July 21, 2019 • Leave a Comment

How can we know when to stay after sunset? Is it possible to know some time before sunset that the period after sunset is going to be really nice? When we are shooting close to our cars this is often not a worry but if you have to hike back it is important to know the answer to this question. If the post sunset period is not going to be nice I woul...

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Summarize the scene

July 14, 2019 • Leave a Comment

With macro photography we go very close to show what we don't often see or look at. When we struggle to see great compositions, think going closer. Shrink your world. As you begin to see images slowly go wider, go further away, until you begin to see image again. The last month or so I have been talking about making things stand out, isolating elem...

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Something has to stand out

July 07, 2019 • Leave a Comment

Something has to stand out. We cannot have a see of objects all looking similar and end up with a great image. Something just has to be different. Something has to add interest, breaking the monotany. We were in the Quiver tree forest of Namibia. These trees are everywhere. The challenge is to find something that will stand out. A few weeks ago I w...

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Lower your angle

June 30, 2019 • Leave a Comment

Shoot from below! Most photographers plonk their tripods down and shoot at eye level. Tripods are one of very few tools that will really help to make you a better photographer. They slow you down which is just what we often need. They give you the chance to go around the edges of the screen to fine tune our compositions. They keep the camera steady...

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Depth from above

June 23, 2019 • Leave a Comment

Photographers use many elements and techniques to create depth in an image such as: Paths or roads Tracks Placement of elements where one leads to the other Mostly though the depth that photographers create comes from below. The elements are part of the bottom of the image, they are on land or water. However, depth can also be achieved fr...

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Balance and depth

June 16, 2019 • Leave a Comment

Good images seem to have a sense of balance to them. They stay level when placed on a fulcrum point. Far objects balance closer objects. Something on one side cancels out the visual weight of something on the other side. It takes intentionality to compose images this way. Just one or two steps this way or that way can make all the difference. He...

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The sun

June 09, 2019 • Leave a Comment

The sun plays a major role in just about all landscape images (except for night photography). It is the primary source of light. The position of the sun is of the utmost importance. This controls the direction of shadows. This creates backlighting, side lighting, and all sorts of other effects. This sun is not just important as a light source but c...

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