Wildlife Promise » National Wildlife Photo Contest

Seven National Wildlife Photo Contest Shark Pictures

Roger Di Silvestro — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:42:53 +0000

Although as an editor for National Wildlife magazine I’m accustomed to seeing some of the world’s best nature photography, I never cease to be amazed by the quality of work that participants enter in the annual National Wildlife Photo Contest. Excellent shots even of species that until recently were rarely photographed show up in the contest every year, such as the following pictures of great white sharks and whale sharks.

One of the world’s most widely recognized predators, a great white shark cruises the waters off Mexico.

A Top Sea Predator

The white shark is perhaps the ocean’s most widely recognized predator, but it is still a creature experts know little about. However, new research is unlocking some of the mysteries of white shark behavior.

A growing body of evidence suggests that the world’s white shark population is broken into three units, one centered off South Africa, another off New Zealand, and a third, the northeastern Pacific population, that ranges between California and Hawaii.

A great white shark breaks the surface off South Africa, a prime feeding ground where white sharks prey on seals and sea lions.

Studies conducted during the past decade show that white sharks in the northeastern Pacific Ocean have been isolated from other sharks populations for tens of thousands of years (as a species, great whites date back about 60 million years, and sharks as a group about 450 million). From late summer to early winter these sharks patrol four distinct hunting areas off California and migrate to spend the rest of the year in the open Pacific midway between California and Hawaii, an area biologists call the shark café, on the assumption that the sharks are eating there. However, at this time no one knows for sure what the sharks do in the café. The region may be a mass breeding site, or it may be where females give birth—the site of birthing areas is still a mystery.

A Killing Machine?

Studies off New Zealand indicate that white sharks are not born killers. The jaws of young sharks less than nine feet long are not strong enough for attacking large prey. Biologists working off California have found that the white shark’s diet changes with age, the animals often shifting from fish to mammals as they mature, but even that pattern is flexible—individual sharks tend to specialize in particular types of prey from a selection that includes seals, sea lions, dolphins, fish and squid.

Studies off South Africa and California reveal that sharks seek deeper waters when hunting. The dark upper body of the shark blends in with darker waters and ocean floors in coastal areas, allowing the hunter to lurk in spots frequented by seals and seal lions.

A white shark plies the clear waters off Isla Guadalupe, Mexico. The dark upper body and white underbelly help the shark conceal itself from prey.

White sharks generally look for a seal silhouetted against the sky and attack by swimming straight up, hitting the luckless prey with such speed that a two-ton, twenty-foot shark may burst completely out of the water, its quarry locked in its jaws.

A white shark rockets from False Bay, South Africa. Hunting sharks move deep in the water and look for a seal or sea lion sihouetted against the surface. When they find one, they attack so fast that they fling themselves from the sea.

However, if a seal survives the initial attack with little or no damage, odds are it can use its greater agility to escape.

A hunting great white shark crashes back into the sea at False Bay, South Africa.

The Shark-Human Connection

Although great whites are coastal hunters, attacks on humans are relatively rare. In 2012, about seventy people were attacked by sharks of all kinds worldwide, with seven fatalities. About sixty percent of these attacks were on people lying on surfboards with hands and feet in the water—from the water below, they would resemble a seal. Often, after a first attack on a surfer, white sharks seem to realize their error and move on without a second attack.

Most sharks are harmless to humans. About half of the worlds’ approximately 360 shark species are less than 3 feet long; only 4 percent exceed 12 feet, and three of those feed on plankton, including the world’s largest, the whale shark—which at 30 feet long and about 5 tons is the largest animal in the world that isn’t a whale (the smallest shark is the pygmy ribbontail catshark, which grows to about 6 inches long).

A whale shark glides through the sea off Darwin Island in the Galapagos. Despite a mouth that might be 5 feet wide, this largest of shark species feeds on tiny things, such as fish eggs.

Humans pose a greater danger to sharks than sharks do to humans. About 30 million to 70 million sharks are killed annually by humans, both as untargeted species taken by the commercial fishing industry and as targets for trade in fins for soup, a luxury item in Asia that can price fins at up to $50 a pound. As a result, great whites as well as other species are steeply declining, some as much as 90 percent in the past two decades. Biologists fear that sharks will be past the point of recovery if better management is not initiated soon.

Loss of sharks can have far reaching ecological and economic effects. Destruction of sharks in recent years along the U.S. Atlantic coast allowed cow-nosed rays to stage a population explosion; heavy feeding by the rays later caused a collapse in bay scallop fisheries.

National Wildlife Photo Contest entrant Gary Moore was boating off Kona, Hawaii, when this whale shark came up to the vessel and followed it for 5 or 10 minutes. Whale sharks are among the species harmless to humans.

Photo Contest

The 43^nd annual National Wildlife Photo Contest is accepting this year’s entries through July 15. The contest is open to all photographers 13 years old and up and all levels of skill. The Grand Prize is a trip for two to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada to photograph polar bears,l in addition to which the contest offers $6,000 in other prizes.

Celebrate National Nature Photography Day on June 15th!

Rachel Stemen — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 18:31:53 +0000

Photographer wading through a swamp on Lake Maurepas, Louisiana. Photo by Mark Lagrange.

National Nature Photography Day is coming up on June 15th. This day, dedicated to celebrating nature photography and its role in aiding conservation efforts is near and dear to our hearts here at National Wildlife Federation.

And celebrating it is as easy as can be! All you have to do is scoop up your camera, head outside, and start taking photos. Maybe there’s a particular shot you’ve been planning to try or a hike you’ve been thinking of taking. National Nature Photography Day offers you the perfect excuse to get out there and make it happen!

7 Tips for Taking Better Nature Photographs

For those of you looking for inspiration or just something new to try, nature photographer Rob Sheppard shared some of his best tips with us in the article How to Make Better Nature Photos. From using your digital camera’s LCD screen as a tool to help perfect your shots to getting close-ups without buying an expensive lens to adjusting one critical setting to capture more dramatic outdoor images, these 7 tips will help you get the photos you want.
Check it out here.

Enter, Vote, and Share!

Another great way to celebrate National Nature Photography Day is by sharing your nature photos with your fellow nature and wildlife enthusiasts from around the globe. Entering the National Wildlife Photo Contest is easy, and your tax-deductible $20 entry fee allows you to enter up to 10 photos in the competition. Your $20 goes helps raise awareness of conservation issues and fund our mission to protect wildlife and wild places. It also gets you:

The opportunity to have your photos published in National Wildlife magazine and on our website.
A one year subscription to the magazine and membership to National Wildlife Federation.
A chance to win the Grand Prize a trip for two to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada where you can see and photograph polar bears
A shot at winning additional prizes worth $6,000!

Plus you can put your photos in the running to become our coveted People’s Choice Award winner. You have until July 15th to finalize your entry, so you’ll even have the chance to enter photos you take on National Nature Photography Day! Go here to enter the contest now.

Photo of the Day: Rainy Day Damselfly

Rachel Stemen — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 20:52:43 +0000

A damselfly sitting on East Lake in the rain. Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Photo by Minghui Yuan. 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest.

This Photo of the Day was donated by a participant in the annual National Wildlife Photo Contest. See more photos or sign up for the 43rd Annual National Wildlife Photo Contest.

All Creatures, Great and Small

Rachel Stemen — Fri, 31 May 2013 20:14:46 +0000

A National Wildlife Photo Contest Category Spotlight: Other Wildlife

This category is hopping! And also slithering, flying, swimming, buzzing and spinning webs. While their furry, feathered and fuzzy friends in the animal kingdom may grab more of the attention, the Other Wildlife category of the National Wildlife Photo Contest garners some of the more fascinating and unusual entries. This broad category includes portraits and photos showing the behavior of underwater life, reptiles, amphibians, insects, spiders and more.

Migrating Sockeye Salmon at Night. Photo by David Hall. 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest winner.

Alligator and Florida gar. Photo by Marina Scarr. 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest honorable mention.

Jumping spider. Photo by Colin Hutton. 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest winner.

Getting good photos of other wildlife can be tricky, because they are frequently some of the smallest of creatures. Photographer Rob Sheppard urges you to:

Forget lions, tigers and bears—start focusing your camera on the frogs, newts and insects all around us.

He offers 7 tips to help you take better photographs of small creatures.

For a look at this year’s creepy-crawly, underwater and scaly fun, visit our Photo Contest homepage. You can vote for and share your favorites or even enter your own photos. And if you love taking pictures of the wild things and wild life all around us, we encourage you to enter a few photos of your own!

All photos were entries in the Other Wildlife category of the National Wildlife* Photo Contest. See more photos or sign up for the 43rd Annual National Wildlife Photo Contest >>*

Photo Gallery: Seven “City Birds”

Laura Tangley — Thu, 30 May 2013 22:08:11 +0000

Hear the words “city birds” and you’re likely to picture a handful of common nonnative species such as the European starling, house sparrow and pigeon. But a long-term survey of breeding birds in Baltimore, Maryland, has revealed that a surprising number and diversity of native birds call that city home—from backyard feeder visitors such as blue jays, chickadees and cardinals to elusive warblers and wood thrushes to shore-loving herons, gulls and cormorants.

Researchers conducting the ongoing survey, sponsored by National Science Foundation, tallied birds in a handful of city parks, but recorded the majority of species and individual birds in the places where Baltimore’s human residents live and work. “Traditionally, people tended to view metro areas like Baltimore as biological deserts,” John Kostyack, NWF’s vice president for wildlife conservation, notes in a recent article, “Urban Renewal,” published in National Wildlife magazine. “But it turns out that many of us live where the wild things are.”

Pictured below are seven of the more than six dozen bird species scientists found breeding and rearing young in Baltimore—a city that recently announced plans to be certified as an NWF Community Wildlife Habitat®.

All photos were donated by past participants in the National Wildlife Photo Contest. To enter your best wildlife and other nature images in this year’s competition, visit the contest site.

Baltimore Oriole

Maryland’s handsome state bird, the Baltimore oriole winters thousands of miles south in Mexico or Central America. During late spring through summer, the birds settle down in urban parks and backyards to breed and rear their young. Because orioles nest and forage for insects, fruit and nectar high in the canopy of deciduous trees, you are more likely to hear than to see these birds. Photo by Lynn Cleveland.

American Kestrel

The American kestrel is the smallest North American falcon as well as one of the most colorful of all raptors. Ranging across the continent, kestrels hunt for insects, voles and other small prey in open habitats such as meadows. You may spot them perching on fence posts or electrical wires. In Baltimore, researchers recorded the birds most frequently near the city’s shoreline. Photo by Steve Furcich.

Eastern Bluebird

A birder’s favorite, the eastern bluebird nests either in tree cavities or birdhouses. Though males bring nesting material and display at the nest to attract a mate, females build the nest and incubate eggs on their own. When this female took a break from sitting on eggs in a nest box in Pennsylvania, “she came out, and the father gave her part of a worm,” says the photographer. Photo by Robert Diller.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Cavity nesters, red-bellied woodpeckers are common in natural deciduous forests throughout the East. But researchers found many of the woodpeckers in older residential neighborhoods of Baltimore that had nest sites in mature trees. The birds also need older trees with deep crevices to forage for insect prey. And like other woodpecker species, they use tree cracks to store food. Photo by Howard Cheek.

American Goldfinch

Popular backyard feeder birds across much of the United States, American goldfinches were spotted by scientists even in Baltimore’s inner city neighborhoods. These birds nest later than most North American bird species, waiting until June or July when thistle, milkweed and other native plants have produced their seeds. Unusual among birds, goldfinches eat an almost entirely vegetarian diet. Photo by Maggie Bond.

Black-crowned Night Heron

A denizen of salt- and freshwater wetland habitats, black-crowned night herons feed primarily at dusk and during the night, often in the same places where diurnal herons stalk prey by daylight. Bernard Friel caught this male night heron in breeding plumage as he flew away from a nest in Florida. The birds nest colonially in trees, often caring for chicks that are not their own. Photo by Bernard Friel.

Wood Thrush

The wood thrush is known as a shy and secretive forest dweller. Nonetheless, researchers found the birds in some of Baltimore’s leafy older neighborhoods. To photograph this thrush feeding hatchlings, the photographers waited patiently for natural sunlight to bathe the nest, refusing “to subject our feathered friends to a blinding light that might send them into the food chain early.” Photo by Hal and Kirsten Snyder.

Find out how residents of cities and suburbs can create bird-friendly landscapes, then turn your yard into a Certified Wildlife Habitat® site. This month, Garden For Wildlife Month, NWF is planting a native tree for every new property certified.

National Wildlife Photo Contest Category Spotlight: Landscapes and Plant Life

Rachel Stemen — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:23:50 +0000

One of our most popular annual events is the National Wildlife Photo Contest. Now in its 43^rd year, the Photo Contest attracts entries from all over the world in seven categories and a separate Youth category for kids ages 13 to 17.

Today’s spotlight is on the “Landscapes and Plant Life” category, which focuses on scenic views and native plants in wild settings.

Last year’s first place winning photograph in this category comes from Spain, where photographer Francisco Mingorance used a long exposure to capture the unusual “star” of sea foam on the shore at night.

The Star of the Silent. Photo by Francisco Mingorance. 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest winner.

The second place winner showed a spectacled caiman gliding through the water surrounded by greenery in Manu National Park, Peru.

Spectacled Cayman. Photo by Michael Tweddle. 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest winner.

Honorable mentions included a creative shot of Common Salsify silhouetted against the sun, and the Milky Way wheeling over Devil’s Tower National Monument at night.

A Meadow-sweet in the setting sun. Photo by Zoltán Ritzel. 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest honorable mention.

The Milky Way over Devil’s Tower in the Moonlight. Photo by Durand Johnson. 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest honorable mention.

For tips on the best ways to get great photographs of flowers, check out our article How to Create Flower Photos As Vibrant As Your Subject from photographer Rob Sheppard.

Check out this year’s entrants in the Photo Contest here. You can vote for and share your favorites or even enter your own photos. We’d love to see them!

All photos were entries in the Landscapes and Plant Life category of the National Wildlife* Photo Contest. See more photos or sign up for the 43rd Annual National Wildlife Photo Contest >>*

Landscape Photography: The Right Tool, For the Right Impact

Guest Author — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:29:17 +0000

This guest post by Jim Goldstein is sponsored by BorrowLenses.com.

The natural world offers unlimited opportunities and subjects for photographers of all levels to make compelling images. But nature photography, particularly when wildlife is involved, can be challenging under the best of circumstances. It requires proper preparation. Just as the great masters of painting wouldn’t want to get stuck trying to paint a scene with the wrong brush, people should avoid heading into the field with the wrong lenses to capture their subjects.

One thing photographers who use digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras can do to increase the odds that they’ll walk away with high-impact photos is to use the right tools for the job. Different lenses have different optical qualities that will give each image a characteristic look. Below you’ll find lens family overviews paired with example images to give you an idea of how they can help you highlight the beauty of your subject(s) and boost their impact to viewers of your photography.

Fisheye (8-15mm)

Star trails above Mobius Arch in the Alabama Hills of California. Lens: Canon 15mm Fisheye

Fisheye lenses are a lot of fun to use with landscapes. They have two unique qualities:

They take in a very wide angle of view, often 180º.
They have a very short focal distance, allowing you to get within inches of your subject

The most distinctive visual quality provided by these types of lenses that viewers notice is the distorted perspective, namely barrel distortion. Distortion is something photographers either love or hate. I love distortion and the effect it brings to my photography. For those who don’t like the distortion, you can use a fisheye to get the wide field of view and then run 3rd party software applications like Optics Pro Elite v8 Software to remove the distortion.

A fisheye view of the Wave sandstone formations.

One of the biggest challenges in using a fisheye lens is keeping unwanted elements out of your image. This can include people or objects on the periphery of the scene you’re photographing. Even your feet can get in the field of view. A lot of people I know often use this lens while laying down. Shooting with this lens is a different but very fun experience.

Ultra-wide (16-24mm)

Zabriskie Point – Death Valley National Park, California. Lens info: Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM at 18mm

Ultra-wide zoom lenses lack the strong distortion of a fisheye lens, but often on the wider end of the focal length spectrum will still show some degree of barrel distortion. The focal length of ultra-wide zoom lenses can range from as wide as 10mm to 35mm.

The lens I use is a Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L II lensand it is one of my most frequently used lenses. The longer focal lengths lack distortion while the wider focal lengths provide the distortion that I like.

Racetrack Star Trails.

The downside to ultra-wide lenses are that they do show signs of vignetting. This is most noticeable when using a filter in combination with shooting at the widest focal lengths. Vignetting appears most visibly with full frame sensor cameras. Cameras that have a magnification factor (non-full frame sensor cameras) often avoid the effects of vignetting as the projected image falls outside of the sensor’s range of detection.

Standard Focal Lengths (24-90mm)

Sun shining through a grove of Monterey Pines (Pinus radiata) – San Francisco, California.

Standard focal length lenses span a focal length of 35-90mm. As an example, 35mm lenses are used for travel and cinema, 50mm lenses are often used for photojournalism, and 85mm lenses are often used for portraiture. The wide range of use makes these lenses quite utilitarian and give photographers flexibility in the field.

The downside to using standard focal length lenses is that they don’t cover subjects requiring more extreme focal lengths, such as wide angle environmental images or telephoto wildlife images.

Telephoto (70-200mm)

A coyote runs through the hillside blending into his environment.

It might surprise people to know that some of the best landscape photos can be obtained with longer focal lengths provided by telephoto lenses. Lenses with longer focal lengths provide a Telephoto Effect that compresses the perceived distance between objects in the foreground and background of an image. This effect can provide a great deal of visual impact. Telephoto lenses, of course, are also great for wildlife photography as they help bring the viewer closer to the subject to see greater detail.

Fog fills San Francisco Bay with a silhouette of Mount Diablo in the distance – San Francisco, California.

Telephoto lenses often range in focal length from 75 to 400mm and, depending on the magnification, will provide differing degrees of the Telephoto Effect. These types of lenses provide a great deal of flexibility, allowing a photographer to be some distance from their subject. On the downside, telephoto lenses require a longer focusing distance limiting photographers from getting too close to their subject in order to avoid out of focus images.

Longer focal lengths narrow the depth of field, which is another impact telephoto lenses have on images. This requires a more precise placement of focus on the subject that you feel is most important.

Super Telephoto (200-1200mm)

Last light falls on Half Dome as the sun sets.

Super-telephoto lensesrange in focal length from 300 to 1200 mm. These types of lenses share similar optical and visual qualities as telephoto lenses, albeit more extreme. One additional thing to consider when shooting at such extreme focal lengths is the increased sensitivity to vibration. At extreme focal lengths, the slightest movement will be detectable and result in blurred images. The best way to avoid this is to use a tripod, shield your camera/lens setup from wind, and use mirror lock-up if your camera has this function.

Perigee Moon & California Oak near the Monterey coast, California.

Macro (60-180mm)

Fall leaves.

Macro lenses enable you to magnify your subject to greater than life size. Macro photography can be used to highlight a subject in a clinical way with little interpretation or to artistically highlight form and color. While most macro lenses will allow you to get in close to your subject, few allow you to get as close as a Canon MP-E 65mm lens which creates results bordering on microscopy.

The downside of macro photography is the need for a good amount of light, patience and sensitivity to vibration. Each of these can be overcome with external lighting, a focusing rail, good technique and the use of a shutter release or timed shutter.

Tilt-Shift (17mm, 24mm, 45mm & 90mm)

Badwater Sunset – Death Valley National Park, California.

Tilt-shift lensesare specialized lenses that allow you to adjust the plane of focus by physically repositioning lens elements. This can result in sharper images and provide a means of gaining greater depth of field at lower f-stops.

Fog forms over Swiftcurrent Lake and Mount Grinnell at sunrise in Glacier National Park, Montana.

Another added benefit of tilt-shift lenses is their ability to provide an alternate method of creating panoramic photos. The tilt-shift capabilities allows you to keep your camera in one position while you shift the visible scene across your sensor. In a nutshell, it’s like panning without ever moving your camera. The big bonus with this technique is that there is no introduction of parallax distortion, making for a simplified means of capturing and post-processing panoramic photos.

Second Body — Don’t Get Caught off Guard

While much of the discussion so far has centered on lenses, it is incredibly important to highlight that having a second DSLR body on-hand can make a huge difference. Case in point: on my last trip to Glacier National Park, I was shooting a time-lapse with my camera and a mountain goat came up so close to me that I couldn’t focus my camera on him. In fact, he came so close that, for safety’s sake, I had to step away. I would have never documented this if I hadn’t had a second camera on-hand. For more serious work, a second body helps as a backup in case anything catastrophic happens to your primary camera and it allows you to work at the same time with multiple lenses of differing focal lengths.

Outfit Your Excursions on a Budget

With all these recommendations you might think that money is no object but, like you, I operate on a budget. My secret to finding and using the right tool can be heavily attributed to the fact that I can rent the right gear for the right trip or assignment. To convert your camera bag into an endless home for new and great gear like I have, I recommend renting the gear you want, when you want it from BorrowLenses.com.

And, after you’ve rented your gear, planned your trip, and taken your wonderful nature photos, remember to enter the National Wildlife Photo Contest. There are wildlife- and landscape-specific categories as well as $6,000 in prizes, with a Grand Prize trip for two to Churchill, Canada where you can see and photograph polar bears.

About Jim Goldstein

Jim Goldstein is a San Francisco based professional photographer and author who has been in numerous publications, including Outdoor Photographer, Digital Photo Pro, Popular Photography and has self-published a PDF eBook Photographing the 4th Dimension – Time covering numerous slow shutter techniques. Follow Jim Goldstein on Google+ | Twitter | Facebook | 500px

7 Photos That Capture A Mother’s Love

Rachel Stemen — Fri, 10 May 2013 20:06:24 +0000

Here at National Wildlife magazine, there is no more sure fire way to get a big response from our readers than to publish a photo that captures the bond between mother and baby. It doesn’t matter if it’s polar bears or ducks or apes—these photos touch us because they remind us that the love between a mother and baby is universal.

So, in honor of Mother’s Day this Sunday, I’m sharing some amazing photos that were past entries in the Baby Animals category of our National Wildlife Photo Contest.

Browse through our gallery of “aww”dorable baby animal entries from last year below.

The Baby Animals category is always one of our most popular, and this year is no exception. You can see this year’s exciting and touching crop of Baby Animal photos right now at the 43rd annual National Wildlife Photo Contest. You can vote for and share your favorites or even enter your own photos.

If you love taking pictures of the wild things and wild life all around us, I encourage you to enter a few photos of your own! Enter by May 15th and you’ll get to add 5 extra photos at no additional cost.

Brown bear cub gets its mother in a muzzle-lock. Photo by Michael Pollack. 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest entry.

An affectionate moment between a mother cheetah and her cub. Photo by Lisa Hoffner. First Place winner, Baby Animals, 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest.

Hippo mother and calf in South Luangwa National Park, Zambia. Photo by Thomas Mattas. 2011 National Wildlife Photo Contest entry.

Sandhill crane chick peeking out of its parent’s feathers. Photo by Scott Helfrich. Second Place winner, Baby Animals, 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest.

A polar bear cub cuddles against its mother in Wapusk National Park, Canada. Photo by Christine Haines. 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest.

A baby yellow-bellied marmot snuggles against its mom in Rocky Mountain National Park. Photo by Fi Rust. 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest entry.

A humpback whale helps her calf to the surface to breathe. Photo by Mazdak Radjainia. 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest entry.

All photos were entries in the Baby Animals category of the National Wildlife* Photo Contest. See more photos or sign up for the 43rd Annual National Wildlife Photo Contest >>*

Wildlife Through a Lens: Focus on Birds

Rachel Stemen — Fri, 03 May 2013 14:44:08 +0000

Spring is a prime season for bird photography, and we want you to feel inspired to grab your camera and snap some photos! We asked Christine Haines, one of our Flickr group members and a long-time National Wildlife Photo Contest entrant, about her experience photographing these sometimes challenging critters. She shared some of her own striking images and advice:

California quail. Photo by Christine Haines.

Flock of American robins and a cedar waxwing. Photo by Christine Haines.

Be patient and take lots of photos.

“Patience and persistence are good qualities to have as a wildlife photographer.” In the 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest, Christine’s polar bear photo won an Honorable Mention, “proving that persistence pays off.”

Calliope hummingbird. Photo by Christine Haines.

Pygmy nuthatch. Photo by Christine Haines.

You don’t have to go far to find photo opportunities.

“Most of my bird images were taken in my backyard. Installing a bird bath with a water dripper will attract the greatest variety of birds.”

Pygmy nuthatches on a water dripper. Photo by Christine Haines.

Mountain chickadee. Photo by Christine Haines.

Find your inspiration, and hone your skills with reading and practice.

Christine worked for the City of Spokane, Washington for 20 years as a traffic engineering specialist, and it was bird watching that sparked her interest in photography. “I saw the beautiful images in my bird magazines and wanted to take them, too.” She developed her skills through reading and joining a photography club.

House finch. Photo by Christine Haines.

Calliope hummingbird in tree. Photo by Christine Haines.

See more of Christine’s photos on Flickr >>

Want More Nature Photography Ideas?

Visit our Nature Photography Tips Center or check out the entries in this year’s National Wildlife Photo Contest! Vote for your favorite photos and consider entering your own for a chance to win the Grand Prize — a trip for two to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada where you can see and photograph polar bears.

Grab Your Camera: A Simple Way to Celebrate Earth Day

Rachel Stemen — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:45:59 +0000

Here’s a simple, fun way to celebrate Earth Day… share the beauty of nature as seen through your camera lens.

Whether it’s a cheetah in Africa, a beautiful hummingbird in your own backyard, a meadow covered in wildflowers or a stunning coast, photos of the nature all around us moves us, inspires us and reminds us of all we have to protect.

Lake Superior coast. Photo by Steve Perry. 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest.

So this year we suggest you celebrate Earth Day by grabbing your camera and capturing some of the beauty around you. You don’t even have to go outside! Get seven ways to take great nature photos without leaving your house in our article How to Photograph Wildlife Through A Window, including tips on how to avoid problems with the glass, using the house as a blind and getting up close without a telephoto lens.

Of course, if you are planning to go a little farther than your own backyard, we suggest checking out these 13 stunning photos that use water to showcase the beauty of wildlife, landscapes, trees and the sky for inspiration and then get out there and enjoy the wonders of nature.

Visit our Nature Photography Tips Center for ideas and advice from pro photographers on photographing flowers, small animals, subjects in the rain, and more.

In honor of Earth Day, we invite you to join our 43rd Annual National Wildlife Photo Contest.

Entering is easy. Just snap some new photos, or choose some of your favorites from your photo albums, and share them with your fellow nature and photography enthusiasts by entering this year’s contest.

We have amazing prizes for this year’s winners, including our Grand Prize, expense paid trip to Manitoba Canada to see and photograph polar bears! Plus great prizes for the winners in seven categories and our People’s Choice award.