The Professional Photographer's Guide to Shooting & Selling Nature & Wildlife Ph otos

THE PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER'S GUIDE TO SHOOTING & SELLING

NATURE & WILDLIFE PHOTOS

JIM ZUCKERMAN

I wish to dedicate this book to my family, who loved and supported me even during the darkest part of my life.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

I want to thank my dear friend, Bert Eifer, for appreciating my work from the very beginning and for introducing me to Writer's Digest Books.

I also wish to express my gratitude to David Lewis, who as editorial director saw my pictures and enthusiastically supported this project until its conclusion.

And to Mary Cropper, I am in debt for her sensational job of editing this book. Without her analytical thinking and remarkable sense of organization, my text probably would have been incoherent.

PREFACE:

More than anything else in life, I love taking pictures of nature and wildlife. It's my greatest joy. It would be impossible for me to have a nine-to-five job sitting behind a desk. It's not just that I wouldn't do it — I couldn't handle it at all.

My decision to pursue a career in photography was a matter of following my heart. I felt that I was put on this earth to capture beauty on film, and that to do anything else would be going against what I knew to be the Truth. I don't think it's possible to be happy if you betray your purpose. It only took me twenty years to realize this.

You must want very much to succeed to be able to make it as a nature and wildlife photographer. It's not a matter of saying to yourself, I think photography would be more fun than plumbing or accounting. You must make a total commitment, keeping all your energy focused on your goals. Your success will be proportional to this commitment.

1. MAKING GREAT PHOTOS

Describes what makes the difference between a good photo and a great one. Discusses techniques and principles for getting great photographs, including lighting and composition for the nature and wildlife photographer.

2. TAKING GREAT, SALABLE PHOTOS

Explains why great photos still may not sell. Looks at ways to maximize the chances of getting an editor to look at and buy your photos rather than someone else's. Explores the advantages of developing a specialization and tells how to do so.

3. GETTING GREAT PHOTOS — NO MATTER WHERE YOU LIVE

Tells how to get outstanding nature and wildlife photos without trotting off to the far ends of the globe. Tips and tricks for capturing wildlife in zoos, aquariums, natural history museums and even pet stores. Scenic beauty in national, state and local parks.

4. POWER PRESENTATIONS

Dressing your portfolio and submission packages for success. Shows sample portfolios or submission packages for five different markets and discusses what to put in and what to leave out — and why. Learn how to package your work and how to prepare a query letter.

5. SUCCEEDING IN THE MAGAZINE MARKETPLACE

Shows and tells what photo editors and other editors want from photographers. Gives tips on identifying who will want your photos and how to find them. Describes several ways to create photo/article packages that editors want to see.

6. ADVERTISING PHOTOGRAPHY

Shows what makes a good photograph for advertising. Discusses how to use direct mail to find potential buyers. Explains how advertisers use photographs and how the advertising business works.

7. STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY

Discusses not only how to work with a stock agency but also how to sell your images yourself. Describes what makes successful stock images. Tells how to select the stock agency that's right for you and then work well with them. Details the mechanics of selling stock yourself.

8. THE BOOK MARKET

Describes the various types of illustrated books that use photographs. Tips for breaking into each market. How to come up with book ideas and then approach publishers.

9. FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Covers the major art markets for photography: calendars, posters and decor. What works for each and why. Explains how to print and market your own poster.

APPENDIX

Discussion of various rights. 35mm equivalents for medium format equipment. Film for all occasions. Sample cover and query letters. Sample model release, property release, delivery memo, and invoice.

As a general rule, you get a better composition if you have a focal point, something that immediately draws the viewer's attention. But there are exceptions to every rule, as this photograph demonstrates. There is no one center of interest, but the arrangement of flowers within the frame, the bright spots of color, and the interesting texture of the petals provide enough interest to draw in the viewer. Experiment with breaking the rules of composition occasionally and see what results you get.

Technical Data: Mamiya RZ 67,110mm lens, #1 extension tube, 1 second, f/22, Fujichrome 50D, tripod.

MAKING GREAT PHOTOS

Great photographs begin with personal vision. This vision, which develops gradually, will enhance your images with sensitivity and artistry that is solely your own. But expressing that vision requires learning the fundamentals of photography first. I personally don't like rules that restrict artistic expression, and I tend to break them as often as follow them. My ability to break them successfully, however, comes from having learned them in the first place.

Following the accepted standards and principles of photography will give you guidelines for evaluating and improving your work. Study the work of the great masters of photography and analyze how they've utilized the basic elements of composition such as dominance, balance and unity to create striking images. Is there a strong center of interest? Look at how they have used color and light to capture a particular effect. Try to decide when they broke the rules and, more important, why.

You get to be a better photographer the same way you get to Carnegie Hall in the old joke: practice, practice, practice. Thousands of pictures will end up in the trash along the way, but don't ever let that discourage you. Even after taking pictures for twenty-two years, I still find my reject pile growing by leaps and bounds. A lot of that is the sign of my growth as a photographer. I've gotten more and more demanding of myself as my work has matured. Images that would have pleased me five years ago are no longer good enough. If it's not already true for you, it will be.

PRETTY ISN'T ALWAYS GREAT

I think the toughest part of photography is learning that a pretty scene won't always yield a great photograph. This is most obvious when you try to capture a beautiful panorama. Every time I take the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway (Palm Springs, California) to the top of a cliff that's a mile and a half above the desert floor, I want to put on a wide-angle lens and capture the whole expanse of desert. But I know that the resulting image would only document what I saw; it wouldn't be a great photograph because the panorama has no strong graphic shapes. Also there's no illusion of depth or any rich texture to the ground. You'll encounter the same problems when you try to capture an expanse of forest or waves rolling across a wide beach.

I could only have photographed these snowflakes with a very low angle of light. The sunrise illumination just skimmed across the ground, catching a few flakes and providing the textural quality necessary. If the sun had been overhead, the light would have been too flat to get this shot because there wouldn't have been the highlights and shadows that clearly define each flake.

    It was fifteen degrees below zero when I shot this, and the extreme cold kept the flakes from melting into each other as they would at warmer temperatures. Although my fingers ached from the piercing cold (despite three layers of gloves), I had to get this rare shot.

Technical Data: Mamiya RZ 67, 110mm lens, #2 extension tube, 1/4, f/22, Fujichrome 50D, tripod, cable release.

Unfortunately, we usually don't realize the difference between pretty and great until we get our pictures back from the lab. Scenes with dynamic shapes, a strong center of interest, rich texture or patterns and striking lighting always stand out. Without these basic elements, a pretty scene simply looks boring or flat, making us wonder why we bothered to take it in the first place. As you analyze your slides or prints, compare the shots that stand out to those that don't, and decide what makes the difference. Keep those elements in mind when you shoot, and you'll soon begin separating pretty from great before you snap the shutter. To help you evaluate your work, we'll review in this chapter the basic principles of photography and see how to apply them for better images.

The biggest challenge in landscape work is seeking shapes that produce beautiful photos. Study the mountain ranges, the courses of rivers, the vegetation, and the cloud patterns to determine which point of view will give you the most artistic design of lines and shapes. In the left-hand photo, although I followed most of the rules of landscape composition — beautiful lighting, interesting textures, division of the frame — the image doesn't work because it lacks striking shapes. The lines are ordinary. I didn't choose a place that exhibited special beauty.

   I took the photo on the top perhaps a hundred yards from the other. It works because the sandstone formation has fluid, artistic shapes that add a strong graphic element to the composition. Your peers and photo buyers will recognize time invested in searching for dynamic shapes like this.

Technical Data: Desert photo on left — Mamiya RZ67, 50mm lens, 1/8, f/22, polarizing filter, Fujichrome 50D, tripod, cable release. Desert photo at top — Mamiya RZ 67, 180mm lens, 1/8, f/22, polarizing filter, Fujichrome 50D, tripod, cable release.

I hiked for an hour in the predawn darkness through deep snow to reach Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, Utah, hoping for the beautiful morning light. No such luck. It was completely clouded over, and I thought the trip was going to be wasted. Instead, the sun peeked out from behind the cloud cover, giving me a dramatic silhouette of the huge sandstone monolith. It lasted for only a few seconds — not enough time to mount the camera on a tripod. This is my favorite of the few shots I got. Even if you don't get the sunrise or sunset you wanted, the chances are still good that you can find something worth photographing. It might be a gentle streak of pink in the sky, a striking silhouette, or the sky's refection in a pool of water. That's what makes those times of day so special for photographers.

Technical Data: Mamiya RZ 67, 50mm lens, 1/60, f/4, Fujichrome 50D, hand-held.

WHY SHOULD I TAKETHIS SHOT?

All truly compelling images have two things in common: They have a center of interest that draws the viewer's eye, and they hold the viewer's attention. Some aspect of the scene — an unusual rock formation, an animal, or a cloud pattern — or its overall arrangement must capture your eye immediately. If it doesn't, you won't catch the viewer's attention, either. There must be a shock of recognition, an emotional response, or a sense of intrigue to persuade a viewer to look further. Once you've captured the eye of those elusive viewers, you must keep their attention. In other words, the whole image must work to deliver on the promise of that first glance. It should convey a sense of a shared experience or should charm through sheer beauty. This is why details are such a critical part of every photograph — one small element that detracts from the overall image can ruin the whole thing.

When the sun is low on the horizon, you can take two very different kinds of photographs. If you face the sun, objects in front of you are either backlit or silhouetted against the brilliant sky. If you have your back to the sun, objects in front of you are illuminated with a warm, frontal light. Both shots of this organ pipe cactus were taken only minutes before the sun sank below the horizon. The backlit image (top) is made dramatic by the halo effect created by the light shining through the needles, contrasted with the darker barrels of the cactus. In the frontlit image (bottom) the drama comes from the warm colors of the cactus accented by the unusual angle of the shot. Same subject, same time of day. The only difference is the effect of the lighting.

Technical Data: Backlit photo — Mamiya RZ 67, 250mm lens, 1/60, f/11, Fujichrome 50D, tripod. Frontlit photo — Mamiya RZ 67, 50mm lens, 1/8, f/22, Fujichrome 50D, tripod.

Something to consider if you want to earn your living with your photography is what you plan to do with an image. Often you'll take a photograph simply because it's aesthetically pleasing and decide on an appropriate market for it later. On the other hand, you'll sometimes have to consider where you plan to market the image before you shoot. For example, I often finance shooting trips by selling photo essays about the location when I return. That means I must make sure that at least some of my images will work for a certain magazine audience rather than shooting just what pleases me. If I see a scene or encounter an animal that I think will make a shot with cover potential, I try to use a vertical format because that's more likely to fit easily on a magazine cover.

LIGHT

Light is one of the most important components of an outstanding image because it determines how the subject will look in terms of contour, form, texture, tone and color. The hardness or softness of the light will affect the highlights and shadows, which will change the emotional impact of a scene. The direction of the light can create dramatic effects or wash out a picture entirely. Even the time of day can make the difference between a good shot and a great one.

The soft lighting and pastel colors at sunrise or sunset transform any outdoor subject. This tree in the Amazon would have made a very dull photograph during midday, but at sunset it creates a delicate silhouette against a lovely sky.

    Although sunrise and sunset provide beautiful colors anywhere, I believe they're especially dramatic in the American Southwest — and not just because I live there. Look at the photos in this chapter, such as the ones, and see how the orange and rust tones of the earth are made more brilliant by the atmospherically filtered sunlight.

Technical Data: Mamiya RZ 67, 180mm lens, f/11, Metz 60 T-2 strobe, Fujichrome 50D, handheld.

You must become a sensitive observer of natural light to create dramatic shadows, a strong feeling of dimension, or rich or subtle colors. Return to the same place at different times of the day and in different light or weather conditions. You'll discover that each hour has its own mood or atmosphere and that some lighting conditions produce more effective photographs of a certain place or subject than others do.

SUNRISE, SUNSET

Sunrise and sunset are the best times to shoot nature and wildlife photos. Including the sunrise or sunset itself in a shot automatically gives the image extra punch. Depending on the weather conditions, the half hour or so after sunrise and the half hour or so before sunset can provide especially dramatic lighting effects. Shadows are long and textures and colors are extremely rich in the warm, gentle light at these times of day. You'll often find exciting contrasts between light and shadow areas and between brightly colored and more subdued areas. It's very easy to achieve lighting effects such as silhouettes, transillumination, rim lighting and backlighting when the sun is low on the horizon.

Dawn and dusk — the half hour or so before the sun rises or after it sets — fill the sky with magical, rapidly changing light. The cool, blue/ purple hues of night mix with the golden tones of daylight, creating a cosmic palette of dazzling intensity. Trees, rock formations, and animal silhouettes framed against this spectacular backdrop of color can give you many of your best pictures.

These moments, however, are short lived. The deepest color saturation in the sky lasts for just a few minutes (unless you are in the extreme northern or southern latitudes), so you must shoot fast. Be in position, with your tripod and camera already set up, before the sky reaches its peak color. With the composition already framed, all you need to do is take a meter reading and make the shot. If you look for a good place to set up during the brilliant color display, you'll be too late.

Although exposures are tricky when shooting into a bright sky, you'll get a proper light reading by analyzing the brightest part of the glowing clouds. This can be done with a spot meter or by using a telephoto lens in conjunction with the TTL meter in your camera. Once you get the reading, compose the shot and make the