Capture the Moment!
Since 2013, I’ve published hundreds of blog posts on all aspects of photography. Some are aimed at helping photographers with their technique, settings, and equipment, but others describe my exhibitions, workshops, and adventures in Africa, Antarctica, and beyond.
If you click on any article, you can subscribe for just £4.99 a year, which also gives you access to my monthly newsletter! Feel free to browse chronologically or click on any category heading for specific content, such as Trips or Hints and Tips.
If you still can’t find what you’re looking for, please drop me a line at nick@nickdalephotography.com or on +44 7942 800921.
I'd Rather be Lucky than Good!
In a sense, every wildlife photograph is a matter of luck. These are wild birds and animals we’re talking about, not fashion models working in a studio! You can’t tell wildlife subjects to pose, and bears and big cats are too dangerous to get close to.
Dust, Air and Spume!
According to Paul Goldstein, dust, air and spume are the “Holy Trinity of wildlife photography”. The idea is to show energy and movement by showing the dust thrown up by galloping hooves, animals and birds ‘getting air’ and the spume created by action shots in water.
Collective nouns quiz
I know this doesn’t have much to do with photography, but I thought I’d do a quiz on collective nouns for the animals I’ve seen around the world.
It’s fun to find out the proper names (particularly for safari animals), and it can be a good way of passing the time on a game drive while you’re waiting for a couple of lions to wake up…!
How to enlarge a photo
Gigapixel AI is the ‘ugly duckling’ of the Topaz Labs suite of software programs, but it can be just as useful as Sharpen AI and DeNoise AI if you need to enlarge an image, say for printing.
How to reduce noise
I’ve recently discovered the Topaz Labs suite of software products that includes Sharpen AI, Gigapixel AI and DeNoise AI. This article discusses how best to use the last of these.
How to sharpen an image
I use Adobe Lightroom for editing all my images, and it’s a very good program, so generally I have no complaints.
However, there’s one thing I never do in Lightroom, and that’s sharpening.
The problem is that ‘sharpening’ in Lightroom is not really sharpening at all. It’s contrast. And there’s a big difference.
Post-processing in Lightroom
There are two main steps I go through to edit my images:
1. Rating and adding metadata
2. Preparing for upload to stock agencies
Microstock upload procedure
I earn around 35% of my photography revenue from stock agencies and microstock sites. I started off submitting all my content at once to around 25 agencies, but I’ve gradually changed my workflow.
My top 10 birds
I’ve taken pictures of well over 200 birds around the world, so it’s been very tricky narrowing down the list to just ten. In the end, I had to cheat by broadening the definition of ‘bird’ from species to something like ‘genus’ or ‘family’.
My top 10 animals
The hippo is not one of my favourite animals. I just want to get that out of the way right at the start. They spend most of their time submerged up to their snouts in water, and it’s very difficult to get a decent picture of any of them.
What has Lightroom Ever Done for us?
…Apart from cropping images, adding vignettes, changing highlights, shadows, whites, blacks, chromatic aberration, camera profile etc, etc, etc!
Lens Culture Submission review
I’ve just received a free Submission Review by a LensCulture photographic expert. The images are shown above, and this is the review.
Submission review
I recently entered the AFAR Travel Photography Awards and was given a free submission review by a LensCulture photographic expert.
The trip to Kenya
Five kills. Five kills! That’s what I saw on my safari to the Masai Mara - not to mention half a dozen other chases and one I missed when I needed to go to the toilet...!
The ones that got away
I get nervous before I go on photography trips. Part of that is just worrying about travel arrangements, visas and packing everything I need, but another part of it is worrying that I won't get the shots I want. Here are a few examples of 'the ones that got away'.
Safari bingo: animals
Tired of always having to ask your safari guide what you're looking at on a game drive? Here's your cut-out-and-keep guide to the most common animals. Shout 'Bingo!' when you've crossed them all off...but not too loudly!
Norman Plastow Gallery 2016
My travel and wildlife photography exhibition is over now, so I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who came along. I hope you all enjoyed the show!
Putney Artists' Open House 2016
I just wanted to thank everyone who came to my Open House exhibition on 1-2 October. I hope you enjoyed the show!
Getting the most out of game drives
The worst part about taking pictures is knowing you've just missed a great shot. Here, I try to help wildlife photographers learn from 'the one that got away'.