One thing I didn’t understand in the reading was metering.  I don’t know where the 4 modes the book talks about are on my camera, or if they are something that the photographer does manually.  The histogram is also confusing and I don’t really understand how it works.  If its something that you use to analyze the picture once you’ve taken it to adjust for the next shot. Or if you can use it before you take a picture to see if the lighting is right.
      I like the authors ideas on electronic flash.  I admire and respect pictures much more when I know I am seeing what was actually there in nature and not something that was changed due to a man made flash of the camera.
      In the book there are some guidelines to shooting a landscape picture and having a large depth of field.  One of the tips is to focus on the foreground and then refocus on the middle ground.  I don’t understand how that is possible, because if you focus on the foreground and then refocus somewhere else won’t the first focused image be out of focus?
     I had known some of the benefits of studying your subjects before you photograph them.  But one advantage I hadn’t thought of was learning their movements, or what they look like right before they are going to pounce, or the position of a monkey right before he leaps to the next tree.  Knowing these behaviors of your subject helps to take good action shots that are not blurred if you don’t want them to be. 

Bosque Del Apache

Bosque Del Apache translates into "woods of the Apache".  It is a wildlife regugee in central Mexico that goes along the Rio Grande River. One aspect of this area that is appealing is all the migratory birds that travel there during the winter. Bosque Del Apache has been inhabited for hundreds of years.  First by the Piro indians who settled there because of the rich soil and abundant plant and animal life.  Which is why it is such an ideal spot for photographers today. http://www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/index.cfm?id=22520 accoridng to the Bosque Del Apache website some of the very common birds you could find there in Novemeber are the tree and barn swallow.  There are 20 different species that are common, one of which is the black-chined hummingbird.  One of the rare birds to see in november is the lesser goldfinch. http://friendsofthebosque.org/SeasonsFall.html

http://www.geraldbrimacombe.com/Southwest/New%20Mexico%20-%20Bosque%20del%20Apache%208x5.jpghttp://www.photomigrations.com/articles/0701100.htm

http://friendsofthebosque.org/index.html#url

Response to first chapters

The first few chapters were mainly about the equipment that is needed when doing nature photography. It talked about the importance of having a SLR camera especially when taking pictures of small subjects up close. The chapter also went into all the different lenses a photographer should have. I am most interested in taking pictures of things up close so according to the chapter I would benefit from a macro lens and other close up adapters. I hadn't realized how important tripods are to photographers. The book describes lots of situations in which they come in handy. This chapter showed a ton of useful accessories for taking pictures which is a very cool thing but it also made me realize how expensive a hobby or career in photography can be. If I became serious about photography though I’m sure that money would be worth it to produce beautiful pictures. At the beginning of the chapter they author mentioned Photoshop and being able to enhance and change your pictures once you've taken them. This is something that I am really looking forward to learning more about through taking this class.