All things Outdoors – Camping like loons!

Introduction:

Getting the best outdoor or camping photographs on a budget can really improve your adventure. But, “Loons,” we hear you ask, “How the heck can you get them without spending a lot of money?” We’re delighted you asked.

Here at Lone Loon Song, we set ourselves a challenge. “Let’s get ourselves the best camping or outdoor photographs with a budget of $0.00.” (One small caveat: You’re gonna spend whatever you usually spend on the camping itself. Food, drink, bug stuff and so on. $0.00 just applies to the photographic aspect of the endeavour. Okay? Okay. – BTW, “endeavour” is spelled correctly – we’re Canadians. No vowel shortage. Yet, anyway. <Knocks wood>)

Some ground rules:

You need a smartphone, or some kind of camera. We have to draw the line somewhere, and that’s where it is.

No smartphone, no camera, you can’t play – no “Best Camping Outdoor Photographs” for you. Sorry. The good news is you can still Get Out There™ and go camping. Hey, you’ll still get your serotonin on, you just won’t experience the thrill of getting great or not so great photographs. Gretzky has famously said “You miss %100 of the shots you don’t take.” So the glass is half-full. Please don’t go out and buy a camera because it’s cheap. We did that. We can’t recommend it.

Begin Classic DSLR Caveat —

There’s an article we’re working on right now where we recommend great DSLR cameras from 2006 – 2008. These are great cameras that avid and professional photographers owned because they were “State-of-The-Art”. The images that emerged (and emerge) from these cameras are remarkable. Build quality? Fuhgeddaboudit. Remember that 10MPs was as good as it got. None of these will set you back more than $150.00, and we’ve seen ’em for less than a third of that – but we live in Japan. Still, we feel good about that.

This despite the fact that the original owners would have shelled out at least 6 or 7 times that. (Remind us to give the boys down in marketing a coupon, or something, because they’re killing it down there. MPs! Hah!)

Where were we? Oh yeah. Our article, How Many Megapixels: Incredible DSLR Cameras for Pennies On the Dollar sings the praises of these guys. Just in time for Christmas. It’s a cool story.

Here’s the Coles Notes: between 2005 and 2009, most camera manufacturers were making great CCD Sensor DSLR cameras. Top of the line. Top dollar!

But! The CMOS sensor technology was introduced by all of the companies, and the CCD cameras became the poor cousins. So lots of folks dumped their perfectly good DSLRs for the shiny new models with CMOS sensors.

Which were also great, don’t get us wrong. That’s not our point. Our point is that left a lot of perfectly wonderful cameras that nobody wanted, driving the second hand market value down. That’s still true today. So, if you’re got a budding shutterbug on your list, and they’ve been good – who are we kidding? – This might just tick a lot of boxes for you, and as long as you do your homework – Check the actuation, ask if it’s been dropped or repaired, find out about lens availability – that’s actually almost always a plus with these old dolls – You’re gonna be a legit Christmas hero. You’re welcome.

End Classic DSLR Caveat —

What were we going on about? Oh, yeah, smartphones…

At least get a smartphone that you can use for text, research, listening to music, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, …oh… there’s something else…what is it? Oh yeah!

Making phone calls. So at least you won’t waste your money, and be all down on yourself.

In any event, back to the camera stuff: Auto mode will do nicely, but, If you have access to basic controls like ISO, Aperture, or Shutter speeds that’s a big plus. How about an interest in basic composition? Well, then, Sir, Madam, young gentleman or little missy you have found yourself in the right place. Welcome, Bienvenue, Irashaimase, Céad Míle Fáilte, Benvenuti. We’re delighted you’re here.

In A Hurry? Fear not! We’ve Got a Table of Contents For this Best Outdoor Photography On a Budget Of $0.00 Thing:

We have, from time to time (somewhat unnecessarily and hurtfully) been described as Loquacious. (Our friends pride themselves on their vocabularies. That’s just a $50 word which means we talk a lot. That is why this article is so long. Our advice is to take it in small bites.) So here is what we have in a nutshell:

Feel free to jump around from topic to topic and use the back button (or the right mouse button, or cmd + [ for Mac or ctrl + [ for Windows) to pop right back here.

It doesn’t really matter whether you are an avid camper who wants to preserve your adventures, a nature enthusiast who enjoys wildlife, or an outdoor photography lover of any skill level; Not only does getting the best outdoor or camping photographs help you to remember your trips, it can also encourage others to tag along next time, which is always fun. They can help you carry stuff. Our sainted mother used to say “Many hands make light work.” Trust us, It’s a good thing.

In addition, it makes for a mighty sweet feeling. Can you imagine leaving your campsite knowing that you have some killer camping or outdoor photographs already in the can? It’s pretty nice.

On the other hand, nobody wants to mortgage the farm for that. Which is why we wrote this article. Let’s Goldilocks this thing.

That’s just a hard truth that nobody talks about much. Good cameras are not free. So, before you start wading in, how about finding out how deep this gets? Keep your credit card in your pocket until you know what you need to know.

Here’s a guy who is selling cheap cameras. They are probably pretty good for the money. That is not an endorsement. This is the opposite of an endorsement. We truly believe that either your smartphone or a secondhand camera is a far better way to go. Why?

We have some bad news: Don’t Buy Cheap Cameras.

There are good cameras, and there are cheap cameras. There are no good, cheap cameras. Now, calm down, and just hear us out:

A cheap camera can not be a good camera. We bought one – and it served us pretty well. But – most of our photographs were (are, if we’re completely honest) not all that great. In our experience, we buy something cheap, and we think “This will do for the short-term.”

Except for a ¥100 flashlight that has performed like a champ for over two years (knock wood), it’s all been somewhat disappointing. In almost every case we come to realize that for a few dollars more we could have had exactly what we needed, but nooooo! (As John Belushi famously used to say.) And so we not only blew however much money we blew, but we have to either give up, or throw good money after bad.

So feel free to learn from our mistakes. We would hate to see them wasted.

So, long story short, we burned money and time. We spent a little less than $300.00. And to be more than fair, we got some reasonable results. But not as good as the shots we got with our smartphone. And, what’s worse – we didn’t learn anything. Not an ideal outcome.

What’s a “Cheap” Camera?

For us, it’s got nothing to do with a dollar figure. We know, that doesn’t make any sense – at first blush. But it’s true. Hear us out: A good camera has:

• Access to the Elements Of The Exposure Triangle:. (More on this later.) And…
• The ability to save images as RAW files – Usually if you have the RAW option, you also have the option to pop out JPEG files, too. So this is true whether you intend to post-process your photos or not. Almost all photographs benefit from a little post processing. For us, this capability indicates the seriousness of the camera.

A cheap camera does not. It’s no more complicated than that. You can take it from us.

We also found that we had different modes on our Olympus that worked pretty well for different conditions, but none of them were truly satisfying. Are we glad we have the photographs? Yeah, we are. Could they have been great? They sure could have. Do we regret that? Yeah. We do. We’ll never get those shots back. So that goes in the “regret” column.

“The burnt hand learns best“, so spare your hands.

So, just check to make sure that your camera can save photos in RAW format, and can access the ISO, the aperture (or f-stop), and the shutter speed. If your camera can do that, it’s a good camera in our book. If it can’t, it’s a cheap camera. Yup/Nope. That’s where the bar is. It really is as simple as that.

If not, save your pesos, download lightroom or some other app for your smartphone, and get something great later. Or – and we love this option – do your research and go the second-hand route. (We mentioned this above, but it’s worth a second mention.) Seriously. Right now there are outstanding bargains available, especially if you are interested in the DSLR camera type. Quick and dirty advice – get a gently used DSLR body only (no lens) and a quality “nifty-fifty” 50mm lens and you’re good to go. (Don’t cheap out on memory cards- There is a huge difference in performance, and not a lot in dollars.) Find out if the camera has been repaired, or dropped. Also, you can find out how much wear and tear your prospective shutter has accumulated. This is called an actuation count. For most camera brands – excluding Canon – go to https://www.camerashuttercount.com/ to find your actuation count. For Canons, you can download special software that will count that up for you. (Or, you can take a photo and open it up in photoshop or GIMP and check the actuations under file >metadata)

We digressed a bit. Sorry about that. Long story short, If your camera has the ability to save images in the RAW format, you’re generally going to also have access to all of the elements of the exposure triangle. (ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed.) Now, you’ve got a good camera, and you can become a serious student.

Interestingly enough, this is true for our smartphone, too. Before we installed LightRoom, we only had access to Aperture and brightness. Once LightRoom was installed, not only did we have the option to save in RAW (the proprietary name is DNG – but it’s the same stripped-out format) but we instantly had the exposure triangle settings – although the Aperture is a little imperfect – and quite a bit more, in terms of post-production. We’re pretty knocked out by that program, to be honest. This leads us nicely to the next section:

We Have Some Good News:

Use your smartphone. Install Lightroom. At least you’ll learn some useful stuff. At the very worst you’ll learn a lot and come away with some seriously useful photos. Truth.

We have no desire to be rude, but what’s ruder than dishonesty? Tough to say, not knowing. Dishonesty will do until something ruder comes along.

So, full disclosure – We’re not going to talk about this or that cheap camera that you should buy. We don’t think you should. You can do that if you like. We did that. We got a lot of shots that we wouldn’t have otherwise, but we could have made a much better purchasing decision. Just be aware that you can get pretty outstanding results without spending very much money. None, as a matter of fact. $0.00.

Don’t believe us? Allow us to prove it. We didn’t spend anything on any of the photographs on this page. Okay, we have this mirrorless camera that we’ve had for over a decade, so we just took it out and dusted it off. (It’s an Olympus SW1050 that needs a new battery and is well over a decade old. We did spend about $300.00 or so, and it’s been okay. Like today’s cheap cameras, you can’t set the aperture, and while the camera will set the ISO and the shutter speed for you – automatically – there are several useful modes – but you can’t always get what you want. (Apologies to The Rolling Stones) It also shoots video – in short bursts – which were perfectly suitable for dropping into OpenShot and editing for YouTube. We included a rock and roll video example at the end of the article. No Charge. “And it’s absolutely worth it, too.” (Apologies to Huck Finn) But a great camera will make it easier to get quality photographs. Those aren’t cheap. Sorry about the bad news.) The good news is that you can get awesome photos with a smartphone or whatever you have with you. We’ll prove it. Stay with us.

Our photos shown here aren’t going to win any prizes in a contest, and a lot of ’em are mistakes that we made so that you don’t have to, but the point is we can always use what we’ve got in order to learn to get better. Then we can make an informed purchase and buy something great while getting exactly what we want for the kind of photographs that we like to take. Excellent results, and not a single dime wasted. It sounds like a plan to us.

We’re not going to talk about cameras here at all. We’ll talk a little about how they work, in a general way, but that’s it. We’ll post another article where we talk about camera bodies, sensors, viewfinders and lenses oh my!

But not today.

Today, our goal is to try to help you get the best results with whatever you’ve got. Everybody has something to take a photograph with. A smartphone, for example, or like us, a camera that you’ve had for years, (or both) but haven’t really tried to understand. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, read on!

We’d like to help you get great results with what you have. In the future, we will have an article on the best cameras on your budget. Not cheap cameras. Mark ye well the distinction. Look for our article on finding second-hand DSLR cameras and lenses. You should also ask if it’s been dropped. (Not the article – the camera. Curse this English language.) But that’s different than cheap stuff.

The way it turns out, we’re getting more and more excited about the second-hand market. We’re going to write an article on the best values for your second-hand buck. That is very different than cheap stuff. Night and day.

Believe us, we’ve seen a bunch of cheap stuff. It’s all just about the same. It’s just a matter of getting what you pay for. If you buy stuff like that, either it will end up not really being used, or you’ll replace it. We’re just calling balls and strikes, here.

We did get one great photo that we’re proud of, but it was in auto mode, and we were lucky. A lot more light conditions and shadows than anything else. So it’s possible to get a great shot, just as rare as hen’s teeth. This is a photo of our second-hand ’72 Gibson Marauder that we bought in 1979 for $415.00 CDN. It’s a working guitar – sitting in our studio right now. You’ll see it in action if you follow the link to the YouTube video. (The J.J. Cale Gem “Call Me The Breeze”.)

So we got lucky with the one photograph. There are two points we’re making, here.

• You can win the lottery with second-hand stuff, and
• Second-hand quality is always better than cheap stuff.

The point is that we just wouldn’t feel right recommending something that you wouldn’t be happy with and end up replacing. You’d be pissed off at us!

Who needs that? Why would we do that? Would that help you to trust us? No “double-u eff -eh- why”.

We hear you. “You crazy Loons! There’s no ‘F’ in ‘way’.” (Say it again. It’ll dawn on you.)

Exactly. That’s the coin O’ the realm. Trust. Something tough to earn and easy to lose.

So, Look out for an article about how cameras and digital sensors work, what kind of cameras are best for this or that genre of photography, lenses and a whole smorgasbord of stuff. But we’re not gonna talk about what cheap stuff you should buy. We don’t think you should buy cheap stuff, full stop. We believe you’re better off just using your smartphone. Okay, you have to soup it up, some, but it’s still gonna be a smartphone camera.

We believe it’s never a mistake to buy quality stuff. But we’re still not gonna recommend this or that camera. How the hell should we know what you want to photograph? We have no idea. We have some ideas about what’s important to know, and we have accepted the challenge to lay things out in a simple to understand, yet comprehensive way.

Okay? Okay. On to How To Get the Best Camping or Outdoor Photographs on a Budget:

Have you already got a camera? Are you getting the most out of it? What about your smartphone? (They’re remarkable.) We think you’re good to go.

But before we get to that, first and foremost we’d better tell our tale. Full disclosure: We’re not the best camping or outdoor photographers. Paradox? Uh, yeah. But we believe that’s a positive thing. We’re also super enthusiastic. (Which we feel goes a long way.) We’ve made our share of mistakes, and we’ve spent some money on cheap stuff. In retrospect these purchases were not our best buying decisions. (See cameras, cheap.) You’re unlikely to get a great camera for under $800.00. Very unlikely. We’ve seen some nice ones for $500.00 – but they’re “body only”, which means no lens. Still, that’s absolutely worth looking into. That and a “nifty-fifty” mm lens, and you’re ready to rock. But that will still push you up close to $800.00 or more.

We have one exception: We said we wouldn’t do this, but sweet lord: This one is pretty much in the Goldilocks zone:

Our fave camera with a four thirds sensor. A lovely little fit between pro and avid shutterbug. Check the price at:

The Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV

It’s got the image stabilization, a great lens selection, autofocus that is unparalleled at this price point, and it’s from one of our favorite companies! Our fave camera with a Four Thirds sensor. Now available at an outstanding price.

We’re not gonna gush, but it ticks a lot of boxes for us. Small and lightweight enough to pop in your backpack, yet it produces outstanding results. Snap it up if you can!

It’s not a cheap camera, it’s a good mirrorless camera. For almost everyone we know, we’d be hard-pressed to find a better fit. Ahem. Sorry about that, but this is a great opportunity.

Where were we?

In any event, that’s sort of our point: The challenge before us is to see what we can get for the least amount of effort and outlay of moolah. That’s what we do. And to learn enough along the way to figure out what we need in a camera.

We’re going to share our mistakes so that you don’t have to. In addition, we do this to have a record, but mostly just to amuse ourselves and to help our friends. Isn’t that what you do? Of course, it is.

But we have to tell you this:

We test and review outdoor stuff. This is all either stuff we like or not. We intend to be as honest with you as possible because we want to be useful and earn your trust. If you purchase something through our links, we’d be honoured, but please know that we will earn a commission, at no cost to you. “We’ll tell you nuthin’ but nuthin’ but right, Donny.” Al Pacino in Donny Brasco.

How Did You Get Started On This Outdoor Photography Jag? (Or why should we believe you Loons?)

Excellent question. Move to the front of the class. We have been photography curious since about 2010 or so. We bought an Olympus 1050SW mirrorless camera and we took a lot of pictures, but we didn’t really get the bug until 2013 or so. It was then, when like everyone else, we got a smartphone and we started to get photos of everything! We would just point and shoot, for the most part. It turned out to be a lot of fun.

You see the image above? The lighthouse? We had no idea about photography when we got that one. That was around this time of year, in late August or early September of 2022, and we think we were about 2 vaccines into the height of the COVID-19 pandemic at that point. If you remember, those were really weird times. Mass graves in New York City? (Hart Island, and Potter’s field) No toilet paper? Remember that?

We sure do. But we had our trusty iPhone, and although real photographers tend to look down on them, several tremendous photographers have done some incredible work with smartphones. Jamie Windsor ( We think he’s good, but he’s not our above-mentioned favorite,) has an interesting take on real photographers shooting on smartphones. He treats the whole smartphone photography thing as an exercise in creativity. It’s incredible. He looks at the work of Kathy Ryan (who has a day gig as a photography editor at a little-known shop called The New York Times) who released a book of smartphone photographs. They’re beautiful. Black and white, chiaroscuro, light and shadows and silhouettes. Simplicity itself – but sort of an implied elegance. Have a look, but be sure to pop back here, because we’ve got a lot of sermon left over.

Back? Okay. Are those great, or what? Where were we? Oh, right.

We’re not going to put too fine a point on it, but everyone was a little squirrely. (Nuts. Crazy. Toys in the Attic. Section 8.)

We were (figuratively) climbing the walls and so when our buddies suggested a two-and-a-half-hour road trip down south to Cape Sata, to go camping, we were like: “Let-us-think-about-it-YEAH!” It turned out to be the tonic for the troops we were looking for, as camping so often is. (We have an article called The Benefits of Camping in which we expand on this.)

It turns out that our friends enjoyed our photographs. Not a soul was more gobsmacked than us. We don’t think that they thought the photos were particularly artistic or anything. They just enjoyed looking at them. We enjoyed taking them, and posting them. Win/Win.

Is Great Outdoor Photography Possible On A Budget?

Short answer: Hell yeah. Remember Kathy Ryan? Well, we’re no Kathy Ryan. But we have a smartphone and a mirrorless Olympus, and we’re gonna see what we can accomplish with what we have.

On the other hand, we’re learning every day, but simply applying the composition principles below has made a huge difference in our photographs – and our attitudes – and we can’t think of any reason why they wouldn’t be just as effective for you.

At Lone Loon Song, our focus (Hah! Ya see what we did there? Never gets old!) when it comes to capturing breathtaking outdoor scenes, (the scenes, not the photos necessarily – yet) or just preserving your adventures to sharing them with friends, is to get the best results for the least investment of cash and effort. Let’s be honest, though, it’s gonna take a reasonable amount of both. Nothing worth having is just gonna fall in your lap. Sorry about your illusions. (That’s our philosophy about everything, BTW.) We’re only going to talk about what we think is important so that down the road when you’re ready to make a buying decision, (or not, as the case may well be,) you’ll be armed with the information we feel is most important for you to consider.

So let’s look into this. Full disclosure: While nobody has ever accused us of being independently wealthy we do love our camping and outdoor images. Don’t get us wrong, now, we’re not about to mortgage the farm to get a few photographs or a few frames of video, but we’re not above shelling out a few bucks to get some great photos, either. (Goldilocks!)

You’ll still have great outdoor photographs ( or “images”, as those highfalutin photographers are wont to say,) and leftover money for beer, chili, and guitar strings. Or as we like to say, “the important stuff.”

Having said all of that true stuff, you’re still gonna need something to take your outdoor photos with. Furthermore, what anyone considers to be the best outdoor photography gear is subjective. The fact is, you can’t get 5 outdoor photographers to agree on what to have for lunch. But that’s neither here nor there.

Technically, our photos aren’t going to win any contests. It’s the journey that we’re really interested in. Yet, we are absolutely glad that we have them. Unless noted otherwise, all of the images in this blog were taken with either a smartphone ( a plain iPhone 13) or an Olympus 1050SW (we know now that it’s a mirrorless camera circa 2012 but we really had no idea when we bought it), both of which were solely in automatic mode. (We only took them out of Automatic mode to get some videos.) So we could put this thing to bed right now. Set your smartphone or DSLR or compact camera to Auto, and point and shoot. Finished. Done and dusted.

We have a little more ambition than that, for good or ill.

Recently we’ve put our cameras into the Optimum Aperture and Shutter Speed Mode. Yeah. We’re learning about that too. So some of the photos we took with that look pretty amateurish. We should get them up to speed soon, though, as long as we’re not above a little research, and apply the secret to mastering the Universe: Elbow Grease.

There’s a lot of good information out there, but like we found with our article on Matching your Portable Power Station to your Solar Panels, it’s not always easily digestible. We don’t think it has to be that way. We’re all about the Goldilocks zone. We’re gonna break it down for you.

So here we are:

Cameras For Outdoor Photography: Does One Size Fit All?

Good question. Nope. That hasn’t been our experience. (Not to put too fine a point on it; we haven’t found that in any damn thing at all.) The smartphone comes mighty close, especially if you work at it a little. But a little more camera is almost always better. But, you’re gonna have to open up your wallet. The fact is, that different kinds of cameras are better suited to different kinds of photography. Don’t buy a sports car to take the kids to soccer. Get a minivan. Don’t take the minivan to Mt. Aso – or the Nichinan Coast. You’re welcome.

In any event, we think every sensible person can agree to that. We get it: different people have different needs, full stop. Why should it be different when it comes to outdoor photography gear? (And, truth be told, pretty much everything else.)

That said, most photos can be improved with a little technical knowledge that is available to everyone. We firmly believe that there is no faster way to improve your photographs than a little knowledge of composition. And the best part? Whether you’ve got a motorcycle or a minivan, it applies to everything. You’ve still got to keep in your lane.

6 Basic Tips That Will Raise Your Camping Photography Game Now!

0. Bonus Outdoor Camping Photography tip before we start:

RTFM. (Read The Fine Manual. We’ve come to understand that some folks use a different word for fine, but you get the idea.) This is just a great life hack in general, whether you are camping or not. Sometimes there is no manual, for things like How to start a campfire when everything is wet, but you can often find a great blog that will help you out. For anything else, from camping chairs to tents to cameras, read the manual. Save yourself some time and grief. We do have one “but” for this: ( was it the great Pee Wee Herman who said “Everyone’s got a big ‘but’”?) But our iPhone doesn’t seem to have one. In that event, Google will tell you everything you need to know. For example, after we saw Kathy Ryan’s images we googled “how do I take black and white photos on my iPhone”, and learned everything there is to know about taking black and white photos on our iPhone. They aren’t very good, but they’re black and white, which is the point. Use google, is what we mean to say.

1. Take Your Camera, Get out There™, And Use The Damn Thing. ( A Lot.)

(“Get Out There™” is the Lone Loon Song motto.)

​​“The best camera is the one you have with you”.

Okay, this seems obvious. But without this first vital thing, there is no magic. There’s no rabbit in the hat. There won’t be any show. You can still have a wonderful camping experience, but you won’t be able to sit around and share your photos. If we had a nickel for every time someone saw one of our images and said “Hey, now I remember that!”, we’d take you all out there camping, chorizo and eggs breakfast with all the trimmings, cost be damned.

In any event, lots of things seem obvious in retrospect, but there is no single other action that you can take that will improve your photos like just taking them.

“How can I get to Carnegie Hall?”

“Practice.”

Yesterday we went for a walk at 6 pm and the light was perfect. We weren’t camping, we were just going for a walk, but we didn’t take a camera or our phone, and we missed a bunch (that’s the term of art) of great shots. Or not. Maybe we would have messed them up technically, but at least we would have had the option of saying “Well, these all suck”. We have no idea what we would have got. We’re going out this evening, though, same time. We’ll post them below whether we get good ones or not.

2. Light is your friend.

That 6 pm walk? The perfect light? That’s not an accident. Photographers prize the Golden Hour ( roughly an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset,) and the Blue Hour (the hour before dawn and after sunset.)

The super bright midday sun creates both bright spots and darker shadows that make it difficult to get the right exposure. That Goldilocks spot. It’s tricky to balance the shots’ bright spots with making what’s in the shadows sharp. The difference between the lightness and darkness is called “dynamic range”. If you’re not careful, the range between the highlights and shadows will result in a loss of detail. An easy way to do this is simply to not shoot in bright sunlight in the middle of the day. A lot of people just don’t do that. (We’ll talk about ISO and how to fix that by setting your brightness later. But for now, try to shoot when the sun is not directly overhead. Get a siesta. Be civilized. Life is short.)

3. Take Lots of Photographs.

If you can, save as many as possible. Memory is cheap. (Oh, maybe there’s a song lyric there!) But seriously. There is a wonderful wildlife photographer from Nova Scotia whose work we admire a great deal. He wrote a great article that we’ll just paraphrase: (His article has War And Peace thinking: “This thing is long!”)

• Don’t sweat the small stuff. He pulled a bunch of photographs from 7 or 8 years ago that he had at first dismissed. “Oh, this one isn’t sharp enough…” But he came to realize that there was something intangible in some of the images that made them great. A certain je ne sais quoi. It’s possible that you might be too close to them, too. Legend has it that Keith Richards didn’t like the iconic riff to Satisfaction right away. It took a while to grow on him. Luckily, the other guys saw it for what it was and prevailed. So don’t toss ’em right away. Just take ’em, and put ’em on a flash drive or something. Who knows, you may be glad you did.
• Cameras are the least important thing. Shoot with what you have.
• Get out, and get out in the right light. (Golden and Blue Hours.)
• Don’t wait for the perfect light. (“Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes”) -Walt Whitman.)
• Don’t be afraid to take a shot, change the perspective, and take another shot. Get low. Move to the left or right. Climb a dune. Put something in the foreground.

Here are two images we took last weekend in Shishigawa, about halfway between Nobeoka and Takachiho. These are basically the same photo. One other thing we remembered to do was gently press the shutter button. We usually tend to stab at it. That makes the camera shake a little, which causes blur.

This is kind of a pretty photograph we took with our smartphone.	This is the same photo, really, except we stepped off to our right, turned the phone to portrait and used the rule of thirds. We like this a lot better. Point is, it’s a different angle.

Is it simple stuff? Yeah. Simple and effective are not mutually exclusive, and we often forget the simple stuff. Also, it’s hard to make things simple.

“I apologize for such a long letter – I didn’t have time to write a short one.”

― Mark Twain

4. Look At Your Images.

We are constantly surprised at the images we have overlooked. Seriously. Okay, you’ve been camping and you’re tired, but make sure you take some time and look at your images. Ask yourself: Why do you like this one? Why are you indifferent to that one? Can you see the composition? This helped us a lot.

Take lots of photographs, and figure out why you like this one, and dislike (or worse, are indifferent) to that one. 

5. Learn About Composition.

You don’t have to get all Michaelangelo on this one, but it’s not that big a deal, and it goes a long way.

There is an astounding plethora of photography websites that all talk about composition. Most of them are totally useful:

They have images, diagrams, circles and arrows and all kinds of things. You can google “Photography Composition” and you’ll get an embarrassment of riches, we really liked a lot of them, but they can be a little hard to understand.

So, we’re just going to start you off simply.

Let’s look at six compositional techniques that you can start applying right away, and instantly see results. (Also, once you are aware of these techniques, you’ll start to see them in lots of great photos.)

• The “Rule of Thirds” places a tic-tac-toe grid over your frame. This image on the left is what your frame looks like with the grid turned on. We also turned on the level in the middle.
• As humans, we instinctively put the subject in the middle of the frame. Sometimes that’s the right thing to do. (See the “Rule of Symmetry“.) Most of our camping and outdoor photos are not symmetrical, however, so this approach is probably not going to be the best one. Sometimes camping or outdoor photography is the same on the left and the right, but it’s the exception, not the rule. Applying the rule of thirds we want to place the main points of interest (often referred to as focal points ) along those lines, (either horizons on the top or bottom horizontal line, and vertical stuff – trees, rocks, buildings – on the vertical lines, and people or things on or near the intersections of the lines.) Or not. Slightly off the intersections can be more interesting.
• Most cameras will allow you to place such a grid over your frame. Consult your manual. We had to for our Olympus. (Full disclosure: We haven’t completely mastered that. We love that camera, but in retrospect, we would have purchased something else. Part of the reason that we’re writing this is that we intend to purchase something else.) My iPhone is simple: settings-camera-grid. Once you see it, it’s easy to internalize it. In any event, this rule is kind of the starting point of your compositional journey, and just as you might imagine, it really is foundational.
• “Leading Lines” refers to any line (for example, a line of telegraph poles, fences, beaches a row of trees or shrubbery) that guides the viewer’s eye to the primary subject. The Shishikawa image ( above ) on the right-hand side, has a fence that leads to the house. Once you start to see this, you’ll see it used in lots of images.
• Negative Space. One of our absolute fave artists loves this technique. If it’s good enough for him, it ought to be good enough for anyone. Without getting too far into the weeds, negative space is the empty or unoccupied areas in a picture. It emphasizes the main subject and often creates a sense of simplicity and minimalism. The perfect example of “less is more.”
• S-curve adds a flowing quality to a photo, leading the viewer’s eye along a curved path. We don’t have an image for that, but if you’ve ever seen a photograph looking down a circular staircase, or one that turns back on itself, or even a river that meanders back and forth then you’ve seen this technique in use.
• Symmetry is a technique that creates a sense of balance and harmony in a picture by placing the exact or similar forms on opposite sides of a dividing line. Split an apple in two. The two halves are symetrical. Think of a face, pressed against a mirror looking into the camera. The left and the right are exactly the same. You’ve seen this. We don’t have an example photo for this, either. It’s not our go-to technique, but you should be aware of it, because you never know. Sometimes a reflection in a lake can be an effective use of this. Living in Japan you can’t swing a cat without seeing a picture of Mt Fuji reflected in a lake.
• Simplicity is a key principle in composition. It’s completely non-intuitive, and therefore the hardest for us Loonies. We’re still working on it. But Thoureau was right. Simplify. Try to remove some elements and see if you like what you see. That often helps us think about moving around, too. Focusing on the main subject rather than a complex scene often results in a more impactful and powerful photograph. It’s difficult for us to be patient like that, but we’re a work in progress.
• The frame-within-a-frame technique uses elements within the scene to create a natural frame around the main subject, guiding the eye to the subject and adding depth.

There are a lot more rules, why not learn them and apply them? We’re not the best photographers in the world. Not yet, anyway. Nor do we have to be. As long as we’re open to learning new things, we’re always gonna be improving. (Pro Tip – That applies to damn near everything.) That’s what “experts” do.

6. Don’t let Gear Hold You Back:

This is possibly the most important tip here, or maybe second, just a smidge behind “Take your camera.”

There’s a shit-ton (sorry for the technical term) of money to be made convincing folks that the best outdoor photography is only possible with the “right” photography gear. (That’s an industry euphemism meaning “expensive”.)

Our Dad used to have a saying: “It’s a poor workman who blames his tools. Dance with who brung ya.” Just go get it done. You can always get something else later.

Look, we’re not suggesting that great gear won’t help. It will. But don’t use the lack of it as an excuse. There’s no question that in the right hands, an expensive camera can produce stunning outdoor photography. But we were pleasantly surprised with the results that are possible with far less expensive equipment. Do you remember Jamie Windsor? He’s the guy that showed us the Kathy Ryan stuff. If you watched that entire video, you’ll remember when he gets exasperated when someone praises his work and says “Oh you must have an amazing camera!”. To which he responds: “Well it’s great to be able to say: ‘Oh, this one? Actually, I took that with my phone.’”

An anecdote he obviously enjoyed relating.

(Which is where the budget stuff comes in.)

We just want the best results for the least investment of time, energy, and hard-earned cash. We’re convinced that that’s not too much to ask. You can prove it to yourself, but if you’re not ready yet, check this out:

There is an interesting YouTube channel (which shall remain nameless) where these (outdoor) photographic professionals go up against rank beginners. Who comes back with the best outdoor photographs? No contest, right? Here’s the twist:

The professionals have bargain basement equipment, and the beginners are all duded up with the best gear money can buy. The results?

The pros win every time. What lesson can we take from this? Knowledge and experience take the prize, all things being equal. The good news is that neither knowledge nor experience will hurt your budget.

A little studying will go a long way, and there are lots of photography blogs that can teach you all kinds of great stuff. Go as deep or as shallow as you like.

The absence of limitations is the enemy of Art.

-Orson welles

The Right Photography Gear

We have come to believe sincerely that having the right gear, and not necessarily the most expensive gear – for damn near anything – is a game-changer – and outdoor photography gear is no exception. But it’s a giant mistake to not use what you have.

(As an actual matter of fact, we have a tips and tricks guide for camping that we modestly propose as important reading if you’re serious about Getting Out There™. It’s basically an extension of our general approach – maximum benefit for minimum effort and expense. We’d be dead-chuffed if you read it anyway, just for yucks. It sort of lays out our camping philosophy in general: “Let’s relax, have us some fun, eat some good food, drink some good drinks, take some good photographs, play some music, take a hike, see some wildlife, and go swimming in the river. (Or lake).” If we can tick all of those boxes, you can call us “happy campers.” And if you are of like mind, and find this useful and were to tell your friends, or link to us, why, we’d stand on our heads and spit wooden nickels, we’d be so delighted. We digress.)

Dancing With Who Brungya: Our Budget Is $0.00

Here, we’re simply going to talk about what you can get with the camping or outdoor photography gear that you already have. It’s a bit like guitars. Here’s a good example: An expensive guitar isn’t going to make you a great guitar player. Sorry about dancing on your broken dreams – but deep down you must have known that. We’ve Gotta be cruel to be kind, and all that. But there’s no point in sugar-coating anything. You think Ray Charles started off on a Steinway? A funky Rhodes like he plays in that music store scene in The Blues Brothers? Spoiler alert – he didn’t. But he made great music come out of what he had. And then he got his Steinway. And his Rhodes.

For example:

We have two perfectly good guitars. (Well, to be honest – don’t tell the wife – we have a lot more than that.) The point is that these two are not at all great, but they sound good, and they stay in tune. We love ’em. We bought ’em second-hand. We have other great guitars, but we’re not gonna take ’em camping. The camping axes are a Tokai copy of a Gibson Hummingbird that we rescued for about $50.00 and a Yamaha that we picked up for about $100.00. We love them both, but we aren’t going to shed any tears if they get a little wet. So that’s our philosophy, and what we’re gonna focus on. (Heh, heh, heh, we said “focus“.)

Just imagine it with us, if you will: The hard work is already done: It’s the end of the weekend – your stuff is all packed, you’ve got your trash, and you’ve loaded out. And you’re just checking your site one last time to make sure that you’ve left no trace. If you’re anything like us, long before you even hit the first town you’re already thinking about posting your photographs to Facebook, Instagram or your blog. Or YouTube. Or whatever floats your boat. We‘re already imagining what that might look like, and what we might write about it.

We’d love it if you all knew what this emotion felt like, too. We’re gonna let you in on a little secret:

It’s not that difficult. Since we’re baring our souls, here, here’s another one. We’re not very good at this photography thing. That’s kind of the point. But we’re going to get better. <Evil Villain Voice>Oh, yes, we will master this.</Evil Villain Voice> (Pinky Swear.)

What Do We Need To Know About Cameras?

Wikipedia has a pretty good article that lays out the history of cameras if you’re at all interested in that. It never hurts to begin at the beginning. On the other hand, there doesn’t seem to be much point in duplicating that here. Just click on the link. (Use your browser’s back button to come on back.)

TL;DR?

(Just as a quick FYI, if you do like that historical stuff, we have an article we had a lot of fun writing. The History Of Camping has an interesting photograph of a mid-1900s tent as the central image. You might also like it if you’re a Stones fan. Which will make it worth your while no matter how you slice it. We make no bones about it, we love The Stones: Fred, Barney, Wilma, and Betty.)

Never mind. The Wikipedia link tells us: “A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film.”

That sounds like they got that about right. Interestingly, this definition makes two broad distinctions. Traditional film cameras and Digital. A simplification? Yeah. But it’s not too bad. We’re gonna break the Digital Cameras down into two smaller groups. We’re just going to dismiss film cameras, not because they’re not great, they are.

Nope. We’re not going to talk about them for the best of reasons: We don’t know anything about them. Seriously. Other than a trip to Europe in 1979, and a trip to Cuba in ’82 we have no experience at all. And those were disposable cameras. Fun? Oh, sure. But damned if we understood the first thing about them.

Elements Of The Exposure Triangle:

ISO:

Short for the Greek word Isos – loosely translated as equal. This is a setting in your camera – you may or may not be able to access the settings and adjust them, depending on your camera – that controls brightness. (We can’t get at it on the native software of the iPhone, but we can adjust the brightness.) It’s represented by a number that generally ranges from 100 to 6400, or even higher. We use a low setting for bright light – a lot of people like 100 for mid-day sunshine on a fine day – and a higher setting for low-light. Twilight, indoor stuff, or pre-dawn you might try 800, or even lower – and keep pushing it up until you like what you see. All of these elements have drawbacks, too, and a high ISO will add “noise” to your image. Noise is difficult to explain, but easy to see. You’ve likely seen it if you’ve seen footage from night vision goggles – If you’ve seen “Silence of the Lambs”, then you know what noise looks like.

Shutter Speed:

A shutter is the “door” that opens and closes to let in the light. When it’s open, it lets in light. A fast shutter speed (for example – 1/2000 of a second) can “freeze” action. For example, a bird in flight will just be a blur at a slow shutter speed. Sometimes, depending on the effect that you want; that’s a good thing. Most of the time, however, we want to see the bird in sharp focus. The drawback is, a fast shutter speed doesn’t let in much light, so we have to use the other elements to compensate for this. That’s really what the exposure triangle is: a kind of magic that lies in finding a balance between the three elements.

For now, just remember that a slow shutter speed will let more light in, but it’s often the cause of blur. If your shot contains unwanted blur, shutter speed is a good thing to check. (Blur could also be movement of the subject or the camera, also, so be aware of that.)

In general we want a shutter speed of 1/100 of a second for static subjects, 1/500 for slow movement (walking), 1/1000 of a second for sports, kids playing, or pets, and really fast stuff 1/2000 of a second.

Moving water in a river or fountain can often benefit from really slow speeds of 1/25 of a second or more. In this case, you need to make sure that the camera doesn’t move. Usually this means a tripod, but we’ve been known to improvise with the crook of a tree, or even braced up against a rock – but either way: be sure to use the timer because touching the button will cause the camera to shake. (Shake is movement.)

Aperture (Sometimes called F-Stop)

This is also, annoyingly, called “depth of field”. That just means the amount of image that’s in focus. Confusingly, the numbering convention is backwards. Full disclosure: We struggled mightily with this. Luckily, it’s the one element of the Exposure Triangle that you can access and play with on your smartphone. You can access it like this:

• Fire up your smartphone’s camera.
• Choose portrait.
• You’ll see a little stylized “f” at the top left corner.
• When you click that, you’ll get a sliding control.
• Play with it to bring certain elements into or out of focus.
• That’s it.

That’s the best way to learn this stuff, anyway. (You can access the others, but you need to download special software, which we’ll talk about later.)

This is great, because like a lot of photography stuff, it’s much easier to see than to explain. In a nutshell, Aperture refers to the size of the opening in the lens. It’s measured in F-numbers. F-11 is a small opening. (But it’s a large number.) Conversely, an F-2.8 is a large opening, but a small number. We know, right? Annoying. In any event, you want a large opening (small F- number) for a shallow depth of field – a portrait, a still life or a wildlife shot where the subject is in focus but the background is unfocused. (Anywhere from F-1.8 to F-3.5 will do the trick.)

On the other hand, if you need a group of people seated at a long table or a landscape where everything has to be in focus, a deeper depth of field – you need a small opening (large F-number) to get this. Here are two images:

Here is an image with an F-number of F-1.8 – A small number, and a shallow depth of field. The plant is in focus, and the background is blurred.	Here is an image with an F-number of F-13 – A large number, and a deep depth of field. Everything is reasonably in focus.

We shot these two images from the same vantage point.

Only the aperture element can be accessed with the native software available with your smartphone. There are several apps you can pay for that will allow you to access all of these elements. They seem pretty cool. They aren’t $0.00, though. Want to know what is? Free but great? Read on to the bottom to find out.

So, what we’re trying to do is to encourage our friends to get their own shutterbug on, because it’s great fun. You combine that with camping and you’ve really got something.

Our point is that there’s all the power in the world in simply taking the shot. Pushing the button. If we hadn’t, we wouldn’t have that image. But we did. We put down the guitar, picked up the camera, walked a few steps up a dune, and pressed a button. And now, we have that image forever. Now, we have a new goal: we want to learn to take good photographs that we love. Howzat sound? That’s a pretty good deal, right?

What about Smartphone Cameras?

Yeah, we have to talk about these. We mean, talk about something blasting the door open, jumping up and down and changing everything! Well, that’s exactly what smartphones did. We think you can tell that we love them.

Not only do you always have one with you, but there are lots of good tips and tricks for getting great images using your phone. Don’t overlook those. Read them. They have all been totally useful techniques for us, and we’ve found that we can migrate any of these tips over to our mirrorless camera (or any camera) with a minimum of fuss. Our advice is to make sure to take advantage of them when they pop up. Or just swipe all the way right until you get to the camera tips. (Or whatever you have to do on your smartphone. You can check Google.) One thing that we have to mention is that smartphones are far superior for editing in the phone itself. Digital cameras do not have nearly those same capabilities. (Which is why we talked about GIMP and so on.)

However, they are too important not to mention, because there’s an old saying amongst photographers that some people think veers awfully close to being a cliché: That’s okay. In our opinion, properly utilized, there is not one thing wrong with clichés.

Crash Davis: It’s time to work on your interviews.
Ebby Calvin LaLoosh: My interviews? What do I gotta do?
Crash Davis: You’re gonna have to learn your clichés. You’re gonna have to study them, you’re gonna have to know them. They’re your friends. Write this down: “We gotta play it one day at a time.”
Ebby Calvin LaLoosh: Got to play… it’s pretty boring.
Crash Davis: ‘Course it’s boring, that’s the point. Write it down.

Who can argue with that? Church.

There’s a reason people use clichés: They are often a shorthand for truth. This one rings true to us. Here it is:

“The best camera is the one you have when you need one.”

For almost everyone, this is the camera that comes in a smartphone. Moreover, we’re willing to bet a delicious camping breakfast idea that you’ve got one with you almost all the time. (Never mind, we’d never hold you to that breakfast.)

Our point is that these cameras are remarkably good and do a great job. The image on the left was taken with our smartphone’s native software.

Keep Your Options (and your mind) Open!

Nonetheless, we are convinced that a great digital camera will provide the photographer with some other options and benefits that extend beyond the reach of the smartphone camera.

However, there is no denying that the sheer number and dizzying variety of available digital cameras (to anyone, not just to the camping or outdoors aficionado) can be a little intimidating. The fact is that there are a ton of different options, and different people have different needs and opinions, which can be at the same time a good thing and a bad thing.

Soup Up Your Smartphone:

This is where things get really interesting. As great as your native smartphone software is, you can download apps that will allow you to turn your smartphone into damn near an expensive DSLR Camera.

Hey, do you remember all of that stuff about the exposure triangle? And, that we promised to tell you about accessing the Exposure Triangle? Well, listen up:

If you want access to all of that good stuff, you can download Lightroom. It’s a free application from Adobe. (you know, the people who made “Photoshop” into a verb? You know this is gonna be good. And it is.) You just load it on your smartphone and it will give you access to the ISO, the aperture, the shutter speed, and lots of other goodies that you’re gonna want to take advantage of. (Caveat: The aperture is a bit of a jury-rigged solution. We like the portrait hack on the native software better, if we’re being totally honest.) They will try to upsell you constantly, but it’s worth it. Playing around with all of that is the quickest way to understand all of that stuff.

Look, if you use lightroom, and you play around with the exposure triangle, you’re gonna learn enough to know if you want to buy a good camera or not. You’re also gonna know enough to ask sensible questions about which camera is right for you. That’s a big deal.

God help us, “We likes what we likes”. We believe that like just about anything else that we talk about here on Lone Loon Song, it’s a fool’s errand to pretend that we know what you need. How the hell should we know? We don’t even know what we should buy. But we feel confident that you’re gonna love lightroom – it’s that good, and there are quite likely hundreds of good sites that will answer your questions. And you’ll have ’em. Lot’s of ’em if you do this right. That’s what we’re doing.

That’s why we’re doing all of this research. We’ll tell you what we decide at the end of the series of articles, and we’ll tell you what our decision was based on. You can tell us, too. Drop us a line and tell us what you think, or ask us a question.

Conclusion:

As always, we certainly hope that this has been helpful, useful, entertaining and encouraging for you, our readers. In the next week, we will post some new articles that delve much more deeply into the actual camera choices, lenses, settings, and modes for modern cameras. (Or not. We’re loving this post-typhoon September weather, and we’re totally psyched to Get Out There™ and get some photos! So it may be a couple of weeks. We’ll try not to let the grass grow under our feet. We promise.) We are looking forward to learning a lot more about the finer points ourselves.

Just get out there and take some photographs with what you have. It’s a world of fun, and we invite you all to join in.

Now, full disclosure, some 11 years later, it’s truly been only slightly better than nothing. We did manage to shoot a rock and roll video on this thing, which we could never have done with our phone at the time. So, the ability to shoot video was pretty cool for us. We still should have saved our pennies and done some research and got something that we could have gotten a lot more use out of over the years. So don’t be like us.

What? Sure you can see it.

(The J.J. Cale Gem “Call Me The Breeze” ) and hacked it together using OpenShot on our 13-year-old hackintosh. We could only shoot 13 seconds of video at a time, so it was a labour of love. Once again, we’re glad we have it. That’s colin the loon 2 playing the tennis racquet. You can have a look if you want. We think it’s still fun to watch. We can’t really recommend our process – it’s far better to do what we say, and not what we did. You, gentle reader, are already streets ahead of where we were when we started, in terms of smarts and research.

(In general, if you’ve read any of our articles, on anything, you probably know that we like to be able to use everything we own for as many different purposes as possible. See Racquet, Tennis.) It is our firm belief that versatility is the best way to get maximum value out of anything. We can absolutely stand behind that one.

Thanks so much for reading, and if you’ve enjoyed this, or found this helpful in any way, please tell your friends. That helps us to keep posting content like this. Keep looking out for our article on digital sensors for cameras, an article on the second-hand market, and the best options for lenses.

In the coming weeks, we’ll also post a blog on choosing a camera if you’re a beginner – you basically just answer a bunch of questions and you’ll know what you need. It’s more of a process of elimination.

If you found this useful, tell your friends or link to us. If you have an idea about how we could improve it or if we need to correct something, drop us a line . Thanks again for reading, and most importantly, Get Out There™ and make it a great week!