Karen Wolf hits the outdoors with her camera.
Karen Wolf hits the outdoors with her camera. (LEBANON DAILY NEWS DAVE WOLF)
As you probably already know, my wife Karen and I head afield every week to bring back photos we hope will interest my readers. It, at times, isn't an easy task, but one that we both have grown to love.

Karen had been taught by her father, how to capture the moment, and we both know that what looks great in the view finder just doesn't cut the mustard when reprinted on news print. Since most of our photos will be printed in black and white, we try to gather photos that will "pop."

Although we both hunt and fish, taking photos and then coming home to view them on the computer is one of the most exciting things we get to do. Obviously our equipment is getting battered and worn from all the use, and we are looking to upgrade our cameras, but until then, we do the best we can with what we have.

We have all marveled at the modern day results of photos taken by our friends and others. Some are full-time professionals; others supplement their income by taking photos and marketing them.

But the majority of photographers simply want to capture photos of their families and friends. They want to remember those places they have been and share them with others.

Before heading off to the camera shop, have some idea of what you want to accomplish with the camera you are planning to purchase. Good and even great photos can be taken with a rather inexpensive camera and lens. Most of today's cameras have pop-up "fill flashes" and will more than suffice to fill photo albums.

But what does it take to capture that shot of a lifetime? It has been my experience that a good camera with even better lenses can and does set some of us apart. A low light lens, as they are often called, gathers enough light during those early-morning and late-evening hours when wildlife is most often on the move. The less expensive lenses that flood the market do not gather as much light and often makes it impossible to take dawn or dusk photos.

And then there are megapixels, the tiny dots called pixels, each containing information about its color. The prefix "mega-" indicates "million," so a three-megapixel camera uses up to three million pixels to store each image that it captures. If you are using your camera to take 4x6 photos or smaller or you want to post them on a website, almost any camera will do, and you need not worry about the number of pixels.

But if you want to shoot top quality 8x10s or larger, the camera should allow photos containing at least 8-10 megapixels.

Before I go any farther, keep in mind that camera and lens manufacturers are bringing out new models faster than auto manufacturers are making new models of cars. What this means to the consumer is that the camera you purchase today will most likely depreciate in a matter of months.

A single-lens reflex (SLR) camera is a camera that typically uses a mirror and prism system that permits the photographer to view through the lens and see exactly what will be captured, contrary to viewfinder cameras where the image could be significantly different from what will be captured.

I highly recommend the SLR, unless you want something small enough to slip in your pocket.

Canon and Nikon have made extensive changes in recent years, including making sure older lenses on SLRs don't couple to work with the newer auto-focus cameras. Since I own a wide variety of older auto-focus lenses, this does limit my choice of cameras, unless I want to shoot them in the manual mode.

According to one camera shop owner I've spoken to, the reasoning was that manufacturers had decided to place the motor in the lens rather than in the camera. Our cameras have the motor in the camera that focuses the lenses.

The compliment of lenses you carry can make a difference. When a deer or elk appears, they usually do so at a considerable distance. At this point you need a lens that can reach out there. When shooting a scenic, you'll need a wide-angle lens that can take in as much surroundings as possible.

For a medium-range photo, it will take a lens like my 180mm, and for those close-ups you'll need a macro or micro lens (named differently by different manufacturers). These lenses will allow you to shoot full-frame photos of wildflowers, butterflies, animal tracks or anything that captures your interest.

I know this seems like a lot of gear to lug around, but, as Karen and I travel the state and beyond to bring back photos we can be proud of, I know we have used every single lens in our camera bags.

Like most other photographers, we use Photoshop to tweak the contrast and exposure, but we have not resorted to placing an animal in a setting where it wasn't taken. I vividly recall the arguments in photo magazines defending and criticizing the practice.

Some would call us old-fashioned, while others would praise our efforts to keep it as natural as humanly possible. There is little doubt that we have deleted far more images than we have ever sent to would-be publishers. But we have found our convictions well worth it, and you can't imagine how happy we are when we capture that photo that we both say "yes!" to.

Photography has become a major source of enjoyment for both of us, and after some 40 years of taking photos myself, having a partner who sees things differently through the viewfinder certainly helps. We agree that we have learned from one another but don't want to blend to a point where we are both taking the same photo.

Today, photography is one of the top outdoor activities, and what you capture out there is something of your very own - created and captured through your eyes and hopefully exactly as you have seen it. Remember to shoot a lot of photos because we now have the luxury of deleting what we don't like or want to use.

Grab a camera and add an exciting element to your outdoor life you might have missed before.