by Brian Lucy | Dec 18, 2021 | Conservation Photography
Committee members Cheryl Tarr, Tom Wilson and Marcia Brandes give a “thumbs up” for conservation photography!
GNPA’s 2020 Conservation Photography Committee
- Marcia Brandes, Chairman, Partner Liaison – Trees Atlanta: cons_chair@gnpa.org
- Cheryl Tarr, Volunteers: cons_volunteers@gnpa.org
- Cheryl Tarr, Partner Liaison – Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation: cons_kgbf@gnpa.org
- Tom Wilson, Education, Partner Liaison – Chattahoochee Parks Conservancy: cons_edu@gpna.org
- Tammy Cash, Communications: cons_newsletter@gnpa.org
- Jenny Burdette – Partner Liaison, Friends of Ga State Parks: cons_friends@gnpa.org
- Clay Fisher, Partner Liaison – Piedmont Park Conservancy: cons_ppc@gnpa.org
- Dale Aspy, Partner Liaison – Chattahoochee Nature Center: cons_cnc@gnpa.org
- Lisa Westberry, Partner Liaison – Dept of Natural Resources (DNR), Wildlife Resources Division (WRD): cons_dnr@gnpa.org
- Kathy Aspy, Member
- Brian Lucy, Member
- Susan Perz, Member
- Jimmy Cash, Member
- Chris Dahl, Member
- Dwayne Vaughns, Member
- Tom Simpson, Member
If you are interested in joining the Conservation Photography Committee, contact Marcia at cons_chair@gnpa.org



by Brian Lucy | Dec 18, 2021 | Conservation Photography
Throughout the year our partners will ask us to provide volunteer photographers at conservation events or projects, or contribute photographs in support of their conservation efforts. Photographs may be used in social media, traditional media, fundraising and/or marketing materials, but will be properly credited and remain the property of the contributing photographer (see MOU below).
GNPA’s Conservation Committee is proud to support and facilitate the contribution of conservation photography to the following organizations.
Chattahoochee Nature Center, cons_cnc@gnpa.org
Chattahoochee Parks Conservancy, cons_edu@gnpa.org
Friends of Georgia State Parks, cons_friends@gnpa.org
GA Dept. of Nat. Resources (DNR)
Wildlife Resources Division, cons_dnr@gnpa.org
Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation, cons_kgbf@gnpa.org
Trees Atlanta, cons_chair@gnpa.org
Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
GNPA has written agreements with our supported organizations that provide important details on each party’s rights and responsibilities. Each of our partners has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that governs the use of these images for the protection of our photographers. These MOUs state, in part:
The parties understand and agree that the submitting photographer retains the copyright to submitted images, and that the non-exclusive license to utilize images submitted by GNPA members as set forth above is limited to your organization’s use for its own promotional and educational materials and programs.
From time to time, in addition to the GNPA services described herein, GNPA photographers may provide your organization with photographs from photographers’ personal portfolios. These photographs may contain the word “Limited Use” in the file name of the photograph. Unless your organization agrees otherwise in writing with the submitting photographer, photographs designated as Limited Use can only be used for the organization’s website, newsletters, social media channels, and printed material including posters, brochures, educational materials, annual reports and event invitations. Without limiting the generality of that limitation, photographs designated as Limited Use cannot be otherwise published, sold, or transferred to third parties.
Your organization agrees to provide notification to GNPA photographer(s) upon your organization’s use of any image(s) submitted to you by GNPA photographers.
by Brian Lucy | Jan 22, 2021 | Make Your Photographes Matter, Conservation Photography
What is Conservation Photography?
Conservation photography is defined more by the way it is used than by what it contains. Conservation photography inspires action to protect and conserve the natural world. Within that broad category, almost any kind of photograph can be used for conservation purposes, including the following:
- Stock photos donated to local nature organizations.
- Scenics, wildlife, and macro shots of nature that are specifically requested.
- Images of people enjoying outdoor activities.
- Photos taken at organization events.
- Art photos donated for fundraising.
- Photographers helping educate organizations on how to use and present photos.
Volunteer to be a GNPA conservation volunteer photographer!
Please log in to the members only site. Complete the short contact form for the Conservation Committee Volunteer program. We’ll be in touch soon to discuss your interests and how you can help!
by Brian Lucy | Apr 17, 2020 | GNPA News
Ghost Crab at Jekyll Island – Sara Aspy, GNPA member
Congratulations to all the winning photographers of the first annual GNPA Conservation Winter Project!
The project was a great way to support one of our Conservation partners, Wildlife Resources Division (WRD) of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in Georgia.
With 384 photographs from 39 contributors across the state the judges had their hands full selecting the top photos.
To participate in future GNPA Conservation photography events email consvolunteer@gnpa.org
Thank you to everyone who took the time to contribute. We will be posting a full gallery of the winning photos on the website soon, and featuring a category in a blog post each week over the next five weeks.
And your winners are….
Wildlife
1st Place Blue Bird with Worms Jenny Burdette
2nd Place Coyote on Fallen Pine Joe Berry
3rd Place White Eyed Vireo Steve Rushin
Landscape
1st Place Fishing at Marben PFA Art Stiles
2nd Place Boat at Sunrise Jenny Burdette
3rd Place Dicks Creek Waterfalls Joseph Kovarik
Close Up
1st Place Ghost Crab Sara Aspy
2nd Place Cicada Metamorphosis Ricki Forbes
3rd Place Gopher Tortoise Steve Rushing
Story in 5 Shots
1st Place Eagle Drinking Steve Rushing
2nd Place Hummingbird vs Praying Mantis Diane Yancey
Challenge Shot
1st Place Roseate Spoonbill Landing Dale Aspy
2nd Place Brown Headed Nuthatch Jenny Burdette
3rd Place Young Alligators in Okeefenokee Paul Thomas
Grand Prize Winner
With one first place and two 2nd place photos Jenny Burdette
by Chris Dekle | Jan 9, 2020 | GNPA News
Submission Guidelines
- Photos may come from archives or new shots
- Submit photos as jpg.
- Remember to title each jpg as follows: GNPA-Partner Org-Subject-YourName Example: GNPA-PPC-RedTailHawk-JohnSmith.jpg
- If you see one of your photos on our partners’ social media feed or brochures or other marketing materials, send us a screen shot so we can show it on the GNPA FaceBook page! Email to Alfie.Wace@gmail.com and let her know where it was published. Example:

Current Conservation Photography Opportunities
Friends of Georgia State Parks (Friends) – Wide assortment of shots from any of Georgia’s state parks, including landscape, macro, wildlife, recreation. Contact Jenny Burdette at cons_friends@gnpa.org
Department of Natural Resources (DNR) – Ongoing need for wildlife, trees, wildflowers, etc. that are native to Georgia and any shots of recreation in Georgia at DNR properties, especially the WRD (Wildlife Resources Division) sites. For a Specific Shot List: Contact John Kelly at cons_dnr@gnpa.org
Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation (KGBF) – Ongoing need for seasonal shots of flowers, landscapes, wildlife, both urban and rural. Contact John Kelly at cons_kgbf@gnpa.org
Piedmont Park Conservancy (PPC) – Contact Clay Fisher at cons_PPC@gnpa.org. Suggested venues are:
2020 September-October Photo Calendar:
Scheduled weekday shoot:
Saturday shoots:
Open Times Photography Opportunities:
Areas:
- Dog Parks – general park area (including dogs)
- Active Oval skyline
- Wide views of Oak Hill
- Group shots – only if people are spread out in Park (must look like people are distancing)
- People wearing masks
- Front Lawn
- Peregrine Point
- Lake Gazebo
- Park Drive bridge
- Active Oval
- Fall colors (late October)
Specifics plants:
Always needed:
Diversity in photos (age, ethnicity, attire); Runners, walkers, bikers, skaters, scooters, fishing, sports, picnics, kites, families, bench sitting, all birds, ducks, squirrels, turtles, bugs.
Monuments- there are monuments throughout the park. Once we have these images we can tell a story about them.
Contact Clay Fisher at cons_PPC@gnpa.org for model releases if you choose to photograph visitors
Get involved today!
Contact the Conservation Committee’s volunteer coordinator at cons_Volunteers@gnpa.org for more information about these and other opportunities.
by Brian Lucy | Sep 7, 2019 | Conservation Resources
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Model Releases
When photographing at the request of one of our supported organizations, the organization itself will assure that appropriate model releases have been obtained and you can submit photographs of people to the organization without obtaining a model release.
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Resources for “Gardening for Life: Creating a backyard refuge for insects, plants, birds and photographers.” This document provides links to web pages and documents to help you get started on your own personal biodiversity/photography refuge.

Native Plant Resources
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by Chris Dekle | Aug 11, 2019 | Post Processing
Sometimes you will have a vertical image but it needs to be converted to a 1080 pixel wide horizontal image with a 4:3 aspect ratio for posting on Meetup and the GNPA website. I’ll walk through the process. This video from Matt Kloskowski helps to walk through the basic ideas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y91veIhKkhc
Here is a vertical image: We want to change this to a horizontal image for posting on Meetup and the GNPA website.
Start by Opening the Print Module in Lightroom. Open the Layout panel on the left side of the screen. I am creating the 8×6 User template so I can use it for this image and in the future.
First, create a Custom Layout with appropriate dimensions or a multiple of those dimensions. Select the + to the Right of the Template Browser. I am going to use 8 inches wide and 6 inches high for a 4:3 aspect ratio.
Add a single custom cell for the vertical image. You can choose any of the cell size options and then adjust the size as needed. I used 4.5 inches wide and 6 inches high – a 3:4 ratio that fills the 6 inch canvas height but that could be changed as needed. Be sure to fill the page height if you want to avoid having excess white space. You can use any size for the cell as long as it matches the height of your layout. The sides will simply have white space.
Drag the photo into the cell. Tweak the image dimensions on the page as needed so it fills the vertical dimension. If you have a different dimension, make sure the height of the cell matches the height of your layout.
Go to the Page Panel and add a watermark for the photographer credit.
Open the Print Job panel. Select Print to JPEG at top of panel. Set PPI so the image width in inches times PPI is approximately 1080 pixels wide. In this case it is 135 pixels which is 1080 pixels divided by the 8 inch width of the cell. Choose Standard Sharpening and Glossy Output. Choose Quality 70-80%. Set custom file dimensions to 8 x 6 inches to maintain 4:3 aspect ratio. Render as sRGB with Relative Colormetric.
Select Print to File at the bottom of the screen to create the JPEG. Name the file as desired and put it in the desired folder. Here is the resulting file.
by Brian Lucy | Aug 7, 2019 | Conservation Resources
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The North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) offers fantastic tips for being an ethical photographer.
Access to Public Lands
Ethical Field Practices
Truth in Captioning Blog
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by yideaz | Aug 4, 2019 | Gear
Why Are These Essential Camera Accessories?
I have personal experience with every item on this camera accessories list and would recommend them all. I’ve spent a fair bit of money in the past on equipment I didn’t need, so learn from my mistakes and bookmark this list now!
NB: I’ve linked all items on Amazon US, and all are Canon products. That’s not to say that Canon are better than anyone else, I’ve just done it this way because Canon held 44.5% of the DSLR market in 2010, whereas Nikon and Sony have 29.8% and 11.9% respectively.
See Article
by yideaz | Aug 4, 2019 | Post Processing
This page contains all of our post-processing tips, tutorials and articles for photographers who are looking to edit their photos, ranging from beginning to advanced techniques. Ever since the first darkroom, the art of editing a photo has been one of the most essential steps in photography. Good post-processing can bring out the character and emotions of a scene you witnessed, transforming a good image into a great one. However, the most important step is knowing how to edit images properly in the first place, which is not always an easy task. Below, you’ll find all the information you need in order to do just that.