How do National Geographic photographers get such finely detailed photos?

Question

Are they using super expensive cameras or is it the film speed, or is it just the glossy paper that makes them look finely detailed?

Answer 1

It's a combination of skill and equipment.
Let's not forget that National Geographic photographers are some of the best in the world. They understand all there is to know about technique, composition, lighting, filters, etc., they have a great sense of timing, and even then they'll take hundreds of pictures on every assignment and rely on the editors to select the best few.
As for gear, they generally use professional Canon/ Nikon cameras. A $5000 camera has a better auto-focus system than a $500 camera, it can work better with off-camera flashes, it can take more frames per second (either film or digital), and it has a few other features that you and I will probably never need. Most importantly however, a professional camera is built like a tank. These guys can't afford to travel half way across the planet for a once in a lifetime opportunity and have their camera break. They also use professional quality lenses. Again, better build quality, faster auto-focus. Professional lenses also provide better optics: better contrast, sharpness, bokeh, depth of field & low light sensitivity .... better image quality.
So it's a combination. Give a pro a $10 disposable camera and he'll put me and my $3000 worth of gear to shame. But he'll need some good gear himself to deliver the work that he's capable of.

Answer 2

OMG has already answered the question and I agree with his response. Let me add that NG photographers also are known for shooting a huge amount of film (some of them do still use film!) or digital images. Then they, along with the photo editors, select only the absolute best shots out of sometimes hundreds or thousands just for a single story. So the six or eight that you see for that story are perhaps only 1% or maybe 5% of the total images shot on that assignment.

As OMG said - these guys are the best. And if anyone thinks it is just because they are using 12MP dSLRs, just check an NG issue from 10 years ago, when the magazine was 100% film, and you'll see the same quality of images then, when the cameras were not as sophisticated. Sure, they were using the best equipment available at the time, generally Nikon, Canon and Leica cameras with top-quality film, processing and image selection. But the bottom line is still that the skill of the photographer trumps everything else.

Answer 3

i've got self assurance that the 35mm transparency action picture they use has a plenty greater point of element (extra severe-definition). i've got self assurance at some point, the digital cameras could be able to capture photos severe-res adequate ... yet for now, the image high quality is decrease. save in mind that the people at national Geographic satisfaction themselves on their photograph paintings. that's a key part of their magazine, and their business organisation ... so as that they take the prevalent very heavily

Answer 4

Their cameras primarily. Its a combination of light and white balance and format.
The camera can operate up to 10-12 mega pixels with lightening shutter speeds. instead of conventional jpeg shots that everyday people use, they use "raw" and "tiff" formats which can get up to 30MBs in size.
Digital SLR's from Nikon and Canon are responsible for the hardware

Answer 5

I think it's called f/16... Some of the really grand views are taken on a medium format camera, also, which will hold up very well under enlargement.

Answer 6

using a $10,000 camera