Are you ready to take your nature and wildlife photography to the next level? Are you ready to learn the professional secrets that make the difference between good images and great images? Are you ready for a high intensity, action packed, total immersion photography weekend? Come to Park of the Pines on beautiful Lake Charlevoix October 13-15, 2023.
This article will give you some tips on taking portraits by moonlight. We have been planning this shoot ever since our moonlit photo shoot in a cemetery last November. We just needed a nice bright moon and a clear sky with stars. Last night with a blue supermoon was the night.
Super Moon, November 13, 2016
Tonight, August 30-31, 2023, is a Supermoon. Go out and take pictures! This article will take you through the steps to getting a great image.
Tonight, August 30-31, 2023, the full moon will be bigger and brighter than most full moons. So go out and look. I love the night sky, so in my book, any time spent looking up at the night sky is time well spent, supermoon or not.
Headed for Colorado this fall? Welcome to my complete Colorado fall color photography and travel guide with 131 photos, 18 maps, and over 100 pages of information (if you print it all out). I cover some of the best known fall color locations in Colorado, and one real gem of a road that is not widely known to photographers and leaf peepers. Spend anywhere from two days to two weeks exploring the beautiful Colorado Rockies at a gorgeous time of year.
Why use Adobe Bridge? To quickly find a photo or photos. And it is free. If you have a hard time finding photos you want, Adobe Bridge can make that process so much faster and simpler.
I get asked that question on a regular basis. This time it was a photo I posted on Facebook of our extended family (20 of us) at a restaurant when we were all together in the Bay Area in California.
Are you ready to take your nature and wildlife photography to the next level? Are you ready to learn the professional secrets that make the difference between good images and great images? Are you ready for a high intensity, action packed, total immersion photography weekend? Come to Park of the Pines on beautiful Lake Charlevoix October 13-15, 2023.
I was going through parade images yesterday to send to the local newspaper. The parade was over when I spotted this person on a skateboard with an American flag. I took 8 images of him with varying backgrounds, him with different body postures, and the flag at different angles. My least favorite had his head looking straight down as he checked his phone. This is my most favorite. I processed this image with Adobe Camera Raw and Topaz software before sending it off to the newspaper.
A selection of 16 of my parade images. Some of these images will be published in the Lamoni Chronicle this week.
This gallery contains 29 photos.
The ideas for this article started with a question about camera gear (see my Mama Killdeer article). A friend of mine was surprised to learn I used a lens that cost less than $200 to capture an image of a killdeer. So I went to the refurbished gear section of Canon’s web site to check some of their current prices. The camera and lens combination above is $200. The lens is a good, general purpose, semi-wide angle to short telephoto lens. (To keep things simple I am rounding everything up to the next dollar.)
Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale, 1800
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
From the Declaration of Independence, signed July 4, 1776. Written by Thomas Jefferson (1762-1826). 3rd US President (1801-09).
More images (including Thomas Jefferson’s original draft) and the complete text of the declaration are after the break.
The Strip, Las Vegas with Fireworks
You can point your camera at the sky in auto exposure and autofocus modes and fire away whenever you see a burst of fireworks, but for the best quality photos, it helps to know a few tricks of the trade. It’s easy when you know what to do.
At a family reunion several years ago I decided to make digital copies of some old family photo albums. I did one digital picture of each page (there were several photos on each page). When I got back home I digitally separated the individual photos that were on each page. This particular image is a family favorite. I decided this image would be a good test of Topaz Gigapixel AI which enlarges, and hopefully improves small photos. The original photographic print also has a lot of damage which created some additional problems.
We’ve been down this road before. An over-hyped, overpriced product out of China making claims that are too good to be true. This all sounds too familiar. For the record, there is no way an app can turn a phone into the quality equivalent of a “professional camera” with a quality telephoto lens.
Summer is here and that means hot weather. So it is time for a “save your camera gear” reminder. Camera gear has a temperature and humidity rating. A top of the line Canon camera body has a limit of 115°F and 85% or less humidity. A black camera on a hot day can easily exceed that limit. Less expensive cameras of any brand have lower limits so it is important to protect your gear.
Pika, Rock Cut, Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
Which national parks are at their photographic best in the summer? Here are my favorite choices, grouped by state from west to east, plus one Canadian province.
I was leaving Lake LaShane when a white flicker caught my eye. I stopped the car for a better look. Not far from a cluster of reeds, a small bird was wading in a shallow part of the lake. Its tail feathers were flicking up and down. It was the white underside that caught my eye.
The Lamoni schools band concert was May 12. The 5th and 6th grade band performed first and then the 7th – 12th grade band. This is a selection of images from the concert.
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My friend Paula lost all of her high school photos in a fire. Last week a friend posted a high school photo of her on her Facebook page. It is a very blurry photo that appears to have been copied from a high school yearbook.
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April 21, 2023 was the final concert of the school year for the Graceland University Symphonic Band under the direction of Dr. Christopher Brandt. This is a selection of photos from the concert.
Goldfinch, camera LCD. iPhone photo.
Sometimes I click the shutter and it might be one of my better photos. After the action dies down I go back to that photo and zoom in on the back of the camera for a better look. In this case of this Goldfinch this morning, I wanted to be sure the catch light in the eye was sharp. It was so, I pushed the RATE button (left side of the camera) three times. At the top of the photo screen you can see three little stars in brackets.
When I download the photos with Adobe Bridge (which is excellent software and it is a free download), I can click on the three star icon and Bridge will show me just the three star rated images.
If you want to improve your portrait photography it is really best if you start with the prior articles in this series before you tackle direct sunlight. Having said that, sometimes the sun works really well as the main light for portraits. Technically speaking, this image is not a “traditional” portrait, but it is one of my favorite images of Vassanta.
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On sunny days, have your subject face away from the sun. You avoid all the disadvantages of having the sunlight on their face. As an added plus you have the possibility of really nice backlight. In this image I especially like the sunlight shining through Tiana’s hair.
On sunny days open shade will give you the look of a cloudy bright day, but you have a lot less options as to where you can shoot.
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If you are new to portrait photography, a cloudy bright day is the best kind of day to start shooting portraits. The light on a cloudy bright day is soft and forgiving.
The single most important rule, 99 times out of 100, is to not have people face the sun. Sunlight is harsh. Sunlight is bright and it makes people squint. Sunlight magnifies every flaw and imperfection in human skin. It exaggerates every line, crease, pore, and wrinkle. If you are photographing the weather-worn face of a Maine lobster fisherman, fine, shoot in the sunlight. The harsh will help that kind of photo. But for everyone else, most of the time you should keep them out of the sunlight.
This series of short posts was inspired by a look at some portfolios by other photographers. The photos ranged in quality from ok to not very good. If I was handing out grades they would range from B to F. One of the key issues was bad lighting. If you are new to portrait photography, this series if for you. The suggestions in these articles will make a big difference in the quality of your images. These articles are all about how to use and not use sunlight.
Links
Portraits 1 – Introduction (this brief article)
Portraits 2 – Sunlight Can Be Really Bad Portrait Light
Portraits 3 – Shoot On Cloudy Bright Days
Portraits 4 – On Sunny Days Use Open Shade