Your Most Important Photos



This post is a quickie: Take those everyday photos that someday will be important to you and to your loved ones - more important than your best-selling or top-rated image.

Don't miss an opportunity that may be gone forever. Always have a camera with you.

Also: save old photos in a safe place, or scan them for archival storage.

Bottom Photos:
Here's a 63 year-old-photo of my parents and a recent photo that I took of my 91-year-old dad - one of my favorite family photos.

That wedding photo is still one of his favorites. The portrait of him brings back a special moment that we shared together on a chilly winter afternoon.

Top Photo:
A portrait of the man who got me interested in photography. I actually used that Linhof 4x5 and developed the negs in our family's basement.

Rick
P.S. So, take tons of photos of your kids, but don't forget your parents :-)

Way to Much Fun on My Workshops


I always suggest to my workshop students: Stick Like Glue to the Instructor (any instructor).

During my recent gig in Eureka Springs, Arkansas at MAPSYM, a few of us took off for the downtown area one night and found ourselves back in the 1800s - at Judge Roy Beans Old Time Photo and Weddings studio. That's the Judge himself on the right. What a cool guy!

In the background is Miss Liddy, a.k.a. Liddy Deshotle, owner of Portraits by Liddie in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

These images are clips from a Canon 5D Mark II video taken by my "partner" at Canon USA, Jerry "cowpoke" Ward. Assisting with the shoot was another Canon "partner, Vinie "six gun" Del Gaiso.

The guy who looks like a gambler? Your guess is as good as mine :-)

Hope to see you on my of my workshops. We lean a lot, and we have a ton of fun.

Rick’s Pick for Plug-in of the Month: Bokeh


Bokeh, from Alien Skin Software, gets my pick for plug-in of the month (5/09). This plug-in simulates the effect of shooting relatively close to a subject with a fast portrait lens set at a wide aperture – which is also the effect you’d get when photographing a subject with a super-telephoto lens set at a wide aperture.

How cool. What fun. How easy.

To create the effect, all you have to do is make a careful selection (a very careful selection, that is) of your subject in Photoshop and then go to Filter > Alien Skin > Bokeh.

Next, choose the fast lens you wish you had used (or wish you could afford) and press OK. You’ll get a professional looking portrait that looks as though you used an expensive professional lens – which is a great way to impress your friends (and clients).

For more info and for more info on Bokeh and plug-ins, see the Plug-in Experience – a web site I started for creative plug-in users.

Hey! Do you have a suggestion for the Plug-in of the Week? Let me know. Also, send me an example of your plug-in work. You’ll find info on how to do that on the Plug-in Experience, too.

Delicate Balancing Act


Check out these two pictures of a saw-whet owl. Because our eyes can see a brightness range of about 11 f-stops, my eyes could clearly see the owl in the scene. However, because digital cameras can only see about 6 stops, a natural-light picture taken with the camera set on any of the automatic modes (with no exposure compensation) would look like the picture on the left.

In the picture on the right, we can clearly see the owl. For that shot, I used a technique called “daylight fill-in flash photography.” Here’s how to do it:

1) First, you’ll need either a flash with variable flash output control (+/- exposure control), or a camera that let’s you vary the flash output in-camera.
2) Turn off the flash.
3) In the Manual mode, set the exposure for the natural light scene.
4) Turn on your flash and make an exposure with the flash set at – 1 1/3. If your picture looks too much like a flash shot, reduce the flash output to – 1 1/2. If it’s still too “flashy,” continue to reduce the flash until you are pleased with the results.

This techniques works because even in the Manual mode, the flash operates in the TTL mode. I suggest that you master this technique. It is an essential tool used by most of my nature and travel photography friends.

Sure, you might get a similar shot with your camera and flash set on Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority, but this technique gives you independent control over the subject and background brightness: you can darken and lighten the subject by adjust the flash output, and you can control the background illumination with your shutter speed.

Let me know if you'd like to see more Speedlite tips - for shooting indoors and outdoors.