Family Photo Tips All This Week. Day 5: Add +1 When Shooting In the Snow and Sand

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The Sammon MCS-5200 Snow Removal Machine. Power not included.
I am have fun getting my pictures and photo tips together for my talk on family photography at the Upper West Side Apple store on February 26th in NYC. 

While I am in the family photo mood, I thought I'd post some of my favorite family photos and tips here on my blog - along with some of my travel photographs that illustrate the same basic techniques.

Today's Tip: When shooting in the snow (or at the beach) set your exposure compensation at +1.

When shooting in the snow, or at the beach, set your exposure compensation to +1 for an accurate automatic exposure. Why? Because all that snow and sand can fool your camera's exposure meter into thinking that the scene is brighter than it is, resulting in an underexposed image.

Here is another tip: Spend as much time with your kid or kids as possible. And have as much fun as possible.

As illustrated below, you can use this technique when photographing animals in the snow, too!





I took the photographs above during one of my chilly photo workshops. :-)
All of these pictures were taken with my Canon 100-400mm IS lens:

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. If you plan to shoot in the snow (or rain), check out the Op/Tech camera cover:

Hope You Can Grab a Free Redeem Code for My New and Improved iPad App: Light It!

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Hey Gang,

I just released a new and improved version of my popular app, Light It! The app covers basic lighting techniques, a more advanced app is in the works.

Price is only $4.99 for more than 1.5 hours of videos! Note: This is a very large file, so download time is not fast....

New features include:

You Light It! This photo club showcases your best photographs, along with the photographs of other talented photographers, based on the tips from my Light It! iPad and iPhone app. Join the fun to enter the monthly photo contest. The prize for the contest:  a1/2 hour portfolio review with yours truly via Skype or iChat. The winner will be featured here on my blog. Plus, I will tweet news about the winner to his 11,000 plus followers. Important! The winner needs to contact me via email.

Here is a video about the club. And here is a link to the club.

There is also a new Review sections that sum up the techniques that I discuss in each lesson. You can even print out the Review sections to an AirPrint capable printer.

There is also a new streaming RSS feature from my blog for almost daily new photo tips.


To celebrate the release of the update, I am giving away 10 free redeem codes. I hope you can grab one. They go fast!

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Please read this important note first: To redeem a code, go to the home screen of the App Store and click "Redeem" in the upper right hand corner. Enter your redemption code and sync your iPhone. Make sure to do so immediately as promo codes do expire and cannot be replaced if this occurs. Note that the process for redeeming a code is Apple's standard process, not ours.
For more info on this app, click here.

Explore the light,
Rick

Family Photo Tips All This Week. Day 4: Move Your Subject Into the Shade

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I am have fun getting my pictures and photo tips together for my talk on family photography at the Upper West Side Apple store on February 26th in NYC. 

While I am in the family photo mood, I thought I'd post some of my favorite family photos and tips here on my blog - along with some of my travel photographs that illustrate the same basic techniques.

Today's Tip: Move the subject into the shade.

On bright, sunny days, simply moving your subject into the shade reduces the contrast range in a scene, therefore eliminating harsh and unflattering shadows on a subject's face.

To lighten the subject's face, use a reflector to bounce sunlight onto the subject. 

Reflector info:

Two more tips: 
• The subject does not always need to be looking at the camera.
• Shoot as fast as you can. Know your camera controls inside and out so you can basically point-and-shoot on site.

These techniques also works when traveling, as illustrated by the photographs below, which I took during the Carnival of Venice in Italy, also known as Carnivale.



I am putting together a photo workshop to Venice for Carnivale in 2012. Shoot me an email if you are interested in joining the photo fun: ricksammon@mac.com.

Explore the light,
Rick
P.S. When I travel, I store my pictures on my laptop and on a Mini G-Drive. And here is another tip: Keep your hard drive with you at all times. That way, if your laptop "walks away" from your hotel room, your pictures are still safe. Click below for info.

Lights, Cameras, Action . . . Seminars, Workshops, Demos: Florida Here I Come!

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Just added to this post: Write a caption for this photograph. Suggested by Josh on facebook. My caption: Look! There is a photographer who is not using a Canon camera!) Post your comment here so all can see.

I'm looking forward to my March 2011 seminars and workshops in Florida. Always great fun!

Here is what's on the schedule. I hope you can join the photo fun - and photo learning!

Saturday, March 26

Sunday, March 27

Monday, March 28
(Before/After Photoshop and HDR Live Demo. Example Below.)


Tuesday, March 29
Please don't call my cell phone. Taking a break :-)

Photoshop World Schedule


Wednesday, March 30, 6:15 PM

Thursday, March 31, 1:15 PM

Friday, April 1, 2:15 PM


Also: Juan Pons and I will be recording stuff for our DPE Podcast. Stop us anywhere (except the men's room) and ask us questions for the podcast.


For the Tampa workshop, you'll need:
• Camera, wide-angle and telephoto zoom lenses, tripod and flash. If you have a reflector/diffuser kit, bring that, too.
• Back at your home, I suggest your process your HDR pictures in HDR Efex Pro or Photomatix Pro. Info here.

I hope to see you in the "Sunshine State."

Explore the Light,
Rick

P.S. Click the tabs on the top of this page for info on my workshops and seminars in the US and around the world.

Family Photo Tips All This Week. Day 3: Capture the Action

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Left: Peak of action shot of my son, Marco. Right: Basic action shot of Marco and his pal Adrian.
I am have fun getting my pictures and photo tips together for my talk on family photography at the Upper West Side Apple store on February 26th in NYC. 

While I am in the family photo mood, I thought I'd post some of my favorite family photos and tips here on my blog - along with some of my travel photographs that illustrate the same basic techniques.

Today's Tip: Capture the Action - and shoot for the peak of action.

Sports pictures that capture the peak of action are often more impressive than sports pictures that simply capture the action.

To capture the peak of action:
• Try to anticipate the action and be ready to shoot at that moment.
• Set your camera on rapid frame advance.
• Set your camera to AI Servo focus (focus tracking).

As you can see in the photographs above and below, capturing action also works when photographing animals.

Explore the light,
Rick