Today's Lighting Tip: Drag the Shutter

Wanna add a sense of motion to a still photograph? Dragging the shutter is one technique.

Here's how to do it. 

First, you'll need to be shooting in relatively low light – so you can shoot at a slow shutter speed. If the light is too bright, use a Tiffen ND (Neutral Density) filter.  

Set your camera on Manual and dial in an exposure that's about one f/stop under the correct available light exposure. Set your shutter speed, for starters, to 1/8th of a second. Depending on how fast you move, you may have to increase or decrease the shutter speed.

Turn on your speedlite and set it to TTL. 

Now.... start moving your camera from left to right (or vice versa or up and down) and while you are moving, take a shot. The speedlite will give you a sharp shot of the subject, and the available light entering your camera will be give you a blurred image of the subject and the background.

Have fun with this technique. It takes a while to get it right.

You'll find more lighting tips in my apps. 

Explore the light,
Rick

A Quick Thank You

My mother told me to always say "thank you," so "thank you" to the folks who nominated my "Camargue Horses on the Run" image over at Photo Extract. Now it's featured on the home page, which is indeed an honor!

Explore the Light, 
Rick

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Today's Lighting Tip: Play with Light In Lightroom

I  teach Lightroom and Photoshop on my workshops. Sure, we always try to get it right in camera, but there are times when the light is just not right for a good image.

Take this silhouette for example. The available light was flat and cold. By adjusting the Levels, and then by increasing the Contrast and Saturation, I was able to turn a flat shot into a fab shot.

Always try to envision the end result. It's kinda amazing what you can do in the digital darkroom - as long as there is detail with which to play. Here, if the sky had been too overexposed, there would not have been enough workable detail. Tip: always expose for the highlights - the brightest part of a scene.

For more tips on lighting, check out my apps. 

Explore the light,
Rick

Introducing My New and Improved Lighting Apps!

They're here: My new and improved iPhone and iPad apps that are designed to help you make better natural light and speedlite photographs with your digital SLR.

The apps (basically on-line video classes with a photo gallery) are geared toward novice photographers. The apps were introduced a while back, but now all the how-to videos stream. Very fast.

Light It! is iPad version and sells for $1.99.

Light It Light! is the iPhone version and sells for $2.99.

These are starter apps about creative lighting. However, as you will see, pros use many of these techniques and accessories to get great shots.

Two of the videos – Top 21 People Photography Tips and Top Ten Digital Photography Tips – feature some of my favorite pictures from around the world, accompanied with tips, of course!

The movies, shot by Emmy-award winner David Leveen, are divided into five sections totaling more than 1.5 hours of viewing time:

Basics: 33 Minutes
Outdoors: 15 Minutes
In Your Home: 16 Minutes
On-Location: 12 Minutes
Studio Shooting: 23 Minutes

All updates: 
- Bug fixes and performance improvements.
- App size reduced to 22MB.
- All videos now stream.
- Optimized for IOS 5.1 and the iPhone 5
- New updated streaming RSS feature from Rick’s blog for almost daily new photo tips – like this cool video.
- Links to all of my social media sites including Google+ from within the app.

I hope you enjoy learning on your iPhone and iPad. I sure do enjoy this method of teaching. 

All my apps are listed on My Apps page. 

Explore the light,
Rick

Neos ... or Not? You Gotta Dress for Success!

That's me (or at least my feet) on the left with my Neos (waterproof, fold-up boots). They proved invaluable on my recent Provence workshop, where I was photographing running horses while standing in the water. Sure beats the alternative on the right :-)

My friend Chris Klapheke at Outdoor Photo Gear is offering you guys a 10 percent discount and free ground shipping on all orders until July 31, 2013! Just use this code upon check out: RICKNEOS.

Click here to check out the different Neos models.

These boots fold relatively flat and can fit in your backpack. I suggest that you keep 'em with you at all times, as you never know what you'll encounter when in the field. 

Above is one of my favorite shots from the shoot.  My friends: you gotta dress for success - successful photographs that is. 

Click here to see more of my Camargue Horses photographs. 

We have a ton of fun on my workshops. Here is the 2014 lineup. 

Explore the light,
Rick