© Tim Pannell Photography

I’m getting ready for the October 19th launch of my Photo Mommies Online Photography Workshop.  The goal is to help moms use their cameras better and get better pictures of their kids.  It’s been a lot of fun creating the curriculum.

I’ll also be creating Camtasia videos showing step by step Photoshop techniques at the end of August once the software is available for Macs.

So, if you’re a mom that is passionate about photography and your kids and want to take your photo skills to a higher level, this is the perfect photo workshop for you.

I’ve been a successful commercial photographer for over 24 years and will be sharing insights, tips and secrets I’ve learned over those years as I’ve worked with thousands of kids.

Here’s what  some people I’ve worked with over the last decade or two say:

Pete Schnaitmann

Peter Schnaitmann – Executive Producer – Corbis

“Tim and I have worked together for over six years at Corbis and I have enjoyed every minute of it!  He is an amazing photographer who has the ability to work with people of all ages and get them to relax and be comfortable in front of the camera which enables him to create images that show true emotion and feeling.   Tim is solution oriented and always looking for new ways to light and to create images that are unique and stand apart from the rest.  His positive energy and determination to always create the best image for the project helps to make every shoot a success.”

Ellen Herbert – Producer/Freelance Art Buyer – Former Sr. Director of Photographer Relations, Jupiterimages.

“It is rare to work with a photographer like Tim Pannell. In my 25 years of producing, directing, licensing and buying imagery, he is number one on my list of photographers to call for any project. I know he will bring a creative vision that will take any concept, no matter how staid and overdone, a new slant. Every member of every crew that has ever shot with Tim finds themselves doing their best work when on set with him, inspired not only by the creative process, but by Tim’s supportive, positive and enthusiastic energy and his optimistic outlook. His images are among the top income producing in all the major stock agencies and he is in high demand. He is one of the most respected photographers in our industry. He makes it look easy. Its not, but he makes it look that way. I can’t wait for the opportunity to work with him again.”

The workshop will be available online starting October 19th and will run for 8 weeks.  Each participant will be able to download each week’s lesson at the beginning of the week.  They can then study and work at their own pace throughout the week.  Assignments will be done over the weekends applying the principles learned throughout the week.  I will be giving you personalized feedback on the numerous images  you create throughout the entire course.

Here’s the curriculum as of today:        (It may change between now and the start of the photo workshop)

Week #1 –        Introduction to Photography

A Day In Our Life

Techno Geek vs. Creative Freak

Equipment – Basic Camera Settings

Go Out and Play – (1^st assignment)

Week #2 -       Exposure Control

Shooting Modes

Histograms – (Polaroid was so over-rated)

ISO

Picking an Aperture

Depth of Field

Shooting Action

Aperture vs. Shutter Speed – (2^nd assignment)

Week #3 -       The Art of Seeing

Lens Choice

Viewpoint

Rule of Thirds

Cropping

Background options

Developing Your Creativity – (3^rd assignment)

Week #4 -       Working With Light

Lighting is the Bomb

Styles of Lighting

Outdoor lighting Techniques

Indoor Lighting Techniques

Out With the Bad Light, In With the Good! – (4^th assignment)

Week #5 – Importance of Editing

Candids vs. Portraits

Interacting With Your “Victims”

Indoors vs. Outdoors

Tight and Tidy vs. Loose and Sloppy – (5^th assignment)

Week #6 -       Color Management

Photoshop Settings

Photoshop Actions

Basic Image Enhancement

Workflow

Before and Afters – (6^th assignment)

Week #7 – Storyboard

A Week in Your Children’s Lives

Shoot, shoot and shoot some more

Edit, edit and edit some more – Use the Hatchet, be tough!

Unleash the Creative Beast! – (7^th assignment)

Week #8 –       Share the Wealth

Best of the Best

Wrap It Up, I’ll Take It

The photography workshop will be limited to the first 125 people.  The cost for the 8 week course is $300.00 payable in full at time of registration which is set to begin on September 22nd.  To make sure you’re up to date on workshop registration info and on our latest tips and techniques just fill out the form below with your name and email address.

Family picnic © Tim Pannell Photography

I’ve been a commercial photographer for over 24 years now, so It seems a little weird for me to be saying that I’m discovering the joys of photography all over again.

Over the course of my career I’ve worked with Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Phil Mickelson and shot all over Europe, Africa, South America, Greece, Canada and most of the states in the U.S.

I’ve worked on countless campaigns and with countless ad agencies and art directors.  I have to say that I always have a ball when I’m working.

But, out of everything I’ve shot, the one subject that is my hands down favorite, is kids.  They’re a blast!  I love their energy, I love the challenge of keeping them interested.  I love trying to understand what makes them tick.

I only started this blog a few weeks ago in the interest of sharing some of the things I’ve learned over the years with others.  I didn’t realize how much I’d benefit from it.

So, while I’m trying to come up with ideas for the blog, I’m remembering how I used to feel all those years ago when I was just starting out in photography.

I used to pour through magazines and books, searching for great images and I would always look in awe when I stumbled onto an amazing photograph.

I ate, drank and slept photography.  Writing this blog has reawakened those feelings inside me and it’s been a lot of fun reconnecting with that.

I have so many friends that are extremely interested in photography.  Several of them are into scenics and nature shots, but the vast majority are mostly interested in shooting better photographs of their children.

© Tim Pannell Photography

The “Photo Mommies” blog focuses exclusively on taking better photos of your kids.  It’s been fun sharing some portrait lighting ideas and photography tips, but I would like to get more in depth than I can in a “blog” format.

Since I want to share more and do more, I’ve decided to offer an online photography workshop to a select number of students.

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

The class will run 8 weeks.  The first class will start in October

There will be a limited number of students allowed in each class so that I have enough time for each person on an individual basis.  I will give everyone personalized feedback on their assignment images.

I’m having a website designed so there will be a forum specifically for these workshops.  I will be able to post daily lessons, images, videos, and screen captures.

At the end of each week, there will be an assignment that covers the daily lessons studied during that week.

Students will be able to post questions and upload some of their photos for critiques and feedback.  I haven’t settled on a fee just yet, but perhaps somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 – $400.

I do have a lot of questions at this time.  I know what I would like to learn in a photography class, but I don’t know what any of you might prefer or enjoy.

What would you be looking for in an online photography class?  What topics would interest you the most?  What would your expectations be for an 8 week class?

If any of you have already taken an online photography course, what did you like about it, what didn’t you like about the workshop?  What areas of child photography do you struggle with the most?

I’m open to any suggestions, no matter how big……or small they may be.

camping © Tim Pannell Photography

I’m really excited about teaching these workshops and I am looking forward to getting to know a lot of you better.  By the end of the class, I’m sure I’ll have a pretty good feel for who your kids are as well.

There’s nothing as cool as getting a great, timeless shot of one of your kids that will last forever.  Nothing is better at transporting us through time to a cherished moment or memory than a photograph.

Let me give you the photographic tools you need to capture the images of your kids  that you already carry around in your heart.

Baby June © Tim Pannell Photography

This is one of my favorite baby photos.  It’s just one of those dumb, happy accidents.  It totally reminds me of those goofy chewing gum commercials and the 9 out of 10 dentists prefer Trident.

She looks like a little “pitchman.”  Here, look at this, look at how cute I am……now buy my crap!

This was a really simple portrait lighting setup.  Basically I found a room with great natural light.  I positioned the baby so the light would flatter her and be interesting.

I also made sure the background was visually pleasing, without competing with the baby.  I did that primarily by choosing a wide open f-stop, in this case it was f-2 and picking a background that had nice light, shadows and shapes.

The real trick, as always with babies is to recognize that ultimately they are in charge.

I sat her on the floor and laid down a few feet in front of her.  I got some simple props for her to play with.  She picked what she liked and did her thing.  I played with her for a few minutes so she would get used to me and hopefully, not pay much attention to me.

She was having a good time with her little block and then she glanced up with “that” look and knocked me out of my shoes.  I’ve shot tons of pictures of this little girl, she’s now 5 years old.  This is still my favorite…it just cracks me up.

It’s not any more complicated than that.  You shoot as much variety and for as long as the baby will tolerate your strange behavior.  Try to squeeze a little more out of her after the first “obvious” fussing noises.

With the 2nd set of “I’m growing weary of you” sounds, you pack your things and call it a day.

digital portrait lighting © Tim Pannell Photography

Where do you start when you want to help people take better photographs of their children?

I remember when I started out taking pictures when I was in High School I knew absolutely nothing.  I was a blank slate.  I had nothing.

I had friends that had been taking pictures for years, so I relied heavily on them to show me the ropes.  Them and whatever crappy photo books I could get my hands on at the time.

I learned your basics about exposure, f stops, shutter speeds, lens choices and that was about it.

I shot scenics and some pictures (lousy ones) of my girlfriend at the time.  When I look back I’m completely embarrassed at how bad my stuff

Portrait Lighting Setup

was at the time.

My lens choices were crap, my angles were all wrong and even my exposures could have been tidied up a bit.

I didn’t know anything about cropping, but mostly I didn’t know a thing about light or the quality of light.

I didn’t realize at the time just how important great light is to an image.  That’s really what separates the men from the boys.  LIGHT!

My friends did the best they could.  they taught me everything they knew.  They got their info from other friends and other crappy photo books that were available.

I’m gonna skip ahead a few years.  Suffice it to say that I really enjoyed photography, but had yet to be exposed to anything that really helped me a lot.

I decided to turn pro when I was in college for Design Engineering and Economics.  I was going to go on and get an Architect’s license after that.

I had about a year left and made a huge change in direction when I decided out of the blue that I really just wanted to be a photographer.

I started out shooting weddings and engagement portraits.  It was fun for about a week or two and then it started getting really repetitive and boring.

I began pouring through commercial photography books, Communication Arts, Photography Showcase and the Black Book of Photography.

I would spend weeks and even months going over the images in those books one by one, identifying all the images I liked and then trying to understand what it was I liked about them.

This is when I really started to learn about the importance of great light.  I would then pick an image that I loved and then I’d go out and do my best to reproduce that image.

This wasn’t for my portfolio, it was just an exercise to learn about lighting.  I set about to learn what kind of photography moved me so consequently I would know what avenue of photography to pursue.

So, ask yourself, what kind of photographs have you seen that you really like?  Have you actually seen great photography of kids?

Do you like images that look like classic portraiture or do you like images that have more of an editorial feel?  Do you prefer images that lean a bit more towards a commercial look?

Maybe you like a little bit of everything and that’s fine too.  The more you play with photography, the more you’ll come to recognize your particular vision and way of seeing things.  This is the fun part!!

As you learn how to apply different photographic principles to your images, you’ll be able to see photographs and figure out how to go about producing those types of images.  That’s at least the ultimate goal.

Seek out great photography, learn all of the child photography tips you can get your hands on, get yourself a target to aim at and let the adventure and fun begin.

Soccer Champs © Tim Pannell Photography

Where I live, there has to be a couple of billion kids playing soccer every Saturday.   I’ve coached my kids teams for about 9 or ten years total.  Most of the trophy shots you see are the kids all lined up like the school classroom photos from the 70′s.

I wanted to do it a bit different so I piled all the kids in the minivan and shot away.  Sometimes kids have a hard time smiling without looking like they’re being electrocuted.  But, they all love to yell and scream at that age so shove them in and get ‘em to yell their heads off.

You’ll get a lot of real emotion as the kids try to one up each other.  Eventually you will have had enough and you’ll be begging them to stop.  But, by then you will have taken a great picture so it’ll be worth it.

The light will spill in through the windows of the car giving you nice highlights and visual interest.  I tilted the camera just slightly to keep the shot from looking to staged and static.

Chris © Tim Pannell Photography

Would you like to be able to shoot beautiful portraits of your kids instead of going to some schmaltzy cookie cutter photo joint in the mall?  So many people settle for these kind of “one size fits all” portraits because they don’t think they can afford to go to a real portrait photographer’s studio.

Assuming you already have a decent digital SLR camera, you could buy some lighting equipment for the same price or less than you’d spend having a legitimate portrait photographer do the work for you.

There are quite a few common misconceptions about photography and equipment and the kind of lighting power someone might need to do simple portraits.

I do use pretty expensive lighting for all of my commercial work, but for simple portraits I have to dial my strobes to their absolute lowest output and many times that’s still too much light for my needs and I end up diffusing the light source another 1 – 2 stops.

This image of my friends’ son was shot in my living room using one main light and 2 accent lights or “kicker lights”.

You can produce this kind of lighting setup easily against a paper background, or even a wall in your home.

I shot it a f 2 @ 1/200th of a second with an 85 mm f1.4 lens on a Canon Mark II body.  I exposed for the diffused highlights on Chris’ face and then adjusted my “kicker lights” until I got the highlights the way I wanted them.

I frequently shoot wide open or close to it because I like the ethereal quality it gives the overall image.  It’s a great illustration of the concept that not everything in an image has to be or should necessarily be tack sharp.

This is very similar to how the human eye works as well.  Not everything you look at is sharp.  A relatively small area in your field of vision is actually sharp and then everything else falls off rather quickly into being out of focus.

There are quite a few inexpensive lighting setups out on the market that have more than enough power to produce images like this.  Do your research before you buy any of them, make sure they have good warrantees and that the company has been around more than a couple of months.

The great thing about digital is that once you have the camera and lenses, it costs you nothing to shoot and experiment.  With film you could spend thousands and thousands of dollars playing around with lighting setups until you found something that you really liked.

The creative possibilities that we now have at our fingertips because of digital cameras and photoshop are endless.  One word of caution though……don’t use photoshop as a crutch.

It’s still just as important today as it was decades ago to become a master at lighting and exposure control even though it’s easy to “fix” things in post.

Sky & Sammi © Tim Pannell Photography

I’m amazed at the number of my amateur photography friends that assume that a good shot is one where everything in the image is tack sharp.

There is a time and a place for just about any kind of photography, but most amateur photographers that practice the art of maximizing depth of field do nothing but create very cluttered images with no real subject to look at.

The beauty of using a shallow depth of field is that it enables you to direct your viewers attention right where you want it.  In this image, you look immediately at the little boy’s eyes.

There are however, some drawbacks to this approach.

The main problem for most amateurs is knowing what to focus on.  I will almost always focus on my primary subject’s eyes.  When the eyes in an image are tack sharp the rest of the image no matter how dramatic the focal fall off is will look just fine.

This is an image I shot 12 years ago of my 4 year old son at the time and our dalmation – Sammi.  I had been looking at some old photo books by the likes of Stieglitz and Steichen and wanted to play around with the softness evident in so many of their images.

I picked up a Fuji GX-680 camera, which is an absolute pig of a camera, but I love the images it can capture.  You have all the capabilities of a view camera with the conveniences of a medium format camera.

It is cumbersome to say the least for me to use, since I detest shooting with a tripod and will avoid it at any and almost all costs.

For this shot I just wanted to capture my son’s love for his dog and the fun he used to have hopping in the tub with her whenever she got bathed.  My son is now 16 and I wish he still possessed that same enthusiasm for dog washing.

I shot this with only available light and a little lite disc reflector to add a catchlight in his eyes.  I set it up on our back patio under the awning.  I wanted it to be super soft light with just a little bit of direction to it.

It’s still one of my favorite shots of my son.  He was a sweet little kid, very loving and tender hearted.  I’m sure if he read this now, he’d gag, but that’s how he was.  He’s still the same today as he was then, he just tries harder to hide that aspect of his personality.  You know 16 year old boys……….it’s more important to be “cool”.

I also like the “old school” quality that can be achieved when shooting wide open as well.  If you apply this technique to black & white or toned images it takes on a kind of timeless feel.

I shoot the great majority of my lifestyle images at f 2.  It gives me an extremely soft background and the ability to shoot through objects and render them completely out of focus that ads overall depth to most of my shots that I find really appealing.

Like everything else in photography, it’s all subjective, there is truly no right or wrong way to approach any subject.  We learn by doing, so go out and play around with shallow depths of field in your images and find out what works for you.

That’s the key to developing your own style and unique way of seeing things.

Don't just stand there! © Tim Pannell Photography

Hi, my name is Tim Pannell and I’ve been a commercial photographer for over 24 years.  Sounds almost like some kind of 12 step program.  I guess for many, photography can be kind of addictive.

It’s hard to believe it’s been that long.  I started out shooting weddings and engagement pictures for just under 2 years.  I grew bored of the entire wedding routine and moved our family down to Arizona in 1987 where I got a job as a photo assistant.

I worked for a great guy named Paul Markow.  He shot “commercial photography”.  Basically, he did a little bit of everything…..architecture, cars, headshots, business portraits, fashion, big productions, little productions, some celebrities.  It was a lot of fun and it introduced me to a

whole new world of photography that I’d never experienced before.  I enjoyed all of it since it was completely new and fresh at the time.

I learned about all the different ways I could control light, modify it and shape it.  I loved the challenges associated with lighting.  I loved learning how differently a scene could look just by the way the light hit it.  I could alter the mood from bright and cheery, to somber, warm and cozy just by the types of lights I used and how I chose to place them.

By 1990 I was ready to move out on my own and pursue my own career.  I was very interested in sports photography for advertising.  I didn’t want to cover games or anything like that, I just wanted to create game type situations where I had control of the lighting.

I got a New York rep that got me some higher profile national work and I was off to the races.  I shot for Reebok, and Champion Sportswear, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, AT&T, Adidas, Gatorade and whole bunch of other clients.  I worked with some of the greatest athletes on tthe planet……….Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Phil Mickelson just to name a few.

It was a blast!  I also started to shoot stock photography in 1992 with an agency in Miami called Sharpshooters.  They became my second family, Susie Turnau and Edie Tobias were instrumental in completely changing my career and my focus.  There are no words that exist that could express how grateful I am to them for taking me under their wings and guiding me.  I’ve lost touch with Susie, but I still get to see Edie from time to time.  That relationship changed my entire life.  I loved shooting stock images.  It was so nice to shoot what I wanted, when I wanted and with whom I wanted.

As time went by, I started to drift more and more away from sports and towards lifestyle photography.  I love interacting with people.  It was the perfect path for me.  I’d shoot seniors, baby boomers, babies, toddlers, families, gen X’ers, you name it.

Sharpshooters was eventually bought out by Corbis and my career shifted gears again.  I was able to work with several of the best art directors in the world in locations throughout the world.  We’ve shot in Africa, Paris, Barcelona, Costa Rica, Vancouver, Whistler, Norway, London, Denmark, Prague, Greece, Buenos Aires and all over the states as well.

I’ve had to learn not only how to light a wide variety of situations in a wide variety of locations, but how to do it quickly and as simply as possible.  In the commercial assignment world, I’ll shoot a handful, 3-4 images a day at most.  We spend a lot of time making sure the lights are just right and angles are perfect and exactly where the models will be.

With stock, the goal is to get 50 + pictures in a given day, so I have to be able to light quickly, but still do it well.  It’s a great challenge and there are many times of great frustration, trying to find the right balance between the short amount of time I have and the quality of light I want.

Fortunately, I always have an amazing crew of talented assistants, production co-ordinators, make up artists and stylists that juggle an amazing workload to help make everything go unbelievably smooth.  When we’re on the road it’s like we’re one big crazy family.  It’s a lot of work, but it’s so much fun, you wouldn’t believe it.  The images we create always turn out great in spite of whatever hardships or setbacks we encounter from our wide variety of locations and talent we happen to be working with.

I love photography, I love the emotion it can convey and the camaraderie that exists within the crew while we create all these cool images.  It’s a wonderful career and a wonderful medium to enjoy.

This blog however, isn’t written for people “in the biz.”  It’s written for moms that want to be able to take better images of their kids.  It’s written for people who aren’t happy with the quality they get when they take photos of little Jeffrey or Christina.

Maybe they mistakenly thought that if they bought a nice new expensive digital camera they’d instantly get better shots, only to be disappointed when they’re new pictures looked exactly the same as their old pictures, but with higher resolution.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve had people say to me….”Gee, I bet it’s nice having that expensive camera, I know my photographs would look really great too, if I could afford a camera and lenses like yours.”  Hey…..thanks for the compliment pal!

What most people don’t realize is that it’s not the camera that makes a great picture, it’s the eye behind the camera and the choices that eye makes with composition, lens choice, f-stop choice and lighting choices.

This blog will be about how you can make better choices so that your photos have life in them.  There are tricks and techniques that I know will help you get better looking pictures instantly if you learn to understand them and apply them.  I hope the information I share is helpful to you and that you enjoy the act of creating a great photograph of your child as much as i enjoy that process.

I welcome any questions you might have, or feedback you want to give.  Photography is a fun ride as it is.  You’ll have even more fun once you get good at it.  Enjoy the ride!