photography tips
© Tim Pannell Photography
Just when I had given up on getting any more snow to shoot in, we got 10 – 12 inches.
The forecast was for a whole week in the 50’s.
We’ve lived here in Utah for just 2 months and the weather has been accurately predicted about 4 of those days.
We heard for weeks and weeks in January about major snowstorms coming our way and then..poof….nothing…..no snow…..not even a flurry.
© TIm Pannell Photography
When they said that we’d see warmer, precipitation free weather for the next week……Blam!…..we get a bunch of snow.
Why do I bother listening to a thing these people say. Weather forecasters are the very definition of inept.
Sorry about the rant!
In any case, the snow came, we shoveled for a couple of hours and then went to work.
My youngest son stayed home from school and 3 of his cousins ditched as well.
It’s nice to know that I’m encouraging truancy in America and the non education of my family.
I just worried that if I didn’t shoot pictures that morning that even though we had a foot of snow outside, it would melt quickly once the temperature bumped up.
It was for good reason because that is exactly what happened.
© Tim Pannell Photography
By late afternoon 2/3 of the snow was gone.
Our snowman had bought the farm by 1 p.m.
We got the kids all dressed up and hit the ground running….literally.
I wanted to get images with a neighborhoody feel to them so we just shot outside our house.
It makes it real convenient to just be able to walk inside to download and edit.
If one of the kids gets hurt during the snowball fights, they can run in the house and get triage…..convenient, eh?
I just threw a tarp down on the ground in the snow, laid down and screamed action.
I shot the action shots with my Canon 70-200mm f2.8 set at f4 and 1/640th of a second.
I tend to underexpose my images just a little when I shoot in the snow in order to preserve detail in the snow.
I noodle around with curves later on in post production.
You want to pay close attention to your histogram as you shoot so you don’t end up with completely blown out highlights.
© Tim Pannell Photography
As usual, the key to getting great shots with kids is to make sure its fun for them.
Lots of encouragement with lots of laughter.
Don’t get uptight. Don’t make it life or death.
Be sure to notice when they start to get bored and change the action.
Move onto a different shot.
One more thing to pay attention to is color.
There are a lot of nice colors in this years winter fashions……thank heavens.
© Tim Pannell Photography
It’s nice to have a lot of scarves and hats to pick from as accents for the kids’ ski jackets.
Most places are completely picked over by now, but you may be able to find some killer deals for next year if you keep your eyes open.
You can find hats for 75% off or more in some cases.
If you can get a small arsenal of hats and scarves to use in your shots…..it’s totally worth it.
Find a bunch of colors that work together and have fun with it.
© Tim Pannell Photography
I don’t know if we’ll get any more snow this year or not.
I’m pretty ready for Spring at this time of the year.
Back in Arizona I’d be out golfing and seriously considering getting in our pool by now.
The key I guess is to appreciate the weather you have, when you have it.
Make the most of the photographic situation that presents itself and as always……..have fun!
© Tim Pannell Photography
What do you think of when you think of being in the snow?
Sledding, tobogganing, ice skating, snowmen and perhaps……….snow angels.
How hard can it possibly be to take a picture of somebody making a snow angel?
Not hard at all…….if your subject is older than 2.
If your subject is younger than 2 and with his dad…..it might be more difficult than you think.
Snow devils maybe?
The finished shot that you see is actually a combination of 2 shots.
I was completely unsuccessful at getting Graham to look up at his dad while his dad was looking back at him.
So………….I cheated.
I grabbed Graham from one image and his dad from another and…….voila!
It was an easy fix.
© Tim Pannell Photography
© Tim Pannell Photography
These 2 images were really easy to blend together……the background was practically identical.
Same positioning, same camera angle…..easy.
So…..the purests among you are now ringing your hands of me and saying terrible things.
Oh well…….if you’re in that camp….it doesn’t bother me in the least.
I’m just trying to get a great shot.
If I have to blend a couple of shots using Photoshop then so be it.
Photoshop is just a tool.
It can’t make a horrible image a great image, but it can make a good image that much better.
It can also take a great image and with a little massaging make it amazing.
If you’re a photographer….learn how to use the tools that you have at your disposal.
The next time you’re taking pictures of your kids and are disappointed because you think you didn’t get a great shot because they don’t all look good in the same image….see if you can take 2 images and combine them to make a good shot.
It’s not as hard as you think…….give it a try!
