One More Photo Snow Day

Tim Pannell — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:57:17 +0000

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

How to Shoot Kids With Available Light

Tim Pannell — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:41:37 +0000

I got to shoot two little girls yesterday. What a hoot! The youngest is one and her older sister is 2 1/2. They are adorable.

Their parents are friends of ours from church. I see them every week, but I didn’t really know much about their 2 little cuties.

The first time I shoot with kids, I try not to push too hard for a preconceived shot. It rarely works out the way you plan. It’s better to just kind of go with the flow.

The younger they are, the shorter window of opportunity you will typically have. We shot for under 2 hours, which is a long time for 2 little ones of their ages.

Try to find a couple places that have good available light and backgrounds. Find some props to help keep them from paying too much attention to you and then start shooting away.

We started out with a little kitchen set. Eden, the 2 year old loves to bake! This was the easiest way to get her into shooting without “posing” for the camera.

Eventually, they get used to you and you can get some natural looking shots of the kids just being kids.

The struggles with available light are almost always focus related. I have great lenses and yet they still struggle to lock on sometimes when the subject has lots of “energy.”

Shoot anyway. Even if they’re moving in and out of focus. Sometimes you can get some happy little accidents. Blurry isn’t always a bad thing.

I shot most of these images at f2 between 1/125th and 1/200th of a second, ISO rating of 800. No fill lights, no reflectors. I wanted to show what can be done with no additional lighting.

Most people starting out in photography just have the camera and a couple of lenses. Sometimes people mistakenly believe they can’t get great photographs without a lot of “stuff.” You don’t have to have fancy studio lighting equipment to get great shots.

You can add additional lighting to your “kit” in due time. There’s nothing wrong with taking baby steps in the beginning.

The most important thing to remember when shooting little kids is to try to make it fun and no big deal. It’s not life or death if you don’t end up getting an amazing shot.

If you try to force the situation you could ruin a lot of your chances for getting great shots the next time. You don’t want your kids going AWOL any time they see you pull your camera out.

Remember, Just have FUN!
Registration for the Photo Mommies Online Photography Workshop begins on Tuesday, September 22nd. Be sure to sign up, there will only be 125 spaces.

Photo Mommies - Online Photography Training - Online Photography Workshop » child portraits

One More Photo Snow Day

How to Shoot Kids With Available Light