© TIM PANNELL PHOTOGRAPHY

How do you take pictures of a snowball fight?

How do you do it without getting snow all over your gear?

In my experience…….you don’t.

I spent the last 5 days working on a stock photography assignment.

The subject was winter family fun.

I had my good friend Pete come in from L.A. to art direct for me.

I just got back from dropping him off at the airport this morning.

It’s so nice to have that extra pair of eyes, especially when we had so many people in most of the shots we did.

Obviously, this shoot was done differently than if I was just out shooting my own kids or creating images of someone’s family for them.

You wont’ have an art director, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have an extra pair of eyes to help you.

Use your spouse, use a friend, use one of your other kids.

Don’t be afraid of biting off more than you can chew.

Give the kids a little encouragement and some guidelines and then jump right in.

© Tim Pannell Photography

Get close to the action and shoot a bunch.  Don’t worry if a lot of the shots stink, that’s going to happen no matter what with this much action.

There’s just too much going on to get a great shot every time.  Don’t focus on the missed shots, focus on the great ones that you get.

If you always play it safe, you’ll never get anything great.  Push yourself, take chances, you’ll be greatly rewarded.

It’s really easy to make excuses to not shoot in the snow, or rain or just plain old winter.

Don’t make that mistake.  Take advantage of the winter weather.

If your kids are like my kids, it won’t take any encouragement at all to get them to go play in the snow.

The next time they go out to make a snowman, build a snow fort or have a snowball fight, follow them out and take a bunch of pictures.

Enjoy the cold winter weather, it won’t be around much longer.

We’re still settling in to the new place and getting caught up on some other business obligations so the next Photo Mommies Workshop will be pushed back another couple of weeks more than I wanted.

To all of you who are patiently waiting…..I apologize, but I thank you for your patience.

The workshop is coming and as soon as I can guarantee a start date I will.  It should take place within the next month.

In the meantime……….keep shooting!

© Tim Pannell Photography

Well, it’s a brand new year with lots of new potential and possibilities.

Our family just finished moving to Utah from Arizona.  We’re still right in the thick of unpacking all of our junk.

We put our home up for sale in September, sold it early in December and moved out on the 28th.

We had to stay with friends and family for a couple of weeks until we were able to move into our new place on the 9th of January.

Thank heavens for all of our friends and family, we couldn’t have pulled this off without any of them.

We loved living in Arizona.  We’ll love living in Utah.

I’m just trying to get used to the huge change in temperature.  It was 15 degrees when I took our 12 year old to school after he missed the bus.

It is beautiful here, in spite of the temperature.  Its nice to have a whole new set of backgrounds and scenery to shoot in.

There’s snow on the ground, no leaves on the trees, mountains and deep blue skies.

Once we get settled in, I’ll start taking advantage of our new surroundings and get some new images.

For those of you who are wondering about the new January workshop…..it’ll begin in early February.

Sorry about the delay, but the last couple of months have been a blur and we’ve got a few more crazy weeks on the horizon.

Keep your eyes open for registration and payment announcements.  If you’re already registered but haven’t paid yet, look for an email with instructions on your next step.

In the meantime, take advantage of the winter season and shoot your kids.

Have a blast!

© Tim Pannell Photography

Sometimes its easy to forget about your camera once the weather gets cold outside and it starts snowing.

Sure it might be a little bit more inconvenient to shoot, but there are some great images out there just waiting to be taken.

In the interest of full disclosure, now that I’m in my 40′s the snow doesn’t really turn my crank much anymore, but when I was a kid, I couldn’t wait to get outside and hop on the toboggan.

Most likely your kids are the same.  There’s nothing better than taking pictures of your kids when they’re actually having a great time.

So what if its cold.  So what if its wet.  So what if you have a runny nose.

Take advantage of the joy your kids all feel and that you maybe used to feel when you were a kid and there was fresh snow on the ground.

I remember sitting by the radio in the morning with my fingers crossed hoping they would read off the code that would get us out of school for the day.

I remember that once that number was announced we’d call everybody in the neighborhood and within an hour we’d be on the side of our house with sleds, disks and toboggans.

We’d stay outside way past the point of being cold.  We would be frozen to the bone.  We’d build a fire in the fireplace and sit as close as we could without burning ourselves.

As a kid, I loved everything about that.  How weird is that?

As an adult, that doesn’t sound fun at all.  Maybe thats because the last time I shot in the snow I was up in Whistler shooting on a lake and I fell through up to my thighs.  That was the coldest I’ve ever been in my life.

Fortunately, my assistant helped pull me out and we were close to the house we were renting so I could get warmed up pretty quick.

So……..get your butt outside whether its snowing or not and shoot your kids.

Just stay off of the frozen lake.

Ok, it’s just about officially winter, even here in Arizona. Take advantage of whatever leaves you have left and have some fun.

If you want to get the quintessential leaf toss photograph you need to be aware of a few things.

You need to make sure your people don’t look up too high into the air after tossing the leaves or you’ll see nothing but chins and nostrils.

The other big annoyance is that you’re gonna wind up with the vast majority of your pictures being ruined by random leaves covering up peoples’ faces.

You just have to make sure you shoot enough frames to get a really good one, or have enough Photoshop skills to strip a good “non leaf covered” face for the one that is blocked.

In fact, while I was writing this post I decided to do a video photoshop tutorial of how to do just that.  If everything goes well, I’ll post it on the blog tomorrow.

In the meantime, if you live in an area where the trees aren’t completely bare, good luck with the  leaf tossing or leaf fights or whatever else kind of “leaf activities” you decide capture with your camera.

For those of you who have been wanting to sign up for the next photo workshop, I’ll be announcing the February starting date pretty soon.

Free wheeling © Tim Pannell Photography

Registration for the 8 week class is now closed and registration for the new 4 week workshop begins right now.

If you have a digital camera and want to take better photographs of your kids, but aren’t sure how to set up your camera settings or what lenses to use, or what f-stop and shutter speed combinations to use, then this is a great workshop for you.

Enjoy learning at your own pace with the weekly lesson modules. Every week brings new lessons with new tasks or assignments to help teach you the ins and outs of taking better photographs of your children.

You’ll learn how to make your subject really stand out from your background. I’ll teach you how to find better backgrounds. Learn about props, wardrobe and how to choose colors.

Learn how to use available light to your best advantage.

More than anything, this workshop is designed to be fun and informative. Take advantage early and sign up now. The cost for the 4 week workshop is only $150.

Week #1 – Introduction to Photography

* A Day In Our Life
* Techno Geek vs. Creative Freak
* Equipment – Basic Camera Settings
* Go Out and Play – (1st 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 – (2nd assignment)

Week #3 – The Art of Seeing

* Lens Choice
* Viewpoint
* Rule of Thirds
* Cropping
* Background options
* Developing Your Creativity – (3rd assignment)

Week #4 – Storyboard

* A Week in Your Children’s Lives
* Using available light
* Props, wardrobe and colors
* Shoot, shoot and shoot some more
* Edit, edit and edit some more – Use the Hatchet, be tough!
* Unleash the Creative Beast! – (4th assignment)

The 4 week photo workshop begins November 9th, just in time to get you ready to take great shots of your kids during the holidays.

Registration gets you access to the Photo Mommies Forum where you will get lots of positive feedback from fellow Photo Mommies as well as myself.

So go ahead and take advantage of this great opportunity and register today, just follow this link:   Photo Mommies Workshop Registration

I’ll see you in the forum!

© 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.