Posts Tagged ‘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
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
Having trouble taking good pictures of your incredible children? Do your kids look like they’re just showing you their teeth instead of smiling? Are you trying too hard and getting no real results to show for it? Do you need help?
Chances are you’re not as far off as you might think. For some of you though, the previous statement doesn’t apply. Some of you might actually be taking absolutely horrible pictures. Don’t despair, there is always hope, especially in this day and age.
The first question you need to ask yourself is what type of images do you want of your son or daughter. Are you looking for images that document the way they look or do you want images that express who they are as people. Your answer to that question will dictate the approach you should take.
If you are looking to just document what your kids look like then I would suggest trying out a different website, maybe www.HowToShootMugShotsForPrisons.com. Photography has so much more potential than just showing what little Johnny looked like when he was 4 years, 3 months, 2 weeks and 5 days old.
The greatest invention in the photographic world has to be the digital camera. There are plenty of close second place finishers, but the digital camera absolutely rules! I used to spend up to $10,000.00 a month on film and processing with my commercial photography business on a fairly routine basis.
Think of the money you’re saving by shooting with a digital camera, I don’t care how expensive it is. You can shoot til your fingers bleed without going broke on film costs. That means that it doesn’t cost you anything to play with your camera. You can experiment to your heart’s content. What a great deal this is!!
There are many rules of photography and it’s important to know and understand them, if only to know when it’s appropriate to break them. Never say never and never say always when it comes to photography. I will give you some beginning photography tips in future posts of what I think is needed to make a great photograph, but they’re just guidelines, not hard and fast rules.
As you explore photography while shooting your children you will eventually start recognizing what you like and what you don’t like. You will begin creating your own unique vision and way of seeing things photographically. It’s a great adventure and one I’m sure you will enjoy.
© Tim Pannell Photography
Don’t get caught up in “directing” her and just experience her. Give her something to do, no matter how simple it might seem and see what she gives you. Some of my favorite images of all time, are those happy little accidents where a kid will just do his thing and be completely oblivious to me and I get an amazing timeless image out of it.
A word of caution: don’t force it. It’s difficult for control freaks to let a 3 year old be in charge, but trust me, they are. You can nudge and prod , but when push comes to shove if your little angel doesn’t want to take pictures, you’re not going to take pictures.
I have shot countless images for countless clients with tons of children and have always come away with great shots without throwing a tantrum or spazzing out on the set. For some reason though, I can’t say the same thing about shooting my own children. Truth be told, I get way too attached to getting a great shot with my own kids and I have at times forgotten all of the techniques I use as a professional to “convince” kids that they want to have their picture taken.
Several years ago we “tried” to shoot our family portrait and my assistant of 10 plus years came along to help. He had never seen me “lose it” ever, always calm, always cool, no ruffles, no worries. That wasn’t what he saw that day. I was a wreck. It was entirely because it was my family and I wanted perfection and complete co-operation. We got nothing that day…….all my fault. My assistant even asked, “Who the hell are you, and what have you done with my friend?”
For some reason, I have unrealistic expectations when I shoot my own kids, but am the most patient person in the world when I shoot someone else’s children. The lesson is not to ruin the whole experience. You want to be able to shoot with your child on a routine basis so make sure that they don’t perceive any pressure when you do shoot with them.
You want them to have a great time so they actually look forward to doing it again. Make it fun, make it easy, make it a blast and you’ll be rewarded with amazing pictures that capture your child’s essence, whether they’re little or big.
© Tim Pannell Photography
One of my most obvious child photography tips is to get on their level, not yours. So, for starters, the next time you shoot your kid, try getting “down and dirty.” Get on the floor and roll around a little bit at their level and see how differently things appear to you from down there.
Your first assignment is to just try it. Keep the lighting setup simple and easy. Find a nice window to shoot next to and focus on letting the child do what they want to and see if you can capture their experience. Stay calm, stay focused and for heaven’s sake don’t throw a tantrum yourself.
Have a great shoot!
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!
