Nicolesy Photography: Blog

Five Panning Photography Tips

Nicole — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:00:48 +0000

Canon 7D, Canon 24-105 ƒ/4L IS lens, 1/15 sec at ƒ/4.5, ISO 640

Panning is one of my favorite techniques to use when photographing fast-moving subjects. Basically what you are doing when you make a panning shot is you are following the subject and moving your lens along with them while pressing the shutter. Here are some tips for creating great panning shots:

1. Slow shutter-speed is the key. Using a slower-than-normal shutter speed will help you to effectively add motion-blur to the background. It’s usually a good idea to shoot in shutter-priority mode when creating panning photos.

2. The speed of the subject determines shutter-speed. Most of the time you won’t know exactly what your shutter speed should be in order to get a desirable image, and one factor you need to consider is how fast your subject is moving. To create a good amount of movement in the background and still keep the subject sharp a fast-moving subject will need a faster shutter-speed than a slow-moving subject.

3. Use a flash. Another useful tip is that if you have a flash or some sort of strobing light-source available then use it! It will help freeze your subject and allow you to use an even slower shutter-speed than without one. In the image in this post I wasn’t able to use a flash so I had to do my best to keep my camera steady and moving with the skater.

4. Follow-through to get the shot. Just like with kicking a ball or swinging a golf club you need to make sure that you follow the subject the entire way through the shot, and only stop once you are sure that your shutter is closed. This will help you get smooth lines in your background.

5. Use manual focus. If you know the spot that your subject will be passing by then pre-focus your lens. If you rely on auto-focus then your camera might not catch focus quickly enough, which means you would miss the shot altogether.

Panning requires a lot of trial-and-error, which I think is why I like it so much. You never quite know what you’re going to get and oftentimes you can be surprised when you review your shots. :)

Pediatrician

Nicole — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:28:34 +0000

Canon 7D, Canon 24-105 ƒ/4L IS lens, 1/125 sec at f/4, ISO 100

Here’s a sample from a medical stock photo-shoot I did this past weekend with Rich, and this is one of my faves. The little baby was just a doll the entire time I was photographing him! And Christine did a great job as a doctor – when I was done shooting she was still playing with him for about five or ten minutes, lol. :)

Angles Away

Nicole — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:42:56 +0000

Canon 7D, Canon 50mm ƒ/1.8, 1/2000th sec at ƒ/4, ISO 100

Yesterday the speakers and some of the staff from the upcoming Photocamp Utah got together at the Moran Eye Center to go over our presentations and some other info, and I decided to get there early and go on my own little photo-walk. I didn’t just walk around randomly taking photos, I gave myself a theme to look for – angles. I didn’t know what I was going to find and initially got some mediocre shots, but as I walked around I looked up and saw a beautiful reflection on the windows on the front of the Moran Eye Center’s building. I didn’t see just one angle, but several lines and angles going lots of directions (along with some nice color in the mix, too!).

Composing this shot was difficult and I took a lot of photos before I found one I really liked. It was a challenge since there were lines and angles going in every direction. I eventually decided that the curve of the building was the most important part and went with the composition that favored the curved lines but still balanced well with the other aspects of the scene.

I think I’m going to do this more often and give myself a specific theme when I go on photo-walks in the future. I’m also going to try real hard to bring my camera with me everywhere. I usually shoot with a battery grip and a 24-105mm lens, but I just acquired an old 50mm f/1.8 from a friend who upgraded and it looks real nice (and is much easier to haul around) on my battery-grip-less 7D. :)

BTW sorry for the delay in posting all this week … I was without internet for a week after moving to a new place. All is back to normal again so I’ll be posting regularly again starting next week! :)

Kenneth Linge’s “Photographing People” – Tomorrow!

Nicole — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:24:25 +0000

This is a guest post from Rich Legg at Leggnet’s Digital Capture.

There are a few pivotal events in my life that I can single out as instrumental in my transition from a khaki and polo-shirt wearing real estate broker (not that there’s anything wrong with that) to my current life as a full-time professional photographer. At or near the top of that list is my introduction to Kenneth Linge. I met Kenneth several years ago when Michelle presented me with an anniversary gift of paid tuition to his 3 day Wedding School. It was during this class in 2007 that the light turned on for me (both figuratively and literally) in my approach to photographing people. Kenneth is an extremely gifted and award winning photographer and freely shares his years of experience in his teaching clinics.

Roll the clock ahead to 2010, and not a day goes by when I am creating imagery that I don’t use some of the skills that I have learned from Kenneth. In the years since our first introduction I have had the opportunity to take several more of his classes as both a student and an assistant. I will forever be thankful for Kenneth’s friendship that began on that fateful Monday in 2007.

The reason for today’s post is to say that there are still a couple of spots left for tomorrow’s Photographing People Part I class that Kenneth is teaching in his Orem (Utah) studio. I have been involved in this class numerous times and can say that it is a great starting point for any photographer that wants to improve their photography when it comes to people pictures. Capturing great images of our fellow human beings can be a struggle for many shooters. I have known some great wildlife/landscape/still life photographers that literally freeze up with fear when it comes to shooting a portrait. This class can be a great step in overcoming that anxiety.

The class isn’t cheap at nearly $300, but as the old saying goes “you get what you pay for”. The combination of small class size and Kenneth’s years of experience create a great learning environment. And guess what? As an added bonus the students to this weekend’s class will also receive a highly-desired-and-heavily-sought-after ticket to this year’s sold out Photocamp Utah. I know – wow!

To grab a last-minute spot to tomorrow’s class, click here or visit the International School of Photography website at http://intsop.com.

And yeah, I know this post looks kind of like a long-winded advertisement. Rest assured, I receive no compensation from Kenneth – I just believe in his product and want to help a good friend succeed.

Are You Who You Want to Be?

Nicole — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:12:46 +0000

Canon 7D, Canon 24-105 ƒ/4L IS Lens, 1/30 sec at ƒ/4, ISO 3200

A few days ago I was blasting Switchfoot on my iPod and tuned it to my favorite song, “This is Your Life”. One of the verses in it really made me think about it in terms of my life in general but I also started thinking about it as a photographer. it’s really a very simple phrase, but has so much meaning to it:

This is your life, are you who you want to be?

Try to put his into perspective as a photographer. I’m not talking about the photos you create or the amount of photography knowledge that you know, or how “good” you are at photography. Set aside the idea of how much money you make (or want to make), how many books you’ve written or contests you’ve won. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about you, who you are and if you as a photographer reflect that as well.

When you are photographing someone do you talk with them and treat them with respect? When you interact with clients are you fair and just, even though it is business? Are you kind to other photographers, even though they are the competition? Now I am of course under the assumption that most people want to be good, fair, honest and nice, but sometimes we tend to only want to apply that principle in our personal lives.

I’m not saying that you can’t have high prices for your services, or that you have to give all your “secrets” away to other photographers. For me photography is my job, it’s how I earn my living and it’s a very big part of who I am. But I want to run my photography business in a way that I can feel good about. I want to treat other photographers with respect and courtesy, even though they might be my competition. Part of how I do this is by sharing my knowledge with other people – that’s just a part of who I am.

You can be as cutthroat, rude and mean of a photographer as you want … but if that’s not who you are as a person then why are you that person when it comes to photography? Life is about people, it always has been and it always will be. Be who you want to be, be yourself and you can never go wrong.