Quick Digital Imaging Tip 16/101: Add a Sense of Motion to Your Still Images

This is tip #16 of 101 digital imaging tips I plan to post here over the next few months. Stay tuned.

Today's tip (from Laos): Add a sense of motion to your still images.

Experiment with different slow shutter speeds to blur the movement in a scene in which the subjects are moving. You have probably seen this effect in National Geographic magazine.

I took the opening photograph for this post at 1/30th of a second. It has a much greater sense of motion than the above photograph.

Use your camera's LCD monitor to check the areas of the scene you want blurred . . . and sharp.

Also keep this in mind: the closer you are to the subject, the more it will be blurred.

I took this photograph with my Canon EOS 7D and what is becoming one of my favorite city-shooting lenses, the Canon 14mm lens.

Explore the light,

Rick

P.S. If you travel with an iPhone, check out my 24/7 Photo Buffet app. Tons of travel photo tips.

Quick Digital Imaging Tip 5/101: Expose for the Highlights

This is #5 of 101 digital imaging tips I plan to post here over the next few months. Stay tuned. Only 96 more tips to go :-)

Today's tip: Expose for the Highlights.

The annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, held each year in early October in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is perhaps one of the most colorful festivals in the U.S.

Sure, the colors are great - and looking for color, and composing for color, is important. And fun!

Perhaps more important is exposing for the highlights - because it's easy to enhance colors in the digital darkroom using Saturation and Vibrance. However, if the highlights, such as the flame from the burner in the above photograph, are overexposed more than one f-stop, it will probably be impossible to rescue them.

To ensure that you preserve the highlights, check the overexposure warning on your camera's LCD monitor. Also check the histogram to make sure you don't have a spike on the right side of the display. Of course, shoot RAW files, which contain more data than JPEG files.

Explore the light,
Rick Sammon
Canon Explorer of Light

Quick Digital Imaging Tip 1/101: Set goals

This is tip #1 of 101 digital imaging tips I plan to post here over the next few months.

Set goals. In photography, and in life of course, it's important to set goals. It's not enough to just say, "I want to get good pictures." Rather, you need to set the goal of getting a specific type of picture.

In this case, the goal was to get a photograph of the horse with all the hooves off the ground. Knowing that, I knew I had to:

• Use the focusing tracking mode on my camera. (Canon 5D Mark II).

• Use a shutter speed of at least 1/500th of a second.

• Make a test exposure of the scene to ensure a good exposure.

• Set the camera to rapid frame advance.

• Follow the subject in the viewfinder, leaving some space around the subject so that a hoof or the tail or the nose was not cut off.

In addition, I had to select a nice, non-distracting background. What's more, I wanted the horse and rider's complete reflection to be in the frame.

Remember: If you set goals, you'll know where you are going. If you don't, you may get lost.

Explore the light,

Rick

HDR the Right Way?

Today was the day for my HDR workshop here at the California Photo Fest. We had tons of fun making HDR images, as opposed to simply taking HDR images.

For example, both of the cars in these photographs were carefully moved into position for the shots. Originally, the were parked facing in the opposite direction.

When I first ventured into the world of HDR, I met someone who said that he teaches HDR "the right way." Well, I feel that there really is no "right way"when it comes to HDR. The end-result is up the individual photographer. For example, the top image is a realistic HDR image; the bottom image in a artistic HDR image.

Top image: Nik Software's HDR Efex Pro.

Bottom image: Nik Software's HDR Efex Pro plus Topaz Adjust.

For info on HDR Efex Pro (and discount) and Topaz Adjust, click here.

So when it comes to HDR, follow your heart.

Explore the light,

Rick

iPad App Back to School Special Sale

Well, it's back to school time once again. I can't believe how fast the summer fly by!

Many of the stores here in my neighborhood are having "back to school" sales. So, I thought it would be a good idea to put some of my apps on sale for a limited time.


Butterfly Wonders and Life Lessons We Can Learn From Mother Nature are on sale for $0.99 each.

For info on all my apps, click here.

Enjoy the fall!

Best,
Rick