christmas photography tips

Christmastime (and winter) is the most energetic and exciting time to take photographs for a variety of reasons – the natural elements, the captivating and imaginative decorations (including Christmas lights) and the festive mood that overcomes whole communities. You can photograph during the day, but some of the most evocative images can be found at night. The brilliance provided by the pure white snow adds some challenges, but there are some benefits too. Let’s take a look at how to get the most effective Christmas photos.

Recommended Settings

There’s usually going to be a lot of additional, practical light sources “on” during Christmastime (all those Christmas lights) and these will probably bump up the ambient light level to a certain extent, but not so high that you can shoot at ISO 100, so go for 200; even when you’re inside. Shutter speeds between 1/30 and 1/90 should suit you the best, as you should try for aperture settings of f/2 to f/5.6; you’ll get shallow to moderate depth of field at these settings, which will add to the ambiance, by keeping the illuminated background just out of focus.

Recommended Equipment

A fast zoom lens is great for Christmastime photography, try for a 28 – 80mm or something similar; this way you’ll have a wide angle for group portraits and shooting houses/buildings that are magnificently decorated, and you’ll also be able to grab intimate and inviting close-ups. Consider having your tripod available. Even if you don’t use the timer function the tripod can be helpful for stabilizing the camera for high angle shots (which might be the best/only way to get everyone in a group shot). Use a corded flash or a flash with a tilt/swivel head to avoid having the flash fire head-on at your subjects. A head-on flash will wash out not only the skin tones, but the vibrant color cast from all the Christmas lights as well.

Conclusion

The Christmas holiday is a heavily photographed event, so it’s important to approach the subject with an eye for doing something different and compelling. Utilize the ornaments and the lights to spruce up the background elements of your shots (remember to experiment with the bokeh technique for something subtly different), focus on your subject’s eyes and work to position your family in intimate positions that emphasizes their close relationship and the joy this season instills in everyone. The preparation is just as important as the finished product when it comes to Christmas, so get in there and take photos of the tree trimming activity as it happens.

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eye photography tips - How to Photograph the Human Eye, Iris or Pupil

There is no need to explain the importance of eyes to a living being; but why photographers fret so much about them may look a bit intriguing. “Focus on the subject’s eyes”; may probably be the first tip any photographer get in the beginning of his career. A photographer’s torment with eye is not limited to shooting it but also in post-production? There is even countless number of tutorials, plug-ins, Photoshop actions and brushes etc. to help the subjects’ eyes “pop”!

 Even though many photographers have not taken enough pains to really explore the human eye with a macro lens. From a distance the only thing that we observe about human eyes are that they are smooth orbs, always moist and they do come in many different shades of blue, green, brown and black. But enter the amazing world of macro, find a willing subject and you’ll be stunned at the amount of detail present in the eyes; it’s nothing less than mind-blowing.

Here in this article we will discuss certain tips that will of real help in photographing the human eye in all splendors.

Tips for Photographing the Human Eye

 1. Get yourselves a true macro lens, or any other means of obtaining life size (1:1) magnification. A close up filter, lens reverse ring, extension tube etc will do.

2. Continuous light sources (preferably soft), are the best for photographing human eyes, so find a well lit spot and seat your subject such that the light is falling on the eye at an angle that causes only the least amount of reflection.

3. The eyes reflect everything around them, including the camera, lights, the photographer and the surroundings; so experiment and find the best lighting angle which gives best results.

 4. When iris is photographed the in low light situations; the pupil will expand making the photograph un-interesting.

5. Macro lenses which provide an angle of view of 100mm or narrower is best as they provide more working distance, which will make the subject comfortable.

6. Although it’s not an absolute must, using a tripod will help make things easier and improve chances of getting great shots.

 7. Keep the sensor parallel to the eyes.

8. Make subject to look directly into the lens, assuming you are shooting head on.

9. Shift the lens to Manual mode and focus on the iris manually.

10. Use a minimum aperture of f/8 to get sufficient depth of field and capture all details.

11. Keep the shutter speed fast enough to eliminate any blur caused either by camera shake or subject’s movement.

12. Get over with the session fast. It’s difficult for anyone to keep eyes open for long, they’ll blink and if the purposefully keep it open the eyes will soon begin to water. Trick is to ask your subject to keep both eyes shut, when everything is ready ask them to open their eyes, fire of few quick shots, ask them to close their eyes when you review your pictures. You’ll get what you need in a couple of bursts.

I’m sure if you are doing this for the first time, you’ll be stunned with what you see, at macro magnifications the human eyes with all their detail seems almost alien, but not less beautiful.

Any effort spent on capturing the ‘reflections of a golden eye’ doesn’t go waste as eyes have traditionally been the most powerful weapon on the earth; by a mere wink of her eyes; Helen of Troy could launch a thousand ships and burn the topless towers of Ilium!

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fall photography tips - 10 Tips for Shooting Autumn Foliage

Location

"It's everything," says nature photographer Rod Planck, who ought to know: his fall color photo tours sell out faster than any other tour or workshop he offers, which is a testament to the image opportunities and overall inspiration of fall color. If you're thinking of focusing a photography vacation around the colors of autumn, or just want to spend a day or two in pursuit of the season's hues, Rod suggests three major regions to consider: the New England states; the Colorado Rockies; and the upper Midwest of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota (all the photos here were taken by Rod in his home state of Michigan). If you live elsewhere, your best bet is the website of your state's tourism board for timely, peak fall color information, perhaps even a fall color hotline. And yes, there are apps for fall color's best times and places; Google will reveal all.

Light

Not all things need be, or should be, photographed in bright sun. "People at the autumn tours will often tell me that the weather report calls for sun for the next seven days," Rod says, "but that's not good news." In autumn, sunlight is desirable only early and late, when it's essentially sidelighting. "An overcast day is best—first, because you can shoot all day long, and second because the light is soft and even." But doesn't overcast mean that the intensity of the color is decreased? Nope, not at all; in fact, just the opposite: autumn colors are saturated colors, and they contrast nicely with a gray day. While a bit of gray sky is okay in your photo, remember to avoid expanses of uninteresting white sky. What's often best is cloud cover illuminated by sunlight; the first photo here is a nice example of that.

Exposure

Rod uses Matrix metering for everything, regardless of sunshine or clouds, then checks the histogram to make sure no highlights are being clipped. "I'll check the LCD to see what I'm getting and dial in some exposure compensation if I need to increase or decrease saturation." Another exposure setting tip: "Cloud cover will give you less light, and because you're photographing landscapes, generally you won't want to sacrifice depth of field by opening up the aperture, so I suggest pushing the ISO to keep your depth of field at a good setting while maintaining a high shutter speed if you're hand-holding the camera."

Support

"But I use a tripod for everything, so shutter speed isn't usually an issue. If it's calm weather, I'll shoot at the lowest ISO setting and not really care how long the exposure is."

Elevation

One of the things that'll give you a sense of the expanse of an area and the color that fills it is height. "A lot of locations afford the opportunity to drive up and get above the color," Rod says, "and when you can do that it gives you a grander feel for how much color there is in the area." Search out what Rod  calls "the famous overlook" in any area of fall color. "There'll usually be one, and there'll be lots of people photographing there every morning." Rod often seeks elevations that give him a straight-on view of a fall color array, as in the second photo here, for which he was up high enough to look straight into central portions of the trees. "I take advantage of anything I can—a stump, rocks, hills. I've stood in the back of a pickup truck." And don't forget to look down, too. "Late in autumn, the forest floor is as colorful as the treetops were," Rod says, and offers the third Image as an example.

Water

Streams, creeks, ponds and rivers can become magical in the fall. Rod sets the scene: "There's a maple tree on one side of the stream, and you're on the other side in the shadow. The maple gets sunlight on it and it reflects yellow into the stream in front of you; everything else is reflecting blue from the sky." When the leaves are turning, the spot you'd just pass by at any other time of the year becomes a great photo location as water gives you reflections, contrast and, with long exposures, texture.

Lenses

Rod's an advocate of the "power of longer lenses." All the photos here were taken with 85mm, 70-200mm and 300mm NIKKOR glass.

Fog and Mist

They can soften and mute colors, but they add mood, atmosphere, even mystery. The fourth image is a rather straightforward capture of morning mist rising from a lake, while the fifth is a bit more complex: "The trees were just starting to get some sunlight, and I focused the camera on the foreground reflections, which are still in the shade, so the mist is a different color temperature, and the bottoms of the trees are still in shadow."

Subtleties

Consider some close-ups that are related to autumn but not to the season's bright colors, like the image of mushrooms growing on the side of a tree, or the photo of a milkweed seed pod with seeds being dispersed by the wind. "This is color that fall brings to particular plants," Rod says, "and the photos were taken during peak times of color in the area. Fall color is an excuse to go out in the woods; it doesn't mean that everything you photograph has to be defined by colorful leaves."

Explore

"Fall is a great time to drive around to look for spots where there's color," Rod says. "You'll find places to photograph right then, and you'll locate other spots to come back to later on, and in later years—your own private, favorite spots. You can spend the entire day out in the woods during those cool, clear, crisp days of color. Twilights are better, the sun's at a lower angle for a longer time, sunsets are intense. The autumn light will bring color and texture to a lot of things. Fall is an awesome time to be out all day long looking for beautiful photos."

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