game_1078 As I was going through some old photos tonight, I ran across the galleries from years gone by, and they brought back some awesome memories.  Sorry, none of these are available to you unless you are in the photo ... in that case, call me!  I pray that your season brings many great memories that you are able to share with your friends and families for a lifetime.

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What can you do when you are forced to sit around for three months?  Since I was unable to get out and take pictures this summer, I took advantage of my recuperation time to update several of my Fine Art galleries.  Here, I have selected the best pictures from various themes and included them in the newly edited galleries for you to enjoy.  those galleries include: (click on the name to open in a new window!)

     Appalachia Landscape

     Appalachia Nature

     Western Landscapes -- Yosemite and Death Valley

     International Destinations:  Italy

     Nature as Art  - - some traditional and some less than traditional interpretations

Of course all of the Fine Art purchase options are in place, but I might suggest that you enjoy them by pressing the SLIDESHOW button on the gallery display.  Facebook, Google +, and Twitter options are on each page for you to LIKE or SHARE these photos.

With football season just around the corner, many of us are getting ready for the Friday Night Lights.  The boys have been practicing for a month now. and coaches ... well, they never stop.  For those of us priveleged to photograph the big games, theree is also a bit of preparing to do, and unfortunately, this is one of those sports that will help you justify all that gear envy.  No doubt about it, better AF systems and faster glass will help you get more usable shots.  But even if you don't own a 1DIV and a 400 2.8, you can still get some excellent results using the gear you already have.  Here's how:

First off, do your research.  Know what to expect from the teams you are covering and who is going to do what.  Mom's and dads shooting from the grandstands will get thier kid, and they'll be happy.   But nine times out of ten, great pitures are not made while shooting from the stands. Besides, that long lens will get in other people's way and you'll be known as a nuisance.  Wherever you are shooting from, make sure you are safe and able to get the shots you need.  Vey often, the best vantage point is at the level of the playing field, but be sure you have permission before you venture onto the field.  Depending on the level of play, you may be restricted to certain areas.  If you are on the field, remember that the kids game comes first, your safety, THEN your pictures.  Also, be aware of other photographers working the game.  You are each there for a purpose, and no, your picture is not more important than the other guy's.  In other words, don't step into some else's frame!

If you are limited, it is usually to the press area that is on the goal line side of the 25 yard line.  This does give you lots of room to work ... its just that you have to have either a really long lens or wait for the action to get close enough to shoot.  On restricted fields, those 50 yards in between belong only to the players and coaches (and they have to stay within those lines!) though you can go behind the team area to get to the other end of teh field.  Remember too that the end zones are great places to shoot from.  There, the action is coming right at you, and if you have a lens longer than 200mm, you can often get some really cool shots as they approach.  When working a goal line situation, I ususally swithch to my 70-200 and shoot from behind the end zone.  One little trick that I use is that I always try to be where I can see the facces of the players I am shooting -- between 5 and 35 yards from the line of scrimmage, depending on the picture I am working on. 

If you are shooting midget league, you are lucky ... the action is usually slow enough to follow and the games are played during the daylight hours.  Early season Middle School is not too difficult because you still have enough light.  For those kinds of games, a minimum shutter speed of 1/500 is required to freeze action.  Once you get to High School games .... watch out!  Even places with good lights are photographic balck holes.  You will need a camera capable of high ISO and know how to use your flash as well as fast glass.  Auto focus systems are easilty fooled under the lights, white balance is a nightmare and freezing action can be a challenge.  Many of us end up using our speed lights to help illuminate the situation and freeze action, but here again, you've gotta be careful.  It is very easy to create ugly shadows or to have ghost images if your flash is not properly balanced.  Most experts will tell you that you need to ioverpower ambient by 3 stops in order to avoid ghosting.  That can be a challenge at 1/250th!  Another solution is to use your flash only as a fill light, but this requires a dedicated system flash setr to High Speed Sync.

The best word of advice is to find an experienced sports photographer to mentor you.  Share your successes and failures and learn from them.  Anyone who has been around the block a few times can point out what is happening in your pictures.  Some of us even have come up with solutions to make those errors disappear!  In the end though, getting winning pictures takes teh same effort as winning the game ... it simply takes a lot of practice!

As of today, AUGUST 17, 21012, Digital downloads no longer need to be approved before you are able to download them (except for the fine art galleries).  In other words, you can download your pictures immediately after checkout!  I am glad that I can finally offer that immediate fulfillment for you. I hope that some time soon I do the same for 4x6 prints, but this is all dependent on my web hosting company. 

For trhose that are interested, I use ZENFOLIO.com as my web site host and print fulfillment team.  THey handle all of the details behind the scenes so that I can keep on shooting and not have to worry about the businesss side.  If you want to use ZENFOLIO for your own photo hosting, feel free to use my referral code for a nice discount on your first year's subscription.  My code is:  Z8X-U4Y-SEZ

Most of you know that I have been somewhat restrained recently.  On May 14th, I had five cervical vertebrae fused -- C3, 4, 5, 6, & 7.  The weeks leading up to the surgery saw increasing pain and decreasing mobility.  Since the surgery, I have been quite blessed to have a marvelous recovery.  Though not even close to being back to top form, I am healing well, and thank all of you for your prayers and good wishes.  As of today, I am walking about three to four miles a day, and getting better every minute.  Upper body strength and coordination will be the next thing to work on, but have to wait for the doctor's permission to do anything more strenuous than lifting a gallon of milk -- yes, even that is quite difficult at the moment. 

But, with good doctors and a wonderful community helping me to recuperate, I expect to be back on the sidelines this fall (albeit with a modified approach!) 

OK .... so they really are not secrets.  It is more like tips for new users.  I know there is a help button that walks you through the ordering process, and most of you are more fluent in online shopping than I ever will be, but there are a whole bunch of features on this site that many people don't take advantage of.  Here are a couple that I am sure you will like:

• Many parents and grandparents have asked me about ways to make it easy for collecting a bunch of pictures from different galleries to order at one time.  This website allows you to do just that!  It is as easy as creating your own secure login to this website.  Then when you find a photo that you want, but would rather wait till another day to buy, simply add it to your favorites collection!  No longer do you have to memorize the locations of your children among the thousands of photos that I have posted.  (currently over 16,000, and that is just from this school year!)  You can create these collections without registering, but then you can only access that list from the same computer and only for 30 days.
  • In order to SELECT FAVORITES, simply hover your mouse over the photo when it is in the one photo per page view. 
  • Hover on the word MENU on the upper left corner, and when the menu appears, click on the heart or ADD TO FAVORITES
  • By clicking on the SHARE button, you can send a link by email, Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.  Of course, you'll have to have an account with them to use those.
• Another advantage of REGISTERING is that you can share the lists you create.  Especially, you can share that list with me if I am making a poster or another special project for you.   
• As I pointed out above, you can FACEBOOK LIKE any photo.  That's a great way to share them with grandparents or friends.

Not all of the features on this site have to do with the pictures though ... Some of you have asked if it is possible to purchase photos without a credit card.  First off, I have to say that I admire you for taking control of your finances and refusing to pay bank fees!  One of the reasons I switched to my current web host is to better serve you.  Once you determine the dollar amount that you are going to spend, just let me know!  I will issue a gift certificate that you redeem only on this website.  It spends just like cash (because you already gave me that!) and allows you the same flexibility and freedom of online ordering that everyone else enjoys.

Of course, gift certificates are always available!

One of the trickier propositions is ordering a CD, poster, book, or any other custom designed product.  Usually, those are done in person rather than through the web.  They are listed here to give you an idea of the cost involved. 

Something that many have asked for is a file to use on Facebook, MySpace, or on your iPhone.  Those can now be ordered online and downloaded almost immediately rather than having to wait for a CD.  Unfortunately, there will be a short wait period since I approve all orders before they are shipped.  In most cases, you will be able to download the file within an hour or two. 

NOTES FOR MOBILE USE:

If yoyu are having trouble logging in to any of the password protected galleries, make sure that you have cookies turned on.  I went round and round with Customer Service for several days before discovering this simple trick!

Today, someone told me how lucky I was that the birds were all over my house.  My friend had spotted a dove, some sparrows, and cardinals darting about the yard.  What he didn't see was this little encounter I had spotted an hour earlier.

When I looked out the door to my carport, behold!  I was treated to a Cardinal.  This one had found the mirror on my car door, and fortunately, I had my camera handy! 

I know that the shots are not of magazine quality, but I did manage to capture a cardinal looking at himself in my car's mirror.  (shot through the glass of my door plus two car windows!  I wqas a little llimited as to the angle I could shoot from).  These are all un-cropped:

I wonder if birds have the same kind of "self" awareness that humans do? 

Judging by this bird's combativeness with his image in the mirror, I doubt it!  He is definitely not trying to make friends with his reflection!

Many of you have asked about the gear that I use to make my photos.  I happen to use Canon equipment.  Why Canon?  Well, it just so happens that my first 35 mm camera from back in the film days was a Canon A1, my dad bought it in 1978, and it still works just fine!  In 2004 when I was looking for a digital camera, I tried a variety of point and shoot cameras and found all of them lacking.  That meant that I had to look at SLR cameras.  Canon had a definite lead in "affordable" digital SLRs that were of a high enough quality that I found to be acceptable.  Thier combination of auto focus and a decent sensor made Canon the compelling choice of the day.  They also have an awesome collection of lenses to compliment the camera bodies.  Since that time, I have learned a whole lot more about photography, cameras, and all of the equipment needed to make great photos. 

Shooting family memories can now be done with ease using your iPhone or pretty much any point and shoot camera.  If you are planning on shooting table top still lifes and landscapes, pretty much any SLR camera will do unless you are selling your photos to top end magazines with very expensive requirements.   When it comes to sports photography, there are certainly camera body and lens choices that will help you.  Let's look at a few of those:

CAMERA BODY (Digital SLR is a given) and Canon and Nikon are easily the leaders in this category.  Features that will help you:

• High ISO performance.  The ability to get clean pictures when it gets dark is important.  I regularly shoot at ISO 1600 and higher.
• fast, accurate auto focus with selectable focus points.  You need to know that your camera has the ability to focus on moving targets.  Professional bodies actually give you a great deal of control over the camera's AF performance, and there is a learning curve to master it.  
• Faster frames per second shutter release.  The pro bodies get as many as 10 fps.  You usually will not use it like this, but the fps rate is an indicator of whether your camera is "sports ready." 
• Weather sealing.  as the price goes up on cameras, they tend to include more and more protection for the internal electronics.  A dusty softball field is a hazardous environment for a camera!
• Crop Factor - (aka APS-C or H sensor) -- This choice is perfectly debatable, but many sports, wildlife, and bird photographers prefer camera bodies that add some extra reach to thier lenses.  Those starting out will be happy to know that these bodies are cheaper than thier full frame counterparts!
• Canon:  1D series, 7D, and xxD series. 
• Nikon:  D3, D4, D800, D7000,
• Generally Speaking:  only you can know if the jump to a higher priced body or lens is worth it, but each step up does give you a higher level of performance, making it easier to capture the image.  Even a Canon REbel or Nikon 3100 will be able to get the shot, you'll just have to work harder to get the image.

LENS CHOICES - while any lens can help you make a picture, there are some qualities of the lens that will help your chances of nailing an action photo:

• fast aperture (this means lower f-stop number) - Shooting sports, you need a fast shutter speed.  Using a lower f-stop allows you to pump up the shutter speed.  Using a lens with a faster f-stop (lower number) allows you to do this.  It also has the advantage of allowing your camera's AutoFocus system to perform at its best.  Some AF points need a lens to be at least f 2.8 in order to work or to work faster.  If your lens only goes to f 3.5, you will not be able to use that feature in your camera.  This also has the advantage of throwing the distracting elements in the background out of focus (bokeh) which helps make the subject stand out.
• fast AF response - the truth is that AF speed is a combination of the lens and the camera body.  The lens must have the capability of performing.  The newest lenses have the latest motors in them, but you'll have to read the nitty gritty details and read reviews in order to learn about the capabilities of your lens. 
• IS / VR technology -- This one is debatable.  The technology lets you shoot in lower light  when using slow shutter speeds.  Generally speaking, your shutter speeds for sports are fast enough that the technology doesn't really matter.  On the other hand, given the same lens with and without it, the manufacturers tend to put the higher end glass in the lenses that have it.
• build quality - If you are shooting sports, you are going to be in some tough places, and your lens might take a beating.  Look for weather sealing, metal construction, and the manufacturer's assurance that your lens is able to take some punishment.  Generally speaking, these are the "Pro" level lenses. 

Yes, you can get a decent sports shot with your camera phone.  But you will definitely increase your odds of consistently making great memories by following the above guidelines.  Sorry, I cannot tell you what is "the best lens to use for sports."  That will depend on your tastes and the task at hand.  I use everything from fisheye to 400mm lenses to capture the moment, but here are some good choices:

• 70-200 mm f 2.8 - whether you choose the IS/VR vesion is up to you.  This is THE basic sports lens.
• 24 - 70 mm f 2.8 - mostly for basketball, though you can find other uses for it too!
• 100 - 400 -- this is the long lens for daytime sports without having to break the bank. 
• 85 mm f 1.8 - I don't yet own this one, but it is a great choice for basketball.
• 300 mm f 2.8 -- when your budget allows for it, this lens is amazing, and takes extenders very well.

I have used other lenses as well.  But the truth about cameras and lenses is that you will always have to make a compromise.  For me, that compromise is based on what I can afford as opposed to what I would like to be using.  Unless you work for Sports Illustrated or have Bill Gates income, that will probably be true for you as well.  A little research will point you in the right direction, and asking questions of those who have done it will help you figure out the best compromise for your intended usage.