Mothers Day Gift Ideas for the Female Photographer in your life

Books featuring / geared towards female photographers 

Food Photography Books 

Photography Accessories 

 

Cold Weather-ize your Tripod

First signs of cold winter conditions is the frosty cold breath and frosty fingers. Using a tripod as a stable platform for landscape and wildlife photography is almost a neccessity only to be reinfornced when your feet, arms and fingers are cold.
The materials used in today's tripods are increasingly becoming lighter and stronger but one thing they do not have is a heating element.
Venturing out into the cold winter landscape or out on a multi hour wildlife stakeout is hard enough on your body not to mention the gear.
Here is a quick and affordable modification that you can add to your tripod to make handling and carrying it a bit more comfortable so you can deal with making an image.

Time: less than 10min
Items needed:

1 x tripod
1x 6ft section of 1/2" pipe insulation (note: measure the widest part of your tripod foot to make sure you buy the appropriate diameter insulation)
1x Roll of Gaffers Tape

Most foam pipe insulation comes pre-cut. Cut the foam pipe insulation to the appriate lengths of the first leg section. Repeat for all three legs. Pull apart the insulation and wrap it around the tripod. Use gaffers tape or another form of adhesive tape to secure the insulation to the tripod leg in multiple sections.
The foam insulation will make grabbing the tripod easier with gloves on, keeps your fingers away from the freezing aluminum or carbon, and make it more comfortable to carry over the shoulder.


I have used the Manfrotto 190XB 3 Section Aluminum Tripod since 2010 and am very pleased with it. Here are some other ones I recommend:

 

How to Win the Battle of Close-up Photography

Shooting macro or close-up nature photography can be a challenge to find balance between keeping the tiny subject sharp and in focus and also seperate it from the background. You might have to stop down your lens in order to keep the subject in focus but that also increases the focal plane to include the background.
An out-of-focus background is essential to a good close-up photo, because it helps draw attention to your main subject.
But, it’s not always easy to get that nice background. Sometimes the background is just too close, or your subject has a lot of depth (forcing you to try a smaller aperture, which then puts more of the background in focus).
So, how do you deal with this constant battle? Well, here are a few ways:

#1 – Determine the most important part of the image

The first thing you should think about is the most important part of the image. You might think this would always be your main subject, but sometimes the background plays a larger role. Ask yourself what grabbed your attention about this particular flower or insect: did you see the background first? Or, perhaps your subject is extremely rare, so just getting any kind of photo of it is the most important thing.

Shoot for the Moon

Check the Moon Phase and Rise http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/moonrise.html





It is Earth's closet and largest visible celestial body in the sky. It follows the Earth on our yearly trips around the sun and impacts our blue planet of 70% water by inducing tidal changes. If you like to photograph wide open beaches, exposed beach rock formations and tide pools, crashing waves or drift wood tossed up along the beach you have our Moon to thank.
In the darkest of nights the luminous body of the a moon full moon reflects a soft glowing light that can add a nice soft light to your image.

Photography Books for the Amazon Kindle

The Amazon Kindle makes toting around a seemingly endless library of Photography Books super easy and light weight compared to storing them on your bookshelf or carrying them in your book bag for the office commute.
Here is a list of Kindle Ready Photography Themed Books you can download in just a few minutes

Self Gifting for Buding Photographers

Now that the Christmas Rush has a chance to subside, the Christmas morning breakfast is settling in and all the presents are open and wrapping papers strewn over the living room you can guage your loot. And see that you are really a difficult person to shop for considering the amount of gif cards you have received.
Here are some gear recommendations for different money amounts that I think will serve you all year long and outlast those black socks you got in your christmas stocking

Self Gifting for under $25

9 Tools For Closeup Photography

When shooting small subjects reducing vibrations during the exposure is key for the best opportunity at a sharp image. Even just depressing the shutter button on your camera with your finger tip is enough to introduce shaking. So I would recommend if able to lock down your camera on a tripod or sandbag, turn off Vibration Reduction on your lens, select Mirror Lock Up and use a cable release. Taking these steps will help reduce camera and lens shake allowing for a sharper image if you can get the focus right on. 

 

#1 – Light Diffuser

When shooting the little things such as wildflowers on the side of the trail or in your own backyard it can be difficult at times difficult to control the amount of ambient light hitting your subject. One way of reducing or diffusing the sunlight is by holding up light diffuser above your subject. One of the more popular diffusers is a 5 in 1. These collapsible and portable modifiers come in various sizes and materials to add or subtract ambient light.

Uses:

1. Use the diffusion panel to reduce harsh light and shadows by placing it between the sun (lightsource) and your subject

2. Use the the Gold Panel to bounce some warm tones onto the sunject and fill in unwanted shadows

3. Use the Black Panel to subtract or block unwanted light 

4. Use the Silver Panel to add a punch of contrast by bouncing cool tones onto the subject and filling in unwanted shadows.

5. Use the White Panel to reflect neutral tones for soft natural-looking light