Cat Pictures

When photographing Tigers in captivity, (I happened to be at the Oakland Zoo),  it's important to know a little about their behaviors in order to capture them the way you had in mind.  Big cat behaviors are easy to learn,  just observe the cat you have sitting on the couch next to you.  Big cats and little cats mostly do the same things.  They look for the warm spot in the sunlight, they stretch, and they yawn among other things.   All of these behaviors can make fantastic photographs, you just have to be patient watch, and look for repeating animal behaviors. 

Like their cousin the house cat, the Tiger will roll around in their enclosure and occasionally they will stop and freeze still for a moment. This is a good time to capture an image, since you know the Tiger will be sharp and in focus, especially nessasary if shot with a slow shutter speed. 

Even at several hundred pounds, the Tiger can sometimes appear kitten like while stretching and rolling around. 

One behavior that the Tiger does, that I have not seen a domestic cat do, is "flehmen".   Upon smelling another Tiger's scent, the big cat wrinkles his nose and hangs out his tongue in a grimace called flehmen.  This move is a way to gather in all of the scent so they can and send it to the roof of their mouth where there is a gland to determine all the chemical information inside the scent.  Scenting and scent marking is a way Tigers communicate thier boundaries, mate readiness and to acertian if a friend or foe is in the area.  Before the tongue comes out, it's a pretty fierce look and makes a fabulous photograph. 

I noticed one female mark an area along a fence.  Shortly after, I saw another female start to walk the perimeter of the enclosure. I knew she'd notice the fresh marking and I thought she might make the "face."  With things like this, you get yourself and camera into position, check and double check your settings and just wait.  

In wildlife photography, the more you know about what animal you are photographing the better your odds are of getting superb photographs.

How to Photograph Wine

Photographing reflective bottles of wine can be difficult when trying to get the glass and the label to look good. One solution is to make two shots and combine them in Photoshop. The highly reflective foil of this label text added to the difficulty of creating a compelling shot.

Set up the scene with props, etc. 

Set up the lighting.

Determine the Depth of Field.

Shoot the bottle.

Set new lighting, shoot the label.

In this first shot, I worked with the bottle and props, and I started tweaking with the depth of field so that the pear in the background would fall softly out of focus but the wine bottle was still sharp.  If you don't have a strobe system that can be dialed down to allow you to change your aperture,  try using a variable neutral density filter to get the aperture you are looking for.  I used a strong side lighting with a strip light here. 

Once that was determined, shot number one was created.  Keeping the camera on a tripod, and locked down, the lighting was changed for the label but the bottle and the camera did not move.

A soft box overhead with lots of white reflective cards would bounce soft light into the gold foil graphics and text of the label. Once everything looked clean,  shot two was created.

I brought both of these images into Photoshop.  You can drag one image on top of the other with the move tool while holding down the shift key.  This will align the two images perfectly.  Use the pen tool to make a selection of the label - then create a layer mask.  First layer shows the bottle shot, the second layer shows the label. 

Now you are ready to retouch the bottle and the reflections to make a realistic shot. 

If you want to learn more about how to create better images while using Photoshop, check out my hands on classes - taught in my Pleasanton studio.

Don't forget to sign up for the Digital Camera Basics class

Did you or do you know someone who received a DSLR camera for the holidays? Groupon is still offering my class for Digital Camera Basics you can check it out at the link below.  The class will be a hand's on class in my studio in Pleasanton. Learn how to use your menus, how to set up your camera and how to use the auto focus.

Link to Digital Camera Basics Groupon Deal

 Why do Elephants have such a good memory?  The reason is simple, they "need" to have a good memory to for the species to survive.  The female elephant depends each other to raise their young more than any other mammal. The  mother elephant can remember who in the heard is the most dependable, who is most trustful. 

Photographer's Gift Buying Guide

Every year many of us have the challange of finding the pefect gift for the photographer in our lives. As a professional photographer, I run across many products all year long that I think most amateur photographers would love to have wrapped up for them this holiday season.  Here is my short list for 2013 in no particular order.

My Passport

In the days of film, a good gift might have been a five-roll pack of Kodachrome 64, something a photographer would always use.  Now days with digital, hard drive space is what we all covet.

I've been using Western Digital almost exclusively over the years to securely backup and save all my images.  One of the most convenient small hard drives on the market is the My Passport version from Western Digital. These little hard drives connect to the USB port of your computer and work on Mac or PC and don’t need an external power source.   You can get them in a variety of colors including red, blue, black and silver.  Also, you can buy them in many sizes from 500 gigs to 2 Terabytes of storage space. You can never go wrong giving a photographer hard drive space.

Ball Pod

Next up is a gift for the photographer that needs a little support.  By that I mean the Ball Pod. 

Have you ever found yourself trying to set up a self-timer shot by setting your camera on a rock and tucking the strap under the camera to position it in the right direction? This can be a risky proposition.  The Ball Pod is a handy device where you thread you camera into the standard tripod mount and the flexible ball keeps your camera rock steady.

The Ball Pod is about the size of a large orange with a ¼ screw attached to a mounting plate.  On this plate you mount your camera with its threaded tripod hole.  Once snug, your camera can be placed just about anywhere.

The silicone outer shell has hundreds of beads inside that allow you position the ball on rocks, fence rails, fire hydrants, trash cans or just about anywhere.

This is the perfect accessory that just about any photographer or smart phone user will use time and time again.

Its small enough to fit in your jacket pocket and weighs only 11 oz.  The silicone outer shell is kind of tacky and will grip things like the hood of your car or many other slick surfaces.  Now it’s easy to carry a support tool, without having to lug around a huge tripod. 

Grad Filters

People often ask me what is the best filter to get the photographer on their list.  If they already have the basic: Polarizer and Neutral Density then I would steer them toward the Grad Filters.  Lee Filters makes some nice ones and they come in different sizes based on how large the camera lens is.

Grad filters are best used with a filter holder, but they can be hand held in front of the lens in certain circumstances. The idea behind a grad (graduated) filter is that the photographer can move the filter around to cover say just the sky in a landscape shot. With its effects “gradually” falling off.  The sky is an area that is typically over exposed but with a neutral density grad filter only the sky portion can manipulated and be brought down to the exposure of everything else. 

Digital Photography Classes

While I am partial to the Digital Photography Classes and Photoshop Classes that I teach but you may not be near the San Francisco East Bay but you still want to give a great gift. 

Terry VanderHeiden teaching Digital Photography classes in Pleasanton, California. 

Someone close to you may have an interest in attending a hands-on workshop where they can really learn more about their camera or a specific type of photography.  These small class workshops can give a fantastic learning experience to the photographer that is looking to get serious about their photography or to learn how to edit the images properly after they are done with a day’s shooting.

In order to find a class near you, type into Google: photography classes, (city or town) you should get a full range of classes and workshops near you.

Photography Workshops

Workshops can be held at specific locations teaching all about how to photograph in that spot of the world.  Many of them will take you out on location to show you where the best opportunities for photography are and the best time of day to be shooting.  Lots of these workshops will also have review sessions to talk about your images and  show you how to best  process the images digitally.  Some workshops can be destination driven in order to plan a complete vacation around shooting and learning. 

Go Pro Hero3

While this is not technically a still camera nor do they take any great amount of skill to operate but the GoPro video cameras are a blast to play with. Starting at a couple of hundred bucks the diminutive video cameras pack a lot of fun in small package.

Just about any computer savvy, creative type will enjoy putting their imagination to work coming up with new ways and locations to use the GoPro.

GoPro has three models this season.  The top of the line model, Black, has Wi-fi built in and can transmit what you have shot, the view of the camera and other important information back to your smart phone for instant gratification. 

Searching for Gold in the Sierras

Many states are quite popular for their fall colors and with good reason, New England in October is hard to beat.  However, closer to home in California, reside some spectacular viewing locations for fall colors. 

This grove was shot at sunset near Mcgee Creek in the Eastern Sierras

October in the Eastern Sierras is a great time and place to check out the fall colors but keep in mind you are most likely to see "California Gold" dotting the hill sides.  Seems as though the Aspen trees are found along just about anywhere there was fresh water.  From the creeks that flowed down the mountain sides to the crystalline lakes along the  section from Bridgeport to Bishop on the west side of highway 395, make great spots to see the aspen trees in full splendor. 

Convict Lake