Photographing the times of our lives, families, friends, birthdays, gatherings…and more

On Saturday my wife and I went to Marshallville, Ohio to visit with her brother Mike and Sister-in-law Kathy. It was Kathy’s birthday and at the same time the Marshallville “history days” or some such celibration. Patty’s dad was there, her sister Pam, and Kathy’s parents were there too. There was a hot-rod show and I caught the last tractor pull of the afternoon. It was a good day.

The portraits below started with my asking to take a portrait of Mike and Kathy, then we decided to take a portrait of the girls, then the brothers and sisters, then the family. Then Kathy asked if I would take few pictures of her mom and dad too. Kathy’s mom and dad are very old and her mom is starting to have memory issues.

Patty’s dad had fought through cancer last year (he was at death’s door) at the same time in the same hospital her mom was critically ill.

I’m telling you all this just to encourage you to pull out your camera and volunteer to take some portraits when you are with your family and friends. Tomorrow the entire situation could be completely different. And it is not always the oldest person who we loose. These portraits took a few minutes, not like the hour or so I normally spend with my photography clients, but they too will last a lifetime and have great meaning for those who choose to keep them.

Don’t forget to have the portraits printed out. Computers change. Hard drives crash. Technology changes quickly and computer media becomes corrupted or out of date as well.

PORTRAIT TIPS: Use a wider f stop to make the background more blurry (f 2.8, f4, f5.6). Shoot with a longer lens (at least 85mm) for more pleasing portraits of people. Shoot in open shade, not in the bright sun. The light will be much more even and pictures will be much nicer without having people squint and without having dark shadows in their eye sockets. Try to have your subjects brighter than the background (keep the background in the shade too).  Last of all I always say, ” Now touch each other, it will make people think you like each other!” This always brings some natural smiles AND the portraits seem so much more intimate when the subject are touching.

Here are just a couple of the portraits I offered to make for a few minutes during the day we spent with Kathy and Mike to celebrate her birthday. This is Mike & Kathy.

This is Patty’s family. Left is her older sister Pam, then dad, then Patty and her brother Mike on the far right.

I took some candids of other things from the day, but I also put my camera in the trunk of my car (nearby) to socialize with everyone.

Hocking Hills Ohio, a vacation in wonderland and lessons in photography

I thought I would share some of the pictures that I took while vacationing over the 4th of July weekend in the Hocking hills or SE Ohio. For those interested in learning to take better pictures, I will explain what I did with each image or perhaps why certain elements are included in the images. I you have no interest in learning to take better pictures, then just look at the pictures and tell me if you think I did okay.

Evan is on the far right. Thumbs up because this is cool. Jordan is far left with the dreads. He is our nature boy and was climbing everything and observing the cliffs as well as things as small as spider webs.  Alison, Lindsey, and Grant are in the middle. They are Andy’s kids. Pam is on the far right taking a picture of the group with several cameras. Patty, my wife, is not in this picture. Pam is Patty’s sister.

Making the picture:

Throughout the day I would pull out my gray target card and snap a photo for calibration of color. These caves and deep woods are very shady and I knew that I would have to calibrate the color of the images some how. I my case I shoot in RAW format and adjust the color of the images using the gray card. For those who prefer to shoot in JPG format, you would have to calibrate for white balance before you start shooting. If you don’t learn to calibrate for color or white balance, then pictures, especially in the shade will tend toward blue or cool color.  It is amazing to me how much difference color calibration makes in images. As we were walking through these caves, they seems to have a warm glow. Without the calibration I would have settled for cool damp looking photographs. Auto white balance is just not smart enough to adjust color balance accurately. I took some additional pictures of this group without Pam at the right. To me including Pam creates some interest and tells a story.

I shot everything using my 17-40 f4 wide angle zoom lens. In this image there are extremes of very dark shadow and bright sun lit areas. If I had allowed much more of the sunny part into the image it would have caused the rest of the image to underexpose. If I had focused solely in the dark areas then the brighter areas would have gone completely white. I did not want to turn up my ISO too high because it would begin to show more noise (random specs of color in the shadows of the image). As  you can see from Patty walking to the right of the image the shutter speed was slow. Since I did not have a tripod one trick that I use to hand hold slow shutter speeds is to use the motor drive on my camera. Rather than clicking just one image, I shoot off 4-5 shots. Usually I find that I was pretty still on one of the images and a couple will be unacceptable because of camera shake. I have also found that when using a wide angle lens, it just seems more interesting to me to have something close and something far. I darkened the bright area to the upper left quite a bit, however I lost some detail from the extreme brightness there.

The lighting was very interesting in this part of the trail. To capture it I took several images, but each time changed something. One I shot in the landscape format (horizontal) and the others I shot in the portrait (vertical) format. I also, you can see tried some pointing down into the shadows more and some pointing more up into the light. I is amazing to see how different a small change in angle makes to these images. I did not do any brightness changes on these because this is pretty much how I remember the scene and the lighting as it was is what makes this interesting to me. So take several images when you see something, but change things around somehow as you are shooting so that you have some choices, not just five frames of the same image. Which one do YOU like best?

As you walk through these caves your eyes adjust to the shade and then to the bright spots created when the sun sneaks through the trees and creates bright patches on the sandstone and dirt. I darkened the bright areas some, but if I were to eliminate them completely then the warm glow of the caves would be lost to shadow. With extremes in lighting you have to compromise in whatever way captures the scene more truly. Having a person in the image ad perspective to communicate more of the enormous size of some of these stone formations.

This portrait of Lindsey and Grant demonstrates the rule of thirds. Although the image is not cut perfectly into thirds, you notice that the people are not dead center. Nor is the water fall behind them. A bulls eye photo would feel boring and uninteresting or static. By moving things off center there are lots of things that draw your eye to various parts of this picture and make it interesting to look at.

Well, I hope you had fun looking at some of my pictures. These are not my creative senior portraits or my portraits with horses, but they keep me working on improving my photography so that I can deal with any outdoor setting that is presented to me for my professional images. I am a believer in lifelong learning. My goal is to learn something more each day in my photography. I learn about marketing, business, creative processes, photoshop, or whatever it is that I am open to by being around others. I have found that people who are not open to learn tend not to see so much that there is to be seen and to learn about.

Peter DeMott, http://www.photosbypdemott.com

Would love to connect with you via email (peter@photosbypdemott.com) or facebook or whatever. If you are interested in hiring me for a lifestyle portrait session for senior portraits, families, kids and equines, just give me a call at 937-478-6222.

Megan models for the Senior Portrait photography workshop

I had a great time at the senior portrait workshop sponsored by PPSO here in the Dayton area. There were about 30-35 photographers from Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky here for a full day of learning. My son Evan and his friend Megan were two of the three models for the event.

Today, I thought I would just share a couple senior portraits of Megan. Although she was nervous at first, it was a really fun experience and she did a great job.

Many of the photographers talked about Megan’s beautiful eyes. Actually everything about here was lovely, but my gosh those eyes are something, wouldn’t you say. Creative pictures for girls involve softening whatever they do by bending in as many places as possible and shooting at an angle from the body rather than straight on.

Megan’s lovely smile was also a hit with all the photographers participating in the workshop.

This girls senior portrait has a secret garden sort of feel because of the leaves that I am peeking through to get the picture.

I got to meet several photographers that will be joining PPSO because of the great day they had with us learning to take better senior portraits. I enjoy friending other photographers as well as people who enjoy my style and are considering me for their senior portrait sessions. A phone consultation is the first step in scheduling your senior portrait photography session here in the Dayton and surrounding area. Peter DeMott 937-478-6222

This post will appear on my web site: http://www.photosbypdemott.com It will also appear on my facebook personal page and my facebook fan page along with a post on twitter. I am a portrait photographer in the Dayton, Ohio area specializing in on-location portraits of seniors, families and children. I also have a specialty in equine (horse) photography and will come to your farm or stable for your session. If you like my style I encourage you to follow me in any or all the above mentioned areas. If you are a photographer, I enjoy networking with other photographers both professional and amateur.

PPSO June all day workshop by Ken Kneringer PPA Master Photographer

JUNE 7th, 9am to 9pm at Cox Aboretum and Gardens in Dayton Ohio

This is for all my photographer friends in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. We have an all day workshop planned with Master Photographer Ken Kneringer at Cox Aboretum and Gardens meeting center here in Dayton, Ohio. The ALL DAY seminar is only $99 for non-PPSO members ($110 at the door) and I have heard not only that Ken is an outstanding Senior Portrait photographer, but that he is an outstanding teacher.

I am attaching the flyer here, but when this posts to facebook it may be too small to read or use. If you want me to email the pdf to your directly, just send me an email and I will send it right out to you ( peter@photosbypdemott.com ). I saw Ken a couple of years ago and his one hour presentation was packed with information. I cannot wait to see what I have in store to learn from an all day HANDS ON seminar including: the formula that has made him one of Indianapolis’s most sought after senior photographers, lighting and tools to create images that today’s seniors are after, and his photoshop post processing and retouching tips.

I’m sure you will come away with great senior picture ideas for girls and boys, ways to make senior portrait sessions fun and exciting for senior students, and many unique senior portrait ideas that sell.

Lunch AND Dinner are included in the price. You cannot beat that. Come and join me with many other professional photographers as we learn together how to grow our businesses with senior portraits and how to give our senior portrait clients the pictures and poses they want.

You will enjoy this Photography workshop in Dayton Ohio. Along with learning the business of senior portrait photography from one of the best, you will learn senior picture poses, senior portrait lighting, outdoor portrait poses and lighting, and you will have the chance to network with photographers from all over the region.

Hope to see your there. P.S Please click on the share buttons below to get this out to your photographer friends too.

Peter DeMott Photography • 937-478-6222 • peter@photosbypdemott.com • Member PPSO and PPO

The Rolex Three Day Event at Kentucky Horse Park

Almost every year Patty and I make a trek down the the Kentucky Horse Park to watch the cross country jumping part of the Rolex. The weather forcasts for the day (Saturday 4/24/2010) were not good. However, we decided to go anyway and hope for the best. As it turned out, we drove through rain, but by the time we got there the pavement was dry and it was already starting to warm up.

I use the event to hone my skills and become a better photographer. We typically watch each jump for one or two riders then move on to the next jump taking in almost the entire course.

Another fun thing is touching base with photographer friends that I see there. I ran into Jennay, Kelly, and Danita this year. There are hundreds of photographers honing their skills all over the grounds and another thing that I do is introduce myself here and there and mention the Equine Photographer’s Network. “Have you heard of the Equine Photographer’s Network?” I say. Then I say something about what it is if they have not heard of it. Usually the response is, “That sounds great.” I give them my card and ask them to send me an email so I can send them a link the EPnet so that they can check it out for themselves. http://www.equinephotographers.org/

We saw one refusal, but we didn’t see any wrecks this year. However there were a couple of wrecks. One both horse and rider were walking. The other happened just before the end of the event and the rider was careflighted to the hospital by helicopter. I did not hear how it happened or about the horse. http://www.kentucky.com/624 http://www.kentucky.com/2010/04/25/1239175/bashed-and-bruised-townend-out.html

This year, many of the jumps were modified and there were several that had “sythetic break-a-way logs” made of styrophome. In prior years there had been some jumps that presented serious problems for horses and riders involving solid heavy logs spread out  several feet. A minor miscalculation by the horse or rider could have serious consequences whenever horses are jumping, but these past jumps proved particularly difficult and dangerous in the past. I was pleased to see less complexity in this respect. At the same time, the biggest wreck last year was on a simple jump at the beginning or the course. However, this is an intense sport anyway as are all horse sports, even recreational riding, so injuries do occur no matter how well planned the jumps can be. Just last weekend, my daughter Sarah was dismounting at an endurance ride and her horse started bucking and reacting to something. She fell and was kicked in the head cracking her helmet. No long lasting injuries because of wearing correct protective gear (head ache and stiff neck for a day). And yet there are still those who insist on riding horses without head protection (of course everyone at the Rolex is required to wear protective gear).

Here are some of the images from the day. This first photograph is where the one major accident happened on Saturday.

Snow day pictures in Dayton, Ohio: horses, snow and people, how fun!

My wife, Patty is a teacher at Miamisburg city schools. There is nothing more fun than a snow day and today would certainly have been one, except for the fact that they already had the day off for presidents day.

Riding horses in snow is great fun and with the snow coming down throughout the day Patty could not wait for the snow to stop to get out and ride. Patty does endurance rides and competitive trail rides in the summer and this was a great opportunity to exercise her horses. The snow was so deep that it was like riding through deep sand. However before she could ride, she thought it was wise to lunge the horses. They were very excited about all the snow coming down as you will see in the pictures.

As you can see the snow was quite deep. The next image shows Merlot putting his nose down in the snow as he continued around Patty.

Patty laughs as Merlot’s nose is covered with snow.

Below is Cocoa being lunged before his ride. I was too exhausted from clearing the snow from the driveway to trudge out to the pasture to take pictures of them riding, plus the snow was coming down so hard that my camera would have been soaked in no time. Now it is official. Another SNOW DAY with school canceled for tomorrow. More fun in the snow, more riding horses in the snow, how fun is that? Our neighbor was nice enough to run his tractor mounted snow blower up our drive earlier, but I was the one who had to dig a path to where we dump our manure so that the horses could have nice fresh new bedding after their ride in the deep snow of the 2010 winter here in Dayton, Ohio. The snow has not quit and it is now dark.

Cocoa is such a good boy. He gets a pat on the head before headed out for a ride with Patty.

With all the snow, now our third major snow fall in the last couple of weeks, I’ve listed several posts about taking better pictures in snow. You can find them linked to my home page on this web site: http://www.photosbypdemott.com This post will appear on my notes page on my facebook personal page. It will also appear on my wall on my photography business fan page on facebook and it will be tweeted on my twitter account. Please feel free to follow me in any of these locations.

Taking better Snow pictures

I’m not sure if this video link will work, but it is funny. It is a Balimore weather man talking about the snow that is coming this February 6th, 2010. Click on the link and see if if works and have a chuckle before I give you some tips on taking better pictures in snow.

Baltimore weather man

With so much heavy snow throughout the region I know that photographers will be out in droves trying to take some lovely snow pictures and portraits. Horses in the snow, kids in the snow, trees covered with snow and everything else will be photographed by everyone who enjoys photography. Many will be frustrated with their snow picture results. My professional friends, people who just got a great new digital camera for Christmas, and people who just take a few pictures now and then will be wondering if their camera broke.

Why are my snow pictures always so dark? I don’t want any more gray snow pictures

Camera meters which determine the amount of exposure that comes into the camera are based on average lighting situations. In most average situations 18% gray is what your camera wants to record. There are some dark areas, some lighter areas and some mid-tone areas in almost every image so your camera sets the amount of light exposing the film or sensor to that reading. The problem with snow pictures is that they have very little mid-tones and dark areas. Most of the image is white with snow. Your camera although quite sophisticated does not have a brain of its own and needs a little help from you. Without your help it will do what it knows to do and create an average 18% gray image. Your snow pictures will not have white snow, but will be VERY underexposed and dark. With digital cameras underexposed images also show a lot of noise or grain and so not only will your snow pictures be darks, but they will also be murky.

What is the solution to my dark, murky snow pictures?

Since you want your snow to appear white in your pictures, you have to take control of the situation and make some adjustments. The solution is fairly easy. If you are on one of the automatic exposure settings, that’s fine. You can stay there, but you need to find a menu setting called EXPOSURE COMPENSATION. Usually it is a little table with a plus + and a minus – sign showing. The normal setting is “0″. You need to tell your camera you want MORE LIGHT even though it may be very bright outside with all that snow. Remember, your camera wants to create an 18% gray scene so it will set the camera shutter speed and aperture to allow less light in turning your snow to 18% gray. Now more gray snow. Move that compensation setting to +1 and give it a test. Still dark? Then move it to +2 and take another test image. Oops, too bright (if you have your highlights warning on you will see the snow flashing in red perhaps), then try +1.5. Good, that looks great.

What should my HISTOGRAM look like?

If you are used to checking your histogram to confirm good exposures, you will be used to something that looks something like a bell curve. There is some data showing on the left and a big hump somewhere in the middle and then some on the right. A big hump in the middle USUALLY works good, but not with snow images. Average images show up that way because they are average with some dark areas, lots of mid-tones and some bright or highlight areas. With snow you do not want your histogram to look that way. With an image that is dominated with white snow, you histogram will be a hump toward the right of the graph. In fact it will be a big hump and very to the right of your viewing window. However, you don’t want it to be up against the right wall of your histogram. If your histogram looks like a graph that would continue to the right (not a spike or a hump but a wall), then it is likely you have over compensated and you will lose some detail in the bright areas of your image. If you have an image program like photoshop, you are welcome to drag these two images to your desktop and check the histogram of both. The dark image below has a middle hump histogram. The correctly exposed snow picture show a spike or hump to the right (the brighter side of the graph).

Histogram of darker image showing most data in the middle. Most of the data is toward the middle of the histogram where your mid-tones would normally be showing. What that means is that your camera is recording your snow as a mid-tone and you will have gray snow :

Below is the histogram of the image with proper exposure for snow images. Most of the data (the snow part of the image) shows up on the right side of the histogram where the white part of your image should register:

This last histogram shown below is overcompensated. You are too high on the plus + and the highlights will be “blown out” which means that the data about the texture of the snow will be lost. Do you see what I mean by the data is up against the wall of the right side of your histogram. There is more data to the right, but it is off the graph and is not being recorded by the camera. It is lost information and you cannot fix lost information.

Here is the image that you would normally get without compensating for all the bright snow. This is the first exposure and histogram example:

Below is an image with exposure compensation of +1.5 set on the camera before taking the picture. Remember, if you don’t make the change, your images will be very under exposed and this cannot be corrected with your image program because it will look murky and noisy from the lack of proper exposure. This is the second histogram example.

Manual mode as an option

Some folks like to know exactly what their camera is doing all the time and they want to set all the exposure settings manually. However, the outdoors is not a studio where everything will stay the same. One minute there may be an opening in the sky and it could become much brighter. Another minute another brightness level. If you are in full manual mode, you will need to be checking frequently for changes in the amount of light in the scene. Personally, I would prefer to be able to concentrate on my subject after once making the adjustments in the camera to correct for all the bright snow. BUT, if you are a die-hard manual shooter, just overexpose by one or two stops and check your histogram to make sure you are not clipping the highlights.

LAST—Big caution–YOU MUST DO THIS–Remember this!!!!!

When you are finished shooting in a snowy scene. YOU MUST SET YOUR CAMERA COMPENSATION SETTING BACK TO “0″. If you leave it at plus +1.5 then when you encounter a more normal scene all your images will be over exposed.

I hope this helps you to have some great photography fun in the snow and get spectacular results. Go out and take some pictures and make some comments here.

This post will appear on my web site: http://www.photosbypdemott.com It will also appear on my facebook personal page and my facebook fan page along with a post on twitter. I am a portrait photographer in the Dayton, Ohio area specializing in on-location portraits of seniors, families and children. I also have a specialty in equine (horse) photography and will come to your farm or stable for your session. If you like my style I encourage you to follow me in any or all the above mentioned areas. If you are a photographer, I enjoy networking with other photographers both professional and amateur.

The meaning of 1/1000th of one second and capturing a moment in time

Ears up and alert:

As I was listening to some other photographers being interviewed in podcast interview, I was considering a common thing that happens with my equine portrait (horse portrait) clients. During an equine portrait session at a farm or boarding stable I usually have an extra person with me that is in charge of getting the attention of the horse. Now I have to explain to the person in the portrait that they need to pay attention to me and my instructions and not worry about how the horse looks as that is my responsibility.

Ears are the RADAR animals use to protect themselves

Horses like other animals have ears that can be turned every which way like radar to find out what is happening around them. It is something that God gave them to help them to more effectively deal with predators and dangers. When you are around horses, you will see their ears twitching this way or that continuously. The movements are very quick and effortless.

Client Seeming disappointment

Now as I am taking the portraits involving horses and humans, the person in the portrait hears the shutter firing, then they look up at their horse and they see the horse with their ears in various places, but seldom do they see ears pricked forward and looking interested.  Every fraction of a second that horse moves its ears this way and that as it explores its environment and surroundings. It takes a moment or two (lets say two full seconds) for the human subject to look up at the horse. So the impression they have is that I am capturing portraits of their horse when he looks like a mule (not to insult mules), he looks disinterested or distracted.

Trying to help someone get a better portrait / timing is everything – or at least it is VERY important

I have also noticed this when I’m around a mom or a dad with a camera or a grandma with a camera it’s in my nature to try to help them get good portraits of their daughter or son or gand-kid with their horse. In one case, I even stood behind the person with a camera explaining that I would help them with “ears up” so they could get a better portrait. Every time when the ears were pricked forward, I would say,”now!” and in every case about 3 full seconds later they would depress the shutter button (or in some cases if they had a point and shoot, there was a shutter delay of several seconds). By then the horse’s ears had gone several different ways, but were no longer pricked forward and at attention. From a professional point of view, these would be failed portraits or perhaps what we might call it just a “snapshot”, not a portrait.

It’s the same with other animals. Each kind of animal or breed has a list of things that have to look just so for the image to be outstanding.

The meaning of 1/1000th of one second

Now for the meaning of 1/1000th of one second. When my subject opens their web page at the proofs page from their equine photo session it is not uncommon for me to get an email something like this, “Wow, how did you do that? These are great….oh my gosh.” You recall from above every time I clicked the shutter they would look up at their horse and they saw their horse with its ears back or cockeyed (looking mulish, not to insult mules), but what they did not realize was that I had captured 1/1000th of one second and that was 50 1/1000ths of a second ago. EVERYTHING had changed by the time they turned their eyes up toward their horse.

Choosing One 1/1000th of one second from 7 million 200 thousand others

There are ONE THOUSAND 1/1000ths of a second IN EACH SECOND and I picked  JUST ONE to create an enduring moment that could be cherished by the horse owner for years to come. Think of it just a little more. In a two hour farm call session there are 120 minutes. Each minutes has 60 seconds in it for a total of 7,200 seconds and each second has one thousand 1/1000ths of a second shutter click opportunities for a whopping total of 7 million 200 thousand shutter click opportunities in a two hour session. Not that we need to go there, but my camera has a 1/5000th of one second shutter speed option…Whew!

After about an hour with Kristen, she was exhausted from pulling her horse’s head up out of the green grass an exceptionally green early fall. Every time she looked up her horse was distracted and each ear was going a different direction. Her dad who watched from afar was skeptical that there would be much of anything to look at from the session. Both Kristen and her mom said, “Oh well, we tried (or something of that nature).” I said, “I think you are both going to be pleasantly surprised.”

As you look through her senior portrait session with her horse, consider all the moments that are not recorded. As photographers we have many, many choices as to the exact moment we choose to record. And this is just one aspect of what is important for good animal and animal with human portraits.

To see Kristen’s session with her and her horse and her puppy just click on this link.

As an equine photographer and senior portrait photographer her in SW Ohio (Greater Dayton area including Miamisburg, Springboro, Centerville, Kettering, Oakwood, Beavercreek, Xenia, Fairborn, Troy, Tipp City, Englewoood and Vandalia) I really enjoy combining the two. Other senior portrait photographers, even if they are willing to come to your location, seldom know much about horses. Nothing can ruin a senior portrait with a beautiful young lady more than a beautiful horse that looks like a mule (again, no insult intended for mules).

Also, for those in Tennessee visit my friend JULIE POOLE’s web site. She photographs horses, but along with humans she is well known for portraits of dogs and cats and their humans. Look at how alert they look and consider how many different moments she has to choose from when taking these portraits.

This post is on my web site: http:www.photosbypdemott.com . It will also be on my facebook fan page and on my personal facebook page. It will be linked on my twitter account. You are welcome to follow or friend me in any or all of these locations.

Senior Portraits in Snow, Horse and Rider Portraits in Snow & Family and Kids in Snow

Gray and dreary outdoors here in the Dayton area. I cannot wait for Spring and the blossoms and new green foliage.

Right now in the Dayton area, there is not much snow. However the first weeks of February can be unpredictable and we could have what West Virginia is digging out of any time in the next several weeks (first three weeks of February, that is). As it is now, we have nothing but gray and it does not make for beautiful outdoor portraits.

BUT, if the snow flies again consider professional on-location outdoor portraits

If we do get a big dose of snow in the coming weeks, I just want you to know that I am available to take Senior Portraits in Snow. I’ve recently posted some snow portraits with horses along with some tips on how to get great snow pictures and portraits. Lots of white snow is NOT a time when you can just trust you camera to make the right decisions. If you want to take your own pictures in the snow, review my previous posts to get some good ideas, but it you want professional on-location snow portraits of your high school senior or your children (special family time portraits of mom and dad with the kids), don’t hesitate to give me a call when the weather man starts talking heavy snow. If you have a wooly horse that you want portraits with in the snow, I can do those too. If it works out, you will have extra special portraits, completely unique and fun to share. Call me at 937-478-6222 (Peter DeMott). IF the snow comes and IF someone takes me up on this offer, I will share some extra special and completely unique family portraits, senior portraits, or horse and rider portraits here on my blog.

If you missed my earlier posts with tips on getting good snow pictures and portraits with your digital camera, here they are:

http://www.photosbypdemott.com/2010/01/snow-snow-snow-taking-better-pictures-in-snow/

http://www.photosbypdemott.com/2010/01/taking-better-winter-snow-portraits-follow-up/

This post is on my web site and blog here: http://www.photosbypdemott.com . It will also appear on my personal facebook page where you are welcome to friend me: Peter DeMott . It will be on my Twitter account: pdemottphoto . And last it will show up on my facebook fan page: Peter DeMott Photography . You are welcome to share these posts and links with your friends in snowy areas, become a fan or friend or follow my web site by subscribing on the top right of my home page. Thanks, Peter DeMott

Becoming a photographer, being a photographer, learning about photography

Recently I received an email update from F-Stop Beyond: THE EXPERIENCE. I have been subscribing to his email newsletter for several years. This one captured my interest in that it had an offering. For $29 he would send me a pdf about blogging for my business AND a audio file about pricing professional services (it is a mp-3 of a coaching session about pricing). In addition for a short time anyone who purchased this small package, the entire amount would be sent to Haiti Relief. I am listening to the audio file right now as I create this post.

I like to provide my photographer friends with resources from time to time in this blog.

Today I am listing a couple of podcasts that I receive through iTunes. I listen to these when I am driving places or when I am mucking out stalls or working out in the gym. They offer inspiration and knowledge.

If you do not have an ipod, the smaller units are very inexpensive and many of the more current phones include M-p3 players in them that can be synced to the iTunes podcasts that you subscribe to. THESE ARE ALL FREE PODCASTS! If you don’t want to be able to listen as you go, you can also listen directly from your computer, no problem.

Here is short list:

One of Ron Dawson’s web sites: F-Stop Beyound.TV

On iTunes look up these podcasts (Open iTunes and search under podcasts, then click on the subscribe button):

F-Stop Beyond: THE EXPERIENCE

F-Stop Beyond / Shows 1-99

Rangefinder Radio

Pictage Podcast

I also listen to podcasts about internet marketing, and some general photography podcasts.

So check them out and enjoy.

This post is posted on my website and blog. It will be in my notes on facebook and on my wall at Peter DeMott Photography of facebook.

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