Tim Hawkins – Comedian [Fuji X-E2, 55-200mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/9, 1/100]

Tim Hawkins often says in his comedy routines that there are only two things different between himself and the audience when it comes to comedy.

First, he has the microphone, and second, talent. Of course, he says this towards the end of his shows after you have been laughing so hard that you have been crying.

Often at the root of a calling to do something is a passion for it. I think cowboys who get on bucking horses and bulls must have a real passion for the sport.

For many of my photojournalist friends, we all have met people and felt like their stories must be told. This burning within our hearts is when we realize that if we don’t tell the story, no one will.

I am seeing now, more than at any other time, photojournalist after photojournalist who cannot find anyone who will support them to do a story that self-funds the coverage of the story.

During the 1960s, Eugene Richards was a civil rights activist and VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) volunteer. Richards’ published photographs are primarily intended to raise social awareness, have been characterized as “highly personal,” and are both exhibited and published in a series of books.

Just a couple of years ago, he was speaking about finding a story that had to be told. No one would underwrite the coverage. After he did it himself, the photos were too disturbing for any publication to take it on.

He would then publish the work as a book with his son. This, with other examples like his, has always opened other doors later for more work, but the calling to do the job was personal.

This past weekend I was part of the planning meeting for the Southwestern Photojournalism Conference. Patrick Murphy-Racey asked us all to go around the room and tell of a heart, and the head moment we could share from the conference that impacted our lives.

Pat shared how close he was to giving up and going into another industry when he came to a conference where Eugene Richards spoke about his passion for subjects that compelled him to do a story even if no one would pay him.

Pat felt he had just been taken out to the shed for a good whipping. He realized he couldn’t stop and would find a way to continue.

Today because of that reignited passion, Pat is a Sony Artisan, and his shooting and speaking schedule has him busy again.

The Southwestern Photojournalism Conference is the conference for those who believe photojournalism to be a calling and the act of bearing witness to be necessary.

All those biblical stories of people hearing God call them to require them to take a “Leap of Faith.” That is an act of believing in or attempting something whose existence or outcome cannot be proved. You are moving into often unchartered waters.

This is so true for the photojournalist who feels called. You see, if the story has been told, then you are not needed. But to tell a story that hasn’t been told requires you to take many risks.

Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

– 1 Timothy 6:12

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

– 1 Peter 2:21

[Nikon D5, Nikon 85mm ƒ/1.8, ISO 5000, ƒ/1.8, 1/100]

I love isolating subjects in a room using selective focus. Selective focus is using a limited depth of field to focus sharply on a specific object in a scene while other parts are out-of-focus.

The Nikon 85mm ƒ/1.8 is a great lens to use in a social function like I was covering here. It helps throw the background out of focus and keep your eyes focused on the subject you have picked out of the room.

Now I love to have layering as in this photo. The lady in the foreground and the lady in the background are out of focus while the subject is super sharp.

By shooting over a person’s shoulder, I am giving context to who the subject is talking to or listening to in these photos. So while the aperture of ƒ/1.8 uses selective focus, you can still add information that is secondary to the main subject.

Try and always have the eye closest to the camera in focus when using this technique. Many of today’s cameras have a focusing mode that locks in on the eyes.

With the Nikon D5
Auto-area AF: The camera automatically detects the subject and selects the focus point; if a face is seen, the camera will prioritize the portrait subject. The active focus points are highlighted briefly after the camera focuses; in AF-C mode, the main focus point is displayed after the other focus points have turned off.

While this is a great way to shoot an event, please don’t only shoot this way for an event. Always use more than one aperture setting. Vary your depth-of-field, so you have a variety of types of photos to give to your client.

[Nikon D5, Sigma 24-105mm ƒ/4, ISO 51200, ƒ/13, 1/100]

Most meetings will have some similar elements. I am showing here some of what I call the photos typical for the bullet list of shots.

The first one here is the keynote speaker showing people are listening. Here, I shot at a considerable depth of field to be sure you could see the crowd.

Now, I always back up in the corner of a room and try to capture the entire space. Most meeting planners like to have this for the following years for planning purposes. They can see the room layout and prepare for the next year’s meeting.

At many meetings, there is an Expo. In these situations, I have tight and medium shots, which I look for as the one shot to show what happens. You have multiple conversations going on all through the room. This helps capture why someone would like to attend the meeting for all the networking opportunities.

Usually, there are panels of speakers. The important thing is not just to show an element in a meeting but to capture a moment. Here, you have the speaker gesturing passionately with the other panelists, having some reaction. For example, this is better than all the panelists just sitting there waiting to speak.

Look for audience participation. This comes in many forms. Show them listening and look for that body language that captures them in thought. It shows that the content of the meeting is engaging.

Shoot tight and medium shots to show the engagement.

Ah, yes, the questions. Here, I show the person questioning and those around him.

Also, isolate the questioner. I did include just a few of the room participants here.

PowerPoint presentations can prove difficult due to the fair value on the screen compared to the speaker. But I try to compress this by shooting from the side for a more pleasing, interesting shot than straight on. However, with that said, I still shoot straight on, but the key is to give the client variety.

Don’t just get a person behind the podium. Look for gestures and facial expressions that capture their passion for the subject.

Specific photos communicate the conference leaders over the speakers. This is an excellent example of where one of the event planners stands up to give a few comments.

My tip for every photo you take of people is to capture the body language and facial expressions that help to tell part of the story.

Besides looking for the aesthetics, vary your aperture to include more and less in the situations. With today’s cameras and the high ISO, they can capture, you can treat a conference room like an outdoor scenic shot where everything is in focus, or you may want to direct the eyes using selective focus.

The Citadel’s Rifle Legion Drill Team performs for the Project GO meeting held at the Francis Marion Hotel in downtown Charleston, SC.
[Nikon D5, Sigma 24-105mm ƒ/4, ISO 10000, ƒ/5.6, 1/250]

Disclosure: Please note that links to merchants posted on this blog may be an affiliate link which means that I may receive a commission from any purchases made using the affiliate link. This is at no additional cost to you.

I am in Charleston, SC covering a meeting where The Citadel’s Rifle Legion Drill Team performed.

The Citadel Rifle Legion Drill Team is an all-class co-educational drill team at The Citadel. Members of the Legion are essentially volunteers from the corps of cadets who wish to not only further a proficiency in drill, but also to represent the Citadel and the state of South Carolina through a developed expertise which forms from being on the team. The team also strives to promote community service as much as possible and takes part in many parades, performances, and special details throughout South Carolina and the neighboring states.

Now to capture the team inside in a large ballroom I had very little light. So I used my Nikon D5 with ISO 10000 to be able to capture them using available light. I shot at 1/250 shutter to somewhat freeze them, but did want a little movement with the rifles to show they were spinning them and throwing them to each other.

To get a good skin tone I used the ExpoDisc to get a custom white balance.

Ramone Nelson from Heritage High School won the best actor for his portrayal of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables at the Shuler Hensley Awards 2017 at the Cobb Energy Center on April 20, 2017. [Fuji X-E2, 55-200mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/4.4, 1/160]

Last night we were part of the “LIVE TV AUDIENCE” at the 2017 Shuler Hensley Awards Show, which is for Georgia High School Musical Theatre.

We were blown away by the performance of Heritage High School’s Les Miserables.

Most other families were not getting these photos because their Smart Phones do not get well-exposed pictures from far away. The images start to follow apart when they crop in because the photo’s resolution drops. Next, it is difficult for them to set the white balance and control the exposure. Now the very best they can do if they know what they are doing is get well-exposed photos. However, they cannot see or recognize their kid because the phone’s lens can’t reach them.

I use the Fuji X-E2 coupled with the Fuji 55-20mm. Here are the latest camera versions if you want to buy them.

I receive a commission from any purchases made using the affiliate link. This is at no additional cost to you.

We started the evening with the Red Carpet, where our daughter Chelle and her friend Camile came in together.

I was photographing this event like every other parent there with a camera.

The school chose our daughter and Joe Pitts from her high school to represent them in the ensemble, which performed the opening and closing numbers.

I shot with my Fuji X-E2 because I wanted a quiet camera while in the audience. It did a great job.

I chose to shoot the performance on a tungsten white balance setting. This way, as the light color changed, it would look like the audience saw it rather than the auto-white balance trying to correct it.

Don’t rely on your phone to take photos of everything you want to preserve for your family memories. Buy a camera designed for theater, sports, or something else you need to capture.

For me, the second most fun thing to do other than traveling the world and meeting new people has photos to share with others about my travels.

I hope you are making some vacation plans for your summer. Here are some tips for capturing your vacation and keeping them for the years to come to help you remember your travel and share them with others.

Which Camera?

Here are three solutions I recommend: 1) The Point & Shoot; 2) The Mirrorless Camera; & 3) The DSLR

The Point & Shoot

This is the newest version of the Nikon P7800. Click on the image to buy. This link takes you to Amazon, and I get a percentage of the sale. You pay the same price.

Now the advantage of a point and shoot is size.

The Mirrorless Camera

This is the newest version of the Fuji X-E2s. Click on the image to buy. This link takes you to Amazon, and I get a percentage of the sale. You pay the same price.

The DSLR

I recommend the Nikon D750 with the Nikon 28-300mm as a small kit that will let you capture just about anything. Also, many prefer the Nikon 24-120mm ƒ/4 since it is a fixed aperture.

What to look for in all three cameras:

1. High ISO of at least ISO 6400 or higher
2. If there is only one lens, I recommend a zoom that covers the 28-200mm range.
3. Buy extra batteries
4. Buy multiple Memory Cards

Now the Fuji X-E2 and the Nikon D750 both had wifi that let me upload to my phone using their Apps and then post immediately to my social media. Very cool!

Keep your camera steady

When taking photos, the #1 problem is motion blur. Hold the camera still and SQUEEZE the shutter release. Don’t punch it.

Sometimes when I am excited to be somewhere, I will take my shutter speed and crank it up to be sure my photos are sharp and not blurry from camera motion. The rule is your shutter speed should be at least a fraction of a second of the lens’ focal length.

When I am excited, I use a faster shutter speed of 1/250 or 1/500 to avoid motion blur.

Talk to people

Don’t stand across the street with the longest lens and take pictures of people on the other side of the road. Do go up and introduce yourself. Tell them why you want to take their photo. I love your outfit. I like the things you are selling.

While taking portraits of people are great, be sure to back up and take over all shots to help capture the place you traveled so far to go and see.

Notice my shutter speeds are a little higher than maybe necessary. I grabbed shots and didn’t want them to be unusable due to camera movement.

Also, get super close. Please take photos of the food you eat and how it is served. Some traditions are different from where you grew up.

Don’t forget to capture things like the jewelry sold in the market and a closeup.

Be careful when you get super close. Your Depth-of-field will shrink. So the part of the photo in focus from front to back will get so shallow at an aperture of ƒ/1.4 that it can look out of focus. Here I shot the flower at ƒ/5.6. I could have quickly shot at ƒ/11, and the background would still be out of focus.

Carry extra batteries

Carry Extra memory cards

Carry them with you during the day

Every night is sure to recharge your camera batteries. Each morning, remember to pack the extra batteries and memory cards in some small case you can put in a pocket or a backpack.

Carry Pocket Size Moleskin Notebook

Get a good notebook. Mine stands up well to living in my pocket for a few weeks, no matter what I might be doing.

Carry a good pen

The pen must write with a very high level of reliability on the pocket notebooks that I use. “Dud” pens aren’t acceptable, nor are cells that sometimes choose to write only at a certain angle. These pens must be faithful and reliable, always writing when I pull one out to jot down a note.

I write down things like where I have been during the day. If I talk to someone, then I write their name down. Sometimes I get business cards and stick them in the notebook.

My workflow may be pretty different than yours, but I take time to be sure I put in the IPTC the location as well as some caption information so I can share this when I post a photo on social media, and it also helps me remind me where I have been and seen.

Book Cover – Buy the book on Blurb.com

Shoot for a coffee table book

While you may not do one every time, having something in mind will help you capture more variety.

Check out the link on the book above. You can see a preview of the book without purchasing online. Here is a blog post on producing a book I wrote earlier.

You can see how I combined some text with the photos to help me remember all we saw.

These are just some tips, and while there are many other things to share about the shooting, I hope this gets you started and excited about your travel plans this summer.

This is a Christian cross at the Masaya volcano, a caldera located in Masaya, Nicaragua, 20 km south of the capital Managua. [Nikon D5, Sigma 24-105mm ƒ/4, ISO 4500, ƒ/4, 1/100]

This past week Christians around the world celebrated Easter. A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ and his teachings.

I have been reflecting on how my faith is impacting how I live.

I have been thinking about how Jesus came to earth and taught us how to live and did so by introducing us to deal with the most difficult of situations.

Matthew 5:38-48

Eye for Eye
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’[a] 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[b] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

When Jesus was here on earth, the Jews were under the rule of the Romans and treated much like slaves. Jesus also didn’t come as a warrior and take on the Romans. He used the opportunity to teach us how to live under the rule of others.

Most of us are not in positions of authority over others. After running my own business for more than fifteen years, I am more aware of this than ever. I am very much like a servant to my clients.

These verses in Matthew 5:38-48 remind me of how Jesus was teaching us the power of serving while being mistreated.

Luke 11:46

Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.

Jesus also talked to those in positions of power and pointed out how they create burdens for people and do nothing to help them. 

What I find interesting in the scripture is that Jesus appeals to each person’s heart to do the right thing and doesn’t use the power play to change them.

I am thankful for my faith. I am grateful for having Jesus Christ as a teacher. As I read the scriptures, I realize that these are not stories of way back when but examples that help me live today.

No matter how much I struggle due to others, I must take on these burdens with love. We truly live out the Christian faith through our love of those who persecute us.

I often feel like this man on his cart being pulled by a horse surrounded by cars. I think the burden of trying to live with so little often while it appears those around me are in such luxury.

Then I am reminded of what a wonderful family I have and the vacations we have taken.

Have you got $2200? In this world, you’re rich. Assets (not cash) of $2200 per adult place a person in the top 50% of the world’s wealthiest.

If you have sufficient food, decent clothes, live in a house or apartment, and have a reasonably reliable means of transportation, you are among the top 15% of the world’s wealthy.

You earn $25,000 annually in the top 10% of the world’s income earners.

You earn more than $50,000 annually in the top 1% of the world’s income earners.

What is remarkable about Jesus is he taught us how to live no matter our status. His instructions, if we choose to obey them, will change our lives from the inside out rather than from the outside in.

Here are a couple of verses about obedience to Christ’s teachings for the Christian:

Romans 2:6-8

6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

John 14:15

15 “If you love me, keep my commands.

Romans 8:26

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

We have been given Jesus as an example of how to live within this world. He showed us how to pray because I think he understood how our life is so complicated that we need God to navigate it each day.

Jesus taught us to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” and the only way to do this is, in my opinion, through a lot of prayers.

J. K. Rowling wrote in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, “Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.”

Long before the writings of J. K. Rowling was the Gospel writer Mark wrote to Christians who said, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Inside the Artic Circle, 1967: Eskimo child chasing ball. [photo by: Don Rutledge]

What a moment this is of a little boy playing with a ball. No matter where you are from in the world, this captures a moment of joy that we all experienced playing ball.

“Photography is not like painting,” Henry Cartier-Bresson told the Washington Post in 1957. “There is a creative fraction of a second when taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative,” he said. “Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever.”

Cartier-Bresson published a book in 1952 called The Decisive Moment. In the preface, he quoted Cardinal de Retz, “Il n’y a rien Dans ce monde qui n’ait un moment decisive” [“There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment”].

If you have studied photography, you will know about Henry Cartier-Bresson and The Decisive Moment. If you haven’t, you will most likely have no clue what it is all about.

Today I was hit with the problem that when we as photographers start talking to our clients on our terms rather than their terms, we lose them and often create a divide between us.

When talking to the public about capturing a “Decisive Moment,” I think we should say we are about capturing a “Touching Moment.”

You will hear people say “What a Touching Moment,” more than ever, and hear them say what a “Decisive Moment” is. You will see what I am talking about if you Google the two.

The Decisive Moment search yields all the stuff about photography, and the Touching Moment will turn up photos and videos about emotional moments.

While the Decisive Moment is more than just a Touching Moment, you still take time to educate your audience about what you are talking about and, in the exact moment, never give it the justice it needs.

I only suggest using “Touching Moments” as something the average person understands more than trying to educate them on what I call a “photographic term.”

I am often guilty of digging in my heels and trying to explain my position. If you want to win people over, learn their perspective and talk about your position from their perspective and not yours.

A little girl lost in her thoughts while in her family’s corn field in Togo, West Africa. [Nikon D5, Sigma 35mm ƒ/1.4, ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, 1/2000]

A few things produce such anxiety in my life that physically affect me. Going to the dentist for more than a cleaning creates high pressure in my life.

My blood pressure rises, and my heart rate increases.

This anxiety response isn’t limited to my fear of a dental procedure. My friend Brad Moore posted this just the other day on FaceBook:

Brad’s responses let him know that not only did we all suffer from this, some people gave them their solutions on how they have learned to deal with worrying.

When I was studying social work, we had to be trained to help people with their worries and anxiety. We learned to unpack those thoughts, creating fear. Worrying about something can help motivate you to do something, whereas stress can shut you down.

Let me talk a little more about Anxiety and then get back to worrying.

During this training, I learned about two types of anxiety-producing thoughts. There are first those things we have control over, and then there are those we have no control over.

When you let those things, you have no control over taking control of your thoughts; they can freeze you and send you into anxiety-produced depression. If you do not want to be motivated, you need to see a clinical counselor like a social worker, psychologist, or psychiatrist.

You could be in this situation not due to your thinking but because of your genetics and how your body chemistry is set up. You can be very depressed just because the chemicals in your body are out of balance. A medication under medical supervision can bring you out of that deep depression.

Learning that I need to categorize something as in my control or out of my control helped me more than anything else I learned in the lesson. Once I could determine something was out of my control, I knew that no matter how long we pondered it, we were not going to do anything but waste our time.

However, there are things we can do for some things that cause us to worry.

One of the ways I addressed my worries was to create separate cases for my lighting gear needs. I have a chance for video LED lights, another issue with my Speedlights, stands, and umbrellas, and then this one pictured here for when I need a lot of power and might not have the ability available.

I still have two other cases that allow me to bring larger lights for those big jobs.

Worrying about my gear isn’t the only anxiety freelancers deal with regularly.

Remember, there are things out of your control, and these are the things that often still keep me up at night.

When these thoughts start affecting our bodies, like my time in the dentist’s chair, this can produce anxiety, which can be debilitating. Stress is like a hamster wheel that spins us around but doesn’t lead us to productive solutions.

Worry and Anxiety come with living

My personal experience has taught me that I will never get rid of worrying and anxiety. Even these tips are not enough. Life can be just overwhelming at times.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

–– Matthew 6:34

I turn to my faith as my way of navigating these times of stress. While scripture tells us not to worry, it also has the Lamentations.

A Lament in The Book of Lamentations or the Psalms may be seen as a cry of need in a context of crisis. Another way of looking at it is essential: laments simply being “appeals for divine help in distress.”

These laments, too, often have a set format: an address to God, a description of the suffering/anguish from which one seeks relief, a petition for help and deliverance, a curse towards one’s enemies, an expression of the belief of one’s innocence or a confession of the lack thereof, a vow corresponding to an expected divine response, and lastly, a song of thanksgiving.

I struggled with fear and worry for years. But through time, I began to find that the things that once would have sent me down an anxious spiral no longer had the same effect. It didn’t happen quickly but over days, months, and years.

I read words – of life – of truth. I was soaking them in, over and over, praying them out loud. Until they became so familiar, they replaced the other things in my mind that I’d battled against. There’s nothing magical about words and verses, but there is power through them.

“My God, My God, Why?” –Psalms 22:1

I see the laments as a time when we complain to God about something that isn’t right in our eyes. We then go on and request God.

I want to emphasize here that the writers of all the laments then go to the next step in their crying, where they express trust. This often is in the form of God. In the past, you did this. I know from my experience you do intervene. It is the remembrance of how God has taken care of them in the past, and they are asking for his deliverance from what they are suffering from now.

A Biblical lament, then, is an honest cry to a God who is powerful, reasonable, and just. It’s a cry that expects an answer from God and therefore results in hope, trust, and joy rather than despair.

What happens when I pray a lament?

I have had many sinus infections throughout my life, and this painful, disgusting condition is how I feel before I pray. While the response is not always immediate, I know that the answer to my prayer is like being able to breathe again.

The anxiety that froze me and kept me paralyzed is gone. I now am in a state of worry with hope. I can then think about what I can do that I have control over.

So on those nights, I cannot sleep because I wonder where my next check will come from; I can get out of bed and start writing emails. These emails may be pitching ideas to clients and potential customers or something else I haven’t done before.

Once I have written those emails, I can go to bed and sleep.

I believe God helped me get unstuck and even possibly have some ideas.

Summary

Stanley’s Stages of Freelancer’s Anxiety

1. Feeling of being overwhelmed, which leads to anxiety that depresses me
2. Please list what I can do and what I have no control over
3. Take action on what I can do

While these three things sometimes work, more than often, this is really what is happening.

1. Anxious thoughts which paralyze me
2. Depression due to realizing how much of this is due to my past decisions putting me in this situation. [Beating myself up stage]
3. Tears begin to flow that I have no way out of this situation.
4. Brought to my knees in prayer, where I am often yelling at God
5. Slowly I can tell God what the problem is about
6. Asking God to take action
7. I remember how God has helped me before. This reminds me to trust that God will help me again
8. While the problem doesn’t disappear, God has helped me become un-paralyzed.
9. I can think of some things I can do to take action
10. I realize I have done all that I can think of doing
11. I can relax and have hope. Because this happens at night, I can go to sleep finally.

I suggest reading the book of Lamentations in the Bible. Here are five ways it can help you.

1. They help you express your feelings in honest and healthy ways.
2. They help shape your senses, helping us interpret them in light of God’s redemptive plan for the entire world.
3. They teach us more about ourselves by revealing our greatest needs and how our minds and hearts influence our lives.
4. They teach us more about God, his character, and activity in us and the world.
5. They reorient us to the gospel’s truth and how it transforms us from the inside out.

This week I have had a few assignments. Each one needed one main photo that would work with an extended caption.

While I shot hundreds of photos around these locations, it came down to one main shot: if there was space for just one photo, I had to have one that summarized the event the best.

I like this first one for showing a brand new shipping container modified for a temporary drive-thru restaurant.

On Tuesday, there was a dedication ceremony where they unveiled the historical marker at the Original Dwarf House in Hapeville, GA. I arrived early, put my Nikon D5 with a 14-24mm lens on a monopod, and hoisted it up high to capture this shot. The fire the shutter, I just used the timer on the camera to trip the shutter release.

Now I had hundreds of photos of speakers, and people gathered around the historical marker, but all of them didn’t make the simple statement that this photo does. There is a historical marker in front of the Dwarf House.

The key to finding the photo is knowing the storyline. Now you cannot tell the entire story, but can you come close? Just think of what the audience needs to see.

[NIKON D4, 120.0-300.0 mm f/2.8, Mode = Aperture Priority, ISO 12800, 1/1250, ƒ/5.6, (35mm = 270)]

Before you snap a photo like this, you must set your camera to the proper settings.

3 Settings: Exposure, Focus, & Motor Drive

EXPOSURE

Cameras today let you automate the exposure settings and concentrate on getting the moment.

You can put the camera into Manual mode, where you pick the Aperture, Shutter Speed & ISO. But first, I want to tell you why you want to choose specific settings.

First, you must freeze the moment for most of your sports photos, so I recommend shooting as fast as you can—1/4000th of a second. Of course, there are lighting situations that will not let you get that fast, but you must remember that shooting as quickly as possible is the priority.

Use a slow shutter speed only if you want to show the blur.

Second, choose a shallow depth of field to clean up the background by throwing it out of focus. Yes, there are moments when you may want a lot of depth of field, but this is the norm for most sports photos.

Third, too many people are concerned about a high ISO’s poor image. If you are shooting in daylight, this is not a concern with cameras made in the last couple of years. Take a look at the baseball player. Note the setting for ISO 1000.

What is essential is a sharp photo and focus more than if there is any noise in the image. You can live with noise more than with out-of-focus or blurred images.

The last thing I recommend if you have it is to turn on the VR [Vibration Reduction], often called OS [Optical Stabilization], which will help minimize the effects of your body movement on the image.

FOCUS

With today’s cameras, you can get many more in-focus cameras with autofocus than we could use manual focus.

First, set your camera to continuous autofocus rather than singular. The constant focus will keep the camera focused as long as you are keeping the camera active. The default setting for cameras is to push the shutter release halfway down. The back focus button activates your focus but doesn’t take the picture.

Many cameras offer a second button on the back that your right thumb can push. This way, you can enter the menu and separate the focus from the shutter release. You press the back button with your thumb, keep it held, and follow the action. Then, press the shutter release with your index finger when you want to take a photo. Using these settings will increase the probability of in-focus images.

I highly recommend getting out your camera and studying the Auto Focus section. Each camera is different from all other cameras and valid even if you own the same brand name.

Also, search the Internet by putting in your camera and looking for videos in which someone has already studied the camera and discovered the advantages of specific settings.

Motor Drive

You want to set the camera to take more than one photo when you press and squeeze the shutter release. I recommend going to the highest frame rate. After that, your camera will let you shoot.

Learn to anticipate and push the button milliseconds before the moment and hold the shutter to capture two or three frames. This way, you may get the ball popping out of the glove, changing the play from safe to out.

Don’t just keep the shutter pressed all the time. First of all, you will find the camera will stop firing. The camera must write those images to your media card, and you will miss better moments because you cannot take photos.

For those who own the Nikon D4, here are my settings for that camera for shooting sports. Next, here are the settings for the Nikon D5. Finally, here are my latest sports settings for the Nikon Z9.

My Gear for these photos

Nikon D5	Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 Sport
Sigma 2x

[Nikon D5, Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 DG OS HSM | S, ISO 5000, ƒ/5.6, 1/250]

If you don’t know what you want to capture in a moment, then the odds are that you will not capture that moment.

Take this dance scene from the musical Oklahoma! I wanted to capture all the dancers in a peak moment where they were all in step together, and the light was good on their faces. Just as important was getting the best expressions possible.

It is difficult to capture the moment when all the dancers are in time together, and all their body parts, hands, and feet are in sync. As you can tell, I have a definite moment in dance numbers that I am looking for.

Peak moments with people almost always are where I can see their expressions, and the word brings more to the photo. I remember studying the cowboy art of Russell and Remington. The most significant difference between their work compared to other western artists was in the details of the expressions of their characters.

One of the photos I took, even my daughter’s friends, had fun with by creating a meme where the reference to this photo of Aunt Eller chewing out Ali Hakim looks a lot like Michelangelo’s painting of The Creation of Adam on the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. My point here, pun intended, is that significant moments are what artists throughout history have captured.

If you want to know what you need to capture, then study the master painters. The more you become familiar with these iconic images, the more you will recognize those real-life moments.

Now laughter and smiles are a good thing to always look for, but please don’t try and make all your photos “happy.” This is the fastest track to looking fake if you overdo it. You will have coverage that looks like the “Stepford Wives” movie.

Now the other thing you will notice in most situations is the lighting isn’t always perfect as in this photo. Will Parker is in the light, and Ado Annie is not as well lighted. Again you are going for the best moment.

In a musical, the actors do all they can to over-emphasize moments. In real life, you must really pay attention to people and feel their emotional state. This will help you anticipate moments.

Being easily deceived or tricked and too willing to believe everything other people say means you are gullible. You are easily deceived because you haven’t taken the time to observe people and pick up on those body language moments that tip you off.

All I can say is you must immerse yourself into storytelling. Watch movies, musicals, and plays, which will give you insights. To see moments study the masters in the arts.