As you may have heard me say before, audio is of the outmost importance when shooting videos. If you look at my two part article on recording audio for video, my preferred way of recording audio is to record it separately on a dedicated audio recorded such as the Zoom H4n, however there are situations when it is more efficient to record the audio straight into the camera. Recently Canon released a firmware upgrade that allows you to adjust the audio gain control manually and providing better...

During the California Photo Festival Rick gathered a few of the instructors for an impromptu “Battle of the Sunset Tips” given by Jennifer Wu, Hal Schmitt, Rick Sammon and Juan Pons. Please excuse the quality of the video as this was done at the spur of the moment and we where very lucky to have Tim Grey on hand to quickly record the moment. We thought the tips where great and wanted to share them with you even if the video quality leaves something to be desired. Hope you enjoy it!

Rick and Juan where teaching at the awesome Maui Photo Festival a few weeks back and we took a bit of time to record this quick and easy tip on creating great portrait shots in harsh light situations. Hope you enjoy this tip.

This is a short video featuring some of the best images I made while at Maui Photo Festival. We were so busy I did not get a chance to make too many images. One of the highlights of the Maui Photo Festival was making it to the Haleakala volcano crater for a sunrise, and what an spectacular sight that was. I decided to capture the sunrise doing some time lapse movies instead of stills and I am glad I did. I am very pleased with the results. If you want to see the video in 720p HD check it out...

[Editors Note: If you are having problems viewing the video above try this link: http://vimeo.com/14127819] Here are some tips for photographing waterfalls. I filmed this while on one of my “Waterfalls of Western North Carolina” instructional photo workshops. If you’d like to join me on one of these workshops, check out my workshops website at http://wildnaturetours.com Enjoy, -J

The fine folks at Kessler Crane recently sent me one of their most popular products, the PocketDolly v2, for review. The PocketDolly is an inexpensive yet incredibly well made dolly specifically designed for Video DSLRs. The PocketDolly measures 38.5 inches yet provides approximately 35 inches of travel allowing some the addition of some great movements into your videos. What really sets the PocketDolly apart from most other similarly priced competing models is the fact that it is belt...

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jYZl8F5xf8 Rick, Hal & Juan where in Japan for PhotoFest Japan, and we had a blast and we very much enjoying teaching and learning from all the participants. While we were there, we took the opportunity to record a number of photo tips for you on video. Enjoy! In this segment, Rick talks about the importance of shooting from a different vantage point. We shot this segment at the Tsukiji fish market in Japan, the worlds largest! Take a look. In case you were...

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9qIcXVbXN0 Rick, Hal & Juan where in Japan for PhotoFest Japan, and we had a blast and we very much enjoying teaching and learning from all the participants. While we were there, we took the opportunity to record a number of photo tips for you on video. Enjoy! In this segment, Hal tells us why it’s a good idea to remove your filters when shooting with many light sources. We shot this segment at the Tsukiji fish market in Japan, the worlds largest! Take a...

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyoYrFE-mr4 Rick, Hal & Juan where in Japan for PhotoFest Japan, and we had a blast and we very much enjoying teaching and learning from all the participants. While we were there, we took the opportunity to record a number of photo tips for you on video. Enjoy! In this segment, Hal teaches us about a very important technique he learned while he was a fighter pilot and how you can apply it to your photography. We shot this segment at the Tsukiji fish market in...

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=39ms0jx5ueA Rick, Hal & Juan where in Japan for PhotoFest Japan, and we had a blast and we very much enjoying teaching and learning from all the participants. While we were there, we took the opportunity to record a number of photo tips for you on video. Enjoy! In this segment, Rick and Hal talk about using fill flash to add definition to your subjects and make them stand out. We shot this segment at the Tsukiji fish market in Japan, the worlds largest! Take a...

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUZ_fDJTdD8 Rick, Hal & Juan are in Japan for PhotoFest Japan, and we have been having a blast and are very much enjoying teaching and learning from all the participants. While we are here, we thought we would record a bunch of video photo tips for you, so keep a close eye on DPE this week. In this segment, Rick shows you the gear he takes with him on a shoot to the Tsukiji fish market in Japan, the worlds largest! Take a look. Oh, I almost forgot, this video...

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbpkmFmhG5I Rick, Hal & Juan are here in Japan for PhotoFest Japan which starts today, and is definitely going to be a LOT of fun. While we are here, we thought we would record a bunch of video photo tips for you, so keep a close eye on DPE this week. In this segment, Rick and Hal talk you thru the basics of creating an HDR image of a temple outside of Tokyo. Take a look. -J

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-9D-mcFzgg Rick, Hal & Juan are here in Japan for PhotoFest Japan which starts this Wednesday, and is definitely going to be a LOT of fun. While we are here, we thought we would record a bunch of video photo tips for you, so keep a close eye on DPE this week. In this first video, Rick and I talk a little bit about adding depth creatively to an image while shooting at a temple outside of Tokyo. Take a look. -J

Dropico is a new and easy way to share your images on multiple social networking sites from just one interface, and is as simple to use as dragging and dropping. I created this very quick video to show you how easy it is to use. To download and try it for yourself, head on over to http://www.dropico.com/

Skies are often a challenge for photographers. If we expose properly for the ground, skies often get light and washed out. If we expose properly for the sky, the ground gets too dark. If we use a graduated neutral density filter, the whole sky gets dark as well as any upright parts of the ground. If we use a polarizing filter, it only works at certain angles to the sun, plus it cuts light to the sensor. Lightroom comes to the rescue. The Develop Module in Lightroom offers some excellent...

Welcome to Sharpening Saturday! Follow along as I describe Lightroom’s sharpening features and functionality. We will build a solid workflow to execute an effective and efficient input sharpening workflow. Hope to meet all of you at the California Photo Festival later this year! Check out the DPE gang who will be attending http://www.CaliforniaPhotoFest.com. Fiat Lux! Bull [Editors note: this brings to a conclusion our Lightroom week, but keep your eye out on DPE as we will have a...

Depth of field (DOF,) or the area of your image acceptably in focus, is a great tool for photographers. Through our selection of aperture, focal length, and focal distance (this is a very complicated subject so we will limit to these three variables) we can control the DOF for all of our images. knowing the viewer’s eye is drawn to “in focus” areas of the image we can direct the viewer around the image as we prefer. In general, landscape photographers prefer a deeper DOF in order to show...

In this quick video, DPE’s Rick Sammon, a.k.a. “King of the Photo One Liners,” stopped by Nations Photo Lab (http://www.nationsphotolab.com) to share his top ten photo tips with Nations’ Ashley Reeder . . . and you! Enjoy! And speaking of enjoying, enjoy this cool offer: DPE readers can get a free $50 order (prints, books etc.) at Nations Photo Lab, http://www.nationsphotolab.com, by using this code upon checkout: RICK2. This offer expires 6.1.10!

I have been a user of Gitzo tripods for many many years, and have been very fond of their carbon fiber models. Carbon fiber is the preferred material to use for making durable yet lightweight tripods, however, they are typically very expensive. A few years ago Gitzo developed a new material that offers many of the same advantages of carbon fiber, but at a fraction of the cost. Check out this video where I explain a bit about the tripods that I am using now made from Basalt, and why I now...

You may have heard me say that I shoot with a tripod 95% of the time. More accurately what I mean to say is that I shoot with some sort of support for my camera 95% of time. This can be a tripod, a bean bag, or even a monopod. A monopod can be a very very effective as a support for your camera, but often people get frustrated when using a monopod. In this short video I will give you a few tips on using a monopod effectively. If you’d like more information about the monopod I use in the...