Free Photo Webinar - Your Cherry Blossom bests & busts

Free Photo Webinars - April 2013 focuses on your Cherry Blossom pictures. I’d love to see and share what you captured at the Tidal Basin or anywhere in the area.

I’m asking for two categories: your best and your bust.

Your Best

Did you nail your money shot? Do you have an image this year that you are proud to share? Let’s see it. I’d love to show off your best images with our audience. This is a great opportunity to help share your art with our community.

Your Bust

On the way to your best, you might have encountered a few challenges. If you had an image that didn’t work as you planned, and you’re not sure why, share that one as well. I’ll be happy to provide some insights on how you might have approached it differently.

You’ll notice that we are holding our webinar on the third Tuesday this month. With the slow blossoms this year, I wanted to make sure we all had an opportunity to photograph them at their peak.

April 16, 2013

7 pm, est

When will the Cherry Blossoms ever bloom?

The Tidal Basin Cherry Blossoms look like they are ready to bloom. We could see some of them opening by weekend, says the National Park Service.

“When will the flippin Cherry Blossoms ever bloom?!”

I asked the friendly National Park Service ranger the question we have been all thinking.  This year’s persistent winter and tardy spring have us all wondering if the blossoms will ever show up. Last year this time, the Cherry Blossoms were in full bloom.

As the park service explains, we are extremely close. When I spoke with one of the rangers on March 27, the indicator tree was at Stage 3, Puffy white. 

What does that mean? 

The park service charts Cherry Blossom blooming in four stages:

Stage 1 - Florets visible - about 16 - 21 days from peak bloom.

Stage 2 - Peduncle elongation - or when you just begin to see the flowers peeking through the crown of the bud. This is usually six to 10 days from peak bloom.

Stage 3 - Puffy white - They are ready to explode, usually four to six days from peak bloom.

Stage 4 - Full bloom - Grab your camera. This won’t last long.

The peak bloom date is defined as the day in which 70 percent of the Yoshino Cherry tree blossoms are open. 

The park service rangers around the Tidal Basin keep an eye on their indicator tree. This is a tree near the Jefferson Memorial that usually blooms first and gives the rangers a good idea when the rest of the cherry trees are a few days from full bloom.

On March 27, the indicator tree was at the puffy white stage, so rangers still expect peak bloom around the Tidal Basin to happen April 3 - 6.

“But when will we have enough flowers to take great pictures?” I asked. That’s what we really care about, right?

We could have as much as 30 - 40 percent of the flowers open by this weekend, if the weather cooperates, she estimates. That should begin to create some beautiful scenes around the basin.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed for warm weather.

Get ready to photograph the Cherry Blossoms with my new Cherry Blossom Photo Guide. Download yours now.

Got gear Q&A

Canon 7D. Flickr photo by Amarand Agasi.

Earlier this month, we talked gear during our Free Photo Webinar. I spent more than an hour discussing DSLR bodies, lenses, accessories, and used cameras.

I also asked you to submit questions for me to answer. We ran so late that I didn't get to respond to all of your questions.

Here are the rest of your questions answered. 

Got gear - Q&A

How to photograph the cherry blossoms

10 steps for taking beautiful pictures at the DC Cherry Blossom Festival

This week kicks off the 2013 National Cherry Blossom Festival, where millions of Washingtonians and tourists will flock down to the Tidal Basin to witness -- and photograph -- Japan’s gift to the United States.

While the blossoms are beautiful to behold, they can be tricky to photograph. You might leave frustrated because the scene the camera captured looks nothing like the beauty you just saw. Avoid this experience by keeping these 10 tips in mind.

1. Focus and simplify.

The first rule of composition is even more important at the Cherry Blossom Festival. Expect crowds of people and clusters of flowers. Your biggest enemy will be distraction -- in the frame. One is the magic number. Find one clear subject and work to eliminate everything else that does not lead your eye to it or help tell a story about it.

2. Try ESAD for creative composition.

Composition is key, so create something memorable by remembering ESAD:

• Establishing shot - Take the post card shot first. This is the wide angle photo that shows your viewers your location.
• Storytelling - Look for images that tell the story of the day for you. What were you seeing, smelling, feeling? Look for ways to tell those stories visually.
• Angles - Experiment with extreme angles -- left to right, up and down. Nothing transforms a ho hum image like an extreme angle.
• Details - Pick a detail and take extreme close ups of it. As the saying goes, the devil is in the details, and quite often, so is the impact. 

3. Create a shotlist.

You don’t want to get home and find you have a card full of the same kind of photo.  If you only shoot the wide shot or close up of the Cherry Blossom, you are missing a world of opportunities. Check out this shot list for ideas.

4. Light, light, light.

Realtors live by the location, location, location mantra. Photographers should feel the same way about light. Get there during the golden hours for best results. Use front light on the flowers for best color. Try back light on petals to show depth.

5. Watch out for winds.

It is almost always windy -- right when you are ready to take your shot. Flowers on thicker trunks might not sway as much as those at the end of thin branches. Use a clip or have someone steady the branch while you shoot your close up. Fast shutter speeds might be necessary to help stop the action of swaying flowers. In many cases, you might need to use a higher ISO to create faster shutter speeds.

6. Take a reflector.

A large reflector can do double duty. It can help shade or reflect light, and it can help shield some of the winds. This can be a very handy tool.

7. Try manual focus.

Your auto focus might have a hard time locking in on a petal that is swaying back and forth or one that lacks contrast. Use manual focus to make sure your focal point is always sharp. (If blurry photos continue to be a problem, read this post.)

8. Fill the frame with texture.

The flowers are beautiful, but the weathered trunks have their own character. Fill the frame with texture to show the contrast from the petals.

9. Take a background or prop.

Just because you are outdoors doesn’t mean you can’t create a studio effect. Take a background to place behind the petals and simplify the image. The Tulip garden behind the Tidal Basin Welcome Center is a good location to try this technique.

10. Look up.

Use the sky as a background to outline the flowers and create contrast.

Click to tweet! 

Here’s a bonus tip.

Go back. We can expect two to three weeks of blossoms and four weeks of the overall festival. You don’t have to get all your ideal shots in one setting. Plan to return at different times.

You don’t have to go it alone. 

You can shoot with a pro and get expert advice on creating your ideal shot. Join my PhotoTour DC Cherry Blossom Photo Tours around the Tidal Basin throughout the festival. 

Let me take you to great locations, help you create great photos, and teach you to master your camera.

You can learn more and register here.

Two questions I will ask you next winter

Later this year when it starts getting cold again, I’m going to ask you two questions. I’m telling you now, so you can prepare your answers.

You might have spent the cold winter months wishing you had better weather to take pictures. You probably consoled yourself by looking forward to spring. Who wants to go out and create when it’s freezing, right? Even I thought the same thing a time or two. 

Now that spring is almost here, with its warm weather and beautiful scenery, lets plan to use our time productively.

Here’s the first question I’ll ask. What did you learn?

When fall arrives to usher in the cold weather, will you look back on our warm months with satisfaction? What will you have learned? How will you have improved? The opportunity to shoot more also offers the opportunity to learn more.

I’ll do my part with a learning path you can complete during the warm months, but you can learn anywhere, anytime. Use books, podcasts, blogs, workshops or Meetups. There’s no shortage of learning opportunities. Plan to use them, and decide today what you will accomplish. When you decide, shoot me an email me know.

Here’s the second question. What did you create?

This is another way to enjoy a sense of accomplishment. Deliberate learning is fine, but think how wonderful you will feel when you look back at something you have created.

It might be a photo project, a coffee table book, or a new blog. You might use your talents to help your favorite cause. It really doesn’t matter what you choose. Creating something is useful because it will help motivate you to keep shooting. It will give you the opportunity to improve. Creating something significant will fill a larger need that we photographers have. Think about it.

We will start that conversation with just two questions.

Choose something to learn during the warm months. Pick something to create. I’m going to ask you about it when it starts getting cold, and I’ll share how I answered the questions.

Have fun!