Tom Bol Photo Blog

If you are a Photo District News reader, take a look at the current issue (‘DIY’ issue) on newstands now.  PDN and Nikon did a two page spread of my work in an advertorial on my ski and winter photography.  I have been a die hard Nikon shooter from the beginning, and I can honestly say I put my camera gear through very rough conditions, and it never fails.  This ad features the D3, which I plan to keep on using, it is a great camera.  But I will be adding a D4 to my arsenal shortly, can’t wait to get my hands on that camera!

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If you are an iPad user, check out the lastest issue of Light It magazine. My friend and fellow photographer Steve Glass took this image of me photographing a climber near Fort Collins.  We did this shoot for the magazine to demonstrate my ‘vertical studio’ lighting technique for creating edgy climbing photos.

Light It offers a wealth of lighting tips in each issue, everything from speedlight technique to large strobe setups.  If you are interested in learning more lighting techniques, take a peek at this online magazine.

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Thanks to everyone for all the positive feedback on my book!  It is great to see this book at the bookstores and online after putting a lot of work into it.  Since it is the holiday shopping season, you now can get a great deal on my book at Peachpit.  Go here to order my book, and at step 3 in checkout enter FALLPHOTO and you will get 35% off!  Time to fill those stockings and add a few new presents under the tree!

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I’ll be doing a webinar Tuesday the 13th at 2-3PM Eastern time next week with Manfrotto.  I’ll be showing a number of images, and talking about what goes into creating them.  Topics from available light to using strobe in remote locations will included.  And of course I’ll talk about Priscilla and her huge yellow python!  To join the discussion, go here.

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The snow is coming down here in Colorado, winter has arrived.  This is perfect timing for my latest photography training video, which just posted at Kelby Training.  We had a blast last year creating this video.  Scott Kelby, Matt Kloskowski and Adam Rohrmann all came out for the shoot.  The day before the shoot Scott and Matt got some shooting in, and it just happened to coincide with a huge snowstorm!  We worked with some pro snowboarders and skiers for the shoot, and had a nice mix of weather for the video.

The training video goes into detail on shooting in cold, snowy environments.  If you shoot any subject matter outside in the winter, you should pick up a few tips from the video.  We covered a lot of material including portraits, powder shots, cliff jumps, super pipe aerial shots, high speed sync and packing gear to work in the snow.  We also shot huge jumps, and did a tutorial on how to seam the frames into one shot in photoshop.  Here is a promo video on the class.

If you have never checked out Kelby Training, you should take a look. There are over a hundred classes on a wide variety of topics from photography technique, photoshop and lightroom technique, light painting, video…the list goes on and on.  The best part is you can try it out for a month for under $25 bucks.  If you like it, you can sign up for a year for $200.  New classes are added weekly.  I honestly can’t think of a better value in photography training.  You watch when you want, as many times as you want, anywhere you have your computer and the internet.  A great holiday gift for the photographer.

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I was excited to come home the other day and find the first copy of my book sitting on my front door step.  This has been a year in the making, and a great project.  My friends at Peachpit and Kelby Training encouraged me to put all my adventure sports and outdoor photography into a written form, so here it is.

Adventure Sports Photography; Creating Dramatic Images in Wild Places mixes technique, personal stories and outtakes from many assignments I’ve had through the years.  This book covers in-depth composition, image design, equipment, portraits, lighting, video and my workflow.  Hopefully everyone will find some useful information in this book.  I also covered some of the new high speed sync flash technique, underwater shooting, northern lights photography and how to seam together action sequence images.  I also give some self assignments to help photographers develop their creativity and find their style.  You can get it at discounted prices here, just in time for the holidays!  Thanks to everyone who made this book a reality…

I will also be opening my blog to comments now that we have a spam filter in place.  I get many responses via email to technique blog posts, so the comments section should be valuable for more information on these posts.

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If you are interested in learning more Photoshop technique, I highly recommend joining NAPP.  This organization offers tons of benefits for a small price, including online tutorials on many topics, great discounts on gear from many companies, and copies of Photoshop User magazine.  The current issue has my image on the cover and a spread of shots inside, take a look if you are browsing newstands.  Or even better, join NAPP to learn more post processing techniques.

On another note, I hope folks have seen the new iPad magazine Light It from Kelby Media.  This online magazine is designed specifically for the iPad, and offers the same functionality you are used to with iPad apps.  I am shooting/writing a column each month titled On Location.  The first issue is free, so check it out if you have an iPad.

I’m off to Photoshop World tomorrow.  I’ll be talking about high speed sync photography at the Manfrotto booth, stop by if you are in town!

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Photo District News just listed the 13 top photo workshop instructors in the country , and I’m very excited to be included on the list.  Thanks to all my past workshop participants who voted for me.  The rewards of teaching and working with students is something I really enjoy, and I look forward to seeing all of you on another workshop soon!

I decided to get out of the office the other day for a little recreation.  I went for a paddle on the Poudre near my house.  I used a head cam for the video, you can see it here.

I have been using two head cams, the Drift HD170 Stealth and the Go Pro Hero.  Both do a good job.  I went with the Hero for this shoot since it is waterproof.  Both head cams have lots of options for attaching the camera to various objects.  I used my skiing helmet for this sequence.

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Back from Alaska, now working on two editorial assignments, summer is a busy time.  Had a great shoot with the folks in Alaska, tons of logistics go into making this shoot work, thanks to all who helped out.  Once again we got lucky with the weather and had some sunny skies and 1am sunsets. Really enjoyed shooting two days of canoeing in the backcountry.

I have worked with the folks at Nikon and Digital Photo Magazine for years, and was very excited to be chosen for a Nikon advertorial highlighting some of my favorite shooting locations. Take a look in the latest issue of Digital Photo magazine to see the spread.

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I have continued to experiment with high speed sync, with a few new points.  I continue to have success shooting at any shutter speed I want with my D300s, it nevers misses a shot or clips the flash.  This image of the skateboarder was shot midday using 1/8000 as the shutter speeed with the Ranger “S” flash head about 20 feet away, used one head with a sports reflector at around 75 percent full power.  This image was processed using Alien Skin Exposure 3, a great program for simulating film effects.  And my results are staying the same with my D3, around 1/1250 is about as high as I can go before clipping the flash.  For those interested in learning more hands on, I will teaching all this new material in Moab Sept. 8-11 with Photo Quest Adventures.  We will have numerous Pocket Wizard Flex transmitters/receivers for everyone to try with Rangers and lots of models.

Tech for skateboarder: Nikon D300s, 85mm 1.4, ISO 100, 1/8000 at F4. Pocket Wizard Flex system used with Elinchrom Ranger for flash.

Other news; the New York Times just interviewed me for some tips on photographing landscapes, you can see the story here.

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