Memphis Professional Photographer | Photography Workshops Memphis

Reelfoot Lake

by Blair Evan Ball on March 30, 2013

Reelfoot Lake is a great place for photography. There are an abundance of wildlife, birds, flowers, that make photographing a rewarding and fun experience. You can capture some amazing photographs on shore, however if you really want to get into some great areas for birds such as Egrets, Blue Herons, Osprey, etc. you have to have a boat.

Reelfoot Lake is a shallow natural lake located in the northwest portion of Tennessee, United States of America. Reelfoot Lake is noted for its bald cypress trees and its nesting pairs of bald eagles. It is the site of Reelfoot Lake State Park. Lake Isom, a similar, smaller lake to the immediate south, is a National Wildlife Refuge area.

This photograph was taken right on shore at sunrise. The pier and cypress trees make for great composition in framing your photograph.The photograph below was also taken on shore about 100 yards from the above Reelfoot Lake photograph.

Occasionally you’ll be able to catch an Egret fishing. This Egret found his fishing hole and allowed us to get this close without flying away. He stayed there for several minutes.

Another great spot for photographing on land is the boardwalk. You can capture dragonflies like the one below, birds such as Egrets, and Blue Heron’s. There is an occasional turtle, and always some kind of flowers depending on the time of year.

Here’s a great example of a Blue Heron flying by while I was out on the boat in the morning. If you like photographing nature and wildlife, Reelfoot Lake is a great place to go for a weekend of photography.

If Reelfoot Lake is something you’d like to put on your list of things to do and photograph. We have a great opportunity for you and a friend to join us. I’ll be conducting a Photography Workshop at Reelfoot Lake at the end of June. We are limiting this to a small group of 12, it will be hands on.

We’ll enjoy sunrise and sunset photography. The highlight will be getting on a boat that I have reserved (Pontoon) for 1/2 the day out on the lake photographing the various birds and wildlife. Come grab a friend and join us for this photographic experience.

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Monster Jam Memphis

by Blair Evan Ball on March 2, 2013

Memphis Monster Jam Event was recently held in Memphis. One of the things I’m passionate about is photographing events, company events, action events, capturing the moment and telling a story with the photographs. Early in February Feld Motorsports contacted me to photograph the Monster Jame Memphis event at FedEx Forum.

Families of all ages packed the FedEx Forum over two days to watch the event. The event kicked off with the Pit party where you get to see some of the trucks and drivers up close. Get your photograph with driver and truck, it was a highlight for many.

As in most cases the lighting inside to photograph events is more challenging than photographing outside. In some events you may not be allowed to use flash, and even if you were, the distance to subject would be too great, and flash would be rendered useless.

This photograph was taken during the wheelie competition. Iron Man was the crowd favorite taking the wheelie competition and the overall freestyle competition on the final day. Monster Mutt came it second. The Monster Jam Event in Memphis was fun and challenging to photograph because of the lighting.

Tips

In order to freeze motion you have to have a fast shutter speed. Depending on the subject and speed, I typically start at 1/500 of a second with my test shots. No lower unless I want to pan to show speed. Then I adjust according.
I will usually shoot with an F stop of F8 – F11 for this.
Use fast lenses. Meaning something that has F 2.8 or faster to allow more light into your photograph. The challenge for many then becomes the cost of those lenses. They are not cheap.
When you set your set your F stop and shutter speed, it may not allow enough light to expose the image. So, then I need to make two choices. 1. Up the ISO, the downside to that is it enters digital noise into the photograph. Digital noise are those grainy looking pixels in an image. You can correct most in post processing, but it tends to soften the image and you lose sharpness. 2. Up your exposure compensation. Most cameras will allow you to adjust between 1-5 stops. I used 5 stops.

Check out more Monster Jam Memphis Photos.

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Memphis International Blues Challenge

January 26, 2013

The 2013 International Blues Challenge will be the 29th year of Blues musicians from around the world competing for cash, prizes, and industry recognition. The Blues Foundation will present the 29th International Blues Challenge January 29-February 2, 2013 in Memphis, TN. The world’s largest gathering of Blues acts represents an international search by The Blues [...]

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Photographing LoCash Cowboys Concert in Texas

November 27, 2012

Photographing band events is somewhat challenging. Lighting is always difficult, different color lights which cast that color on the band members face changing the skin tones. Will they allow you to use flash to photograph the event, if not does your camera support higher ISO settings where the digital noise doesn’t become overwhelming and ruin [...]

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The Battle of Shiloh 150 Year Anniversary

August 4, 2012

It was a moving experience to photograph the reenactment of this epic battle “The Battle of Shiloh” this past spring. Had the opportunity to go with fellow Memphis Camera Club members Tony and Angie Menne, great couple! You will see a series of photographs that will give you the look and feel of the battle [...]

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11 Tips to Taking Better Firework Photographs

July 1, 2012

Photographing the 4th of July approaches, the highlight of the day is the display of fireworks when the sun goes down. This photograph was taken in downtown Memphis Tom Lee Park along the Mississippi Capture awesome firework photographs using these following tips. Set your ISO to 100, the lower the better to avoid noise in [...]

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Joshua Tree National Park

May 25, 2012

Combined a business trip with vacation time out west recently. It was a departure from the landscape in the areas of Tennessee and Arkansas of which I photograph. There is just something peaceful about the desert and it’s beauty. Although desolate, it has its own charm. One of the destinations I sought out was Joshua [...]

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Memphis International Blues Challenge 2012

April 11, 2012

The IBC has evolved into the nation’s biggest and most respected showcase for Blues musicians ready to take their act to the national stage. The IBC is a judged “Battle of the Bands” in which competitors take the stage and play a short set for a panel of judges. The acts are judged based on [...]

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Macro Photography in Memphis Part II

March 27, 2012

Photographing in Memphis can be fun. Memphis Botanical Gardens allows for quite a bit of macro photography. You need to know the various times of year to go and when flowers are in full bloom. This macro photograph was taken of the inside of these bright yellow and red tulips. Needed to get real close [...]

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Macro Photography at Memphis Botanical Gardens

March 22, 2012

Macro photography is close-up photography, usually of very small subjects. Classically a macro photograph is one in which the size of the subject is greater than life-size. Likewise, a macro lens is classically one lens capable of reproduction ratios greater than 1:1, although it now refers to any lens with a large reproduction ratio, despite [...]

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