Photo Trip Log
A photo trip log is a good way to refresh your memory. It comes in very handy when you want to find a photo location again if your photos aren’t GPS tagged, and a photo log is very useful when a photo editor wants the details on one of your photos. This photo is of two pages out of a total of four pages of notes I made on April 25, 2011.
One Day in Utah
When I left home headed for Northern California I had no intentions of being in Southern Utah. By the time I reached Denver, snow in the forecast for N. Utah, Nevada, and the mountain passes in N. California made a detour much more appealing than fighting snow on I-80, especially since I have never been to the spectacular parks and monuments in Southern Utah.
Jennifer Blakeley does beautiful newborn photography. Her celebrity client list includes Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green; Vanessa and Donald Trump Jr.; and Jocelyn Towne and Simon Helberg (Big Bang Theory). She is also the founder of Alphabet Photography. A highly respected and award winning Canadian photographer, she has also worked with the Canadian Olympics Gymnastic Team.
20×30 inch Cougar Print
I admit it, I am hooked on big prints. You are looking at a 20×30 inch print (or technically, you are looking at a digital photograph of a 20×30 print). Big prints look great hanging on a wall (or held by one of your favorite models).
Park Avenue at Twilight, Arches National Park, Utah.
Don’t put your camera away after sunset. There are lots of photographic possibilities as the sky deepens into evening twilight.
The bride helps the ring bearer with his boutonniere.
Half the fun of photographing a wedding is capturing candid moments. This is the bride helping the ring bearer with his buttone . . . . his boutonai . . . . his flower!
Piano Reflection Portrait
This portrait is from a spontaneous photo shoot. I had three great subjects (sisters), perfect light, and a baby grand piano to work with, and I almost always have a camera and one or more lenses with me.
Magpie Meets Canon 100-400mm Lens
Update April 2: Yesterday was April Fool’s Day. I’m not selling my Canon gear (blame the idea on Art Morris, the world class bird photographer). My apologies to the people who wrote and wanted to buy my Canon gear. The Canon history in between the first and last paragraphs is accurate and I really did buy my first autofocus lens long before I bought my first autofocus body.
I have been so impressed with the latest Nikon cameras (which have edged out Canon in the technology race) that I’ve decided to switch to Nikon gear. It was a hard decision.
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If you love photography. If creating images has crept into your heart and soul. And especially if you have been around long enough to work in the chemical darkroom. Watch this!
Before and After
Mixed lighting (lighting with different color temperatures) can be a real color nightmare, especially if you are shooting JPEG files. Shooting RAW files and processing them with Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) is one of the best solutions to the problem. ACR comes with recent versions of Photoshop Elements and Photoshop.
Sometimes getting the right color balance is easy with the right camera settings. When I opened this image in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) I didn’t need to change a thing. After the bride’s portrait, this was a relief.
Moment of Birth
There are very few moments on earth that match the birth of a baby. Such wonder, awe, and love. It was a privileged to be asked by the parents to be there and photograph the big event.
Footprint
Baby’s first footprint. The story behind this delivery room photo shoot (lighting, metering, color temperature issues, RAW file conversion) is here.
Baby Boy, A Few Minutes Old.
I had the happy privilege of being asked to photograph the birth of a baby boy. The mother found some of my photos on the internet, she was impressed with my work, and sent me an email asking if I was interested in photographing the delivery of her son. Of course I was!
Sunstar Over Turnagain Arm, Alaska
If I had submitted this photo to the 2012 National Geographic photo contest it would have been disqualified. Why? It hasn’t been digitally altered in any way. And the “sunstar” isn’t the problem.
When I work hard on photos for someone and get a thanks like this, it really makes my day!
Color Exposure Latitude Test for a Canon 7D.
Testing your camera’s color exposure latitude is a key to getting good color in your digital photographs. This is a sequel to The Best Colors Come From the Best Exposures. I would suggest you read that article first.
Gretag-Macbeth ColorChecker
When it comes to your digital camera, the better your metering skills, the better your colors will be. If you learn how to master exposure, you will get the best possible colors your camera is capable of producing. Why not put your camera on auto exposure and then correct the exposure on the computer? Because you won’t get the best colors. In auto exposure mode your camera is designed to give you average exposures, not the best exposures. This is very important: If you don’t nail the exposure in the camera, the colors in a photo will shift in different directions and no amount of computer work will bring them back. This is one of the best kept secrets of great color and it is why professional landscape, fashion, and advertising photographers are obsessive about exposure. There is no getting around mastering exposure if you want great color.
Kristina – Business Headshot
A business headshot requires pretty even lighting.This portrait was created with three studio lights against a black backdrop, a main light, a fill light, and a hair light.
My first YouTube video. I did a video screen capture of a 90 minute retouching job and sped up the video 16x to a little over 6 minutes (not counting opening and closing titles). Watch it here or see a larger version at YouTube.
Vermilion Lakes Sunset, new and old ACR “process versions”. Click on the photo to see a larger image.
Adobe has a new “process version” for Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). This means better image processing for your RAW camera files.
Adobe Elements 11, Lightroom 4, and Photoshop CS6
Question:Â “I’m looking at photography courses online. The courses are free but some require students to own or have access to various versions of Photoshop. Does anyone know if Photoshop 6 is the same as Photoshop CS6?”
Window Blind Shadows Portrait
One of the things I like about winter is the sunlight streaming through one of my studio windows at a low enough angle to create window blind shadows portraits. In the summer the sun is too high for me to do this and get the angles I want.
Christmas Tree Impressions (iPhone 4S)
I never thought I would sell prints from my iPhone. I was wrong.
The Las Vegas “Strip” from the Air at Night
There are serious challenges to photographing city lights at night from a commercial jet. Here are some suggestions that will help.
Southwest Jet Over Las Vegas at Dusk
I was getting impatient as our flight was delayed over an hour. I was anxious to get a photo of the Las Vegas Strip from the air before the sun set. But impatience turned to gratitude when our delay made this photo possible.
This was created three years ago but it is still very funny and well done. If you have ever mumbled and grumbled about the price of a high end digital camera, this is for you.
Night Sky Over the Mojave Desert.
How do you photograph the Milky Way, that milky band of light across the night sky that has our galaxy’s brightest concentration of light? With a wide angle lens and a tripod it is simple if you know a few tricks. Finding a dark enough sky is more of a problem.
Kristina in the Snow
The snow in a winter scene will often fool a camera meter into underexposing a photo, so here are the steps to take to get the right exposure. I throw in a few portrait suggestions too.
