We’ve all been there. You line up the perfect shot, your composition is on point, the light is buttery golden, and the subject, be it a mountain, your dog, or your cousin Carl, is exactly where you want them. You get home, import the RAW file into Lightroom, zoom in [...]
Read MoreEver had that moment when you nail your shot—whether it’s a crisp product photo, a gorgeous portrait, or a dreamy sunset—and then BAM, you open your files and notice a weird color cast? Ugh, right? Don’t worry, friend, a trusty gray card to the rescue! In this guide, we’ll walk [...]
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Schools back in and I am back in studio lighting which means its time for technical review. The object of this project is to light a white cube on a white horizonless background simulating natural light. So simulating natural lights easy, we live on a planet with one light source, the sun. The horizonless backgrounds achieved with a 30X40 mat […]
The leaves are turning, the hot fall days in Santa Cruz are upon me. Today I was out wandering and took a few shots of Neary’s Lagoon. I love this place its so cool with the sewage treatment plant right on the other side of the wall from this great scene. Schools back in, we start shooting next week. Studio […]
This weekend my boys and I headed to Mountain View Ca. for the Rockstar Mayhem Festival. If you haven’t heard of the Mayhem Festival its an all day affair featuring the biggest and best Metal and Thrash bands around. The music is certainly not for the faint of heart. The venue allows personal cameras as long as they do not have […]
Generally I am not one to share artilces written by others, but in this case I really liked the photos and the story. Inside the Ghost Ships of the Mothball Fleet http://scotthaefner.com/beyond/mothball-fleet-ghost-ships/
It is getting closer to fall which means its getting closer to fall classes. Lately I have been working on sharpening my studio lighting skills for the class. Heres one I shot this morning its a skull piggy bank with my sunglasses on. I shot with a 2 flash setup. The first flash is behind and at full power to […]
Its good to do new things right? as a photographer, shooting something that provides a real challenge can not only teach you that you have more to learn, but also inspire you. Some friends of mine were bowling in the USBC open championships in Reno, so I offered to shoot them. I figured how hard could it be, compared to my sons […]
I am still shooting indoors these days. Seems I tend to randomly switch between in and outdoor focus. Heres a couple more shots using my Novatron flashes. Both shot at IS0 100 @ f5.6 1/250 sec using a fized focus 100 mm macro lens. These shots aren’t for any company, just what we had laying around the kitchen on the counter. […]
Summer is coming! I’m in the final weeks of my art classes this semester. Art history has been interesting, not unexpected as far as content but the contemporary concepts in photography since 1945 was a bit askew from where I was anticipating the content to be. I found the weight of some of the more well known photographers perplexing. […]
The wife and kids walked with me this morning down to one of the more remote beaches. The surf was pounding and the surfers were running from their cars down the half mile hike to the beach to get to the sweet waves. It was super foggy but not cold at all, summer is coming here on the Central Coast […]
I seldom shoot panoramas. its not that I don’t think about doing them, I actually have a few that I really like. For some reason this scene seemed to need a bit more than the regular shot was going to give me. I was using a 50mm prime lens, and shot in portrait. I shot four separate pictures handheld (I braced on […]
Neary Lagoon f/11 @ 1/80th iso 100 According to the Santa Cruz City website, Neary Lagoon is an important part of the urban watershed for the west side of the city of Santa Cruz. A drainage area of approximately 850 acres empties into the lagoon, and from there, out to the ocean. Its a park with about a mile long […]
Even though its a cool picture, it feels like a cop out sometimes when I can take a walk and see this sort of scene to take a picture of. It was chilly yesterday; the tourists were out in full force… All bundled up and surprised that it could be “this cold” at the beach heh. I saw one family […]
I’m enrolled in an art history class this semester and its focused photography. I feel that seeing what others has done can not only inspire you for more creative images but give you an appreciation for the level of difficulty photographers went through for their art back in the day. I have paid my dues and spent my time in a photo lab, I started […]
It was windy…it was cold, too cold to hold the camera still.. it was cloudy…the road noise was distracting me… heh yeah well none of these really work, I just got a bad shot. I knew full well when I started this whole 1 shot on the walk thing that there would be bad days and I guess today was […]
Continuing with the one shot on a walk theme for myself, I wandered down west cliff drive here in Santa Cruz before the rain this week. Always wanting to add more difficulty to a situation, I chose to not only take just one photo this time., but also take that shot with a fixed focus lens. Rather than have the zoom […]
I spent last week in Oregon at a funeral for a family member. This got me thinking about two things that I have alwys avoided as a photographer, though until now I had not really considered them as a personal rule. The first is pretty easy, I don’t take pictures of people when they are eating. While I understand why people do […]
After yesterdays disaster I had to go out again today with the one picture theme in mind. I feel a lot better about this one. The problem is that the landscapes that I usually shoot are all in winter foliage mode and its all browns and more browns. That coupled with the unusually warm nice weather we are having here […]
I have read in many places that a fantastic photography excersize is going someplace and only taking one shot. It really makes you think before you take that shot. Yesterday I decided to give it a try and went to Natural Bridges. To add a second level of difficulty I decided to go at 1 in the afternoon, not quite […]
Well the wife and I went to see The Mechanic this morning. Figured we would catch the matinee show and I would have some time to shoot on the walk home form the threatre. It was raining just enough to get everything wet but not coming down in buckets. Its been 75 all week long and I put off shooting […]
So I just got mail today (wow real mail not email) notifying me that my photograph has been slected as a finalist for the contest I entered at http://pfmagazine.com/ Photography Forum Magazine. My photo instructor Sandy Frank gave me the information and I muscled up enough courage to give it a shot and send in a few of the most recent pictures […]
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