Tag Archives: photography

Image of the week #52

The final image for this year… been a long road but a fun one. I sure hope that this coming year is better for me and for everyone else as well. This sunset was taken from Laguna Beach after a brief but intense rain storm. It was just starting to clear a little locally but then sun peaked out right as it got close to the horizon. You can see Catalina Island off in the distance. Taken with the Fuji X-Pro 1 and a Samyang 14mm lens. Enjoy and thanks for looking this year at my images, many more to come in the following year. Happy New Year everyone!

 

 

Yellowstone NP fall color

At the beginning of October I took a trip with my wife to Montana and Yellowstone National Park. We were a bit late for fall color but there were some areas that had some still hanging around. It was quite cold there and winter was rapidly approaching. Here are few of the fall color landscape shot from the trip. Enjoy.

 

_DSF3909-Edit-Edit-2-web.jpg_DSF3927-Edit-Edit-web.jpg_DSF3942-Edit-Edit-web.jpg_DSF3957-Edit-Edit-web.jpg_DSF3979-web.jpg_DSF3997-web.jpg_MG_1654-Edit-web.jpg_MG_1667-web.jpg_MG_1676-Edit-web.jpg

Image of the week #47

Table for two? Taken in Little Tokyo at one of the malls. Fuji X-Pro 1, 35mm f1.4 lens.

 

“Slow” an ebook review

Craft and Vision has released their latest ebook, called “Slow – the Magic of Long Exposure Photography” by Andrew S. Gibson.  As you might guess this ebook is about long exposure photography. Mr. Gibson has authored several other ebooks that are available on the Craft and Vision web site. This book covers a lot of different techniques, shows examples and goes over the necessary gear and recommended camera settings. The sample images are quite well done and will serve to provide some creative inspiration for the reader to go out and try something new. Techniques covered include panning while exposing, and also what is known as In Camera Movement or ICM. ICM can look a lot like camera shake and while you experiment with this technique it can get frustrating but it is possible to create some very interesting images, it can be very artsy. Gibson also suggests checking out the ICM group on flickr, I also recommend that, if you scroll through some of the pages, there are some very, very creative images. There were some of some aspens in fall color that had a very painterly type quality, beautiful and impressionistic. None of these techniques are new, I first read about them in a book from Freeman Patterson called  “Photography and the Art of Seeing” but it is nice to have a refresher.

Another chapter is devoted to using flash while doing your exposures, the flash is used to freeze the main subject, a person perhaps, while allowing the area that is not illuminated to be blurry or show motion. One of the examples is of a  lady on a revolving carousel, and the background shows the motion in the background and the subject  is frozen in time because she is illuminated by the flash. He explains the difference between first and second curtain sync.

Andrew also covers the more traditional long exposure images, from several seconds to minutes or even longer and generally using a tripod for support. He goes on to explain the advantages of neutral density filters and polarizers. In addition to the information and examples he also includes interviews with two other photographers who use long exposure photography but with very different styles, with examples of their work, so there is plenty of inspiration available.

This ebook is quite reasonable and is normally priced for $5, however, you can get it for $4 if you use the code “Slow4” when checking out from Craft And Vision. If you would like to get more than 1 ebook use the code “Slow20” for a 20% discount on 5 or more, both of these codes expire on November 18, 2012.

I recommend the ebook if you are interested in long exposure photography or just want to learn more or be inspired to do something different, the techniques are pretty standard but it is a source of inspiration and good refresher.

Image of the week #45

Well a few days ago it was 90 degrees outside, and today it has been raining on and off and been cool and they are predicting snow at the higher elevations…nothing like extremes. I was driving home today and stopped at a convenience store for soda and the rain started up, and saw the drops on my windshield. The blue color is from a sign hanging on the wall of the building. Fuji X-Pro 1 and 60mm macro lens at f2.4. Enjoy.

Image of the week #42

Well hope you are not tired of sunsets, I love watching them, the pastel colors and setting moon caught my eye. Watched a pod of dolphins swim by, on their way somewhere, very relaxing after a day at the job…. Fuji X-Pro1, 60mm macro. Enjoy.

 

Image of the week #38

Well I am really behind this week…sigh, too much going on.  Barbara and I went to watch the shuttle Endeavour arrive in Los Angeles, this was a great event as it was the last time a shuttle would be on the 747 and last time one would be in the air! Since the shuttles are all now retired and now they are all near their final resting places. Endeavour still has a short road trip to the Exhibition Park but for now it is at Los Angeles International Airport, or LAX. We had a good spot as it arrived in L.A. it flew right over us…

 

Image of the week #36

I was down in Dana Point, CA this last weekend and visited the annual tall ships festival. Here is a shot of the Brig Pilgrim, which is based in Dana Point. It was a nice sunny day and getting warm and humid. Taken with the Fuji X-Pro 1, this was 3 exposures and blended to capture all the details. Enjoy.

 

Portraits of Earth – a new ebook

Portraits of Earth is the new ebook from David DuChemin. David is a photographer who has been known for taking people portraits and showing the human side of events, so what is he doing writing a landscape photography book? Well, like David mentions in his ebook, landscapes are really just portraits of the Earth. They can inspire as well as inform the viewer, emotions can come into play and just the sheer beauty of nature is something to share. This ebook is not so much about gear, but about looking for the possibilities and crafting your shot with more care to complete your vision. He also gives some tips for gear, and how to use it to capture the light that you see when exploring new vistas. He talks about filters and how they can enhance an image and the best ways to use them. He also talks about some general gear, like tripods and other useful items.  He also goes into details about how to handle specific types of scenery, like fog and snow. Also there are some nice tips for some processing techniques and can give you some ideas to try in your own images.  The book is filled with pictures from his travels around the world, visiting places most of use are not going to see, I know I wish I could go to some of these places. So does that mean you have to travel to exotic locations? No it does not, but he does show you through examples of how to apply leading lines and to use light to tell your story and capture your vision as well as composition topics and some discussions on why and how he made the images as well as the exposure information.

So why should you consider this ebook? Well for me I like the way David writes, his writing style is easy to read and understand and you feel that you are having a conversation with him, he explains his motivations and tries to not make it too technical. Photography is a an artform that requires some technical knowledge but it also requires the artist to “see”, so there are fuzzy concepts to go with the  geek. You can purchase this ebook for a very low price of $5, however if you click on the link and use the code EARTH4 before Sept. 9, 2012 you can get it for $4, Click here for Portraits of Earth While you are on the Craft And Vision site you might want to check out their other ebooks. I have personally found the following titles to be very useful, The Power of Black and White, Light and LandExposure for Outdoor Photography, and Close to Home, all of the ebooks on the site are well written and informative, and if you want to get several ebooks use the code EARTH20 for a 20% discount on 5+ ebooks, this code also expires Sept. 9, 2012.  So get some good, cheap, informative ebooks and inspire yourself to get out use what you learn. I know I have.

 

Image of the week #31

The last beacon of light for the day as the sun slowly sinks in the west. Taken in Laguna Beach, Fuji X-Pro 1, 60mm f2.4 macro at f2.4 and 1/3300 at ISO 400.