Shooting Tips

I just returned from a fantastic trip to the Eastern Sierras.  It is hard to beat just roaming around with your camera in hand, no schedules, just exploring and looking for images.  Watching the sunrise slowly scroll down Mt Whitney and jagged Sierras is sublime. With such spectacular scenery, diverse locations and fall color, Cree Read More

One concept I like to talk about on workshops is visualizing a scene graphically, not literally.  Claude Monet summed it up in one quote: “In order to see we must forget the name of everything.  By labeling, we recognize everything, but no longer see anything.” Here is an example.  A few days ago I was Read More

I just returned from a workshop in Portugal, and we did a lot of street shooting in Porto and Lisbon.  We had a lot of fun trying to find the perfect spot for a early morning trolley shot in Lisbon.  Yellow trolleys are iconic to Lisbon, so we really wanted to photograph them during our Read More

A little while ago Digital Photo asked me to do a story on flash, and one topic that comes up all the time is manual versus TTL flash.  There are two schools of thought, and very passionate opinions on which is best.  Honestly, I’m less worried about what is best versus what works.  If you Read More

Expanding on my last post, I’ve had some folks point out that not many photographers are using super telephotos with Memory Recall buttons.  Point taken.  Their question is how to speed up focus with just a normal lens.  Perfect, here is a list!  Focus limit switch. Many lenses have a focus limit switch.  This switch Read More

Any technology that increases focus speed is a good thing for photographers.  Whether you are photographing a street performer in Florence, or a bird returning to its nest, if you don’t get sharp focus, your image gets deleted.  One function that many telephoto lenses have is Memory recall.  If you are wondering why you pay Read More

Photographers like tack sharp images, so we do everything we can to stabilize our cameras.  Tripods do the trick…except when you don’t have one.  I photograph a lot of travel, and most times I am roaming the streets shooting hand held.  Being spontaneous is important with street photography.  I can increase my ISO and open Read More

One of the reasons I love to teach workshops is to share some things I’ve learned about developing creativity.  First, we need to develop our technical skills.  You have to know how your camera operates, and maybe some advanced techniques, to help you bring your creative ideas to life in photographs.  There are some who Read More

I have been working on images from my recent trip to the redwoods, and have used some filters and plugins that might interest others in their post processing techniques.  Take a look at the image above. My goal: enhance the fog, and do anything to add to the ‘mythical forest’ concept.  To enhance fog, my Read More

I’m en route right now to the California Redwoods and the Oregon coast.  Last year I spent a week here exploring, hiking, scouting and photographing this amazing area.  I was struck by the beauty, both big and small, in this environment.  I spent some days shooting along the coast, and Bandon beach was impressive.  I Read More