Shooting Tips

I shoot a lot of portrait assignments for magazines and advertising.  On some tourism shoots we might photograph 40 or 50 different people over a one week shoot.  Often the client wants light, airy inviting people images….and light/airy often means adding sun flare.  Flare adds a positive uplifting feeling to most portraits, which is what Read More

As part of my earlier post on flash extenders, I wanted to follow up with a simple post on flash exposure using a Better Beamer or similar product.  You have two main choices for flash mode, Manual or a TTL mode.  Manual flash is just that; the flash pops at whatever power setting you are Read More

Last night I did a webinar for Singh-Ray Filters, and the audience had some terrific questions.  One question brought up a point you don’t hear mentioned a lot when talking about when to use filters; lens diffraction. What is lens diffraction?  Light waves enter the camera through the aperture opening reaching the sensor, resulting in Read More

I just returned from an assignment photographing birds in Texas for an upcoming magazine story.  Contrary to what I expected, we didn’t get endless sunny days.  Instead, cool wet weather was the norm.  This diffused light is great for photographing birds; less contrast, saturated colors and you can shoot all day.  But you loose the Read More

I just got done calculating my road miles for 2018, and once again it was over 20,000.  The majority of these miles are not daily photo shoots but instead long photography road trips. If I can drive to a destination, and have the time, I always will drive, even if it is a day or Read More

There are very few national parks that have the extreme verticality that Yosemite has.  You can walk to the base of El Cap and have over 3000 feet of smooth granite towering over your head.  For the photographer this creates a challenge.  Trying to create compositions with El Cap and foreground requires some extreme perspectives. Read More

I just returned from teaching a workshop in Sedona, one of my favorite desert locations, and we had a fantastic time.  Red clouds at sunrise and sunset, vintage cars and colorful portraits in Jerome, and lots of reflection opportunities with the recent rain.  One plant the entire group enjoying photographing was the agave.  This plant Read More

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