I’ve always been a fan of the night sky, but haven’t had much success capturing the night sky until I got my D600 camera.  The D600 allows you push your ISO to places you use to never dream of going and get incredible images like this.

A few weeks ago Chris Frailey and I decided to plan a trip to Sedona to capture some shots of the milky way.  Being that we planned the trip weeks in advance we had no way of knowing what the weather would would be like and but thankfully we lucked out.

I met Chris at this house around 1:00PM wednesday afternoon.  We had a brief scare thinking our trip may have been ruined because FedEx had yet to deliver Chris’s 14mm Canon prime lens.  However, by 2pm we were on the road headed to Sedona to scout out some locations.

Nikon D600 | Nikon 20mm | Aperture: F4 | Shutter: 25 Seconds

Being that I’ve been to Sedona several times, I had some ideas of where we could attempt to get some night shots.  The first place we stopped at ended up being the best place (at least for star photography).  The place is often referred to as Snoopy Rock.  On the bottom left side of my photo you can see Snoopy rock just faintly visible.  The location would allow us to get some beautiful rock features, while also utilizing the limited light pollution coming from the city of Sedona to help illuminate the rocks.

My goal for this photo was to take several exposures at 20mm and make as large of a panoramic as possible.  I honestly didn’t think I would be able to get the whole milky way, but when I put all 8 images into Photoshop, I was actually quite surprised it worked!  Even more exciting was the fact that there was faint color int he red rocks.  This photo screams Sedona and it just happens to have the milky way too!

Chris also got a really nice panoramic of the Milky Way as well using his 14mm.  You can see the image here on his blog.  We did try a few other spots for night photography, but I think we both were the most pleased with this area.  However, I was able to get some candid portraits, and some sunset shots that I hope to share on the blog in the next coming weeks!

The post The Milky Way Over Sedona appeared first on Bryan Snider Photography.

I’ve been really getting into event photography.  In fact the very first event I’ve ever shot has generated me some business.  I’ll be photographing an office event for someone who saw my photos from that Bruce Herman ‘Magnificat’ photo essay.  That being said, some really good friends of Monika and I are expecting a baby.  They decided to have a big gender reveal party so that family and friends could all be gathered together as the young couple discover if they were expecting a little boy or girl.

I love my new full-frame D600.  It’s allowed me to become a better photographer each and every time I pick up the camera.  I’m very pleased and proud of these photos!  I also want to thank each and every one of you who has encouraged me through this process!  Many of you have given me an extra boost of confidence that I could do event photography and I thank you for that!

In these first photos you can see how nervous and excited David and Robin are about finding out if they are having a boy or girl.  David’s sister however, required them to go through some questions that were suppose to reveal the baby’s sex.  This included showing off your hands as you see in one of the photos.

In these next photos, David’s sister begins to open the box.  What a great idea and way to find out the sex of your baby!  In the next photo you can see the smiles of David and Robin as they begin to see blue balloons! It’s a BOY!

One of my favorite parts about candid portraits or event photos, is capturing a priceless face and reaction!  I think Robin and David’s face says it all!  Shortly later, family and friends began to hug the couple wishing them congratulations!

Before leaving the event I decided to capture a photo of the beautiful cake, food, juice, and of course the faces of the party!

The post David and Robin Baby Reveal appeared first on Bryan Snider Photography.

Having Fun With My Nifty Fifty

A little over a week ago, Jon Stolarski and I took a photo trip up to Sedona, Dewey, Williams, and the Grand Canyon.  Just a week prior I just got a 50mm lens in which I shot my first even with much success!  Instead of worrying about taking pictures of the Grand Canyon, I decided to practice some portrait photography, something I’m hoping to get into some day.  In fact I really want to get into Environmental portraits.  Environmental portraits, are like the image below.  An image where I capture the subject in a “moment” surrounded by some kind of cool landscape.

I love this image, in fact my wife said it reminded her of an image she would see in a National Geographic magazine.  (Nice compliment!)  Anyways,  I love how this image gives some perspective to what Jon was doing.  As you can tell, we both were standing relatively close to the edge of the Canyon.  One wrong move and your camera and maybe yourself is at the bottom of a really deep canyon.

Here is another image I got of Jon, as he began to take pictures of the Canyon as it came to life!  This part of the Canyon has become of my favorite spots to photography on the south rim, because for the most part you are the only ones there.

In this next image, I decided to use some of Jon’s action figures.  Jon is a toy photographer, so while he was time lapsing, I wasted to try toy photography.  My goal was to make it look like the Ninja turtles were on the edge of the Canyon (like we were) enjoying the view of one of the most incredible natural wonders of the world.

The post Portraits from the Grand Canyon appeared first on Bryan Snider Photography.

Nikon D600 | Nikon 50mm 1.8G | Aperture: F1.8 | Shutter: 10 seconds | ISO 3200

Billions of Stars Over Sedona’s Red Rocks

Last weekend, Jon Stolarski and I went to his parents home up in Dewey, Arizona for the weekend.  The first night we decided to hit up Sedona and do some astrophotography. Thankfully Sedona has really nice light pollution laws which makes it much easier to shoot these beautiful red rocks and stars at the same time.

I was eager to use my new 50mm lens, because of its amazing low light performance, and it’s probably the sharpest lens I own!  When I started taking the photos I was actually quite shocked that my camera was able to bring out the color of the rocks without using any kind of light to light them up. I guess this is the advantage of using a really fast lens.  In fact, I really like the composition the 50mm gave me.  At one point I tried a 24mm lens, but I ended up liking this composition so much better.  Throughout our trip, I mainly used the 50mm.  I think it almost forces you to be very creative with your composition and I can’t wait to share more of my photos from the trip in upcoming blogs!

Overall I’m very pleased with this photo.  I wish the Milky Way would have been out, but this still is a very impressive star photo.  In the future I will definitely be back to Sedona, because here these star photos definitely scream Arizona, and the area has very minimal light pollution making it a star gazers dream!

The post Sedona Under the Stars appeared first on Bryan Snider Photography.