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I took this last week while driving to Orange County from the Temecula area. I had to photoshop out some trash in the foreground…lol.

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The shoot was simple, 4 strobes fired with a PockwtWizard®, and a laptop for parents to sit and watch the shots come up on the screen as they are being taken.

My best tip for shooting any group that have kids and parents; use a laptop, and have a chair for parents to see the shots being taken in real time, and make sure you make them happy before you leave (the software and USB cable comes with every canon. You will need a USB extension cable to be able to move around). This is much better than dealing with mad parents later. I shift the responsibility to them. I say, "now watch the screen, we will take a series, and then go back and make sure you have one you like… OK?". Then you watch the parents take control and help pose, give feedback etc…. way better. Some shooters don’t like others instructing subjects, but trust me this is the way to go with kids and parents.

Another tip that many photogs don’t think about is the fact that strobes will freeze the action at a low shutter speed as long as the ambient light is not that bright. I was able to freeze jumps at 160th of a second! The reason is fairly simple, the duration of the flash is what freezes the action, and if the ambient light is not a factor, then it will look clean and sharp. You can test the ambient light by taking a shot without the strobes firing, and using the same shutter and aperture. The action will be frozen ad long as the movement isnt super fast. For that use speedlites in high speed sync mode. For most things, like karate kicks etc, this works fine.

Example: I took this shot in a studio (on a white background), and she jumped into position, and really whipped that fabric around, and the shot is sharp.

My last tip is to shoot the setup like I did above (I shot this through the mirror that was on the opposite wall), and use the white of the umbrella’s to set the temperature for the session. Gray cards cam also be used, but I always take a setup shot just in case.

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I was in Little Italy yesterday while visiting Nelson Photo Supplies in San Diego, so I decided to do a mini photo walk. There were many interesting stores and restaurants, so I shot a few.

It is one of those places that will take 3 or 4 visits to feel like I have "been there dont that"

Here are a few shots I took.

LOL

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Hacienda del Sol in Borrego Springs

I took this last week while in Borrego Springs. I was scouting the Anza-Borrego Desert area for desert blooms that may were rumored to appear. The bloom has yet to get going in any big way. It should be better around the end of March

Tip: to deepen the colors in the sky, and signs like this in camera with no post processing, just under expose by a stop or so, and the color in the sky becomes a much richer blue.

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Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, Ca

I took my family to the Norton Simon Museum yesterday, we had fun. My daughters (they are both ballet dancers) are fans of Edgar Degas, who painted many ballet scenes.

This museum has a pretty good policy on photography as long as you don’t use a tripod. I only took a few shots because it is difficult to concentrate on shooting with the family waiting on me, but I still enjoyed it, and am happy with the few shots I did take.

There are a couple of extra steps to take when shooting indoors at a museum, I will go over them on my next post.

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Happy cows come from california

I was taking photos of the cow pasture the other day, and as I was shooting, the cows came up to the fence and just stared at me. After a few minutes, most of the cows fought to get a position at the fence, and then several cows start trotting in from the far end of the pasture. The funniest thing I have ever seen (with cows anyway). I guess they thought I had cow snacks or something… hehe.

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This was taken in Warner Springs, a small community near Temecula.

I was driving through the area yesterday and I noticed a large green pasture filled with cows. The light was hitting the area just right, so I stopped and took a few shots.

Clouds always look more dramatic in black and white.

After a few minutes the cows came over to the fence as if I had something to feed them, it was actually kind of funny, I will post that shot next.

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Photo of: The Queen Mary, Long Beach

As I said earlier, I went back to shoreline village to take a shot that I knew would take some work to make happen. There is no exposure alone that wont blow out the highlights, and still be able to see any of the shadow detail. In the end, I had to let the highlights go off the scale slightly to maintain a realistic looking image.

This shot is a blend of six images. I used HDR techniques to blend the dynamic ranges into one image. I stopped just short of an unrealistic looking image. The resulting image is very close to what it looks like to the naked eye.

Take a look at it large, you can see that it is very sharp, and you can see inside some of the promenade decks, and also still see the lit deck above.

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On sunday I went to PMA in Anaheim with the LA Flickr group, and then we went to dinner at Famous Dave’s in Long Beach. Afterwards, the group shot long exposures of the shoreline area behind the restaurant. The night was windy, and everyone shot well past the blue hour.

I decided to go back and shoot a few frames during the blue hour, and luckily the wind was nearly calm. I used my 50mm lens, a cable release, with mirror lock up, and came away with a few interesting images.

I don’t think this scene is really that interesting, but the color is intriguing.

This is a blend of three exposures, with light HDR techniques applied. There are imperfections in the image, I am not very concerned about them, as this shot is not really that great to begin with.

My real mission was to save the queen…. an attempt to save the highlights from being to blown out on the Queen Mary. I will post my final image in the next day or so.

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Photo note: This shot was taken in a very dark restaurant. I shot a gray card first and used that for the custom white balance shot, and it worked great.

The LA Flickr group met at Famous Dave’s in Long Beach after the PMA show on Sunday to celebrate two birthdays. It is always fun to watch a room full of photographers mess around with their cameras, strobes, tripods etc. We were probably driving the management crazy shooting everything we could, but when there are this many photographers, they never bother us about shooting inside a restaurant.

I normally don’t attend meetups to catch super great shots, but instead, I concentrate on just having fun, and being surrounded by other shutterbugs.

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I was messing around in the studio this evening, and I tried attaching my old Vivitar 285HV to my FlexTT5 Pocketwizard to provide some backlighting for product shots, and it worked great. I haven’t used this flash in years, and have almost sold it several times. With the Pocketwizard system, even old strobes will be useful in the studio.

The 285HV has a guide number of 120, and can be bought used for dirt cheap. Maybe I’ll start paying attention at used camera stores, and thrift stores.

This shot was taken with the 285HV camera right, and behind the subject at roughly 45 degrees, from the image plane and set at 1/16 power. This will be a great addition to my studio lighting for products because of it’s variable power settings.

Older flashes could be controlled by changing the distance from the subject if they do not have variable power settings

The front lighting was provided by two white White Lightning studio strobes with umbrellas.

Here is a rough idea of what the backlighting does.

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I was in OC on business today, so I swung by the convention center and picked up my badge to save time later.

They were finishing the booths, and exhibits, looks like it will be a fun show

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This was taken in Torrey Pines at the Gliderport, one of my favorite places to shoot.

I am amazed how these guys can just run off the cliff and hope that the wind keeps them aloft…. now that is faith.

I publish these shots, because I like Pete’s (the white house photographer) photography, and his use of prime lenses, employing shallow dof etc. I am not an Obama fan, but I think being the white house photographer would be lots of fun.

President Barack Obama meets with his national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Situation Room of the White House, Feb. 17, 2010. General Stanley McChrystal, U.S. Commander in Afghanistan, was among those joining the discussion via videoconference (left screen). (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.

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I was driving down Palm Canyon, and saw the "Hotel California", and I had to stop and take a shot. I only Had my G11, so I did the best I could. I was singing the lyrics to the Eagles song…

Welcome to the hotel california
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the hotel california

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I shot a wedding yesterday (yes on Valentine’s Day), and it was beautiful. Both the bride and groom were great to work with. It was a small wedding, so there were no stunning center pieces, or fabulous ballrooms, but the love that was felt in the room was unmistakable

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This is an exmaple of city government wasting money on dumb signs. Do you really have to put up a sign that says this?

If it is illegal, it cant’ be done anywhere. This is just a sign to make parents feel warm and fuzzy. Kinda reminds me of the notice on coffee cups that says "contents is hot"

I guess freezing the action has been possible for quite some time. It only took one hundred years to get a usable ISO above 6400 though… LOL

Fron the Library of Congress:

Bain News Service,, publisher.

[Marty McHale, New York AL (baseball)]

[1913]

1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.

Notes:
Original data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards: McHale, NY.
Corrected title and date based on research by the Pictorial History Committee, Society for American Baseball Research, 2006.
Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).

Format: Glass negatives.

Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.

Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

General information about the Bain Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain

Persistent URL: hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.14432

Call Number: LC-B2- 2847-4

How to: PocketWizard® MiniTT1 & FlexTT5 for Canon

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I was testing the TTL on my PocketWizard® last night, and I needed a subject, so I used my wife’s old doll. After I looked at the shots, they reminded me of some horror film.

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Bird on the beach in Laguna

I was in Laguna last month, and had a blast shooting birds on the beach. There was a guy that had three birds and was working for tips. You can see some more shots of the birds, and the bird guy here.

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I was eating at Carl’s Jr. the other day, and I had my G11 handy, so I decided to take a shot of the table number they give you. I remember "seeing others" stealing these in high school. Do they really need directions where to place them on the table?

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Hells Kitchen along the Ortega Highway in Lake Elsinore

I was driving home from Laguna Beach, and pulled over to shoot some Harley’s at a biker bar. Most of the bikers looked at me funny, but left me alone. The guy that owned this bike, just came out, got on and left, didn’t give me a hard time at all.

Here are some more shots from the same location