Category Archives: Tutorials

Assignment, Photography, Tutorials

Summertime at San Diego Natural History Museum

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Dino in HDR—While inside San Diego Natural History Museum,  I bracketed as I captured about 7 images to create this totally unrealistic image using Photomatix Pro. See the scene captured normally by my Canon 40D with 17-35 f2.8 L lens. ISO 400 f6.3 shutter speed between 1/10 sec and 0.3 seconds.

It’s nice to get away for a few days especially when it’s an easy 2 hour drive to San Diego.

You can always count on the numerous museums at Balboa Park to have exhibits that provide hours of amusement.

Actually, with so many other museums to choose from, it’s actually tough to decide.

We opted for the San Diego Natural History Museum.

“Dinosaurs” and “All That Glitters” are currently on exhibit. Continue reading Summertime at San Diego Natural History Museum →

Photography, Tutorials

On location single flash lighting

Graduating High School Senior–Samantha Some of you might recognize Samantha who modeled for my students when I taught my Small Flash Lighting workshop a few weeks back. She’s got such a pretty face and great skin, it’s hard not to get a good picture of her. I kept things simple for the most part. I used one Speedlite and a silver reflector for this picture.

One of the most invaluable skills I acquired while at the newspaper was learning to assess my lighting options on scene quickly.

Most of time it meant I would use what’s already at the scene. This approach means you have 2 light sources:

  • what you bring (your small portable flash units) and
  • what available light there is

Continue reading On location single flash lighting →

Photography, Tutorials

Better group shots with Photo Merge

There is a time and a place for photoshop.

Just bear in mind, my background in photojournalism allowed very little use of Photoshop except for cloning out dust spots, dodging and burning.

My use of Photoshop was limited to what we used to do when we were making BW prints in the darkroom.

That said, there are times when photoshop can actually give me a better way to make a good picture.

The one that comes to mind most is Photoshop’s Photomerge feature.

As a finale for my class, I taught my students how a little thinking out of the box can give you a better quality image.

Rather than using a wide angle to include everyone but at a price of throwing away pixels, I showed them, in my mind, a better approach.

Continue reading Better group shots with Photo Merge →

Photography, Tutorials

Backyard Photos of the Mouser

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I love the early morning directional light in my yard.

The sun’s rays creeps over the regulation 6-foot neighbor’s fence (now more like 8 feet with the overgrown hedge) and it just kisses my old beat-up picnic table.

Natural lighting or is it?–The Great Mouser with her half-eaten prize was lit by my Canon 580EX Speedlite set on the ground on the left. The distance from flash-to-subject was about 3 feet. The flash was set on Manual @ 1/64th power to give me f2 for ISO 100. I wanted a shallow depth-of-field since I didn’t want the green shrubbery in the foreground to be sharp. Here’s a wider view showing the placement of my Speedlite 580EX.

Because of the extreme angle, much of the clutter and distractions are still in shadow in the early morning hours.

Continue reading Backyard Photos of the Mouser →