…to Jasen and Christy, who allowed me to host “Advanced Flash” last week in their great Phoenix studio, Studio Moirae:
Not only a great couple and a great team in an extremely cool studio loft, but they are very talented photographers too.
This workshop -and some more – will be repeated.. stay tuned!
Sedona, a couple of days ago. The long lens and f/5.6 at 1/160th, with white balance on “daylight”, and -1 stop exposure compensation gives me that nice “golden hour” light:
A quick tip, today. All about filters.
Oh and do use your lens hoods all the time.
Here’s a polariser picture:
In other words, I slightly darkened the sky by using a polarizer. This brings back the scene to the impressive one that I felt I saw.
Have fun!
..is Sedona, at sunset. This is one time you do not want to use a flash.
Regular photography teaching will resume tomorrow, but I thought you might all appreciate another snap, especially one showing me. Kind of.
I was in Sedona, Arizona yesterday, liking the light.
I used the 7D with the 70-200 2.8L lens and the 1Ds MkIII with the 16-35 lens. And lots of exposure compensation. And flash.
And oh, I used one of these:
When you see back light, you may want to try to use it if you can. That way you do not always get the same old same old.
When I was struck by strong sunlight coming my way at the show the other day, I shot this. I lined up the sun with the edge and used exposure compensation (“the +/- button”) of -2 stops to darken all but the rims:
f/2.8, 1/640th sec, 32mm, on a 7D.
So what’s the scene?
These people are in fact merely lining up to get some free goat cheese samples. But this light makes it look a tad more dramatic, no?
Like these, shot at the agricultural show the other day.
Open your lens wide. f/2.8 here. Then get close to the glass. That way you do not see the imperfections and dirt. No flash1 Instead, use ISO 800, to use the available warm light. That gave me 1/25ooth second to freeze the motion.
Aren’t they impossibly cute?
Steel-blue and yellow are opposite colours, so like many juxtapositions, this one works particularly well too. And when old and new, nature and man-made are mixed in, there might just be a picture there.
One lesson in this: always keep your camera on or near you. Another lesson: always keep your eyes open.
Doesn’t this speak?
The look. Colour – the warm background. Light. Extremely selective focus (f/1.4). It all seems to work for me.
One thing we as photographers always look for is juxtapositions. Things like:
Or as in this case: conservative Islamic vs Western liberal:
Yes, that is the Great Pyramid.
Any juxtaposition makes us think “this is interesting”. And that makes for an interesting picture. So today’s tip: Whenever you see any kind of juxtaposition, have your “contrast-detector” go off, and ask yourself: “could there possibly be a picture here?” If in doubt, shoot!