Recent work: Smoke on the Water

I was fortunate to capture this long exposure rocky shoreline image recently on the northern California coast.  The "fog" effect is simple to understand but takes some planning and composition attention.  There was no fog, rather many waves came in and out during the 30 seconds that my shutter was open.  They created a motion blur resembling a low layer of fog.  From a technical standpoint, getting an exposure long enough for this requires a small aperture and low ISO.  Also very low light unless you have a ND "neutral density" filter.  In this case the sun had just set and it was plenty bright enough to rock hope on slippery rocks and wade through cold November Pacific water to reach a suitable location.  In the dark, this would have been much more tricky and dangerous.

Luckily I had a ND filter, which is simply a dark filter that cuts down the amount of light entering the lens. 

Take me to the River...

Capturing this image taught me a lot about looking beyond calm waters for interesting reflection photos.  I was about 1/2 mile away from this location scouting for a completely unrelated shot on a high hillside.  The golden reflection shined so brightly that it immediately caught my attention like a beacon.  I took a mental note of it's location and the time of day which was near dusk when the rock bluffs were still in warm sunlight while the river was in cool shade.  A few days later

Creating an Action Sequence Composite

I get a lot of questions on how to create an action sequence composite like this.  It's actually pretty simple if you have a good understanding of layers and layer masks in Photoshop or whatever similar image editing software that you may be using.  If you have the preparation time and intuition to use a tripod when shooting, processing an image like this is easier as you'll see in a minute.  Sometimes though

Tips for photographing architecture

It's been difficult building my architectural photography portfolio.  Partly because usually getting a nice dramatic dusky shot usually requires good premises access for turning lights on or off, possibly adding or modifying lights, opening or closing shades, moving cars off the street etc.  This is the public library in Durango, CO which I've had in mind for quite a while.  The front side usually has a lot of cars and clutter when the library is open and the lights are on.  But one evening it occurred to me to

Enough with the noise, fuggedaboudit

I was fortunate enough to capture this image of the Manhattan skyline recently from the "Top of the Rock" (Rockefeller Center) in New York.  The observatory at Top of the Rock has a strict rule prohibiting tripods so I took this hand held.  In low light shooting hand held, you will probably have to boost your ISO quite a bit, even if you open your aperture.  For this shot