PHOTO 101: Nature

Nature photography is what I like to call "wall art." The photos should be compositionally interesting as well as beautiful to look at. They can be tricky to get just right and also universal in appeal. The below shots were taken during a 20 minute walk about at Flintridge Preparatory School in La Canada. Try doing a 20 minute walk/exploration of your neighborhood to see what you can get. Remember to get in close and shoot at a low angle. It can be quite a calming experience.

Lorenzo and Kellie

Today, I did a site visit/mini engagement session over at the Tournament Player's Club (TPC) in Valencia. Kellie and Lorenzo will be married there on October 4th. It is a beautiful location and the two were so excited to see their photos that I had to post a few right away.

PHOTO 101: The Landscape & HDR Imagery

What is Landscape Photography? The person that may come to mind might be Ansel Adams. Landscape photography can be one of the hardest types of photography to master, mainly because it takes great skill in lighting and composition as well as a ton of patience. You cannot just go out and take a photo of a landscape and expect to be able to frame it. Time of day is of great importance. Sunrise and sunset are good times because the sky and earth become within shooting range of good exposure. There is a new type of photography emerging called "High Definition" photography (aka high-dynamic-range image). It is basically taking three photos of the same thing: one exposed for highlights, one for shadows, and one for general balance. Then, the three photos are blended to create a surreal look. The above right photo was taken in 2007 by Adphoto in Trencin, Slovakia. It was taken using 9 exposures and then merged together to make one image. You may see more about High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography by going to Wikipedia. You may also see how to render your own HDR imagery in PhotoShop by using the "merge to HDR" feature by going to Cambridge in Colour. I have not tried one myself, but they are quite interesting to look at. I tend to take more minimalistic landscapes. They are not the conventional deep focus shots with a wide angle lens, but more dream like and a bit nostalgic. The below are some shots I took in San Clemente over the weekend on a nice, overcast evening.

Todd & Hayley's Engagement

On Friday evening, September 19th I met with Hayley and Todd (soon to be married on November 1st) to do their engagement session. They brought along one of Todd's daughters who was a good assistant. (You can see what she looks like at the end -- big, big blue eyes! -- a knock out.) We photographed this session at Mentryville off of Pico Canyon in Valencia. This is one of those great locations to shoot and it is right in my backyard. I am looking forward to their wedding as I know it will have a lot of fun energy!

Ronnie & Melissa: Wedding Preparations

I photographed a beautiful wedding at the Leo Baeck Temple last Saturday. Melissa and Ronnie were referred to me by Rachel and Ari who I shot a few years back. Ronnie was perfectly on time and Melissa was just a tad late. By the time she got there and put her dress on (the fastest I have ever seen a bride get ready!) the sun had set. We had just a few minutes to snap some photos of the two of them before I had to move to flash lighting. Luckily the light we did have was perfect! They were so fun and it was evident by all the wonderful comments made by guests that these two were truly blessed. Congrats Mellisa and Ronnie!