Another in the Long Series of Stories and Tips

I love doing Family Lifestyle Pictures

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STORY
I was at a friends house just passing time... and her daughter was studying. So of course I whipped out my camera and got her doing her homework. I can't remember if she even knew I was taking a picture.

TIP: Understand and seek the potential found in the "everyday" and "commonplace"... however, it takes skill to keep the REAL intact... to not disturb the moments.

Be Ninja

From the archives...

This is a photo I uploaded when I first joined G+ but I've never shared it directly; apologies if you've seen it already. I took it from the back of a camel while trekking in the Sahara with a friend of mine. We were on our way to spend the night with a nomadic Berber family who lived in a tent in the dunes. It was a great experience; despite the big language barrier we managed to share some funny stories and learnt how to play their drums :)

I can only assume the man in this photo was a friend of theirs - as you can see there really wasn't a lot else nearby!

[side note: it's really hard to take a photo from a moving camel, they rock around like crazy!]

New Image: "Disappearing"

When hunting fog at the Golden Gate Bridge, I am usually looking for fog that is from around the car deck and below. Very often though, the fog is higher and covers the tops of the towers instead. It does not mean that you can not still make interesting and pretty images, so go out and shoot it anyway :)
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With Google+ going public and the new feature that allows the sharing of circles, I have many new people who have added me to a circle. Thanks to all of you. Take a look around this Golden Gate Bridge photo album and feel free to check out my others as well.

This should give you a feel for the types of images I produce and share here on Google+. I also periodically post about photo events here around the San Francisco area as well as tips about techniques, gear, locations etc. If these kinds of things are not of interest to you, I understand completely :) If they are, then Welcome! I look forward to sharing and interacting with you.

As always, I welcome comments, criticism, discussion, sharing, +1s :)
~joe

Playing chess...

6,000!!!

Circles in ONE day.. WELCOME! All new circles, To catch all of you new people up, I am currently in Jackson Hole Wyoming doing and Adventure Photography workshop with National Geographic, The North Face, Apple, and some of the top photographers in the adventure field. It has been an eye opening experience and worth every penny!

This shot was from yesterday's kayaking/paddle-boarding shoot on the river, I wasn't too psyched about it at first, but I ended up really loving the bokeh effect from the water drops! Enjoy!

Photo You Must See. Author: +Michał Halczewski

HDR Madness - or not?

Welcome to the 2000 new users that added me to their circles today.

Attached a gallery with 10 photographs that I call my favorite HDR photos from the past 2 years.

Untitled (2011 - Model : Lorelyne) (Feel free to share)
Fanpage : http://www.facebook.com/GeoffroyDemarquet
(Creative commons) © Geoffroy Demarquet

Intersection

Runway

I love to take photos at night so here is my night project, with my favorite photos.
Thanks to all for adding me as a contact!

Close up head shots of people with beautiful faces spotted along Orchard Road. All street portraits were taken with permission.

'Cats and bokeh.... no doubt someone will give me some shit for posting this but, as I pointed out recently to one person in Flickr who let me have both barrels with their 'not anther f***ing cat shot' comment...

A. I like cats.
B. I like street cats even more
C. They can look really cool if you catch them at the right moment
D. Everyone likes a cute animal shot, don't they?
E. Street cats are one of the things I 'collect' with my camera in Tokyo. We have a small apartment so collecting material things is not really an option anymore and anyway, after moving from the UK to Japan in 2007 I realised how much 'stuff' didn't really matter. You just end up clearing it out after a few years and it's a pain in the backside every time you decide to move house. It's good to 'collect' things with the your camera, as if you are looking for certain things you like all the time it helps keep your eye sharp to the world. And they form nice little ongoing sets or 'typologies'. Here's a link that will help explain what a typology is in photographic context:

http://japanorama.co.uk/2011/06/29/using-history-to-shape-the-now/

F. Cats can help pay the rent: I have now had a magazine feature and a commission from the BBC because of cats. Back to the point above about collecting things: they become something of an obsession. Obsessions can make you a 'specialist'. Magazine editors like specialists.... :-)

The tech details on this shot:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 Ai
The black and white/sepia is done in-camera using the 'Dark Sepia' picture control which I made for my Nikon.

those moments when i think of you

Good Morning, everyone.. Again, my apologies for being absent during the recent days. I am overwhelmed with work at the moment. I hope for things to settle down a bit soon. Please forgive me for neglecting your posts. I do look in from time to time to see them. I rarely have more then just a moment though. I hope life is treating you well.

Have a lovely day!

More reptiles. This time it is Nephrurus wheeleri from the iron-ore rich Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Who needs fiction when you have real life.

To me, this looks like a setup shot with models from a magazine. But this was shot like everything else in this album as a candid. But what was unusual - I shot it on a tripod. I saw them first behind me, fooling around. Then she jumped on his back.

I saw them moving towards the crosswalk and on a tripod set up and waited about a second until they hit what I'd call the mark I had pre-focused on. She noticed me - and the big smile and snap. And across Fifth Avenue they went.

And it is what I've loved about street photography - the range of human emotions and the excitement of not knowing what you would get whenever you'd go out.

My personal style has been to follow my nose. On this particular day, I walk downstairs (three flights) with the tripod and I pause for a moment when I get outside. I can go east, west, north, south. I decide to head west to Central Park. I shoot in the park for an hour and don't find anything. I'm on my way home when I run into this scene.

That's how it goes. It's what I imagine fishing is like. You have some ideas about where the fish might be biting - but you can also return home with nothing. But even then you don't really mind because you like the actual process of fishing. The catch is the bonus - but not the goal.

It was at the end of the day. It was freezing cold. The shoot was wrapped and we were headed to the cars. I looked across the valley and was stunned by the staircase spiraling down the valley. I asked my friend Megan to walk all the way acros the valley to stand on the stairs. Thankfully she agreed. I only used natural light here, no strobes. Just some vignetting in post. This story is just a simple reminder to keep an open mind and always be willing to exploring outside of your plans. Those are usually the best shots.

Shotover Jet "The Worlds Most Exciting Jet boat Ride"
http://www.shotoverjet.com/
Another must do if you travel to Queenstown,NZ

Forest Fire in California's Eastern Sierra
After sunset Sunday night I could see the Buckeye fire burning down near Bridgeport, so I headed down there to catch it across Big Meadow.

Since it was close to the date of the new moon, I had been planning on running around shooting star photos, but having a forest fire available safely across a 1000 acre meadow was too unique to pass up. So I caught some images of the fire, and added a few wide shots to include the clouds and stars as well.

The first 5 of these are new shares, and here's the rest of the album from my explorations over the past 3 weeks:
Fall2011 | myphotoguides
Thanks in advance for shares!

Memories of Summer

Location: Lake Crescent, Olympic National Park
Camera Body: Canon 50D
Lens: Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM
Filter: B+W Circular Polarizer
Exposure: Blended 4 exposures in Adobe Lightroom

About the Shot:
Stole away from the family on a trip to Olympic National Park on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, in order to get some shots of the sunset at Lake Crescent. The view from Lake Crescent Lodge is perfect for this, as it has a view looking almost due west down the valley that holds the lake, and continues on past towards Forks (thar be Vampires).

Proving how seasonal tourist season really is, the beach area was largely abandoned on a beautiful evening. These seats sat empty, their views not encumbered by the posteriors anyone sitting in them. ;)

To "Google +" Followers :
Thanks !!! to those you have added me to their circles in last few days, i really appreciate all of you taking the time to check out my images, to share it and to write something in
Enjoy it !!!

Welcome New Faces! || Find me on these other interweb sites too

www.blamethemonkey.com (Travel Photography, HDR, & Monkey Business.)

Blame The Monkey on Facebook: (I stay very active on it)
http://www.facebook.com/blamethemonkey

Twitter: (I stay fairly active on it)
http://twitter.com/#!/elialocardi

Flickr: (I’m not sure how I feel about it anymore but I still use it regularly)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blamethemonkey/

500.px: (Though I’m new to it, I actually quite like this one)
http://500px.com/EliaLocardi

These two girls noticed me because I was in the middle of the road and stopped to take their photo. The girl is giving me the look like wtf are you doing, and the other is just blushing away but feeling better about it. I am really satisfied with how this photo turned out. Im also seeing the resemblance between them and the posters.

Good morning everybody!

Brand new fashion for your stream....

Bathed in Bronze #001 - Tara wearing a 70's bronze maxi dress.

2011 Fashion Photography
Styling & Photography: +Andrea Acailawen.
Assistant: +Christopher Wright.
Hair/Makeup: +Laura Barone (Blend True).
Model: Tara Lightfoot.

Wardrobe provided by Misred Outfitters.

*Sharing of this post is welcomed*

From back in July west of Sedona...I made the wife and daughter go on a drive with me through Red Rock State Park during some monsoon thunderstorms to see what we might see. I loved all these trees out there, and I don't know their name or type, but they have some evergreen properties despite being short and stubby.

Of course, you wont know the color of the wood or the leaves because I stole that from you with the monochrome conversion. That's how I roll these days!

I loved this scene. An awesome tree, some cool rocky terrain, gorgeous, textured clouds and that fantastic monsoon downpour off on the left horizon. What more could this guy ask for?

Lightning. Yes. Wish there was a lightning strike in there somewhere. But ah well...can't have everything.

The Umbersuns - The Devil's Needles . Chamonix Mont-Blanc ( France,74 ) . © Alexandre Deschaumes .

Big shark smile goes to all new contacts whom arrived recently - thank you for your interest in underwater photo - and thank you +Elena Kalis for re-sharing my shark species album and for shark protection message ! For all you shark lovers check images in this "bulla smile" album - smiling sharks from Fiji Islands ! :-)

"Bula" is traditional greeting and very spiritual word in Fiji - Fijians always smile when they say it. "Bula smile" - symbol of hospitality and friendliness of people of this beautiful place. I found other smiles in Fiji - "Bulla smiles". Bull sharks, mean and aggressive predators can smile ;) ! This album is dedicated exclusively to "Bulla smiles" :-) Enjoy !

Are you still to weak to survive your mistakes?

Life... This image was put together to show how despite what we are perceived as on the outside is usually far different to that which we see. In this image, the model is looking into the mirror and despite her work on appearance, she see's the truth.

We are all broken in some way, but are you still to weak to survive your mistakes?

Please enjoy the image and just take something from it, anything you like just something to reward the time you have spent looking at it :-)

Dave

* Props to model Sarah Ellis - http://rubiacaea.deviantart.com/

Silver Fox
I converted this one to black & white with Silver Efex Pro 2.0. I guess that makes this one a "Silver EFOX PRO!" :)

The base RAW conversion was done in Capture NX2 (which I like for my Nikon RAW files), and then I sent the image to Photoshop CS5 for B&W conversion. If you use plug-ins regularly, as I often do, then Photoshop CS5 tends to be the best environment as it offers layers and Smart Filters. In the case of the Nik Software plug-ins, Smart Filters let you go back and change your settings after you've hit "Save." That's something that you can't do in the other editing environments, like Aperture, LR, or even Elements.

Or Maybe It's the Weather, or Something Like That -- Portland, OR

"Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night?" Alice in Wonderland
(OMG look at this numbers!Thanks Google!People must be signing up in bunches:)

The Classic View, Havasu Canyon, AZ

Want to take photos like this? Check out our Free Ebook: http://www.jaypatelphotography.com/photography/ebooks/hiking-havasu

Havasu Falls is difficult to access this place - You have to hike 10 miles, fight dogs that try to mark your backpacks, brave cold temperature, fall in water atleast couple of times and elect a sacrificial lamb to test how deep the water... got the honors on our last trip. You can read about it in our free Ebook. At the end of the ebook we have included tips on how to photograph waterfalls.

When you start exploring Havasu Falls, this is one of the places that you stand and admire beauty of Havasu Falls. The color of the water and close proximity of the falls make this a classic view of the magnificent falls.

Enjoy & Share
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Good morning Googlers :)

I wanted to re-share my Leaf series (that I need to carry on with now that autumn is upon us) for the new circles.

You will be happy to hear I will not be flooding your stream today, its a nice day and me and my motorbike are going to get reacquainted with some very twisty country roads ;) https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-90lLXIdbnl8/Tkgh6aa_V_I/AAAAAAAAB9c/fU2_hKFMKyg/s912/Biker.jpg

speaking textures

61

What a Wonderful World - Land's End, Cornwall, UK

Rien ne va plus - A true Poker bad beat story ( flickr: http://bit.ly/fr-rien )

Teaser
Do you want to become a pro photographer? Meet like-minded people at [ http://bit.ly/ga-nyp ]

About this image
This is an interior shot from the AIDAbella cruise ship - the casino! Did you know that they are only allowed to open the casino once the ship has reached international waters? Anyway, I did not gamble on that trip! In fact, my first and only gambling experience was in Las Vegas where I played some poker. After a few hands I lost big time. I had a full house and my opponent had four sixes. Can you believe that??? Normally this only happens in Hollywood movies. This time, it happened to me. To make things worse, that guy won an additional 100 Dollars for making the best hand in that hour with his quad sixes. Duh!

That cured my addiction to gambling before it actually started. ;-)

Just curious: Do you play Poker? What is the biggest hand you ever lost?

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