TIP OF THE WEEK - Be Positively Presumptious

Often emerging portrait photographers lack confidence in their ideas. If that is you, don’t let it show!  Your subject will pick up on your insecurities and loose faith. Learn to trust your gut and believe in your vision for a shot – radiate that confidence and dedicate yourself to making it a success.

When shooting this model, I had the idea of putting her out in the middle of moving traffic. I suggested it with a big grin and guided her out into the street.. My enthusiasm transferred to her and out to the street she walked. If I had been even the slightest bit hesitant, she would have picked up on my doubt and probably said no. It was confidence and assuming success that made the shot.


Thank you to Jenefer Taylor www.jenefertaylor.com for being such a great model and check out her beautiful music and photos.

Producer:            Robyn Taylor
Photographer:     Catherine Hall Studios
Stylist:               Thea Chalmers
Hair & Makeup:   Clifford Hashimoto

Here is how #transitofvenus  looked from Bay Area California. I learnt a lot about transit of #venus  today. +NPR folks covered a nice historical perspective of how this event was crucial to determine that Venus has an atmosphere. It was apparently also significant in determining distance of the earth from sun, which at the time was of immense importance... so glad to have seen and captured this event. Besides that it is just so much fun to photograph it.

About the photo:
Lens: Canon EF 70-200 f/4L IS at 200mm
Camera: Canon EOS 5D MK II
Exposure: Varying exposures at f/9 to f/16
Filters: Heavy does of ND filters cutting light by 8-18 stops. I used two Hoya filters that were 4-stop each. Then I used LEE 10-stop filter on top for some of the earlier exposures when sun was still high in the sky.
Processing: RAW images imported in +Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and combined into a composite using +Adobe Photoshop.

(Tags #venustransit  )

David M. Cobb and I had THE best time on our first Palouse workshop last weekend, although 4 hours of sleep per night had everyone looking like zombies with SLRs by the end. I was impressed with the all talent and creativity in our group and I'm looking forward to seeing their images. 

Late season rain made for some of the best air quality I have seen in the Palouse. This is a classic late evening scene from high on Steptoe Butte.

This week David and I are exploring the Hell's Canyon region of NE Oregon before returning to the Palouse for another workshop next weekend.

It's tough to be a puddle

Especially when the sun comes out... 

I grabbed my iPhone again today at lunch and went on the lookout for more puddles, there weren't many left but I managed to find a few that were much smaller than you would expect from this picture.

Zug, Switzerland / 2012

#iphone   #Puddleizer  

Sunset light through storm clouds on Jefferey Pine atop Sentinel Dome, Yosemite National Park, California

This was my take on what was once considered to be the world's most photographed tree, and which appeared in my Yosemite & Eastern Sierra book. The tree, which had already been dead for many years when I took this shot (using a Nikon n90s & Fuji Velvia film) was finally brought down several years ago when a group of overseas tourists climbed on the limbs for a group photo.

For #treetuesday by +Christina Lawrie & +Shannon S. Myers
and #plusphotoextract by +Jarek Klimek 

Thanks for looking,

- Gary.
http://www.enlightphoto.com

The manatee waltz.

view 53

processed with my new textures: http://wuestenhagenimagery.blogspot.de/

"It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary."
David Bailey

"Grandmother Rock #3" , Trinidad, Far Northern California
+Tony Nguyen has renamed it Buddha Rock, good eye!

A few minutes after I made the last post, I made this 3-minute exposure!
(Expand the post, to see the big version! Download to see an even bigger version.)

Details

Canon 5D Mk II
Canon 17-40L @ 20
3-minute exposure @F11
2 LEE soft ND grads (100x150mm) 0.9 + 0.6
1 LEE 10-stop square glass filter (very dark!)
Lee foundation kit filter holder with Lee 77mm adapter ring
ISO 160
No polarizer
RAW file processed with Capture One by Phase One
TIFF file processed with Photoshop
Small Slik Sprint mini II tripod
Manfrotto 322RC2 pistol-grip ball head

The Story

After I photographed one of the most awesome sunsets I had ever seen, I decided to make a long exposure. This one was featured in the Nature's Best Magazine Awards they have each year. I moved around to make sure that there would be a persistent reflection visible in the long exposure. If is a matter of guessing how the average will come out. A long exposure isolates and draws attention to Grandmother rock in the middle. 

The rest of the story is below, reposted from yesterday.

Early last year, an impressive storm was heading to the coast.  It rained hard all day but I watched the satellite photos all day and the final front looked like it may pass overhead right at sunset.  Of course, if it was was 1/2 hour too late, my planned shoot would be doomed.

I headed to my planned beach, and 30 minutes before sunset, I could see a thin line of clearing way out over the ocean, and it was headed my way.  Would it reach me by sunset?  Then it started to rain heavily and some fog dropped the visibility to a few hundred feet.  The few people at the beach headed home.  But I knew that the frontal edge was hiding in the mist.  

So I headed out onto the beach in the driving rain with my umbrella hoping for the best.  I could see hints of light appearing in the fast-moving clouds so I ran across the beach as fast as I could, looking down to avoid the waves.  When I got to my spot, the rain was ending and I looked up and I was literally shocked at what I saw in the sky.  Brooding mammatus clouds, multiple cloud decks, you name it.  I have never seen anything like this in my life!

I got the camera ready and was actually nervous that I would not be able to record this event!  I took a few shots and realized that the focus ring had moved while I was fiddling around.  Fortunately I noticed or my whole series might have been lost.  And I have never shot a series of photos like this.

It was high tide but I wanted reflections so it was extra hard to hold the umbrella while chasing the wet sand from the previous wave.  But the reflections really add to the overall effect.  

Other stuff

My pictures are featured on the front page of California Governor, Jerry Brown's website http://gov.ca.gov

Resources

I wrote a 325 eBook that describes exactly how I went about learning photography starting in 2006. I did not learn the usual way. I have studied the great masters of painting and hope to find that light in the real world.

http://www.patricksmithphotography.com/Photography_Book.html


For everything else, go to my website:

http://www.patricksmithphotography.com

A great weather mashup map of the world with local temperatures, weather and nice popups. See where it is hot and not! (Must wait for slow commercials first, but worth it!)
http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/
Google Earth
http://earth.google.com/

Simply the best way to scout out locations that there is. You can see sun angles and pre-visualize light under lots of different conditions. Sometimes you can actually pre-compose your shots! This has saved me many thousands of vertical feet of climbing by avoiding spots with blocked views etc.

Satellite imagery (choose 'National' for a local US region or use your fave website)
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/?wfo=mtr

Tide charting and preditions: (chose your area in US, other countries have similar websites)
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/tide_predictions.shtml?gid=235

Wave Heights (I choose 'North Pacific from Global')
http://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/waves/index2.shtml

Or Here:
http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/shtml/RP1bw.gif

Photos of every inch of the California coastline from a small plane. Excellent for close in detailed views.

http://www.californiacoastline.org/

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#monochromemonday museum in Madrid, Spain #PlusPhotoExtract