A Little History

I've always seen myself, as a creative person. Not pushing this thought in a cocky manner, but, just reflecting on my short history, I've always had a thrive to innovate. 

Drawing, building, crafting, creating, were things I did growing up; but being creative was never something I tried to do, I just did things as an outlet.

I remember looking at a box full of photographs my dad took a while back, and being amazed at how the subjects were captured and the techniques used in the photographs. I wanted to learn how to create images worthe taking a second look at. 

Photography became another outlet for me, because It allowed me to portray the world from my perspective. As an added bonus, I'm also a gear head, so all of the tech toys I get to use in photography keep me intrigued as well. 

When I first started off taking pictures I shot film, because that's what I had access to. But what a lot photography enthusiast skip out on is education. I was heavily involved, at an early age of 12, in reading and studying the art of photography. I became a student of light and learned how to tame the beast that it is.

Ocean-side along The California Coast. Taken with Canon T-90 35mm film camera ISO 200 Kodak Film

Tiger photographed at the SF Zoo. Taken with Canon T-90 35mm film camera ISO 200 Kodak Film

Film was a great learning experience. It didn't offer the privilege of seeing your results immediately, and I was limited to 24 shots per roll of film. In return, it forced me to spend more time putting my shots together. I had to learn to be patient and precise with my work, especially when I did jobs for clients.

Today I running an up and coming photography business. I love it, the feeling of waking up and being excited about your job is something I experience but I want that feeling to come more often. Hopefully one day I can quit my day job, or at least find one the compliments my passion for photography. 

Until then, I will continue to work relentlessly with photography and see where my passion takes me. 

Shoot Edit Share - Mobile Photography

Selecting Photos to Share Via
Instagram

Tagging, Apps, Facebook, filters, Instagram, Hashtags, likes and comments. It has become a lot more easier to capture and share moments with others, and we don't even have to be home to do it. I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical when it came to mobile photography in the beginning, but there are a lot of things that it has brought to the culture of photography that I like. 

The best camera is the one that is with you - Chase Jarvis

Chase Jarvis coined this term years ago and it speaks a lot of truth. Whether you are walking the dog, spontaneously watching a sunset of come across some abstract graffiti on building wall. If the only camera you have is the one on your cell phone; you are going to take that shot. At any given moment in time, the best camera is the one in your pocket, and chances are that is your cell phone. Mobile photography has made a greater convenience for individual to capture moments without over complexional, expensive equipment. 

Sharing Photos

Sharing Photos Via
Facebook

When has it ever been easier to share photos with family and friends, or hundreds of followers? 10 years ago, you wouldn't dream of photographing the tower bridge in Downtown Sacramento then sharing your photo with hundreds of people within seconds after the shot was taken. Instagram and Facebook have been the main engines driving this Social-Sharing locomotive; and expect even more exciting innovations to come in the near future

Editing Photos Via
Camera +

Editing on the fly

There is a huge multiplicity of photo editing apps available for both iPhone and Android devices in the market. I am impressed with what these apps can do; it's like a having an arsenal of digital darkroom utility in your pocket. The ability to enhance, sharpen, convert, and transform your photos workout having to sit in front of a computer makes post processing a more convenient task for the general public. 

Conclusion - Availability and continuing development 

Almost everyone in today's fast-paced society has a mobile phone, and every cell phone has a camera (for the most part). So the opportunity to be a part of the photography culture is a lot more available and convenient to the world. The hardware and software is constantly developing and becoming more open to the public. With all of the utilities that we have to capture, edit, and share images, it's safe to say that we are on an equal playing when it comes to creating beautiful images. It's how w choose to utilize these tools that will individual set each of us a part. Continue to shoot with whatever you have and not be discouraged to test your ability and advance your knowledge. 

Make Your Photos Pop Pt. 1

Photos don't always appear on the back of our camera ( or computer screen ) the same way they did with our naked eye. Ever get back from a vacation and look at your photos and think, " I remember the sunset being more orange? Was the boardwalk really that dark? This photo looks dull ". Well, this happens to both professionals and soccer moms alike; and the main reason behind this is because cameras simply don't see the same way our eyes do as far as detail, point of view, angles, dynamic range, and color. However, this is a much deeper topic that I hope to cover in the future.

For now let show you some basic steps in post processing your photos to make them appear more "life-like" without appearing too edited. My program of choice is Adobe Light-room  it is my digital darkroom. I will show you how I edited this image below to give more "Pop"

Below is a Lightroom comparison of the original image (left) and the final image.

The original image has some even lighting, but there are numerous things that I dislike about it
Dark and gloomy
Dull color
washed out sky
Not enough detail in the water
Too many shadows

The first thing that I'm going to do to the image is adjust the exposure so its a lot more natural looking. I took this image a little more under-exposed in order to capture more detail (especially in the sky). I often adjust the exposure on my images first because its also a camera function, and more light allows me to correct other aspects of the image more accurately. Have you ever cleaned your room without light? much more easier to detail when you can see what you have to work with. I adjust the exposure to +40, which is a little higher than usual, but this is a dark image.

Increasing the exposure isn't a dramatic difference; however, it makes the image easier for me to work with.

The next image has some alterations that you really enhance this photo. I increased the clarity of the photo. Increasing the clarity increases the contrast in the mid-tones of your photo; which gives more detail and attention to "gray" areas of your photograph. In this case, the reflections in the water, and the texture of the structures increased by increasing the clarity. Clarity (like many other tools in light-room/Photoshop) is a tool that you need to practice and experiment with to really get a grasp as to how it can affect your images

I also increased the contrast of the image so it doesn't appear so washed and pale. Contrast creates a greater level of separation between the whites and blacks of your photograph; in the end result it often makes your photos more dynamic.

The vibrancy and saturation was slightly increased to make the colors pop. You don't want to overdue the color saturation in your images; too much color often gives off an unrealistic look ( if your aim is to make natural looking photos). Vibrancy is a safety net for color enhancement because it intelligently only increases to color intensity of the more muted colors, instead of the whole image.

The ending result is finally coming together. There are just a few more adjustments I would like to make. The photo still looks a little too dark in the portions of the image that contains shadows. It may sound a little unique, but shadows arnt always completely blacked out; actually, I find most of the time shadows contain a lot of detail. To bring out more detail in the shadows, I'm going to significantly increase the "shadow" slider. This feature re-lights the darker portions of the image to allow more detail visibility.

You can see most of the difference in the bottom of the image by the wooden post and the leaves on the tree. The affect is almost like creating a HDR ( high dynamic range) photograph but just slightly less extreme.

The last touch I will do focuses on the sky. To selectively edit the sky I will use the paint tool. The red on the image indicates the part I focused on.

I increased the clarity to bring out more of the clouds in the sky. To create an image that fit the one I saw with the naked eye, I also increased the temperature to make the sky warmer. Lastly, the saturation was boosted to give the sky more blue; giving you the final image.

Our photographs will sometimes need some adjustments to achieve the results we want. Whether the adjustments are made before taking the photograph, or in post production. To best achieve these results you have to know how to use the tools ( camera, accessories, software) and their limitations. Please keep reading and I promise to keep you updated!

Why I Dont Use Instagram to Take Photos - Exposure Control

Ahh...The world of cell phone photography, its one of the most convenient and popular ways people are taking photos, editing photos, and sharing photos. The days where everyone walked around with a 35mm SLR camera is now being replaced with smartphones. Good or bad? Well, I think its good, but I will talk more on that later.
I use my iPhone heavily for capturing and sharing images; and the new popular app/network, Instagram, just makes that much more exciting. with Instagram you can capture photos with your phone, add some cool effects, a title, and share it with hundreds of people within seconds. The possibilities are endless. With that said, I still choose to use external camera apps to edit and even process my photos, and here is why.

More control over exposure






Instagrams camera is nice, its pretty much the default camera that comes with the phone but cropped to a square. Only problem is, I lose some control over the exposure of my image. As a photographer, I have to control the lighting of my photographs, its a must. The program I choose to use is Camera+. It cost a whole wopping .99cents in the app store, but its worth. It allows me to separate the exposure point from the focus point in my pictures. If you notice in instagram, when select something to focus on in the viewfinder, it also meters the light from the same area. However, in camera plus, it allows you to separate everything.







Look below for some examples of the Camera+ app and how I can control the exposure and make the image look drasticall different.

The normal mode in Camera+
combines the exposure with the
focus point. This is like the normal
camera app and Instagram

Now I have the exposure circle on
the computer screen, causing the
camera to meter off the screen, making
an overall darker image. The focus is
still on the pen holder.

The exposure circle is on the the dark
speaker, which will cause the camera
to meter off the speaker, making the image brighter than the previous.

As you see, with the Camera+ application, I have more control over the image exposure, something Instagram simply does not give me.

With that said. Instagram is amazing! I use it daily and its a recommended program to share photos and add some cool effects to them. I choose to use other programs to capture photos, but Instagram to share them.