I'm taking a bit of a different approach to this post.  Many times I'll hesitate from sharing any photographs of firearms.  I find many people fear even looking at them, they feel uncomfortable being around them and they feel alienated by the use of their images.

With that in mind, these are excellent examples for a teaching opportunity in focal length and how to control how your subject matter appears based on what you're doing with your lens, using a zoom, not using a zoom, etc.

For this post, I've put all the images which use a wide angle (less than 45mm) focal length on the left side, normal in the middle (about 50mm-55mm) and larger than 55mm on the right side.  I used a 24mm-70mm lens in this shoot which gave me perspective control in how the viewer sees the subject, it also can be troublesome, especially if you were taking portraits of a person.

Why does focal length matter?  Well, like I mentioned above your normal vision is comparable to about the focal length of 50mm-55mm.  Anything less starts becoming wide angle, anything larger starts compressing the image.  That's not a bad thing, but it's something that you need to be aware of in order to control your images rather than to be controlled by your images.

 If you notice, all the images on the left (again, they were shot using about a 24mm focal length) give the appearance that the rifle has a very long barrel, the muzzle break on the end looks quite large and the scope appears to be very distant from the end.

In portraiture this may result in making a subjects nose (or whatever feature is physically closest to the lens) to appear bigger than it actually is.  If you're photographing someone with a large nose and you're focusing on the face then you might make the nose look even larger than it actually is.

If your sitter wanted to enhance a physical feature by making it appear larger this could play out to your advantage, using a wider angle lens and using an angle where that physical feature is closer to the lens.

 

 With that in mind, if you're working with someone who wants to make a physical feature less noticeable you might in turn consider using a larger focal length (preferably 100mm-200mm).  This can be effective if your sitter has a large nose and is concerned about how large it appears.  A woman who is well endowed and wants to appear...less endowed... may also prefer a larger focal length to be used, because it can help make those closer physical features to appear smaller.


So what's right?  What's the best lens to use?  When it comes to photography if you don't have a camera it doesn't matter what camera is best for a genre if you didn't have a camera there with you to capture the moment.  If you only have one lens, you can work around any shortcomings it may appear to have. If you're working with a wide angle lens and trying to conceal other features simply using a prop with your subject can make all the difference.  If there's a broom stick, baseball bat, pillow, or another prop appropriate to the end-goal of the image that can be used, having your subject hold that object in front of them, hold it to them, etc may be able to help you overcome that wide angle effect.

If you're working with a 70mm-300mm lens you might consider keeping your lens at 70mm and adjusting your own positioning to change the image's crop.  If your sitter wants to enhance physical features then you might consider getting more of a profile for the shot, because shooting along (or across) the subject will show those changes in physical features more even when using a longer lens.

Coverage

Sometimes, in order to be noticed, receive recognition, credibility, reputation, notoriety...

Contests MUST be entered.  Today is no different.  :)

Visit FindYourArtSchool to see my photo submission and easily find over 400 good interior design schools and more!

Emotions in Facial Expressions

 Something I hear all too often is "I never like pictures of me, because I'm never making the face that I think I'm making".

So, how do you evict emotions in facial expression?

To create descriptions for these I stood in front of a mirror and kept thinking about things that made me feel these ways and took notes as to how I personally responded to each stimuli, while some people may express emotions visually differently than another...I believe that unless you're Kristen Stewart there's a pretty good chance that there are strong similarities in what I described...and how you show it.

Annoyed - Eyebrows scrunched, slight pursing of lips, intense stare at person/object annoyed at.

Interest - Attentive eyes, head slightly cocked with a slight squinting of the eyes.

Joy - Eyes fully open (no squint), very slight tilt of the neck, almost a grin on the face.

Surprise - Eyebrows lifted fully exposing more of the eye than is usually seen, head slightly forward, jaw on the floor.

Fear - Head pulled back and slightly turned away from source of fear, slight tilt of head.

Boredom - Head tilted slightly backward and titled to side, shoulders shrugged.

Awe - Mouth half open, gentle raise in eyebrows, eyes slightly opened.

Admiration - More of a grin in the lips, "grin with the eyes", very slight close in eyelids to show focus of admiration.

Love - More intense admiration, closed mouth grin, dimples (if available), under eye wrinkles (constriction in cheeks creates a tug between the lower eyelid and the cheeks making barely noticeable wrinkles under the eye more apparent).

Serenity - Eyes closed, head tilted back slightly and slightly to the side, shoulders back, open acceptance.

Have you ever:

Asked a professional in their field and received a response that was longer than you expected, and much less simple than you thought reasonable?

There's probably a good reason for that.

If I were to ask a construction company for a proposal for a home on land I already owned I know full well that I'd have hundreds and thousands of questions to answer.  Why?  Because they're professionals who know that there are very particular points in their industry which require very specific information, they've also worked with more than one client and have accepted that the more information they get From the client, the better the result they can sell the client at the end of the day.

Well, is photography so complicated?  Why do photographers always give so long of an answer?

Some may give a short answer, that can be good or bad.  Perhaps the best response is a series of informed questions that only require short responses so that both parties can make the best of their day.

A photograph is a very complicated matter from the professional stand point.  A subject (whether it's an inanimate object or a animate object, a person or a pet) is a very dynamic image to capture and everything about that "snap" needs to be considered before the snap.  Why?  Because this allows the photographer to have the right environment for the subject.

Photographing a Ferrari in the war torn country of Somalia is about as brilliant an idea as photographing a couple's engagement photo's outside the county jail (assuming that they don't work there and that's a whole different ballgame called "environmental photography" which has nothing to do with weather or pollution but everything to do about the environment in which a person identifies themselves).

Perhaps the most important element in a photograph is light.  If there's not a good quality of light (for the intended concept in the image), a consistent light, a good color of light, a consistent color of light...then the photographer needs to already have responses to produce a consistent quality and color of light that enhances the desired image.

Environment may be the second most important element, as insinuated to two paragraphs ago.  Taking an image of something in a location that doesn't make sense for it to be in can be effective in some instances, on the other hand it can destroy the desired purpose by conflicting messages in the final product.

The first and second element as previously described determine the third element.  What gear will the photographer need to complete the shoot as desired?  I frequently pre-visualize a setting by actually photographing at the location in the situation I'll be shooting in before I am shooting the actual end-image simply because it allows me to have this third element nailed from the start.  As a photographer I need to know what extra light I need to bring with me, will that require me to bring power cords?  A generator or battery packs for my lights?  Do I need to bring a background to block something out, or to soften light?  Will I need an assistant to help with a reflector to balance the lighting on the subject(s) for the image?  What lens do I need to bring for primary?  Do I need a secondary camera, or three and four lenses ready to go?  Am I shooting a dozen images or three thousand images?

All of those "little" things have a fairly drastic effect on your end image.  I'll get more into nitty gritty concepts that evolve from this in later posts, but for now give the professionals a break.  Answer their questions pertaining to the ideal photo that you want captured and see if they don't just blow you away with the quality they provide you by knowing what you wanted and being able to mitigate how to make that happen for you.  :)

After all, I'm a professional.

While there are non-professionals out there trying to make an extra buck...if they're even a little decent they'll still ask you some of the above questions so that they can at least Try to deliver what they're being asked for.

2013 Portfolio

It's been a bit since I've shared an updated portfolio so I've corrected that.

Enjoy!

Triptych

I'm working on a new triptych, the last one I put together was sold shortly after creation, I'm also going to be printing out a couple specialty prints.  After I've got these new guys printed and framed I'll post a photo of them on here and talk about framing, matting, and art work as a series in both diptych and triptych forms.

Stand by :)

It's all about the light!

San Diego Bay at sunset, Late September 2012.

People, cameras, computer monitors and televisions all see light differently.  People's eyes adjust to the light, as such a lot of times people think there is either too much or "still enough" light to get a photograph, and they're as often right as they are wrong.  Some time's it's a matter of needing different equipment for the situation you're in, other times it's how you're taking the photograph.  Simply stated if you're shooting on a DSLR (or Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera, switch to manual and control what you can of the exposure.

The corner over looking Henessey's and Golden West Hotel in downtown San Diego, February 2012 if I remember correctly, either way it was early 2012.

Using a tri-pod will allow you to use a "bulb exposure" which is essentially any exposure where you manually tell the camera when to start and stop the exposure.  The modern DSLR (and SLR for that matter) are designed to have built-in exposure times varying anywhere from 30 seconds to as fast as 1/8000th of a second, how fast the shutter can move is usually dictated by the quality of the camera, however few if any allow for a longer pre-determined shutter length than 30 seconds.  That's where the Bulb feature (usually indicated by either "Bulb" or "B".   All three of the images on this post were shot using a tri-pod while on the Bulb setting.  The exposures varied anywhere from 45 seconds to 3 minutes.

Early December overlooking Downtown San Diego from the Admiral Kidd (Event & Catering Center) located on FLEASWTRACEN in Point Loma.  

As you begin to venture in to long exposures there are a countless numbering of technicalities and sciences to remember.  For now let's keep to the basics.  Any exposure that is less than the length of your camera lens should be taken with support assistance from a bag, tri-pod or mono-pod as the situation dictates.  What I mean by that is if you're using a 28-105 lens and you're zoomed in to 105 then any shutter speed 1/100th of a second of LONGER (ie 1/80th, 1/60th, 1/30th, 1/20th, etc) should be taken while on a tri-pod.  Using a tri-pod in those instances will help reduce your chance of lens shake.

If you're shooting sports from the sidelines and you're using say a 200mm lens then you want to keep your shutter speed closer to 1/200th of a second, as you learn to properly pan with the motion that may change, but for starters 1/200th is a good starting point.  Because games can go long I'd also recommend using a Mono-pod, it's smaller than a tri-pod (and therefore you can move more easily with it and won't get in the say as much or get run over as easily) but it also provides a little bit of stability that helps you to focus your attentions to the horizon in the distance that might otherwise be thrown away in the moment.

If you're using long exposures (really anything longer than 1/20th of a second) you really want to consider using a remote shutter release, this is the critical component that allows for bulb exposures without the potential for "camera shake" from engaging and releasing the shutter, it also allows you to expose your image for seconds to minutes or hours as the scene dictates.  If your exposures are going to be within your cameras pre-programmed shutter speeds then you can get by using the "timer" option, using this remember that there's a delay from the time you tell the camera to start the timer to when the camera engages the shutter and subsequently completes the exposure.

Don't be afraid to make an exposure take longer.  Making your ISO go down to 100 can make the quality of the image that much greater, especially in low-light situations where you're equipped for long exposures.  f/22+ (ie f/22, f/32, f/64, etc) allow for greater depths of field.  Generally shooting at night it's hard to tell if what you really want to be in focus is in focus.  Having a greater depth of field by using one of these apertures can heighten the interest and end quality of your image.  Just remember apertures are fractions, f/22 is larger than f/32 and is substantially smaller than f/2.8.  That's because it's a mathematical equation specific to your lens/camera combination presently being used, but more on that in future posts.

As always:

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A private pond located in Mapleton, Utah.  As seen during sub-freezing temperatures late December 2012.

This year I had a unique opportunity to visit home, home for me is Utah.  Specifically home is Salem, though my in-laws are located in Mapleton where I took these photographs.  I hadn't been home just a few weeks shy of two years, though it felt like I hadn't been home for over three, since before joining the military and leaving post-bootcamp to San Diego.  At the time it was just my wife and I, this year we had an addition to the family, a happy bundle of joy who's now learned to crawl and at the tender age of six months is already terrorizing the lower-regions of the household like any good little girl would.

For those who haven't seen snow close up, it can be as intriguing to look in to as fire, though a fire tends to be warmer than snow (not that it's much of a surprise).

Being home is surreal to me, the previous two Christmas's I'd had the opportunity to walk outside wearing shorts and a t-shirt, even flip-flops if I so desired.  This year we were greeted with snow nearly every day and sub-freezing temperatures the remainder of the time.  Still, temperature aside it was the joy of being with family that made it all more than worth it.  It's a funny thing that to be around people you know and love can make what may otherwise be a less-enjoyable attribute of a circumstance much more enjoyable.  For example, the cold can be overwhelming, but when spent with family or friends sipping hot cocoa and reminiscing on stories of years past it can be quite nostalgic.  This past trip was the latter, though now that I think about it I'm confident we didn't sip any hot cocoa and I've sipped more in the summer in San Diego than I can remember sipping any other time of the year since moving here but I digress.

Another view of a private pond located in Mapleton, Utah.  As seen during sub-freezing temperatures late December 2012, this is taken while physically on the frozen pond, though just barely out from the shore.

Home is where the heart is, it's where your family is, it's where the people you're closest to reside and it's everything others say it's not cracked up to be.  Wherever you call home, whatever weather may be like there, and whatever 2013 has in store for you, may you find happiness in your lot and with your family.

Maternity Photographs

What would yours say?

So easily we lose track of the time and let slip the opportunities we have to record the great journey we undertake when we start a family. 

Let PC Photo take part in your families journey from pregnancy through the newborn photos, helping you in recording the memories you're making.

Don't let a moment slip

What does your baby enjoy you do the most?

Make a memory that's perfect for You!

Some times night time is the best time for photos.

Take us with you on your journey through pregnancy.

Each person has unique experiences, help your children remember them.

Cross Processing for a better world

Digital Cross Processing

Digital Cross Processing

The principle is simple, shoot a roll of slide film and develop it using the standard color film process rather than the slide film process.  The result is colors that are out of the range they would normally appear in.  The process works similiarly if you shoot normal film and have it processed as slide film, though the second option is much more involved. 

So why cross processing?  Because it allows the photographer another tool to use to help push a point across to the viewer from any background and though language barriers may exist the visual arts have been breaking down the barriers between languages for far longer than photograpy has existed.  This particular grouping of images is part of a collection designed to push the extreme of what may become a reality if our waste of natural resources isn't curbed as our gluttony if not put in check may well result in our no longer having clean cities, clean air or clean water.  I hope you chuckled just barely.  All of those issues are a reality, but to what end will you let it continue to slide?

Yes I just picked on you.  And you, and you and you.  Why?  Because if it's not driven home to each one of us how we can all play part to making the world a cleaner and more beautiful home then we might end up with no home to live in. 

Digital Cross Processing

Digital Cross Processing

Digital cross Processing