Lucky 13

Today is my 13th wedding anniversary. 13 years ago today I was married to my soul mate. I am a very lucky man to be married to such a loving, caring and patient woman.

I love you baby.

Observing L.A.

I spent a few hours at the Griffith Observatory last night and had an absolute blast. I'm going to make a post about it next week, but until then, here's a little teaser.

Sweet rides

Light Painting

Once again the Digital Photography School has provided some inspiration. I read this post about light painting with a flashlight on a string and had to try it. I rang in the beginning of this year using some light painting, but I'd never tried putting a light on a string.

The setup was super simple. I hung a small LED flashlight from my bedroom fan using a string from an Apple Store bag. Aren't those bags great? So high quality, and you can even wear them as a backpack. I hear. I mean, I wouldn't. That'd be weird. I put my camera on a Gorillapod, which allowed me to basically have it on the floor, but steady. These bendy tripods are great to have around and can really save your butt sometimes.

The camera settings are definitely worth playing around with. I ended up shooting most of my images at f8, iso 100, and an exposure of 30 seconds. Keep your iso low since the flashlight will be plenty bright and you want the least amount of noise you can get. Also, play around with your white balance. The different colors in my images all come from changes in white balance. You can do this while you're shooting or, in the case of RAW images, in post processing as well. I did a bit of both.

Something he suggested in the tutorial was covering your lens with a piece of cardboard during the exposure, swinging the flashlight in a different direction, then uncovering your lens. I did just that (substituting a magazine for the cardboard) for a lot of my images and ended up with some cool results.

Also, if want a very symmetrical look, you need to have your camera right under the point where you're hanging the flashlight.

A'ight, here ya go.

The technique is a great way to experiment and have some fun. It also introduces one of my favorite things into making images, the unexpected. Now go and have some fun in the dark! Wait...no...oh, you know what I mean.

iPhone #6 Focus

Morning drops

I've been having a great time the past few mornings taking a walk in the neighborhood around my work. Part of the excitement comes from actually having a work to go to, but that's another story. Here's a few images of early morning sprinkle-idge.

Random beauty

I didn't have a post for today, but during a walk around the neighborhood near my work, I came across this beauty. A few clicks in Lightroom and here ya go. Have a great day.

The view

This was the reason I made the drive up to the Angeles National Forest. I caught a glimpse of this bridge on a previous hiking trip to this area, and I had wanted to come back ever since. This is a 13 image panorama stitched with Photoshop's Photomerge. I left the extra white around the edges because I didn't want to crop any of the scene. Click here for the large version.

MDX HDR

My sweet ride up in the Angeles Crest National Forest. This is a blend of 3 exposures.

Fix-It Friday

Head over to I Heart Faces and see what I and others did with this week's image.

Observatory HDR

I took the fam to the Griffith Observatory yesterday. About two years ago they completed a major renovation/addition and we hadn't been since it was finished. Actually the kids had never been, but my wife and I had been several times before the renovation since this was the place were I proposed to her. I know, awwwww. Engagement aside, this is a very cool place and I was excited to take the kids. Thankfully, they LOVED it! The planetarium show was awesome, and all the additions they've made are super cool. We'll definitely be going back.

This image was taken in part of the new addition. They actually dug down about thirty feet under the original building to add a theater and more exhibits!

You might be seeing more pics from here in the coming days, but I wanted to go ahead and get this one up.

Manhattan Beach Volleyball

This past weekend I went down to Manhattan Beach for the annual Charlie Saikley 6-Man Volleyball tournament. I'd never heard of it, but a co-worker invited me to come down and cheer for his team. Volleyball's my favorite sport, so it didn't take too much arm twisting to convince me. He really didn't give me a lot of info about the tournament, so I thought that it would be like any other. Wrong. It was like a cross between a circus, a frat party and a family reunion with some volleyball thrown in. Don't get me wrong, some of the ball playing was extremely good, but what a nutty place.

Manhattan Beach is kind of the Mecca for beach volleyball, and because of that a lot of the former and current pro beach players live in and around there. Soooooo, that guy with the fake afro on his head just might be a pro. Oh, and my thoughts about it being some small time event? Nope. Hundreds of players and thousands of spectators. Here da pics.

Former pro about to unleash some hurt.


My co-worker holding the banner for his team.


Why yes, yes that is a man in a large sombrero trying to block the Boy Wonder.


Um, I dunno.


Mr. Stilty Clown was having a heck of a time walking in the sand.


This guy was going for the Fletch look. The first movie, not the crappy second one.


Yep, you guessed it, Oompa Loompas about to get spiked on.