Friday, April 30, 2010

F-14

An F-14 on the flight deck of the USS Midway. Love me some planes!

F-14

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Lines

Lines

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

In the bubble

My oldest aboard the USS Midway museum.

In the bubble

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

framed sunset

framed sunset

Monday, April 26, 2010

morning lily

Took this on my walk around the neighborhood this morning. Have a great Monday!

wet lily

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Thursday, April 22, 2010

flock of pelicans

Taken at Will Rogers State Beach.

flock of pelicans

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

red barn

I grew up playing in this barn. So many great memories.

Red barn

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

drop and palms

It pays to always have a camera with you. I took this in my car on the way home from work. A little rain drop fell on my windshield and sat so nicely between these palms.

Drop and palms

burnt and bending

burnt and bending

Monday, April 19, 2010

Dandy Monday

Whew, I'm back. This weekend kinda got away from me. I had a photo session on Saturday, for real money! I know, I know, don't let it go to my head. I had an awesome time with some very cool people and the pictures turned out great! Doesn't get much better than that. I'll be sharing a few shots from the day once I've delivered the final images to my client. For now, a spring time visitor that's popping up all over the neighborhood.

Dandelion lomo

Friday, April 16, 2010

Men's Club

A men's club in San Francisco right down the street from the hotel where we stayed.

Mens Club

Thursday, April 15, 2010

clouds over Mordor

Clouds over Mordor

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Chinese Garden

The Chinese Garden at the Huntington Library.

Chinese Bridge HDR

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

new toy

Acura TL

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Oil and Water

Howdy all! Brace yourself, I'm gonna post more than one pic today. Oh, and I'm gonna write a bit. I'll give you a second to compose yourself. K, here's the back story. I've seen some very cool macro images of oil in water and I wanted to give it a try. I've never seen a setup shot for these kinds of images, so I winged it. As far as the wet ingredients go, I used tap water and Pure Wesson Vegetable Oil. If you're worried about the amount of cholesterol in your images, this is the oil I recommend. On the hardware side, here's what I had going.

Oil and water setup

Use whatever you've got to make it happen. Except for the oatmeal bath, that's critical. ;) I forgot to point out the super expensive "pro" construction paper I used under the glass for a backdrop. I think it comes in a pack of 50.

I tried shooting with just the oil in water, but there wasn't enough contrast to make to oil drops stick out. Out came my secret weapon from my last water shoot. That's right, Crayola Bathtub Tints to the rescue! The red color, mixed with the green paper underneath produced a very cool color.

As with any setup like this, you gotta take a lot of shots. Things change very quickly, so just keep taking. Having a small aperture (bigger f-stop number) is important also to try and have as much in focus. At f8, I had the tops of the bubbles in focus, but not the bottom.

Here's my first shot after I dropped the Bathtub Tint in.

Oil and water 4

The color spread really quickly, so this is the only shot that had a transitional look with the color sweeping in. I changed the white balance on this one from Daylight to Tungsten to give it a more blue look. Why? Cuz I liked it.

Here's a couple of different looks I got by using my hi tech agitation device.

Oil and water 2

Oil and water 3

While I didn't get the exact shot I had in mind, it was a lot of fun experimenting and I can't wait to try again! If you've had an idea kicking around in your head for a while, make it happen!

beautiful girl

My sweet girl on a walk around the neighborhood.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

El Capitan

This is the ticket booth for the El Capitan theater in Hollywood. I took this early one morning before Hollywood Blvd. got too crazy. And believe me, it gets crazy!

El Capitan Theater

Thursday, April 8, 2010

fields of mustard

It's such a beautiful time of year with all the wildflowers blooming. I tried to capture some of that in this short film. There's a lot to learn, making the transition from stills to video, but I'm having a blast!

skeletons in the studio

Having some fun with off camera flash. That's a Skelanimal that my baby girl is holding, by the way.

Skelanimal

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

smooth pier

Santa Monica Pier

Pier smooth

I'll have my bird over mustard

Took this out at the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area yesterday. The wildflowers are bustin' out all over around here! Love, love this time of year.

Bird and mustard

Monday, April 5, 2010

California Republic

I took this yesterday before my church's Easter service at the Hollywood Bowl. A quick tip about taking pictures of flags: take A LOT of images! They change from instant to instant so you just gotta keep firing away. I think I took around thirty images to get this one. Have a great Monday!

California Republic

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! And hey, this is my 500th post!

Easter

delicate leaves

Taken in San Diego's Balboa Park.

Delicate leaves

Friday, April 2, 2010

Radiant

Taken in Laguna Beach, CA. What a gorgeous day that was.

Radiant

Thursday, April 1, 2010

2 cups

2 cups