The monsoon season in Arizona brings with it many opportunities for photographing dramatic skies. With only a few days to capture the lake, I was hoping to capture some better, crazy, stormy scenes, but I had to take what I could get. This is one of my favorite shots taken right at sunset.
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The weather up in the Great Smoky Mountains didn't quite cooperate for grande landscapes so I decided to just "focus" on leaves and the colors they produce. My goal was to get some nice depth of field with color contrast. This photo is one of my favorites. The red pops out with greens and yellows behind them. It's almost like a painting. For this shot I really wanted shallow depth of field to produce nice bokeh in front and behind with just a little bit of the leaves in focus. To achieve this, I got as close as I could with my 60mm lens as wide open as possible f2.8.
Sometimes mother nature just doesn't quite cooperate. That's when you gotta just do the best you can. If the shot isn't there it's time to play around with different technique and use your imagination. I knew I wasn't going to get a great shot of the full super moon with all the different layers of storm clouds. So I just played around and tried some different things and came up with this photo below. At a 2 minute exposure I'm surprised the clouds aren't more blurry, but I like the smoothness of the ocean and the semi crisp clouds with the super moon rising behind them.
I was down filming and taking photos at the beach with the Sony a6000. There were numerous rainbows out. I saw the Victory Casino Cruise heading out for their nightly voyage going right under a rainbow. Can't get any better than that. Cha-Ching!
Shot with Sony a6000 / Sigma Art Lens 60mm / 50 bit rate / Graded in Adobe Premiere
Zion National Park is one of my favorite places. The colors, the hikes and the scenery are breathtaking. I went during fall for the fall colors. It's a great time to go because they stop the buses entering the park and you can drive in and explore on your own time. I believe they still force you to take the bus into the park during summer hours but I'm not 100%. As a photographer, it's better when you get to come and go when you please, utilizing that early morning or late evening light.
Below is an early morning shot of the Court of the Patriarchs. Just as the sun was coming up and the moon was going down. A little different! I wanted to get a new perspective of the ocean in this shot. I really liked the tall grass growing on the dunes and I wanted a nice shallow depth of field.
I was hoping the big dark clouds behind this colorful lifeguard tower at Cocoa Beach would turn nice and pink at sunset, but I'm glad it didn't. The dark grey clouds really provide a nice contrast between the bright reds and blues, really popping the tower.
This was the Atlas 5 Rocket launching a satellite for the Navy into space. I combined 4 images to create the launch and flight path.
It's the end of the year and that means the last post for 2014. As I am starting to use more mediums to capture memories and moments I am thinking how I can shoot even more in 2015. Life keeps me busy but gotta make time for creativity. Happy New Year!
Why travel the world when you can drive to the oldest city in America, St. Augustine, FL.. Castillo de San Marcos was for years the northernmost outpost of Spain's New World Empire. It is the oldest masonry fort of a Spanish colonial fort in the U.S. I got there in the afternoon as they were firing off a canon. I handheld the camera for this shot even though there was a quick jump when the canon went off. Watch the short video below if you want to hear the sound of the canon. Video & Sound recorded with GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition
I recently treated myself to a new smartphone, it was under $100 dollars and has a 8mp camera. The more I get use to using cameras that are not "pro" the more I like them. I always use my pro DSLR camera because it gives me flexibility and beautiful files, but having a phone with a camera that is always with me means I can shoot when the moment presents itself. Letting go of "everything needs to be shot on a pro camera" means I have more flexibility and more creativity. So check out these photos I shot with my cellphone camera, edited inside the phone and made them look their best. These will print decent at 8x10
I love the GoPro! It takes amazing video, but give this beast enough light and you can capture some stunning imagery. I always carry my GoPro Hero 3 in the dive housing. It provides great protection for this tiny camera. The one thing I love to do with my GoPro is to dip it in water half way to get a different perspective I cannot get with any other camera. I think the results are pretty amazing. This is a shot looking towards Flagler college from a fountain across the street in St. Augustine, FL. The clouds seem to be moving in three different directions as the sun rises and hides behind a storm cloud over the Atlantic ocean.
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