My Photography is Now Available to Buy in Prints!

Hey guys!

My photography is officially available to buy here.

I'm so excited to finally have my work available for the public to purchase! Here are some of the shots I have for sale:

Shooting in a Professional Studio

I recently had the amazing opportunity to do a bit of shooting with some professional studio setups. I had an awesome time there playing around with lighting and shooting with different backdrops and models, so here are some of the shots I got.

Getting up at 5:00 AM

A few days ago I had a job to babysit all day for a family I know, because of this I had to get up earlier than my usual 10:30 in the summertime. Although I hadn't planned on getting out of bed quite as early as I did, whenever I know I have to get up early, I instinctively wake up earlier than I need to. (Don't ask why or how, I just do.) So seeing as I had already woken so early and the sun wasn't even out yet, I figured it would be the perfect time to get some sunrise photos.

Splash Photography

Splash Photography can be a very fun and creative style of photography. 

In this post I'm going to take you through the set-up that is required to get this kind of shot.

Here's what you'll need to get started:

• Remote trigger for your camera (only necessary if you're taking this shot by yourself and don't have an assistant to throw the water)
• Water
• A dark backdrop (I used dark brown and later brought the shadows down to make it black because I didn't have a black backdrop. If you have black, that would be the best.)
• A black, reflective surface (I used a black granite tile)
• A subject. (I used an apple)
• A camera
• A flash
• A table to set it all up on

The first thing you need to do is set up your props.

Now that you have everything set up, it's time to decide where you want the water coming from. I tried it from several different angles, but what turned out the best for me was throwing the water at a very, very slight angle from the top of the subject.

Set up your exposure for the shot, and expose the image so that it's just a little darker than you want; the flash will fill in any extra light your shot will need.

For this shot, we're going to keep our shutter 1/200th of a second or faster. If you set up your flash to be fast enough, you shouldn't need a ridiculously fast shutter speed as the flash will freeze the motion for you.

Take a few test shots to make sure your flash is working. Now thee are a few ways you can precede from here. If you have an off-camera flash, you can set it up as a slave flash and either put it on a flash stand or have someone hold it pointing toward the side of the subject. You could also just use it on the camera by connecting it to the hotshoe if you're subject is lit well enough on the sides. (I did this for my shot because I was outside. If you're indoors you may want some lighting maybe even on both sides.)

Setup complete? Flash set up? Camera ready to go? Okay, now let's get to the fun part!

If you're taking the shot by yourself, grab your remote trigger and get your water ready.

All you have to do now is throw the water at the same time that you trigger your shutter.
After you have taken several images, you can combine them in Photoshop to get the splash patterns that you want. (But if you plan to do this, make sure that apple and camera stay perfectly still during your different shots or they won't line up)
After you tweak the contrast, brightness, and saturation, you're done! 

Composition: Leading Lines

Leading lines are lines in your photograph that lead the viewer through your photograph in some way. They can lead to a subject or lead into the distance to a vanishing point. Anything can be used as a leading line if you have the eye to spot it.

The picture above shows a path leading through a forest. The path acts as a leading line that guides the viewer through the picture. The straight up and down trees are also leading lines as they point the eye to the path.

This is a bit more of an abstract way to use leading lines. The lines go back into the photo from the tips of the pencils into the back of the photo where they begin to blur together as it becomes more out of focus.

It takes practice to train your eye to see lines around you, but eventually you will begin to naturally look for lines in photos that you can use to compose your picture more strategically.

How to Quickly Enhance A Boring Picture With Only Two Steps!

This is the original photograph.

It was taken at sunset pointing away from the actual sun and toward this lake, causing the colors to be less vibrant. The colors had to be sacrificed to get this shot looking over the water, however, it is easier than you may think to bring them back.

The first step is contrast.

Bringing up the contrast will add depth and feeling to the clouds and water as well as bring out a bit more color.

Contrast alone won't cut it, though.

Your last step is to bring up the saturation.

But not too much!

You can also select certain colors to bring out more if you have a program that allows you to do so.

Those are the only two steps you need to do for basic photo editing and enhancement. There are, of course, many other things you can tweak and play with, but those are the main things that will help you to improve your photograph.

A Camera with Photoshop on it?! (Rant)

Think about this. A camera that has the powerful tools of Photoshop installed right into the body so you can easily access it to edit your photos without even touching your computer.

A touch screen that can be turned on and off, so you can edit in Photoshop easily and not mess with the anything unintentionally if you accidentally bump it while looking through the viewfinder.

Now let's back up just a bit. Does a camera like this actually exist? The Casio Z300 and Z250 have Photoshop, right? Or at least something like it. And the Lumix DMC-FP7 does too, doesn't it? Well, yes they have tools to enhance portraits, but that's not really what I'm getting at here.

What if there was a camera, a good camera, that had tools that allowed you to remove objects from your image (e.i clone-stamp or band-aid tools in Photoshop), adjust hue, saturation, and contrast, and even cut things out of the picture to move it to another photo.

Haven't seen a camera like that, have you? (if you actually have, please comment the model name right away)

Imagine a world where you never have to edit your pictures sitting at your computer desk ever again. 

And, I mean, while we're at it, why not add a few more features to this wonderful camera we are imagining.

Let's add internet access. In fact, wi-fi that follows you around so you don't have to connect to a router, enabling your to share your photos anywhere, anytime. 

Hmm what shall we name this new camera?

How about the AZ 9300. Yeah there we go.

(Nikon if you're reading this, please make this camera and send it to me.)

Well, it seems my dreams have come to an end. Looking my desk, my camera sits beside me...with no built in Photoshop. Reality is a sad place, but maybe this camera will exist one day.

Landscapes: General Tips

Photographing landscapes can be a tricky task. Especially if you live in a rather boring part of the world.

This post will cover a few tips that you can use to spice up your landscapes.

1. Look for leading lines and patterns. 

The photo above focuses mainly on the lines in the picture. The corn fields had just been planted and the corn was just poking through the soil, allowing the rows to be clearly visible from eye level. The rows lead to the back of the photograph to create more of a vanishing point than leading to a specific subject. The power lines also act as leading lines that lead the eye alone the path of the corn rows into the back of the photo where it vanishes into the distance.

2.  Choose the Right Time of Day

The time of day can really make or break a photograph. If your lighting is dull and boring, your photograph is generally going to tend to be dull and boring as well. The best times to photograph landscapes are at sunset and sunrise. In the middle of the afternoon, is often the worst time for landscapes.

3. Use Reflections

You can use reflections to your advantage in many ways. A few surfaces you could use are class, water, mirrors, windows, and shiny metal.

4. Try silhouettes

Silhouettes, if used properly, can be a useful tool to draw the viewer's eye to a specific thing. In the above picture, the main focus is on the clouds. If the foreground were brighter, the sky would be overexposed, taking detail out of the clouds. It would also distract the viewer's eye and battle for the attention in the photograph.

Think about where you want the main focus of your picture before you snap it so that you can expose and compose it correctly. 

Vacation to Florida

I had a great vacation in Florida where me and my family visited Disney World and Discovery Cove.

Close Up Photography: Showcase