Haunting Halloween Portraits

I had the opportunity to work with some models, artists and fellow photographers (from Los Angeles Redditors) on a Halloween-themed photo shoot.The location was a ghost town, an abandoned oil drilling town that was a couple of hours from Los Angeles.  I figured we would be moving around quite a bit so I opted for a lighting setup that would be easily portable.  I brought three SB-800s, a couple of light stands, a beauty dish and a reflector. ...

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Camera Bag for 2 Cameras: LowePro Slingshot 302 AW

Are you looking for a bag that can hold two cameras (even with a 70-200 2.8) and allow you to access either of them readily?  If so, check out the LowePro Slingshot 302 AW.I have two cameras so that I can quickly use different focal lengths, without having to resort to using a superzoom lens (all the compromises that entails).  Usually, my Nikon D300 is equipped with a standard zoom (Tamron 17-50 2.8 VC) while my Nikon D70 has my tele zoom...

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Bits & Pieces, A Wide Variety Of Photos

See that de-focused baby chair handle? That's what makes this picture work, the one with only the baby is not even half as good.I just realized that I don't have to wait until I have a large post or review ready to post it, so I decided to start right now, I will show some images in this post that have nothing to do at all with each other, just some photos with captions, I hope you enjoy it.I have been using the camera less and less the last couple...

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Cheap but Good Point and Shoot for Serious Photographers

My wife wanted a new camera for those occasions when I wasn't available to take photos.  I also liked the idea of having a small point-and-shoot when the situation didn't warrant bringing my DSLRs, but I wanted one that had at least decent image quality. If money were no object, I would like to get a Fuji X100, which has already received accolades from many pro photographers such as Neil van Niekerk and Zack Arias.  My wife (non-photographer) loved the retro design but I felt that $1300+ for a camera for casual shooting was way too much.I...

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Thank You Fellow Bloggers: My Favorite Blogs - Part 1

I have always wanted to cover this title, but I kept delaying it and preferring technical subjects thinking that they might appeal more to our readers, until a few days back, when one of my absolute favorite bloggers decided to put his blog on hiatus. This made me think a lot about the circumstances that caused this to happen and I believe that this is the best time to write this post.The whole internet has been writing about Steve Job's death and how he affected their lives, consider this post as a thank you, a tribute to those bloggers who really...

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Thank you Steve Jobs

I want to take a moment to say thank you to Steve Jobs.  No, I'm not an Apple fanatic (I'm a PC user) but I made a list of the different ways Steve Jobs and Apple has had an impact on my life:   1.  My first computer.  The first computer I learned to use was an Apple IIc.  I even remember the name of the computer class: "My First Byte."  We didn't learn any programming or anything -- we were mostly playing games like hangman and such.  I probably was too young to learn anything (I recall the teacher having a difficult...

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Photography Is Not a Spectator Sport

This is weird.  The other day, my brother-in-law was browsing a website and saw a photo that looked like... my son.  It turns out that a website called Photographytalk.com used my photo in an article discussing balancing ambient and flash outdoors in sunlight.  Link to article here.  Screenshot here:And it appears they took the photo from an article on this blog talking about... balancing ambient and flash outdoors in sunlight:http://betterfamilyphotos.blogspot.com/2010/05/balancing-flash-and-ambient-part-2.html ....

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