Scattered Thoughts . . .

Whenever I upload photos from my camera to my computer after a day of shooting, I am always excited to sort through the photos.  This is when I set up another folder so I can move the "keepers" to their own folder.  If I am satisfied with the photos I consider "keepers", I consider the shoot a success.   The reasons why a photo doesn't end up in the "keepers" folder can vary greatly.  Sometimes the composition isn't what I had in mind.  Sometimes focus is off or there is some blurry camera shake.  Sometimes the exposure is off enough that I've clipped highlights or shadows.  Other times the results are just not what I was hoping for when I shot the image.  It is these photos which just didn't meet my expectations that I find I need to revisit after a few days, weeks, or sometimes months. I find that if I take a break from the photos and then come back to them later, I see things differently. I just went through the photos from Adam&#

In today's digital world where almost everyone carries a camera of some sort around with them each and every moment of every day, we sort of take the art of photography for granted. We can even easily forget that photography is an art. Cameras are in virtually all mobile communication and media devices.  Compact cameras are relatively inexpensive and the amount of available models is mind-boggling.  There is a vast array of photography-enthusiast cameras.  There are professional cameras.  There are security cameras.  There are traffic cameras.  There are news cameras.  There are webcams, Skype and Face-Time.  We are immersed in photos all day long...  but, do we truly understand how to effectively use these devices we call cameras? Cameras are tools made to capture an image.  Each camera is different.  Each camera has its weaknesses.  Each camera has its strengths.  The person handling this tool must understand light, shadow, tonal contrast, color, aperature, shutter speed, sen

Formal headshot from our makeshift, improvised living room studio...  he looks like he should be working at NASA here! This is the time of year when the families of every high school senior are scrambling to get some photos of their senior for the school yearbook. Even though I seem to have a camera affixed to my hand at all times, we also have found ourselves scrambling to put together some photos to submit for Adam's yearbook.   Although I needed to shoot a couple of headshots of Adam, it turns out that our most difficult task was choosing which of the many candid photos I have on hand to send in for submission to the yearbook! Adam has always done a good job at avoiding me whenever I have the camera in hand, however, I have done a better job at still managing to get good photos of him regardless.  Of course, long telephoto lenses help me with being stealthy and staying under Adam's radar. That being said, I actually found more than two dozen good photos of Adam that

Light painting is a unique form of art that most photographers have tried at one time or another and this photographer is no exception. You have flashlights in hand, a camera on a tripod, a remote shutter release, and while you use a long shutter exposure you freely and fluidly draw or light objects with the flashlights.  This type of art can be tedious and sometimes frustrating but it is always fun to see what you have created! In this image, I painted the flag in light using a flashlight while it blew in the breeze... Until now, there have been two forms of light painting.  The first involves using flashlights as a way to paint subjects with light rather than lighting them with very harsh flashguns.  Using this technique, the objects can be anything, including people.  I have seen some beautiful long exposure portraits done with flashlights.  I myself have used this technique more than once to create beautifully lit scenes in photographs.  This technique produces a very so