Another San Felipe Thanksgiving

My family enjoyed another Thanksgiving in San Felipe this year with a lot of margaritas and guacamole. It was a pretty quiet holiday and the weather was surprisingly warm for November.

I caught this dog taking a nap outside a gas station. I'm not quite clear about the pink jacket.

There were fewer Americans than ever and the local economy isn't doing very well without the tourism. A lot of businesses have closed up or cut their hours.

Cerveza Sol, indisputably the best Mexican beer:


I found this bike while taking a walk in the desert with my sister. Sometimes you come across the weirdest stuff. I really like how colors in this image are all so similar.

Chicago - a big, cold city

I spent last Tuesday through Friday in Chicago at the Mobilize.org 'Millennial ROI' summit. The city has got to be the biggest thing I've ever seen in my life ( I guess I don't get around much ) and we had a great time exploring.

I took along my Voighlander 35mm SLR to shoot some black and white images which I've yet to develop.

This shot was taken by my friend Ryan ( pictured above ) on his Canon Powershot G10. I was really impressed with the low light shooting capabilities which came in handy for evening exteriors. The rain soaked streets and breaking storm clouds made for great images of the city.

A little post processing here too using Topaz Adjust 3.

Composition Lesson 1: The Rule of Thirds

One of the easiest rules of composition, the rule of thirds, is also one of the most universally applicable. (Whenever I talk about ‘rules’ I get uncomfortable and feel like I should remind everyone that these are conventions. Conventions are great most of the time. When they aren’t applicable, they can be effectively reversed or parodied.) Back to the topic…

The rule of thirds states that most subjects can be comfortably composed within a frame by having its most interesting parts fall along imaginary lines that divide the frame into thirds. (Just look at the picture) The four intersections of these thirds show particularly powerful areas of the frame. There are many ways to put this guideline into action but let’s talk about the most straightforward.

Once you’ve identified your subject try to determine what it’s most attractive (attention worthy) traits are. In your viewfinder imagine the lines of the thirds dividing your frame and try to place the most interesting parts of your subject along the lines and especially on their intersecting points.

Here is an alternative approach, using the thirds to divide the frame:

Most of the time when your subject is a person their face is going to be your only real concern. You’ll notice that almost no pictures of people are shot ‘dead-centered’ because it produces a feeling of ambiguity. By instead placing the subject in one of the thirds we get a more dynamic feeling about them, like they’re going somewhere.

This simple rule can transform the way you compose your pictures. Just be careful not to think about it too much. Most teachers stress that this is a good guideline. You don’t get any points for cluttering up all of the thirds in your composition, sometimes leaving them vacant can be just as

important.

Dance in OB with Sarah, Amanda, and Kelly

I headed out to Ocean Beach yesterday to help some friends shoot their class assignment and had the chance to shoot these great silhouettes.

I shot these all with a 50mm, so this isn't a wide angle lens that makes these look crazy. These girls are flying.


It was too dark to get exposure on the girls faces so I figured I would just expose for the sunset and get a nice sharp aperture and shutter speed to stop the motion.

Most of these were shot at around an f5.6 at 1/500 or faster. ISO was cranked to 1000 which produced some noise that needed to be worked out.


This was one of those nice spontaneous shoots that produces something unexpected. I have to remind myself how easy it is to work with good dancers. I've only learned when to press the button. I've found few recipes for success as reliable as getting great dancers and enough light to shoot them.

Canon vs. Nikon ?

I get asked this question so often it’s annoying. I’m just not the type of photographer who enjoys debating the specs of equipment. I think it’s a ‘guy thing’ to talk about gear, and some guys do it endlessly. Sorry, back to the topic.

It makes no difference whether you choose to use Canon or Nikon. I’m a Canon guy, my dad was a Nikon guy. The only real factor that should influence your decision is if you’ve already invested in quality lenses of one brand.

I don’t know why there is even a debate over which brand is better because there are virtually no differences between the products. One company comes out with a feature, the other copies it. That’s it. Nikon was a little earlier with the low-noise, high ISO technology while I believe it was Canon who integrated HD video shooting into their DLSRs first. Now you can get both on either brand. How many more features do we need?

So in conclusion… don’t try to sound cool asking a photog this question, especially this one.

Turn your Photographs into Christmas Presents

If you’re feeling the pinch this season and thinking about scaling-down your gift giving, consider turning your pictures into presents. There are several great websites that specialize in photo products and can help you get an image onto almost anything you can imagine. I personally recommend either Zazzle.com or Shutterfly.com

I got a great response from the calendars I made for my family two years ago. They were easy to layout online and relatively affordable. ( about $17 each ) Last year I just got a picture of my mom printed on a coffee cup and she thought it was hilarious. Mouse pads and photo postage are some other funny ideas. Maybe I’ll put her face on a stamp this year.

If you get your act together soon, the internet is also a convenient way to get Christmas cards made. Be sure to get your orders placed early though, some of these sites don’t have a great turnaround time.

If you’re feeling the DIY angle and want to spend less I’ve got a few ideas for you:

Refrigerator frames – These cool little magnetic frames are available at CVS for both 4x6

and 5x7 prints. They hold your prints down flat and actually look pretty classy. Give a friend several of your favorite BFF images in one frame and they can rotate them.

Bookmarks – This is the ultimately affordable route. I like to make them by printing a lot of 4x6s and cutting them in half lengthwise. A 5x7 cut into three strips works equally well. Prints without people in them generally work best. These can actually be personalized and thoughtful gifts with a little planning.