This is one of my favorite places to be, as oasis during the balzing heat of the summer, I know I can always pick up my camera and head to the Garr fielding Ranch on Antelope Island. It’s a short trip, certainly well worth the drive.

I wanted this shot to have a feeling of belonging to that era, of times past by, but not forgotten. For this shot, I processed it HDR, ran my action of Honey Daze, and then added a layer of vintage lace and original wood from the the time when the ranch was still a working ranch. If you want to know how to add textures to your photos, this tutorial gives simple directions that will add body and a unique feel to your photos.

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

Running through the desert semi-dressed feeling the earth beneath my feet and pursuing my passion in photography, only second to teaching. 

I took this shot in a workshop taught by Bobbi Lane at the Santa Fe Workshops, I couldn’t have imagined that taking that during the workshop I would meet so many great loving people and have such mind blowing experiences. Bobbi will teaching it again this summer, and if you’re looking for a photography great workshop, this would be one to sign up for. Barbara another participant, and a fabulous photographer, we were out in this beautiful landscape of New Mexico. the rest of class was over the ridge and out of sight. Bobbi had assigned us all to do a self-portrait, and I had some different ideas. But at that moment, I knew what I wanted to. I asked Barbara to watch my, stripped to nothing at all, grabbed a beautiful piece of fabric, set the timer for 10 sec, and ran towards the horizon. The class was coming back, but I still hadn’t gotten the right shot, so Barbara being the good person that she was, continued to watch my back until, I got the right it. I threw my clothes on behind a rock and Barbara headed back. It turned out just what I hope it would be.  

So with school wrapping up, I’m getting back into the cyperspace arena. I’m picking up a Holga, heading to darkroom, plan on catching up with so many friends now that my new life settled down. So summer looks to have incredible possibilites. I two great projects in the pipe, finishing another, and have lots of hope for new horizons.

And here’s one of my favorites of this collection, Platinum Dreams. The blur layer easily adjusts to your own style.  For more to peak at check out the Store.

After a long painful journey, it’s official, Christopher will be staying with his fabulous parents, Sunny and Josh! I am constantly grateful to the big Buddha above for the opportunities that being a photographer has provided, but sometimes much more than others. I did this video for the Ketchum family a year and a half ago.  The love shown here, tells their story much better than I ever could.

This is where I started, with an image of my daughter, that I pumped up with my Editorial Action that will be coming out in my Chromo Color Collection of Actions that will be debuting at the end of this month.

When I used the layer of flower petals as an overlay, I then used my layer pallet, erased so my daughter’s face would stand out and lowered the overall opacity to 37% with a normal layer style.

Next, I added the letter I had written as a new layer with  100% opacity and set the layer style of luminosity which kept my color from fading too much.

And last, I made a border, set the color to keep within the color palette of the picture and set the opacity at 58%. And so the final result turned out like this.It was a simple easy project that was meaningful for three generations of women. My mom and daughter were thrilled, and personally so was I.

If you don’t know how to add textures, use your layer palette or use layer masks, this video is for you. It was designed for those who use Elements and Photoshop. It’s a ten minute tutorial packed with information that will walk you through step by step so you can create projects like this and allow you to take your images to the next level.

I LOVE to shoot in low light conditions. The shots you get can be just unbelievably magical and convey a sense of wonder. The shot above was shot at 1/60 at f2.8 at 24mm at 1000 ISO. Here are some simple basic tips to shooting in low light if you are just starting out.

1. Number One, the obvious, turn off the flash.

2. Remember the lens length rule. 1/60 of a second if you are shooting at 60mm, etc. This is assuming there is no action or kids running around. If you have a point and shoot, play with your settings and see which ones will allow you to shoot in low light. Hey, it’s digital so you can shoot as many as you want. that’s the short answer. Here’s the long one.

3. Use a tripod when you can. Ok, really…how many of us with kids are going to haul around a tripod? But if you know ahead of time, you can bring a tripod. Or hold your breath, don’t move, and shoot in continuous mode, shooting one shot after another. That’s worked lots of times for me.

4. Bump up your ISO. Your image will have more grain, but much less with the newer cameras. some point and shoots will let you control this feature so read your manual.

5. Open your aperture wide. That means take it to the lowest f/number you can f2.8 for some lenses or f4.0-5.6 for others.

Canon makes a beautiful little lens, 50mm that opens to a 1.8. This lens allows you to shoot in all sorts of situations that you normally wouldn’t be able to be. And it’s a steal at just over $125 and Nikon has one as well for about the same price.

Or you can do what Raul Touzon taught me in one of his workshops. “Skip All The Rules“. He’s a photographer journalist  who travels the world. He usually carries just one lens and no tripod, or at least he did when I took a workshop from in 2007 at The Santa Fe Workshops.  His shots are absolutely amazing! When I went to shoot fireworks this year, I thought of him, skipped the rules and got some pretty fun results. According to Michael Plodd of Germany, the rules for photography at concerts run something like this,”The usual rule is that you are not allowed to bring any professional camera equipment to a concert unless you have a photo pass. Most bands and promoters consider a DSLR as “professional” equipment. A compact camera should be fine in most cases.” …unless it also takes video”…

At this concert in Salt Lake City, I was able to see Elton John and Billy Joel in Concert, together!! It was amazing all happened through a wonderful mix up and meeting a wonderful new friend Bunny. She was able to get our seat moved up. So with this my little $120 camera, I was able to get these shots. I turned off Evil Auto ( I know he’s there just meant to be your friend, but if want control of your photos, TURN HIM OFF). I changed my ISO to 1600, changed the color temperature unti it looked right, and put my aperature to the macro setting, which isn’t a real macro but let’s safe that for another day. Stage lights generate a lot of light with great color. But if I didn’t know how to use my settings, I would n’t have been able to get these shots. I brought up the color just a titch, but that’s it. shots I believe great pictures help make your memory of the experiences even better.

Wikipedia further defines DOF as “determined by the camera-to-subject distance, the lens focal length, the lens f-number, and the format size or circle of confusion criterion”. Please totally and completely forget format size and circle of confusion for now, because unless you really have the first three down, the last two are just what you think they might be, a circle of confusion. This is the part that really confuses people. DOF is not just the aperature on your camera, but for now let’s focus on aperature.

The first thing we want to review is how f-numbers or aperature affect your depth of field. Aperature does not equal Depth of Field (I wish I had known that early on!) , but it is the most important factor. A small f-number, 2.8, will give you a very shallow focus as seen below.

A bigger f-number, will give you a deep field of focus as seen below, which means more of the image will be sharp.

Almost all cameras give some measure of control over your aperature. The f-number can be controlled in a variety of ways depending on the model and make of your camera. Remember the word, “MANUAL”, it was that little book that came with your camera that you have probably never ever read because it was so incredibly poorly written, it just seemed like gibberish. I want to tell you, if I can learn gibberish, so can you.  If you have an instant camera, review your settings. If your manual doesn’t explain it, just use common sense and a little experimentation to figure it out. You may have a macro mode (usually a setting represented by a tulip) and a landscape mode (usually represented by a mountain).

So lesson number one. If you just want a little bit of the scene to be in focus, use a small f-stop (tulip). If you want most of your scene to be in focus, use a big f-number (the mountain).

That’s part one….the next two parts are pretty critical as well. Your DOF will depend on how close you are to a subject AND the lens focal length (those little numbers you have on a big lens when you look down). A 2.8 with a 17mm lens is NOT the same thing as 2.8 with a 100mm lens, pinkie promise. I will save that for another day.

The best way to get consistent results is to experiment, practice, and compare results. You can also purchase a DOF guide for your camera at B&H Photo or here’s one you can download online.

Good Luck!

“Destiny itself is like a wonderful wide tapestry in which every thread is guided by an unspeakably tender hand, placed beside another thread and held and carried by a hundred others.”

Rainer Maria Rilke

It is our experiences that shape and change us. Until this summer, I had little faith in the idea of “destiny”, but since then, I’ve had so many incidents of fate that I’ve found, how could I not believe that certain things that were meant to be? This is a friend from the Santa Fe Workshop I attended this summer. His faith in destiny along with all that has happened has opened a new perspective for me.

I’ve promised to cataloge my adventures and my experiences from the Santa Fe Workshops this August. After a badly sprained ankle, horrific storms, terrible directions, hours of speeding like never before, I stumbled late into Santa Fe. I barely made it to the dinner and welcome and hobbled out to find a Walmart to get an extra hard drive.  While asking for directions, I came across a beautiful group of young men, and when I say beautiful, they WERE,  they just stood out. They did not know they way to Walmart, they barely spoke English,  but yes, they would love to have their photo taken in front on their mini bus they bought on ebay for $1600. They have had been touring the U.S. for the last two months, like some rock band making groupie fans everywhere they went. and of course, I was on of them. They day was an omen for what was to come in the following days.

Come back of Friday for a free texture or action. Which will be it be? Who knows, come on by to find out!