Laying Low Key

Sunday was my first day since coming back from Hawaii. When I went to Hawaii, I didn't need to use any PTO...just racking those hours!!! It's awesome. After losing an hour from day light savings, finally able to sleep in. I woke up and saw my camera. I needed to do some kind of photography. This trick I used is super simple. Take 4 different exposures with all the same settings, manual focus, and on a tripod. I mean EVERYTHING is the same, nothing is changed besides the poses. Same ISO, shutter, aperture, lighting, manual focus, on a tripod. Then just layered the pictures on top of each other in Photoshop and masked off each person. Fairly simple, I think it took me longer to export the picture. Hahaa.

The shot is simple: Me, Myself, and I. I've done this before but at not this house, Keystone Manor. Just watching the Clipper game, actually the Warrior game cause they spanked the Clips.
Different views, different shirts, different hats. Whatever. It's a fun picture to look at, IMO.

Camera Info: Canon 7D Mark II with Canon 20mm f/2.8 lens.

Exif Data: ISO 1000, 1/30 second, f/4, manual focus. Midday on a lazy Sunday.

As always, thanks for you looking.

Smoke Photography

Looking back at 2011, it was a good year. I did photography for myself. I didn't do any events. I had opportunities to do weddings, parties, club scene, but I decided against it. I think it was one of the greatest things. I did photography for myself. People don't get that, but I don't care.

Today, I was able to do some smoke photography. I always understood the concept but never really attempted it until today. It's super cool to get such an awesome effect from something so simple like an in scent stick.

In the middle of Rambo night (Jive and I were watching Rambo on Spike), he decided to grab his beastly Assault Rifle and do some simple shots with the smoke coming out of the barrel. The effect was very satisfying for the first time doing it. I'll probably try it again and do different effects too.

Camera Info: Canon 20D with the 50mm (of course), Canon 430ex with DIY snoot, triggered by RadioPopper JrX. They were either on the right of right underneath the smoke. The AR shots had the Calumet Genesis200 serie strobe at the lowest power to highest the gun. Most shots were edited in Lightroom then transferred over to Photoshop.



As always, thanks for looking.

Just F**kin' around.

During Halloween, I wanted to take some pictures of some murder scene. The image would of been cool if I had a model. I bought some gels for my strobes...so clutch. I just set up my camera and lights around the living room. I just wanted to practice on using some gels and balancing out the different light sources. I think it'd work better in a deeper room. Cause the Red strobe and the bare bulb kinda mixed. Didn't really want that. But it's just a cool idea. Don't mind the clothes too, I was getting ready to play some basketball. So next time I'll be sure to dress up a little better and when I'm not on a time constrain.

 I dropped off my roommate and soon to be ex-roommate at the airport. So while I was there, might as well take advantage of the sunset across San Diego. It was beautiful. It was cool seeing people fish on the side, coupes walking the island, runners and bikers doing the same. It was very peaceful...shooting at my own pace with the serenity of the water crashing on the shore. Pretty cool.

This shot is composed of literally 11 different shots and merged together to get a nice giant one. I shot it with my Canon 75-300 f/3.5-5.6 lens (which is garbage). Shot it vertically and shot it from left to right. I realized I need a better tripod too. It was frustrating editing the photos when they were all skewed.

Of course, I had to take a self portrait. This was shot with my Canon 50mm f/1.4 shot with the aperture of 2.8 to get a subtle bokeh of the skyline. I'm holding Jive's film camera. It's just collecting dust. But I figured I can use it as a prop since that's how most people see me, looking at life through a lens. Hahaaa. I think ALL my self portraits are gonna be like that now.