edorayPhotography

Sometimes you've just gotta get the blues. This was taken right after the sun had gone down on a completely clear day. The blues were being reflected everywhere from the rich colors in the sky. I metered against the light to bring out it's highlights, letting the shadows fall where they may, causing the wall to disappear into complete blackness, but allowing the sky's colors to show through.

The blues tells a story. Every line of the blues has a meaning.
John Lee Hooker

“The blues ain't nothing but a good man feelin' bad”
Leon Redbone

I noticed this seed pod about to explode, while on a walk through Balboa Park recently, but the lighting was poor. So I added a bit of off camera flash (1 meter away with the lowest power setting), and it was just enough to bring out the richness in the colors and light pattern. You wouldn't want to flood the scene with light, but just add a touch to highlight the explosion ;)

An HDR image created from 3 separate images, taken 2-stops apart (one with the correct exposure, one 2 stops under and one 2 stops over), and then tonemapped in Photomatrix.

These columns are typical of the architecture used in Balboa Park. The colors and shapes are a great source for photographs.

My friend Wazari mentioned in a post below that I don't take photographs of people often enough, so here's another. Shot last night, and when I say that this is a 'Character' portrait, I mean it. I happened to find him in front of the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park, so as we were talking he was weaving a tale of intrigue about his earlier days as a Admiral in the Japanese Navy. I was pretty sure, if we'd been standing in front of the Malaysian Museum, he'd have told me of his youth spend as the son of the President of Malaysia. Good thing we weren't standing in front of Victoria's Secret, because I can't picture him in pantie hose ;)

He was a character for sure, but he did say something that really struck me. He said cameras were only capable of capturing light. Which is something I always think about. But after he said that, he told me that I could photograph him if I'd only take his light, and not his soul.

I used a strobe about 3 meters behind him at shoulder lever, with a +1 setting, and another 1 meter in front of him about knee high aiming up, at a -2 setting.

Getting the most out of natural light is something even strobe purist should strive for. Even with my 3 off-camera flash units at the ready, when this opportunity came up, I had to quickly grab it. It only lasted a few seconds.


Pure unadulterated, natural light coming through the trees is obviously some of the best lighting you can have. The problem is bending it to fit your needs, or at the least, catching it at the only second that it's perfect. Strobe purist might want to control things a bit more than this, and of course they can, but the color of natural light cannot be duplicated with flash.

Sometimes it's nice to catch a moment in time without the usual smiles that photographers want to force on their subjects. Deeper, darker moods are much harder to choreograph and capture, and willing subjects, with this capibility, harder to find. But with the right person, place and proper mood, these photos can say a lot more.

Of course, along with a moodier subject comes the necessity to create a moodier atmosphere. But with the proper lighting, setting etc, it can be done. The arches of Balboa Park and the colors of the walls and railings help to get a somber mood going. Hopefully it comes through.

If you have a center mouse wheel, try clicking on the image to the left, and then scrolling your wheel up or down. If you've scrolled up and increased the size of the image, you can then click and grab the image and move it around within the window.

As my friend Wazari (whose photographs are in the slideshow to the right), the bokeh, or the area that is out of focus in a photography taken at a wide open aperture, is a very important part of a photo. It sets off the subject.

What can I say. I was completely surprised, when I showed up thinking I was attending the wedding anniversary of two of my best friends, only to find out it was a birthday party for me, with 28 of my good friends showing up on a Sunday evening. It was a very special night that I'll never forget. Thank you all for making it so special.

Here's to the hosts, Ernst & Magaly Schmid. I love you guys.

Sometimes it's fun just to take a photo and play with it in Photoshop. Here I just copied the original layer, then added a filter layer for B&W and masked back in the cap. Simple to do, but it's value as a photo remain to be seen. Fun though.

The importance of borders. I really like a border around my photos. Afterall, we usually hang our paintings with a frame, and very few works of art are on the walls of our museums without a frame. So then, why do most people post there photos without a border (or frame). Maybe a bit too much work. Well, macros and actions to the rescue. I frame all my photos, and I post a lot of photos, but all of them with frames. I just create actions to do it. But I leave the color of the frame for me to set, which I do by noticing what colors in the photo would best draw a viewer in. Sometimes it's a small splotch of color somewhere in the photo, while others it's the main color theme of the photo itself. So as a last step in my photoshop action, I'll select a color from the photo and apply it as the color for the frame.
This photo is an example of an otherwise ordinary photo, that was enhanced by the frame. Give it a try in whatever post production photo program you use and see if it doesn't set your photos off a little better (especially against Flickr's white background).

Take care and enjoy your shooting.

One more railing shot in Balboa Park. I took 5 photos for this one, all stabilized on a tripod, ranging from 4 stops under to 4 stops over. Brings out the rich color contrasts in the cement and the tonal changes in the bars.

I always try to use either the first 3 hours of morning sun or the corresponding evening sun, to take advantage of the shadows and the rich color of light. I see so many people snapping photos at noon. Especially in the case of portraits. That high sun will usually cause unwanted effects. At noon I use a flash, which might seem counterintuitive, but it'll wash out the harsh shadows that exaggerate wrinkles. At the least, try to find a shady spot to photograph your friends. They'll be glad you did.

Decided to try some of the railings in HDR. Every new type of photo add a new challenge with HDR. Here the tone mapping was especially tricky. Easy to over saturate.

A shot from the same area as the one below, but I left it in color.

Still exploring HDR, but now with a B&W image. There's great tonal range in a B&W image to work with, so once again take at least 3 images of any great image you see and give it a try. Photoshop has some very nice HDR capabilities or you can use Photomatrix. Most people like Photomatrix better, but there are some really nice features buried deep within Photoshop.

I love these special finds, when the light is just right. Amazing how many people walked by, seemingly unaware of this light gem. Oh well, their loss, my gain. Stay aware of everything around you. There's beauty everywhere, if you bother to notice.