I always want to do better

Through out my first year of photography, I have learned many things. And the one of the most important things I have learned, I want to do better and I know I can do better. Actually, when I first started to shoot, I thought I did OK and I had no idea that getting better was an option, but life goes on. At that point, it was all about passion. And drive I guess. Now that I am wrapping up the first year, I realize that I did get better! And, I still want to do even better. How do I get there?

Practice and gear! Practice, yes, I shoot every day. I might not post what I shoot, because I would rather post quality rather then crap, and not everything is great! And gear, there are some new filters that I want that I KNOW will make a difference with my sunset shots, I KNOW IT! I would not be able to shoot into the sun without the filters I own. I know they make a difference. And the new filter that I am getting, will help with the sunsets and NOT add the color cast that I so often get. And when I get the new filters, I will keep the old ones, because the color cast does work out for me at times. Right time and right place for everything! Right?

For this image, I did use an ND filter, the B+W ND 106, which is a 6 stop filter. As well has my Cokin hard grad filter. This does seem to be my most favorite combo of filters right now. It gives great blockage of light as well as toning down the intense light of the horizon. And then of course, the time and fun spent in LightRoom3. My new favorite tool to get the job done! I KNOW I have to sept it up when it comes to post processing. I have this calendar hovering over me for 2011 and I need to make sure it looks pro! LR3 can make it happen for me!

For now, I hope you enjoy this image and all of my images for that matter! And feel free to take a look at my photos listed on Flickr! Please enjoy!

Time, time, time....

....thats all I have is time on my hands! I have spent 35.75 years of my life working hard and now that life is slowing down, it feels good! I need the rest, physically and mentally! And now that time, I am feeling so much better! :) And I can spend more time with what I love to do, photography. Now, due to location, I cannot spend all day at La Jolla! Man, that would be too good! But when I have running around to do, I make sure to have some beach time when out!

But I would like to share what I have been doing, because thats what I love to do the most. Shooting long exposures! And I am not sure I really have any lessons on this one like usual! I would be posting more if I had more ideas, but I don't. So, for now, I will just "promote" myself. Which is the reason why I started a blog. So, lets talk about my up coming project.

I am working on a calendar. I did this last year, I sold 10 calendars at $25 a piece, and the biggest surprise of all, is that was my cost, including shipping cost. This year, knowing that I actually want to go pro, I actually want to sell more and hopefully make a bit of a profit! The profit would go towards more gear of course, lol! Not looking for much, just enough to show I can do this, now that I have more time on my hands, I need to get moving on this! PRO BABY! Hahaha!

Of course, at this point, input is helpful! Any image you have seen that might look good for my task, feel free to say something. I have 40+ images that I am thinking about using, I need to weed that down to 13. (I need one for the cover too!) And, I also need a supplier to make the calendar. I do not want Mpic, even though I use them for printing, I am not happy with there prices and other details. I did find a supplier a while ago, but forgot what site it was! So, any suggestions there, please let me know! :) Until then, please enjoy!

Geek talk:

One thing that I have been doing lately on my Flickr post, is adding my "geek talk." What exactly is "geek talk?" Oh, I bet you already know the answer to that, quite rhetorical! The thing is, I have noticed a lot of folks thanking me for the geek talk! People actually telling me "thank you" for adding the information on how I captured what I captured. Thats pretty cool! Cool enough to make a blog entry? Not sure, but here it goes! :)

The thing is, my sister on her FaceBook asked when she was going to get a moment to stop and breath. I let her know a few more years, it took me 35.75 years to get there! And eventually she will too! But her question was rhetorical too and I bet she did not want that from me! And why do I say 35.75 years? Because its almost my birthday! So, I am more then 35.5 years old! And, I have realized that now, and only now, have I had a chance to stop and breath! To relax a bit and slow down and realize there is a life outside of frantic fury! And why does this apply to my blog? Because I have actually HAD the time to blog! But I have no topics in my mind to blog, which is why when I thought of "geek talk" I was ALL over it! Because I want to blog, I really do! I now have time! So, I want to do something with my time! I would shoot more, but I would rather shoot at the beach, and I really live no where near the beach! I have to settle for mountains instead of flowing water, moving in and out with the tide! Not my pace. I did shoot today, where I live, and I am not going to post any of them! LOL, because I just did not like them! It is what it is!

So, back on topic, "geek talk!" Almost all the time, I now add on my shots, my geek talk, which is, as I said above, the information on how I got the image I got, people dig this! So, I keep it going. Is it repetitive? Ya, and I use to worry that folks would get tired of me using the same words over and over again! But what I think and what others thing are two different things! Yes, people do tell me, thank you for adding the geek talk! So, thats why! Boy, this is starting to sound like the first paragraph! My writing skills might not be the best tonight! :)

So, an image, with the geek talk!

For this image, I used the Tiffen ND8 (3 stop filter) and held over that, I used the Cokin hard grad filter! I had the tripod hanging over the separation of rocks. One leg on the right and two legs on the left. I had to manually hold the hard grad filter over the lens, because the adaptor ring for the holder is "stuck" on the 6 stop filter and I cannot get it off! And, at first, when I started shooting this, I thought I did put on the 6 stop filter, but was mistaken and only put on the 3 stop. In the end, I am glad I did, because the sky was getting too dark for the darker filter! And, when I got home, I processed this one using LightRoom3. And that would be the extent of my geek talk! OH ya, f/8 for 30 seconds on ISO 100. But I don't type that information out on Flickr, that is reachable on my exif data! :)

Please enjoy!

For the fun of it

I wanted to post something here, for the fun of it! I noticed that I spent very little time in August 'blogging" and it is my husband that HIGHLY recommends I keep up a schedule with blogging. He suggest that if I do not post something "regularly" then I have a chance of people not wanting to check me out! I really do think that this blog is my next step to moving forward with my photography, so no neglecting! And because I like to "teach" something, I am posting something with a new technique I have learned!

The photo above, I used LightRoom3 for the post processing. A gift from my husband, I had been using LR2 for a while now and realize how much I LOVE LR3 vs 2! Its a big difference! Any way, the one new feature that I really do like, which is available in LR2 and LR3, is the graduate filter! All of you have seen, if you visit my flickr account, what I can do with a hard grad filter, which I use all the time with my sunset images. The in LR filter does the same thing, but with an image that is already taken! Now, don't worry, I still believe in getting things "right" in camera! I am not much for post processing. But there are times when I can "save" an image due to the abilities of post processing.

For the image above, I did use, on the lens, a hard grad filter, made by Cokin. Its a nice filter and what I love about it is that it sure can add some colors to a nice, sometimes colorless, sunset. The sunset above, was not colorless! But I guess this phase was. Usually color is not a part of a sunset until after the sun has set! So before the sunsets, I still like to capture images, knowing they may or may not be usable! And once in a while, I actually take an image OF the sun! And this is one such as that. As you can see! SO after I put the image on the computer, I realized, I can use the LR3 grad filter on it! So, for this image, I set up the grad filter, from right to left, instead of top to bottom! At the end of the day, I was able to make the sun a little less bright, and lower the exposure ONLY on the side of the sun! I have another image that I did the same thing to, and it turned out good, but I want to re do the image, I KNOW I can do better! But for now, I hope you enjoy this image. In camera, I used the B+W ND106 as well as the Cokin hard grad filter.

Please, enjoy!

A Beautiful La Jolla Sunset!

I am not really sure I have any information to share right now. I just want to share this photo! I know there is no use having a blog if you don't blog often. And so I knew I had to add something SOON! I did go on vacation last week, and that was all quite nice! But it put me into a place in life where I found myself too busy to do anything dealing with photography! I took photos, but I did not spend any time on the computer with post processing or any extra time on Flickr. Only enough time to post and run! Which I hate to do!

Any way, on this particular evening at La Jolla, I managed to capture a sunset that was one of the top 5 sunsets I have ever seen! It was amazing and stunning! Full of color and details! The water and the rocks at La Jolla Cove only added to the beauty that God had put before me. Its funny, because I was going to go to La Jolla the day before to catch the sunset. But I could not leave my house until 7:00, and my son and I still had to get dinner! That put us at heading down the hill exactly at sunset! And, after looking west, I realized that there was not that much color in the sky any way.

And then, the next day. There were clouds all around, from the intense heat. I knew that meant a special sunset! So, I took my son down the hill and we enjoyed the sunset, just a day late! As I was shooting, a surfer came up to me and said, "Is that the most beautiful sunset you have ever seen?" It was close, but not the most beautiful, But as you can see above, I was quite lucky to be where I was and at the end of the day, I am glad my son and I wend down the hill to catch this very beautiful sunset! And now, I hope you enjoy my sunset!

For this image, I did use the B+W ND106 filter, 6 stops. And I also used the Cokin hard grad filter. Please enjoy! And tell me what you think! Or if you have any comments! Or become a fan! Anything! :)

Our recent sunsets!

For those of you who live in San Diego, you know that our sunsets of late have been beautiful! Simply beautiful. And no matter if you are up in the hills or down at the water, every where you go there has been color and amazingly beautiful details. Last night, I had the joy and honor of capturing such a sunset at La Jolla Cove.

Now, I have to say, this has been a gripe of mine, head off to the beach and get NO clouds or overcast with too many clouds. Now, I don't mean to sound like I am complaining! But the truth is, the most beautiful sunset, sense going out and taking photos of them, was January 1st, of 2010. That sunset, well, it set the bar! And, over the past eight months, I have seen some beautiful sunsets, but none worthy of a standing O! Until last night. Now, I am sure there have been some outstanding sunsets over the past 8 months, I just have not seen them due to my rugged outdoors, up the hill, location. When I say capturing the sunset, I mean at my favorite location, the beach!

Now, a sunset like last night reminds me why I do what I do. Drive to the beach, an hour one way, and get there just in time to be disappointed. For weeks, upon weeks, I make it to the beach, and especially during the summer, I have no color at all when the sky is as grey as it has been. I keep thinking to myself, why! Why do I do this? And last night gave me the answer. It was a reminder, that I do what I do for the off chance that the sunset is a killer one like last night. The color was outstanding and the movement in the water was just enough to make it work. I say just enough because the surf as of late has been rather small. No biggie, as long as its moving, I can make something of it! And hey, if the water is not moving, the I get some other opportunities, like shooting the clouds reflections in the water. It really is rare to have that chance. Having low tide AND a very colorful sunset like last night. Any way, moving on.

I hope you enjoy this image, it was from last night and it was full of color and fire. And for this image, I used the B+W ND106, 6 stop filter, along with the Cokin hard grad filter. Which did add a bit of pink to the image, but there was already so much color in the sky, it really did not alter the image so much. I did need it though because the sky was bright enough to where with out it, the sky would have been very much over exposed.

No longer one filter at a time, EXTREME stacking

Ya, I said it, EXTREME stacking! Thats what I call it when I take my two largest stoppers and put them together. Thats right, the B+W ND110 AND the B+W ND106. That is a total blockage of 16 stops of light! I have tried it twice now and one time worked out for me. However, I believe I know where I went wrong the second time, so I know what to try next time.

So, why in the world would I want to take away that much light? For starters, so that I can learn even more! Crazy, I know. But I have spent the past 7 months learning and repeating the act of long exposures. I know my filters like the back of my hands. I know how to allow light and take away light. I know how to capture the stars. The entire reason why I even committed to a 365 project was to set a goal for me, so that I can learn something. I wanted to master long exposures, so my topic is LONG exposures! If I do a project in 2011, it will be a topic that I want to master, for example, shooting 100% of the time in manual mode. So any way, back to my point. 7 months later, I realized that I know what I am doing. I get to the beach, I put my filters on and I pretty much know what I want my aperture to be for what filter for what time. I don't want to sound like I know everything, because I don't, but its not really a challenge for me any more! Its just another day shooting. So, a few days ago, while out, I thought about taking the longer exposure to the next level. To have SO much stops of light blocked, that it would require minutes instead of seconds. I was inspired by one of my flickr contacts. So, thats what I did. I put on my two DARK filters and this is what I came up with.

The image here, is a total of 300 seconds long. That is a grand total of 5 minutes long! In the middle of the day at an f/8 aperture. Oh, and of course, because its me, I used ISO 100. When I took the image home and processed it, converting it to black and white, I knew I had to play around with more of these. I love the effect and I have to say, when I took the image, I KNEW it would be the most perfect black and white. And let me tell you, I am not huge on black and white, but I am for this type of work.

I hope you enjoy and I also hope you take the time to view my other images on my 365 day project on Flickr, they are all long exposures and pretty much, in a package, my style of photography.