I’ve judged the San Joaquin County Fair’s photography show a few times and there are always an overwhelming number of landscapes, seascapes and flowers but the categories that involve people tend to have the smallest number of entries. For the second Readers Photo Challenge: Outdoor Portraits, 24 people sent in 54 photographs. That’s roughly half [...]
Another assignment I remember from my old photo-student days was the outdoor portrait and it, like the front, side and back lighting assignment, was a lesson in light. You would think that shooting outside would be pretty easy. There is plenty of light, so worrying about having a fast enough shutter speed to eliminate camera [...]
When I was a young photo student at Sacramento City College, one of my favorite things was the lab work. OK, processing film was more or less a solitary task and boring, but I loved making prints in the communal darkroom with the other students. Not only did you see your own photo slowly appear [...]
I was thinking of a good story that I could concoct for an April Fool’s Day joke. One that that would sound preposterous yet at the same time somewhat believable and at the end I could say a hearty “April Fools!” The first idea was that of a merger of camera giants Canon and Nikon [...]
The shutter in a Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera is sort of the gatekeeper that allows light through to the camera’s sensor and, along with the lens’ aperture and the ISO (the camera’s light sensitivity) creates and exposure. A fast shutter speed can freeze and Olympic athlete in his or her tracks while a [...]
When shooting most professional concerts photographers usually only get to shoot the first two or three songs and then are hightailed out of the venue. We never get to see a majority of the show, let alone all of it. The Carrie Underwood/Hunter Hayes concert at the Stockton Arena, for example, allowed the four photographers [...]
The day after singer Beyoncé’s spectacular halftime show during this year’s Super Bowl, the Website BuzzFeed posted a gallery of pictures entitled: “The 33 Fiercest Moments From Beyoncé’s Halftime Show.” Of those 33 photos posted, several featured the pop diva (who is considered by any standard one of the most beautiful women in the world) [...]
There is a scene in the 1984 movie “The Karate Kid” where Daniel (Ralph Macchio), a bullied young man wanting to learn how to defend himself, is given a seemingly meaningless task given to him by mentor Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) of washing and waxing several cars. Miyagi instructs Daniel on waxing the cars with [...]
To be a good photographer you have to be fearless. A little bit of fear can be a good thing. It can keep us from missing a great shot by keeping us on our toes, keep our eyes looking for an great or unusual angle from which to take our photo. But there is another [...]
