Musings Over the Rainbow

Is this a WOW shot? Close to it, maybe. Geeze, I think I did everything right here, I followed the Rule of Thirds, but kind of backwards. I framed the shot so it has two-thirds sky. Had to do that because the sky was the center of interest. After all, that's where the rainbow is.

How'd you like to be writing a series of photography books. That's what I'm trying to do. When you submit for a series, you have to write a proposal for every book in the series, and that's a lot of work!

Ahh, if you keep writing and writing, you get used to it. It's the taking of pictures that is the fun part if the series has the possibility of launching.

Check Out My New Book

To All Digital Traveler Visitors,

If you've got an inkling to learn about photography and enjoy San Francisco, consider getting my new book,

50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco.

It's an exciting way to see San Francisco if you can't get there right away, and if you can follow the photography trips outlined in the book.

Sandstorm

If you click on my avatar at the top of the window, you'll find a link to my newest book, "50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco". It started shipping last week. 

That's not the only book coming out this year. Right now I'm working on "101 Quick and Easy Secrets to Create Winning Photographs."

Above, in this post, you'll find the types of pictures that will be in this book. 

There are all kinds conditions under which one can take a photo. Being in the middle of a sandstorm is one condition that's a great example of taking a photo from inside the car. 

During a sandstorm, it's not practical to take a picture if you're standing outside in the middle of it. You'll ruin your camera, not to mention your lungs. 

This sandstorm is in Palm Springs, CA. It was taken in Feb, 2008. That day was a wild and weird mixture of weather conditions from nearly a dozen rainbows to thunderstorms to, as you see in this picture, sandstorms. 

American Flag for Civil Rights

Protests are always great photo ops. Lots of American flags and home-made signs. This one is a No on H8 protest in Palm Springs last November.

Haven't heard of any more more recent protests against the measure, which changed the California constitution to define marriage only for one man and one woman.

Imagine if a law like that got passed nationally.

You'd see an awful lot of protests. Doesn't look like that would happen even if a Republican had been elected.

As far as the photo is concerned, don't you like the slight blur of the background? Oh so very Palm Springs!

Carnival Ride

Everybody's got to love a carnival ride. Well, almost everybody. For some it's a bit waring.

Carnivals remind me of horror movies for some reason, maybe because there are many horror moves that take place there.

I love carnivals from the people tending the booths and rides to the rides themselves.

I also love carnivals because of the photo ops they offer. This photo was taken at an aperture of f/22 and a shutter speed of 2.5 seconds.

Whirling lights are a photographer's dream!

Rest Stop Pig

Just west of Palm Springs is a pig at a rest stop. Not a pig at the trough, not a pig with lipstick on its lips. Just a plain old pig covered with a blanket for e-z slumber.

In order to photograph this pig I set my aperture to f/4.5, nearly the widest it would go. I took three shots, the first two of the pig's entire body and the last one a close-up of it's head. Even though the pig was in the shade it came out incredibly sharp. It did so because I sat on the picnic bench and braced my elbows upon my knees so I wouldn't get blur from camera shake in the shot.

This pig has been at this rest stop many times when I've stopped here before. It certainly is a fat, friendly photo op.

My New Book is Now Shipping

To All Digital Traveler Visitors,

If you've got an inkling to learn about photography and enjoy San Francisco, consider getting my new book,

50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco.

It's an exciting way to see San Francisco if you can't get there right away, and if you can follow the photography trips outlined in the book.

Salvation Mountain

Now this is a site to behold, Salvation Mountain in Niland, California. Niland's about an hour-and-a-half drive from Palm Springs, California. It's worth the trip because the size and scope of the place is beyond imagination. 

The mountain is made of adobe mixed with straw, materials developed after the first mountain fell down. 

There are so many photo ops here that you should bring all the cameras you have. You can experiment with all kinds of settings here from wide to narrow apertures to long and short focal lengths. In the inside areas, you'll need a tripod. 

Don't miss this place if you're in the Salton Sea area.

One Man Band

A one-man band is always fun. This guy was playing in Columbia, California, which is an old gold rush town. I took several shots from all different directions at wide apertures. This one was the best. The show could have used a fill flash to fill in the shadow under his hat, however I got rid of some of that in using the Raw (I shot this in Raw) dialog box in Photoshop. I tweaked in the fill light and that did the trick!

Still Life

The Ponce, Puerto Rico produce market is a delight. I love markets because you can create still lifes with a click of your camera. 

All you have to do is set your camera to its widest aperture (lowest f-stop), then set your autofocus point on the object you want the sharpest and...shoot. 

In the picture above I set my autofocus point on the orange squash so it is sharp. The depth of field is wide because I didn't zoom in on the shot. 

Last, I set my ISO to 400 to ensure that the squash would stay sharp with a hand-held shot. 

It's kind of funny because on my Canon 5D, any ISO higher than 400 and you'll get noise, whereas on my Rebel XT, you can go up to nearly 1000 and not get noise. 

James Flood Building

The United States government once saved San Francisco's Flood Building from demolition. (The Flood Building is on Powell and Market.) It was during WW II when the government offered to house war agencies in the complex after they found it it was to be demolished.

It was once a Woolworths store. I can remember walking though the tight little aisles stacked with merchandise. It had a lunch counter too, one of those old-fashioned kind with great grilled cheese sandwiches. Oh, those were the days!

Salton Sea Birds

DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT MY NEW BOOK, 50 GREATEST PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES IN SAN FRANCISCO!

I was just totally amazed yesterday when I saw these birds at Mecca Beach on the Salton Sea. The two darker birds in the picture are the California brown pelican, which is an endangered species. The other birds with the big beaks are white pelicans. 

I shot these pictures with a 300 mm zoom lens. I was quite far away from them. The closer I'd get the more of them would fly away.

The Salton Sea is a weird place. On Mecca Beach there is no sand, only fish bones from years of fish kills that happen every year in August. 

How to Photograph the Moon

DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT MY NEW BOOK, 50 GREATEST PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES IN SAN FRANCISCO!

Moon as seen from Yucca Valley, California


Full Moon f/6.3, 1/60 sec, ISO 200, 450 mm

Photographing the moon isn't all that hard, especially on if it's partial daylight when you're photographing it.

The first thing you have to do is look for the moon rise on line. Tonight's moon rose at 4:50 in Southern California.

Then you have to set up your tripod in a spot where you can clearly see the full moon. (Tonight's moon was called a pizza pie moon because it was very close to earth).

Next, you set your camera to Tv mode and make sure your focus is set to autofocus (that setting is on the side of the lens on dSLR cameras).

Next, zoom out as far as you can to the biggest focal length your camera has.

Next, turn on your self-timer.

Next, set your shutter speed to 1/250.

Next, take a picture.

Next, set your shutter speed to 1/100, then take a picture.

Next, set your shutter speed to the following and take a picture at each speed, 1/50, 1/30, 1/20, 1/5

Last, pick the picture where the moon has the most detail, kind of like the one above.

Tire Chair

Wow! This is a piece of work, a chair made out of tires.

Only the Shadow Knows

This photo is filled with feeling. Man, shadow, age, time, black, white are just some of the words that come to mind when you look at it.

The man is in Paris. He walks the streets with a cane. The image has you thinking about old age and that with each passing day, we get older. All of us.

Photography is a great way to use images to tell stories of life.

Check out my new book at Amazon!

paris photos

The Fed's Place

This is the San Francisco Federal Building. Quite modern, isn't it?

The building was designed by the architectural firm of Morphosis. They wanted to go beyond the bounds of "normal" architecture. The company designs many federal buildings.

Some have complained about the design, saying it's not very effective because of the powerful sunlight that comes blazing in through the windows. People have to set up umbrellas to shade themselves!

Check out my new book here.

SF Women's Building

There's no place in the world like the San Francisco Women's Building. It takes an hour or two to take in all the murals that cover two sides of the building.

The mission of the place is to "provide women and girls with the tools and resources they need to achieve full and equal participation in society."

The murals are filled with symbolism. They were the brainchild of Susan Cervantes. Susan has guided artists in painting murals all over the city. Some of the murals she's painted herself.

I have a section about the murals in my book, 50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco.

How to Become a Photography Book Writer

It's been a busy morning. I've just written an article about how to get into the photography book writing business. Go here to read.

People in St. Petersburg, Russia: A Photo Set

NOTICE: 11 MORE DAYS TILL MY BOOK, 50 GREATEST PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES IN SAN FRANCISCO HITS THE STORES AND AMAZON. PREORDER NOW!!

There's nothing I enjoy more than making photo sets. When I was sitting in traffic on a tour bus in St. Petersburg, Russia last summer, I photographed some of the people walking by. It's a real slice-of-life set of pictures.

I found that most everyone one who walked that street that day was carrying something. See for yourself--






Check out some of my other photo sets here.