So here it is at last, the unboxing and early review of Nikon’s newest model and most affordable full frame camera, the D600. Serving as a bridge between the pro shooter and “pro-sumer,” the D600 includes many of the features from the more expensive D800 all packed into the body of a D7000.Read More
It was a great night, indeed, as the Business Marketing Association of Houston celebrated their 25th Annual Lantern Awards on Thursday, November 29. Brian C. Parks and Mike Killalea, representing the International Association of Drilling Contractors and Drilling Contractor magazine, picked up a Lantern Award for Best Original Photography on Thursday night, the BMA’s top honor. The IADC was previously honored with a Lantern Award in 2007 for Best Magazine and has also taken home numerous Awards of Excellence for editorial and design in the years between.Read More
First off, let me say that I am not a hiker. That being said, I will occasionally break out the sneakers and walk a trail or two. Luckily, I had some free time during my recent trip to Scottsdale to do just that. Scaling Mummy Mountain gave me a great view of the JW Marriott Camelback Inn and Camelback Mountain.
I hung out for awhile to catch what little I could of the sunset from my vantage point. Having missed quite a spectacular Arizona sunset the night before, I was determined to shoot one before I left. Unfortunately, the sunset this evening held only a fraction of the extravagance from the night before. But we do what we can, so I set up the tripod and started shooting away.Read More
Every time I visit San Antonio and have the opportunity to, I always make a point to visit the Alamo. Aside from the remains of the structure itself, I’ve always been fascinated by the monument across from the it (the Alamo Cenotaph, as it’s known). According to the San Antonio Ghost Tours, it’s one of the only monuments in the nation that features a spirit or ghost (and prominently, at that). The front of the monument features what appears to be a ghostly figure rising from the fire (the “Spirit of Sacrifice”).
On the other side is a sculpture of a woman (who I misinterpreted to be an angel) who is supposed to symbolize the state of Texas.Read More
Okay, maybe not really. But my alter ego is! He’s taking off into the waning Barcelona sun on a pretty sweet ride.Read More
Wednesday has always held a special place in my heart as the one day out of the week that I can never decide if I like or hate. Monday is easy. Monday blows. Tuesday is just kinda there (same with Thursday where your energy starts to wane in direct correlation with your growing excitement about the impending weekend). Friday goes without saying.
So Wednesday is where it really comes down to the whole glass-half-full vs glass-half-empty debate. And that really depends a lot on how my week is going, what’s in the cards for the weekend, what I had for breakfast, etc., etc.Read More
By popular demand (read: one or two requests), here are a few more shots using our DIY ring flash set up from last weekend. A lot more tweaking remains to be done to the rig itself, as well as to how we’re using it, but it’s a pretty cool toy to play around with.Read More
This weekend I dove into a DIY project with the help of my partner in crime, Max McDonald from mondayshift. After reading David Tejada’s excellent (not to mention affordable) ring flash tutorial, I decided it would be the perfect project for someone like me (i.e., someone completely inept at anything remotely resembling handyman-dedness).
After raiding Home Depot for supplies, Max and I set to work. It was an arduous task requiring literally minutes of physical and mental labor. Following Tejada’s tutorial to the T (give or take skipping the last eight steps), we were able to create a crude flash adapter referred to in certain photographic circles as a “ring flash.” Or just a ring flash without the quotes.Read More
Here’s to a happy Friday for everybody! Took this shot yesterday while I was messing around in the garage trying to simulate a concert spotlight look.
Basically I just gelled the keylight with some blue and bounced it off the white wall to my right, then gelled the hair light with some orange and snooted it up in my face.Read More
This shot was an outtake while I was still setting up my lights (I didn’t even wait to get a full smile from my beautiful model!), but I love the way it turned out. Aside from it being shot head-on, mugshot style, her hint of a smile is very reminiscent of the Mona Lisa, in my opinion.Read More
To continue indulging my habit of posting ridiculous pictures of myself, here’s one from a recent lighting test in my garage. Using the on-camera flash to remotely trigger the key light seems to work pretty well, though it does tend to leave a very small catchlight directly in the center of the eyes. I’ll have to rig up a gobo to prevent that in the future.Read More
So I’ve got this box. I love this box. Bought it at an antique store in… I don’t remember, but it turns out that it’s an old munitions box from who-knows-when.
For as long as I’ve owned it, sadly I’ve had no idea what to do with it. It’s not really functional in regards to its original use (I don’t have many munitions), and it’s too heavy to use as a wallet. What to do???Read More
Tracking a moving object to create motion blur of the background is really something I’d never really tried out before, so it was great to finally have the chance to do some experimentation at Dave’s Need 4 Speed in Lubbock. It was tricky nailing down the best aperture and shutter speed settings while following these little blurs around the racetrack, but I finally got a few that looked decent.Read More
The road to Odessa was an interesting one. Though the forecast called for a mildly overcast day, I encountered a lot of strange weather–rain, horror movie levels of fog, ominous storm clouds, then oddly striated sections of clouds that let the light pour through in slices.Read More
I witnessed an amazing sunset the other night behind the Tyler Technologies building while I was out for a walk. There was a storm brewing which made for some amazing contrasts of color.
Unfortunately, by the time I ran inside to grab my tripod and camera, I had missed most of the really cool stuff…Read More
It’s been a few days since my last post (gasp, three whole days!!!), which I can only assume is from laziness (though, I have been pretty busy lately).
But today is a new day and I’m back in business. Been working on a lot of non-HDR photos recently. I feel like I’ve been pigeonholing myself with the HDR stuff, but what can I say? I love HDR and have been struggling with my technique ever since I started. It’s great fun and never ceases to give me new and surprising results each time.Read More
“Eventually you plan to have dinosaurs in your, uh, dinosaur tour. Right? Hello? Hello? Yes?”
I felt a lot like Ian Malcolm last Saturday night, craning my neck up to the sky for three hours waiting for meteors. While we saw a handful over the time we were there, nothing was too impressive (especially nothing I actually managed to capture).Read More
Here’s another shot from Roswell, NM. Directly in front of the courthouse is the Chaves County War Memorial, which was unveiled late last year.
It’s taken me forever to process these HDR shots. For whatever reason, the contrast of the blue-gray clouds and the setting sun created such a strange mix of colors. Every time I processed them and started editing, I would waste so much time trying over and over again to get it to look right.Read More
This shot came about from another one of my lighting test setups. Always willing to help out, my favorite model brought the whole ’20s vibe with her (which I tried to hone in on in post). Her wistful expression conveys a sense of longing and made it my favorite of the day.Read More
This was a throwaway shot I took near the bay in San Diego right across the street from the Star of India. It was another of those moments when I’m shooting away at the setting sun, then I turn around to notice, “hey, there’s stuff going on behind me.”
I loved the way the sun was reflecting off the buildings, bathing them in yellow and orange. It was a nice contrast to the darkening blue sky. I probably could’ve waited a few minutes for a more dramatic sky, but might have lost some of the color reflected off the windows. Oh well, I was late for dinner, anyway.Read More
