Category: Hints and Advice

  • Creating a Tilt-shift Look

    Creating a Tilt-shift Look

    My intention this morning was to get a lot of work done. Instead, I sat down at the computer and played with Photoshop. I long have wanted to learn how to create the tilt-shift look in Photoshop. You know the look, that of a miniature toy town or city. So instead of working, I asked…

  • Navajo Photography Permits

    I recently did a series of posts on the American Southwest. As a final entry in that series, I wanted to tell my story of obtaining photography permits from the Navajo Nation. Sometime in the past, I’m not exactly sure when or how, I learned that photo permits are required for commercial photography in Navajo…

  • Night Moves – Milky Way Edition

    “Workin’ on mysteries without any clues, Workin’ on our night moves” -Bob Seger, Night Moves I enjoy night photography, though I’ll be the first to admit that I have a lot to learn. I have previously written on the topic. However, in that case, my post focused on night photography in the city. In today’s…

  • Iconic Photography

    When traveling, unless you’re a more self-assured photographer than I, there’s a burning desire to capture that iconic shot. You know, the one image of a place that was great the first dozen times it was shot, but now is a cliché after being shot a million+ times. Still, it’s a cliché for a reason…

  • Going Slow at Ingalls Creek

    Last Friday Tanya, Nahla and I took a day hike along Ingalls Creek in the Alpine Lake Wilderness Area. When loading my pack at the trailhead, I decided the leave my tripod in the car – it was a bright sunny day, what would I need the tripod for? Actually, I needed the tripod for…

  • Moon Troubles

    I have trouble photographing the moon. Okay, it’s not so hard before for the sun sets (which is why the best full moon pictures are typically taken the day before the full moon and, consequently, before the sun sets), but after dark, I have lots of problems. There is just too much contrast. The moon…

  • Choices, Choices

    When photography is exercised as an art form rather than an attempt to purely replicate a scene without any interpretation (which, of course is impossible, photographs cannot replicate reality – they are in 2 dimensions instead of 3, they are cropped and reality is not, etc. – this could be a whole separate blog by…

  • Panning for Hidden Gems (Christmas Edition)

    One chore I accomplish each winter is to edit my photo library for all the photos I neglected to edit earlier in the year. Editing is a thankless task that some notable photographers even suggest is unnecessary due to disk drives being inexpensive. However, it is hard enough for me to find the photos I…

  • Hints for Photography in the Rain

    Last Friday, I took the day off from the day job to do some photography. It was a day Carson would have loved, rainy and cold. With Carson gone, Tanya and I decided to take our cat, Patch, along instead. He wasn’t so sure about the whole thing, and stayed in the car until our…