Today was the 2nd official "Day Trippin' So-Cal Field Trip" hosted by none other than local wedding photographers Joe Photo and Becker...  15-20 local So-Cal wedding and portrait photographers made the ~2 hour drive out past Palm Springs, Past Indio, to the Salton Sea.  Simply put, one of the strangest places in all of Southern California.

I had a blast shooting everything and anything under the (hot, sun-burning) sun...  Shot a few landscapes, a few portraits, and a few landscape-portraits...

You may remember me mentioning Hanssie from my photo shoot last week.  (When photographers can't find models or clients to photograph, they turn their cameras on each other!)

Nikon D300, Nikon 17-55, Sigma EX circular polarizer.
JPG image captured with my in-camera B&W preset "T-MAX"
Finished in Bridge CS3 using a modified cross-processing preset.

Take care,
=Matt=

Nikon D300  -  Nikon 17-55 2.8  -  17mm  -  f/9.5  -  1/180 sec  -  ISO 100
Kelvin WB  -  Manual exposure  -  RAW capture  -  Bridge CS3 processing

Take care,
=Matt=

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Just testing out some basic poses to try and play around with light and shadow.  I'm really interested in adding more lights to my arsenal, because I feel a need for  accent lighting, kickers, etc. etc. 

So, bear with me while I experiment!  Experiment results #1:  Shoot everything manual, and shoot RAW.  Auto exposure and TTL flash is just no good when you're shooting in static, controllable situations like this.  Especially when you want to shoot 20 shots in the same exact light when you're trying to "work it" with the model, ya know?

D300, 17-55, circular polarizer, off-camera SB800 commanded in manual mode.
(plus a little touch of sunlight hitting the other side of her face, bonus!)

The action, with expert location / wedding photographer Hanssie Trainor getting her shot...

Nikon D300, Sigma 50-150 2.8, off-camera SB800 commanded in manual mode...

Take care,
=Matt=

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Everybody loves Rachel by now...

Nikon D300  -  Nikon 17-55 2.8  -  f/2.8  -  1/60 sec.  -  ISO 800
WB @ 9000 Kelvin  -  Manual exposure  -  Center-weight metering  -  RAW capture
Bridge CS3  -  "Straight out of camera" + Sepia Preset #02

Take care!
=Matt=

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I've caught a winter cold this weekend apparently.  Last weekend I met up with my favorite photography couple, Kristin & Jonathan.  Kristin is an amazing wedding and portrait photographer, Jonathan is an amazing landscape photographer...

I still feel rusty when it comes to nature photography.  I need to get out on a more regular basis.  I definitely need a better lens for landscape photography as well; my 17-55 2.8 is really not made for stopping down; it's made for shooting wide open.  That's perfect for weddings and events, I couldn't ask for a better lens.  But for landscapes...  I hope I can get the money for a 12-24 DX before Joy & I go on our honeymoon; that would really come in handy...

So like I said, I feel rusty.  I hope I can be forgiven for re-visiting the "same ol beach" for now, and taking generic-ish pictures.  I'm just trying to keep my eyes sharp!

Nikon D300, Nikon 17-55, tripod, circular polarizer, 2-stop soft GND filter...

Nikon D300, Nikon 17-55, tripod, circular polarizer, don't remember if I used a GND filter...

Nikon D300  -  Sigma 50-150 2.8  -  1/250 sec.  -  f/5  -  ISO 400

Nikon D300, Nikon 17-55, tripod, timer, flashlight, two different 30 sec. expoures "added" in photoshop.

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Met up with some [b]-school friends, Brian Khang and Michael Campbell, a couple days ago at Little Corona beach.  A totally impromptu meet-up of professional wedding & portrait photographers who also enjoy landscape photography, and *gasp* ...own tripods!

What do you do when you own a tripod?  You use it to do things non-tripod owners CAN'T do!

(Note to self:  be a little more careful next  time when ABANDONING your camera on a tripod in the tidepools when a big wave comes...)

Nikon D300, Nikon 17-55 2.8, Tripod, Sigma EX circular polarizer

Nikon D300, Nikon 17-55 2.8, Tripod, Sigma EX circular polarizer

Nikon D300, Nikon 17-55 2.8, Tripod, Sigma EX circular polarizer.
(30 sec.  -  f/4  -  ISO 200)

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Random photos from a beautiful afternoon back in December when I drove up to hang out with some awesome other local So Cal photographers who I met through the [b] school.

(Note to self:  [b] school classroom debuted last week, and all I can say is, WOW.  Where was a professional & business resource like this five years ago when I first thought about getting paid to take photos?  Seriously...)

Nikon D300, Nikon 17-55 2.8, Tripod, Circular Polarizer.

Nikon D300, Sigma 50-150 2.8, Tripod.

Nikon D300, Sigma 50-150 2.8, Tripod, 3-image panorama.
(View this image FULL SIZE!!!  Thanks!)

Isn't it amazing, how beautiful the suburbs of the LA area can be when the light and the weather come together?  (I know.  I'm sorry that just rhymed.  I tried not to.  I started with "when the weather and the light are juuuust right" but, well yeah...  Okay I'm done!)

Take care,
=Matt=

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There's a car chase going on right now, about an hour or so from where I live.  This happens all the time, except this one is called a "rolling domestic dispute" because there are people inside the car, apparently fighting / arguing.  One of them called the police or something, and another one of them has a gun.

I hope nobody gets hurt.  The driver is going the speed limit actually, in fact he's even stopping at stop signs, traffic lights, it is really bizarre cuz nobody's making a move. It always seems really, really weird to me when police just let these things drag on and on.  Especially when the driver is going fast and being reckless.  I mean, I don't care of the guy has a  gun, if he's endangering other people's lives and I'm a police officer, I'm gonna take them down.  Luckily, like I said this guy is taking it nice and slow...

Hopefully it will end soon.  (Yes, it is still going on as I wrap up this blog, and go fetch a recent misc. photo to blog...  They just said that this has been going on for almost an hour.  Maybe he'll run out of gas?  Or heck, by now I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to stop *for* gas!)

Take care,
=Matt=

Nikon D300, Nikon 17-55 2.8, wireless SB800 commanded by pop-up flash.

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I have a gallery exhibition that I totally forgot to mention until now.  Tonight is the reception for a gallery exhibition at the Wyndham Hotel in Costa Mesa, and I have five nature photography prints in this exhibition, including a stunning 36" metallic print of the tide pool vertical panorama...

If you have nothing better to do tonight between 4:15 and 7:30, please do drop by and say hi!  I'll be there and would love to bump into any other local landscape / nature / adventure photographers.  The Wyndham is off the 405 FWY at the Bristol exit (northbound), on "Avenue of the Arts"...  I'm sure you can google it...

Sorry I couldn't announce this event sooner!

=Matt=

[EDIT]  The reception went well; I met a lot of nice people and talked about art and vision in general.  The gallery itself will be up for about two more weeks, in case anybody still wants to drop by!

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So, my curiosity got the best of me, and I recently invested in an umbrella.  No, I am not curious to see what it is like to not get rained on.  I am curious to see what it is like to have a 49" diffused light source instead of a specular, harsh light source...

Of course my first love has always been the outdoors, and the beautiful light that occurs naturally on rare occasions.  But at the same time- ever since I saw the amazing control and power that studio lighting solutions could afford I have also been in awe of that whole different form of light mastery.

So, "do not be alarmed, this is only a test..."   I'm going to practice and play around until I am confident enough to use my new lighting setups in my professional work, if ever...  Who knows, maybe this just isn't a direction my style can go, maybe so.  All I know is that I love Joe McNally's work, and was blown away watching him work in this Creative Lighting DVD that JUST NOW arrived, thanks to a mail hold that was 10 days too long by accident.  Sheesh...

Take care!
=Matt=

Nikon D300 - Sigma 50-150 2.8  -  Off-camera SB800 w/ 49" shoot-through umbrella
(Shot 100% manually, both exposure and flash)
Processed in Bridge CS3 using my new and improved "The Echo" .XMP preset...

Nikon D300 - Sigma 50-150 2.8  -  Off-camera SB800 w/ 49" shoot-through umbrella
(Shot 100% manually, both exposure and flash)

Nikon D300 - Nikon 17-55 2.8  -  Off-camera SB800 w/ 49" shoot-through umbrella
(Shot 100% manually, both exposure and flash)

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