My group of portrait photographers recently got the assignment to photograph artists working in a building in Marin County that's dedicated to artist studios. I visited three artists there, and did environmental portraits of them in their studios. Two of the spaces had very good natural light, and even the third had acceptable lighting. I [...]
I see this topic discussed on photo forums from time to time: Can one make good portraits with a 28mm lens? The most open-minded respondents always say that you can make a good portrait with any focal length, and I agree. Maybe 85mm is perfect for head and shoulders shots, but, depending on the subject [...]
I have several antique clocks inherited from my father. Some work, some don't. I decided to get one repaired, but finding someone who repairs clocks that are over a hundred years old isn't easy. From my watchmaker, I got the name of Dorian Clair Antique Clock Repair in San Francisco. I called Dorian and made [...]
I got to Treasure Island about 7:30 last Sunday morning. Because I knew the sky would be overcast that morning, my plan was to take some long exposures with a compressed dynamic range. I also planned to take the new ferry from Treasure Island to the Ferry Building. But its first departure was at [...]
I went with a couple of photo friends to the C&H Sugar refinery in Crockett this past weekend. Our intent was to shoot the refinery at the blue hour, when the building's sign is lit up and there's still some light in the sky. When we arrived around 5:30, the scene looked like this: Soon [...]
I know this is primarily a site for black and white photography, but I DO have a color camera and mostly shoot my grandkids with that. It also has the advantages of being an autofocus camera, which my monochrome camera is not, and has a fixed 28mm lens, which gives me a better chance of [...]
Even though I said I wasn't going to be a den mother for the field trip to Fort Point next Sunday, December 5, I felt I should still go there and gather some useful info for our visit. I've been there three times before, so there wasn't a lot new. But I've included some [...]
Whenever we get a rainstorm, and the skies begin clearing the next day, I head to the reservoir near my home. I put a red filter on my black and white camera to darken the skies and increase the contrast with the clouds. Here are three photos from yesterday, when there were lots of complex [...]
On a recent trip north, I photographed the Carson Mansion in Eureka, California. I'd been wanting to shoot it for years, having seen photos of it on the web. Built in 1885 by lumber baron William Carson, it's a Victorian in the Queen Anne style, and, according to Wikipedia, is "one of the most written-about [...]
I like the defocused background that comes with shooting at wide apertures, but the shallow depth of field means it's tricky to get the exact plane you want in focus to be in focus. That's especially true when shooting with a short telephoto—which, for me, is 75mm—at a wide aperture—f/2—with the subject a few feet [...]