More fun with light painting 11-28-15

Tonight I did some more playing around with light painting:

For this image, I used:

1. A long exposure.
2. A flashlight.
3. One White Lightning WL 5,000 studio flash with a blue gel.
4. Two Pocket Wizard remotes.
5. A black t-shirt.

 Care to guess what the t-shirt was used for?

Fun with light painting 11-21-15

Here's an image from the Castro Valley Photo Club light painting Meetup:

This picture was made using a 4-second exposure and:

1. A tripod to hold the camera steady.
2. Two flashlights that "painted" the left-side of the background and the model's legs.
3. One incandescent light inside the tent.
4. Two Nikon Speedlights, one at camera left with a snoot to light the subject and the other in the background on the right-side of the frame.  Each of the flashes was fitted with CTO gels to make the color of their light match the flames.
5. Five Pocket Wizard remotes, three on one channel to trigger the strobes and two one a second channel to remotely trigger the camera.

Why would I use flash with light painting? It's difficult for a person to hold still for long periods of time.  The short burst from the flashes ensures that the subject is sharp and blur-free.

Lobos FC Soccer 11-08-15

From this morning's Lobos FC soccer game at the Richard H. Sheridan Field in Union City:

Lobos FC Soccer 10-25-15

The Lobos had to work for it, but pulled out another victory today to remain undefeated this season.

Lobos FC Soccer 10-18-15

The Lobos were in fine form today in Union City.

Making Chicken Salad 09-27-15

The weather didn't cooperate Sunday night, so I wasn't able to photograph the eclipse with the windmills in the Altamont Pass.  Instead, I used the beautiful light to capture the windmills in a different way.

In the news business, journalists affectionately refer to this process as "making chicken salad out of chicken-poop."

Preparing for the Lunar Eclipse 09-26-15

I spent the day planning and preparing for Sunday night's Lunar eclipse.  Here's a preview from the location I'm planning to shoot from:

Hopefully the weather will cooperate!

Lobos FC v. Correcamino 09-20-15

The Lobos FC had a great game against Correcamino this morning:

Fun with Flowers 09-19-15

I spent the morning with the Castro Valley Photo Club at Casa Peralta in San Leandro. 

Union City Soccer 09-13-15

It was a great morning to shoot soccer at the Richard H. Sheridan Field in Union City.

Persistence and Determination 09-06-15

My day started out bad.  REALLY BAD.  The action on the field was slow moving and I was missing shots I would normally get in my sleep.  I wasn't about to give up though.  I kept at it and came away with a few decent images.

A busy weekend 08-30-15

I had a busy weekend full of photography shoots.  I started out photographing the Moon on Friday night:

On Saturday, I hung out with the Castro Valley Photo Club in Livermore:

I ended the weekend's activities with the Lobos FC at the Richard H. Sheridan Field in Union City:

Why Editing Can Be Difficult 08-16-15

Variety is the spice of life, but sometimes you can get too much of a good thing.

Last night's sunset is a good example.  The haze created a fiery sunset.  The entire disc of the sun was visible over the Hayward Hills. 

The event lasted several minutes and I was able to capture several nice images. Here are a few more pictures to consider:

I was on the fence about whether the strip of red sky should remain in the picture.  A crop can really make or break an image, so it was an important consideration which only complicated matters more.  Here's a crop of the first image without the sky:

Each image has its appeal and in the end I decided to go with the first image and leave it uncropped.

Lobos FC v. Real Zacoalco 08-02-15

Lobos FC 07-26-15

The FC Lobos were dominant at the Richard H. Sheridan Field in Union City.

Fun with action sequences 07-19-15

I usually rely on my knowledge of a sport and good timing to capture action, but sometimes having a fast firing rate allows me to create a nice action sequence.