Nini in Black, Nacogdoches TX

We had a busy day yesterday with our anniversary gifts.  Nini had her massage, hair and makeup done at a local salon, and then I got to take her photo.  The sky was perfectly overcast for the first hour or so giving us great natural light, but when we took a lunch break it got too cloudy to shoot without adding some flash.  It was 60 degrees, which was perfect for me, but Nini was chilled.  You can see her goosebumps in larger sizes.

For this portrait Nini is lit with a single speedlite shot through a beauty dish with a grid on it.  The grid helps to prevent the light from spilling too far in any direction, creating really cool light falloff that is fun to work with when you have a nice background.  We shot it downtown Nacogdoches with a beauty dish on a stand, on several sidewalks and alleyways, and no one ever bothered us a bit. One of my goals was to do a wider shot like this that will look good printed in large sizes.  It was a fun day!

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: February 10, 2013, taken February 9, 2013
My Love in Black and White, Nacogdoches TX

I don’t usually post the same photo twice but I was really happy with how this turned out in black and white.  And I think it’s fitting since Nini and I are celebrating our anniversary today with a photo shoot.

For this photo Nini was lit with natural window light.  There is a big styrofoam reflector just out of frame to the camera right of Nini.  I also held a 20 inch silver reflector to the right of my camera to add the catch light in her eye.  She is the catch light in my eye!

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: February 9, 2013, taken February 3, 2013
Colorful Sunset, Lake Sam Rayburn TX

A colorful sunset on our favorite beach.  Hopefully we’ll be there again this weekend to have an anniversary picnic.  Today is our actual anniversary and we’re celebrating with friends tonight.  Tomorrow we are giving each other our anniversary gift.  Nini is getting an hour and a half massage, hair and makeup at a local salon.  I’m getting a photoshoot with my wife!  Then we’ll go out to dinner.  It should be a fun anniversary for the both of us.  Thanks for all of your anniversary wishes yesterday!

CreativeLIVE is live and FREE today for the third day with wedding master photographer Marcus Bell.  Catch the FREE re-watch all night long if you miss the live version.  I actually like the re-watches better because they cut out the breaks.  www.creativeLIVE.com/live

UPDATE:  I forgot to mention that this is a three exposure HDR.

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: February 8, 2013, taken January 21, 2013
My Love, Nacogdoches TX

Nini is the love of my life.  We’re celebrating one of our third anniversaries this week.  We had three weddings so that’s why we have three anniversaries every year.  Tomorrow is our third, American and legal wedding anniversary.  But we’re celebrating tonight so I wanted to share this photo of my angel.

CreativeLIVE is live and FREE today and tomorrow with wedding master photographer Marcus Bell.  Catch the FREE re-watch all night long if you miss the live version.  I actually like the re-watches better because they cut out the breaks.  www.creativeLIVE.com/live

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: February 7, 2013, taken February 3, 2013
The View, Lake Sam Rayburn TX

The view from the camera that is featured in my photo from yesterday.  The colors erupted after sundown as these wispy clouds moved across the horizon to cover the area where the sun had just went down.  It was a very unique sunset for sure.

This is a single 30 second exposure. I used a three-stop soft-step graduated ND filter and a two-stop soft-step graduated ND filter to reduce the exposure above the foreground.

Critiques are always welcome.

UPDATE:  CreativeLIVE is live and FREE with wedding photography master Marcus Bell.  The FREE re-watch just started.  Visit www.creativelive.com/live often over the next three days to get a free education from one of the world's best.

Daily photo: February 6, 2013, taken February 2, 2013
Front Row Seat, Lake Sam Rayburn TX

We were back at Lake Sam Rayburn last weekend and were witness to a very unique sunset.  The puffy clouds started to move out and the wispy clouds on the right side of the frame started to move in.  The sun actually set in between these two different types of clouds and it made for a weird looking composition that I didn’t really like too much.  But I got some very cool time lapses of the clouds moving across the horizon.

This is a single 10 second exposure taken with my 7D on a tripod.  The other camera is my 5D Mark II with a couple of graduated filters on the lens (I bought the camera used and it came with a set of 7 filters).  The little square on the tip top is a three-way level mounted into the hotshoe on my wireless tranceiver, which is mounted into the hotshoe on the camera.  The tripod is a Bogen 3036 and the ball head says Mod 168.  Both are very heavy duty and together weigh probably 15 pounds.  I bought the tripod with head for about $100.00 on craigslist.

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: February 5, 2013, taken February 2, 2013
Nini Shine, Nacogdoches TX

My beautiful angel Nini taking advantage of the afternoon warmth in bed.  This photo is straight from my camera with no editing.  The catchlights in her eyes are what caught my eye. 

Crazy day yesterday.  I hope everyone had a good super bowl weekend!

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: February 4, 2013, taken February 3, 2013
Reflections, Lake Sam Rayburn TX

The aftermath of a very pretty sunset.  The clouds rolled in fast just before sunset and here you can see they started to dissipate soon after.  On the way to the lake that day I was telling Nini that we’d probably end up with no clouds, no sunset and head home early!  Every shoot is an adventure and that’s why I always say that you never know if there is going to be a good sunset or sunrise unless you’re there.

This is a single 15 second exposure.  I used a circular polarizer to increase the glare on the water, bringing out the reflection.  


Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: February 3, 2013, taken January 25, 2013
Testing the Waters, Lake Sam Rayburn

As far as we can tell, Sala doesn’t really like the water very much.  He’s got short hair and it’s January so I think he’s just too cold.  Maybe when it starts to get hot and the water warms up he’ll be more interested.  By the way, it’s fun to play “guess Sala’s breed” if you haven’t already.  We love hearing your ideas since he’s such a crazy concoction and we’ve heard so many different guesses in the few months we’ve had him.

How often do you capture video with your camera?  I’ve started to take more and more video footage after watching several DSLR-video workshops on CreativeLIVE recently.  After I’ve collected a decent amount of footage I’ll make a short 2-minute video.  I might also add in some short time-lapses and stop motion sequences of the dogs running and what not.  I think it will be a fun project to try.  It won’t be fancy, I’m going to edit it in iMovie.  What do you think? 

Critiques are always welcome.

UPDATE:  If you haven't joined the Smugmug Daily Community on Facebook yet, you can find the group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SmugMugDailyPhotosCommunity/
It's a little easier to have a conversation and share information on FB.  I think you can add yourself to the group or friend someone in the group and we'll get you added.

Daily photo: January 31, 2013, taken January 18, 2013
Reflections, Lake Sam Rayburn TX

The aftermath of a very pretty sunset. The clouds rolled in fast just before sunset and here you can see they started to dissipate soon after. On the way to the lake that day I was telling Nini that we’d probably end up with no clouds, no sunset and head home early! Every shoot is an adventure and that’s why I always say that you never know if there is going to be a good sunset or sunrise unless you’re there.

This is a single 15 second exposure. I used a circular polarizer to increase the glare on the water, bringing out the reflection.


Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: February 3, 2013, taken January 25, 2013
very pretty sunset. The clouds rolled in fast just before sunset and here you can see they started to dissipate soon after. On the way to the lake that day I was telling Nini that we’d probably end up with no clouds, no sunset and head home early! Every shoot is an adventure and that’s why I always say that you never know if there is going to be a good sunset or sunrise unless you’re there. This is a single 15 second exposure. I used a circular polarizer to increase the glare on the water, bringing out the reflection. Critiques are always welcome. Daily photo: February 3, 2013, taken January 25, 2013" href="javascript:openLB(2348379680,'',XLarge,'',1024,683);">Reflections, Lake Sam Rayburn TX

The aftermath of a very pretty sunset.  The clouds rolled in fast just before sunset and here you can see they started to dissipate soon after.  On the way to the lake that day I was telling Nini that we’d probably end up with no clouds, no sunset and head home early!  Every shoot is an adventure and that’s why I always say that you never know if there is going to be a good sunset or sunrise unless you’re there.

This is a single 15 second exposure.  I used a circular polarizer to increase the glare on the water, bringing out the reflection.  


Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: February 3, 2013, taken January 25, 2013
Reflections, Lake Sam Rayburn TX

The aftermath of a very pretty sunset. The clouds rolled in fast just before sunset and here you can see they started to dissipate soon after. On the way to the lake that day I was telling Nini that we’d probably end up with no clouds, no sunset and head home early! Every shoot is an adventure and that’s why I always say that you never know if there is going to be a good sunset or sunrise unless you’re there.

This is a single 15 second exposure. I used a circular polarizer to increase the glare on the water, bringing out the reflection.


Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: February 3, 2013, taken January 25, 2013
See photo in original gallery.