Today’s Featured Image of the Week is one I shot in London of Elizabeth Tower – or what we sometimes call “Big Ben”. Yesterday I learned that it was going to be undergoing a massive four year refurbishment. I was lucky enough to see it in person in 2016 and I thought it was absolutely awesome. I can’t imagine it looking any better from the outside – but in four years I’m planning to return so I can see how it looks after all the work is done. In this article I’ll talk a bit about the equipment I used and the settings I chose to get the shot.
In today’s Gear Tips I want to share my thoughts on something a lot of people give very little thought to: lens hoods. Most lenses come with a hood but I often see people out shooting without using them (or worse – having them on their lens backwards in a “storage” position). Some lenses don’t include a hood but getting one is usually very inexpensive. In this article I’ll talk about why we should always use a hood. I’ll also talk about two specific Sony lenses I own that didn’t include hoods – along with the hoods I found that worked great for them.
For this weeks Featured Image of the Week I returned to Philadelphia, PA for a shot of Independence Hall. Unlike almost every other shot people see of Independence Hall this one was captured from the back of the building instead of the front. For this article I’ll share a few of the techniques I employed to get the shot.
Welcome to a brand new series of blog articles. I’ve been working on this project for some time and it’s part of a much larger venture for me. This has been years in the making and represents an important first step. It’s my hope that both new and long-time readers of my blog will like the eventual results.
My idea is to take all of my knowledge, years of experience and a love of helping others and channel it into a series of “tips” to help improve your photography with articles here on the blog and videos over on my YouTube channel. I’m confident I’ve hit on a combination that will really help people at every skill level from newcomers to pros and everyone in between.
For this weeks Featured Image of the Week I went back to my trip to Paris – specifically the island of Île de la Cité and the incredible Notre-Dame de Paris. This magnificent cathedral was the second I’d seen on my London/Paris trip but it was the first I went inside. This shot is the nave inside Notre-Dame and, believe it or not, it was more difficult to get the shot than you might think…
On the weekend of July 21 – 23, 2017 I traveled to Philadelphia, PA. I was there to see a concert, but before and after the show there was plenty of time to sight see and play tourist. I’ve visited Philly once before (for work) but this was to be my first time seeing some of the historic locations like Liberty Hall. On this trip I got to see the Liberty Bell and go inside Liberty Hall as well as seeing a number of beautiful parks and doing a little night time long exposure shooting.
This week’s Featured Image of the Week comes from Philadelphia, PA, where I was able to spend a weekend exploring the city where the United States began.
This is an image of Independence Hall photographed at night and it’s one of my favorite shots from my visit. National Park Service rangers give tours inside and it’s an awesome experience for history buffs (especially those who enjoy the story of the United States). This shot was captured from the nearby Independence National Historic Park.
It’s been a while since I’ve added a new post here on my blog and that makes me a little sad. But the good news is I’ve kept super busy and there’s a whole lot of images and stories I can be share here and on my social media websites. The by far the coolest experience for me was spending a little over a week in London, Paris and Disneyland Paris. What an amazing adventure! With so little time available I had to dig deep into my bag of “travel photography tricks”.
My move to a mirrorless camera system started over a year ago now and it all began when I was loaned the incredible Fuji XT-1 for a few days in Disney World. I absolutely loved the feel of the Fuji (especially the small size and weight compared to my big DSLR systems) and the picture quality was nothing short of breath taking. I knew then and there that I’d be adding a mirrorless system to my gear collection.
But as much as I loved the Fuji, it was a bit pricey – as in many thousands of dollars – to get myself a complete system (bodies, lenses, flashes, accessories, etc.) for what would ultimately be a camera I used outside of my professional work.
I tried a number of cameras out and ultimately picked up the least expensive Sony mirrorless camera, the a5000. The a5000 has been a delight to work with and it’s small size, light weight and astoundingly low price were exactly what I was looking for in a travel camera. While I liked a lot of what the entry level a5000 offered, it was also lacking some features that I found myself really missing (like a hot-shoe and a view finder). It didn’t take me long to add an additional body to my growing collection of mirrorless gear.
Today I’ll share a few thoughts on the current flagship Sony mirrorless camera (APS-C sized sensor): the a6000.
It was another extremely busy holiday season for me but I did find the time to head in to Washington, DC to see the Christmas Trees.
I’ve seen the National Christmas Tree many times over the years but I had never been down to see the Capitol Christmas Tree. This year I made sure to finally see it up close and personal.
