As a distraction from staring at this: I have been going outside with my longest lens, 70-200mm f/2.8. A few evenings ago, I sat out back with my computer and noticed that the birds came to the birdbath while I was sitting there. So, the next evening I brought my camera with me to see… Read More More Photography from Home
I got up before dawn to go hiking as I had a nice idea for a sunrise behind the small waterfall at Balcones Canyonland National Wildlife Refuge. As I was driving out there, I could see some clouds on the horizon, so I thought there was a chance. But two things happened when I got… Read More A Few Minutes of Perfect Light
On Monday morning, I grabbed my camera stuff and left for work early because I thought that I was going to go get a nice sunrise. While sitting bogged down in slow-motion traffic in Austin, I could see that there would be no real sunrise shoot so I headed on to work and got there… Read More Brushy Creek Sunset
Friday night there was a fantastic sunset… that I got to observe while driving home from work in heavy traffic as usual. The forecast showed that there might still be some high clouds around at sunrise. So, I figured that it was worth a shot to go downtown and try to get that glorious sunrise… Read More Dawn’s Early Light
Since I started messing around with macro shooting, one thing that annoys me is the incredibly shallow focus depth. This is to be expected shooting so close to the lens. Even at high f-stops, you really can’t get much focus depth. One answer to this problem is focus stacking. Focus stacking involves taking multiple images… Read More Focus Stacking a Macro
Sunday morning I packed my camera with a 150mm macro lens in my backpack and went out for a bicycle ride. I knew where some wildflowers would be with maybe some butterflies and bees and I needed some exercise so I biked to them. I was expecting a lot of yellow flowers, but when I… Read More Close Ups of a Purple Flower
Sunday afternoon I had to get out of the house. I didn’t think that there would be much to shoot around town judging by the mostly dry pond last week, so I just drove out to Inks Lake in the late afternoon. The sky was mostly clear and summer has not quite let go its… Read More Twilight Fishing Pier
I have been wanting to get out and take some night sky photos of the Milky Way this summer, but the weather and my personal schedule have not cooperated with me. So I watched the weather all week and made a plan for Friday night at Pedernales Falls State Park west of Austin. Pedernales Falls… Read More Night Sky at Pedernales Falls State Park
My fourth and final portraiture class was about trying a bunch of seemingly weird techniques to shoot portraits. Mainly using the flash lighting in ways that went against the conventional rules of shooting portraits. First, we shot a model with a white background. The background was lit by its own flash so it wouldn’t be… Read More Portrait Class, Part 4
In portrait class three we studied full length portraits and lighting. There was also a lot of discussion about hand orientation, leg position, and feet placement. There was a lot to keep in your head at once, while also trying to focus and frame the photo and communicate with the model. The below full length… Read More Portrait Class 3
Jason Frels 