Sunset beach scene with tips on equipment, setting and editing

I lived in Northern California all of my life and found a never ending supply of subject matter to choose from. One of the advantages of living here is I can springboard from the California coast to the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and everything in between within hours. I recently took a drive to one of my favorite photography spots called Rodeo Beach, located on the West side of the Marin Headlands in Northern California – minutes from San Francisco. This beach offers great views of the headlands, fantastic coastal scenes, along with a nice set of Sea Stacks that have been featured in Popular Photography magazine and captured by many Flickr enthusiasts over the years. I’d like to share some of my techniques and editing flows that I used to produce these images that may be helpful for those who may be thinking about heading to the beach for a few sunset shots.

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With No Voice, They Cannot Speak – By: Alan Cring

It was the same woods I had visited before, a place where few people ever go. I know that because the thick bramble is untrammeled and unmarked by footpaths, and the branches from trees cross each other like wide, unbroken mesh. Even deer would make pathways through the limbs, which are brittle. This place is unusual, and I like it despite a small feeling of unease I have when I am too far in. I cannot describe it well, but it’s there even in the daylight. By the time of long shadows, I hasten to find my way out.

Woodlands are not particularly good for the kind of landscape photography that is my specialty, but on a few occasions I’ve come across a wonderful scene: an open expanse of trees that was, for some reason, just right; a small stream that caught blue sky and sunlight in a pretty color mix; or, on one glorious occasion, an old shack that had once long ago, from what I found inside, been home to a family with children and several pets.

Urban Portrait Photography: Capturing Pictures of People Living on the Street

Have you ever considered approaching a stranger and asking permission to take their picture? Urban portrait photography is a variation of street photography. Instead of randomly snapping images of people on the street from a distance, you proactively approach them with the intent of capturing their portrait and life story. For some photographers, the thought of contacting someone they don’t know can be terrifying. That’s what makes urban portrait photography so exhilarating! It forces you to re-think everything you know about photography and apply it in an entirely different way.

 

As photographers, it’s easy for us to get trapped into a creative rut photographing the same subjects over and over again. It happens to all of us! If you are a landscape photographer, you might get up before sunrise every weekend to catch that perfect, golden light. Sports photographers have their gear ready and position themselves in just the right place on the sidelines to capture one-of-a-kind images of the action. Wedding photographers manage to capture beautiful and romantic photographs despite the chaos that surrounds them. No matter what your field, whether you are a weekend warrior or full time professional, photography can become very routine and leave you looking for more.

The joy of bad weather photography – By: Steve Damascus

Cold, rain, fog, wind, snow.  These words are unlikely to send a photographer reaching for their camera.  But, if you brave the elements, and take proper precautions, you may be rewarded with some amazing photos!

A friend called me on a recent Saturday morning and said “it’s such a nice day, sunny and 75 degrees; not a cloud in the sky… let’s go out taking pictures!”  That’s great.  By and large, most people only venture out-of-doors when the weather is nice.  I mean, who wants to get rained on or feel their way around in the fog?  It’s just normal, right?  People go for walks in the park when it’s nice out, not during a blizzard!  But, for me, it’s often been just the opposite.

Many years ago I was lucky enough to come across the wonderful photography book “Darkroom”1 by Lustrum Press.  In it was a section devoted to a photographer named Jerry Burchard.  His work caught my eye because his photos were all taken at night.  That was his style and that was when it dawned on me that using my camera at times other than those ‘perfect days’ could give me a view into another dimension.  Sadly, Jerry is largely unknown today, but if you ever get a chance browse through a copy of “Darkroom.”

With respect to the more technical nature of my ‘inclement weather’ outings, I normally work hand-held.  If I use my film camera I shoot 400 ISO film, often at 800 or 1,600 push-processed (AgfaPan 400, processed in Rodinal (both are sadly gone from the market), Tri-X and HC-110, dilution ‘B’, D-76 1:1 or Ilford XP2).  I normally use my Nikon 28-85mm zoom and shoot hand-held but do often take tripod if it’s very dark.

When shooting digital, I use a Nikon D-70 or D-200 and the Nikon 18-55.  I feel the wide-angle/short telephoto zooms provide a good working range.  I like the wide effect when photographing in the man-made caverns of a large city.  I like the short telephotos for pulling in foreground detail while nicely blurring backgrounds.