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5 Tips For Shooting Commercial Real Estate Photography

January 07, 2015 in Tips

While there are definite similarities in regards to methods and approach when photographing any sort of real estate, there are also important differences to keep in mind, especially when photographing commercial real estate and properties. In the residential real estate realm, they tend to use the images for a few weeks or maybe months until the space is sold, but in commercial real estate, these images are used to sell the business for perhaps years and years, and they might live on a website for just as long, offering the potential client or customer a visual representation of the space.

5 Black & White Photography Tips I Learned While Taking The Black & White Photography Challenge

October 19, 2014 in Journeys, Tips

So I was recently challenged by a fellow Samsung Imagelogger, the talented portrait photographer Jess Anderson, to take the Black & White Photography Challenge. Basically, I had to post 5 black and white images in 5 days. Anyone that knows me or my work knows that color plays an enormous role in the images I choose to make, so this was definitely a bit intimidating. In addition to a few of my favorites from those recent 5 days, what follows are 5 things I learned and experienced in my little black & white journey.

Why Apple iOS 8 Will Create Better Photographers

July 23, 2014 in Tips

With Apple opening up controls to iPhone’s native camera in the soon-to-be-released iOS 8, allowing access to manual photo controls, and the fact that the iPhone camera is already the most popular camera phone, we might just see a significant uptick in the quality of all those selfies and your coworkers lunches, cats, and margaritas (well that depends on how many margaritas I suppose). Most people that use their iPhones as cameras use the native app, and with that comes no controls other than aspect ratio and front or rear facing camera, and most third party apps that offer some version of manual controls proving either clunky or digitally over-ambitious at best. But now, with iOS 8, they're going to see a lot of options that they may have never even heard of before.

What The Heck Are The Different Photography Filters Used For?

July 22, 2014 in Tips

It eventually happens to every new photographer. You’re out in the field. You’re setting up to make a shot, and you see others around you setting up for a shot, only, some of these people have these strange contraptions attached to the front of their lens. It looks like a huge piece of square glass. You sit there. You stare. You wonder. And when you get back home, you Google ‘square things on lens.’ The first time this happened to me, I was set up to shoot some images of Bonsai Rock in Lake Tahoe, California several years back.

5 Things To Remember When Assisting a Photographer

July 17, 2014 in Tips

So one of the best ways to learn photography is to assist another photographer, which I've had the pleasure of recently doing for photographer Stephen Chiang. While getting a photographer assistant gig may seem like a tough nut to crack, you’d be surprised at how many people can or will refer you just by putting out a simple call on your Facebook or Twitter or Google Plus account. Photographers are everywhere and every single one of them can use some help, and what separates those that are helping them and those that are thinking about helping them? Well…those that are helping them asked if they can. While it may not turn into a regular gig, it’s a marvelous step in building a new network, gaining some trust amongst your peers, and best of all, learning your craft hands on. And to maximize that effort, here are a few things to remember when assisting a photographer.

Why You Should Stop Paying Attention To The Focal Point Of Your Images

July 16, 2014 in Journeys, Tips

I recently found myself standing in front of a stunning vista in the Santa Monica Mountains. It was June 21, 2014. The Summer Solstice. And the sun was just about to set behind the mountains, leaving a beautiful show of colors and clouds and reflections and highlights and vivid shadows in it’s wake. There was another group of photographers at the other end of the overlook and they were doing what most photographers first instinct is to do…pay full attention to the focal point of their image, the subject they wish to draw attention to, and everything else came secondary.

7 Tips For Shooting Real Estate Photography

July 15, 2014 in Tips

If you read this blog regularly, you’ll know that one of my primary sources of income is photographing real estate and properties for various clients ranging from Airbnb to real estate companies and management companies. After doing this for the past 3 years, I’ve managed to pick up a few tips and pointers along the way that have made my job a LOT easier. Here are 7 of them:

8 Quick Tips For Candid Pet Photography

July 10, 2014 in Tips

I was recently asked by a friend of mine who runs Ocean Walk Pet Sitting to shoot a few candid shots of one of his clients dogs so that he can present them as a gift to the client. Since this was, one, for a good friend, and two, another excuse to be outside in the sunshine on the beach with a camera, how could I say no? It’s not the first time I’ve done pet photography as I've shot some of his client’s pets in the past, so I knew a bit of what to expect, and I was able to draw on what I had learned the last time and apply them to this session. Here are 8 pet photography takeaway tips from those sessions that I wish I knew right away:

A Quick, Easy And Effective Alternative Method Of Sharpening Your Images

July 09, 2014 in Tips

When most people think sharpening in Photoshop, they understandably default to the ’Sharpen’ or ‘Unsharp Mask’ filters. But since I learned this trick a few years back, I don’t believe I’ve opened a single one of Photoshop’s native sharpen plugins a single time. Instead, I’ve relied on one of the ‘Other’ filters in that ‘Filter’ menu -

How To Expose For Interiors And Exteriors In Architecture Or Real Estate Photography - Part 2 - Post Processing

July 03, 2014 in Tips

In Part 1, we explained the process of getting the proper exposures on location for architecture and real estate photography. Here in part 2, we explain how to post-process these exposures.

Now that you have your exposures as described in Part 1, pull them into Adobe Lightroom. Use the first three bracketed exposures, and make any adjustments you see fit. I usually pull the highlights down on the overexposed exposure, and sometimes I pull the shadows up in the underexposed frame.

How To Expose For Interiors And Exteriors In Architecture Or Real Estate Photography - Part 1 - On Location

July 02, 2014 in Tips

If you’ve shot architecture or real estate photography, you already know the rub…exposing for interiors as well as exteriors! It’s a finicky art all in itself. Living in Los Angeles, sandwiched in my little hippie canyon between Malibu, Pacific Palisades, and the Hollywood Hills, I’ve had the opportunity to shoot some very high-end real estate for some very high-end and particular clients, and through that process, I’ve learned some incredibly helpful methods to help pull off results that even surprised me!

6 Travel Photography Lessons Learned On My Recent Trip To The Pacific Northwest

July 01, 2014 in Journeys, Tips

So as many of you know, I embarked on a nature and travel photography trip this past Spring to the Pacific Northwest, and I’ve shared all those pictures here and all my social outlets. This so happened to be my first photo trip in which I left the DSLR behind and employed mirrorless cameras exclusively, namely, the Samsung NX30. While this post will forgo all the reasons behind that (click here if you want to see those posts of that journey), now that the dust has settled and some time has passed, I’ve been able to reflect a bit on the incredible experience, which has proven to be a personal milestone in many ways in my photographic journey. So I figured I’d take this opportunity to share with you a few of the lessons I learned on that trip:

Why I Switched To Back Button Focus And Haven't Looked Back

June 30, 2014 in Tips

It didn’t make sense at first. Use the AE button on the back of the camera for focusing? How is that supposed to be easier and/or better than the traditional method of pressing the shutter halfway down? I mean, that’s what I know, that’s what I’ve grown to know, that’s what’s normal! Is this an elitist purist thing? Or is this real? About a year ago, I decided to truly dig deeper into the idea behind back button focus and, well, like a classic case of neuro-plasticity, over the next 90 days, I had inadvertently rewired my brain to wonder the exact opposite of what I was wondering when I started this little experiment…how did I go this long without it?

One Step At A Time - Forging Ahead In My Photographic Journey

June 10, 2014 in Journeys, Tips

So if you’ve logged on lately, you might have noticed, but I wanted to wait until everything was ported over from one to the other before introducing my new website. I've been working hard the past several weeks getting this sucker in shape and I think it’s ready! You’ll notice that the homepage no longer begins with my portfolio, but rather with the blogroll, so that way you’ll see the latest, and freshest content whenever you log on. Additionally, I’ve created two categories for the blog posts. One, 'Journeys,’ will continue to focus on my personal photographic journeys and adventures that you've grown used to, the other, ‘Lessons' will focus on tips and tricks and lessons learned through my photographic (hopefully) growth.

Photo Sites & Podcasts & Books & Festivals & Stuffs

October 03, 2013 in Journeys

So this is a bit of an untraditional post for me, but I couldn't help myself...I just finished listening to the latest episode of The Digital Photo Experience podcast hosted by Rick Sammon and Juan Pons, which I HIGHLY recommend if it's not already in your playlist, and they were interviewing Frederick Van Johnson of the This Week in Photo (TWiP) podcast, another one that is a MUST for you photography peeps...but anyway, Frederick is apparently a modest and humble creature, which is quite refreshing, because until that interview I had NO idea about two incredible things going on in his life that actually affects us all: One, he is the new Vice Chairman of the Board at the Brooks Institute of Photography, so congrats to him.

But two, and even more relevant to us all, is his pet project, MediaBytes.com. This is perfect. The part that's most important to us photographers in this day and age is...where and how do we fit into the maddening pace of the ever-shifting industry? What direction is it all headed?

Just finished Jolie O'Dell's book, Blogging for Photographers, last week and after perusing this MediaBytes.com site and the information therein, especially regarding web marketing and how to take the best advantage of everything the interwebs have available to us, it all just seems to go hand in hand - takes the future of the profession to another level with the seeming approach of embracing the changes and the landscape rather than shunning it or begrudgingly discounting it. He's got courses and information and all sorts of stuffs. Check it.

And while you're all at it, check out the California Photo Fest next week where Rick Sammon and Juan Pons, among a who's who of additional heavy hitters, will be teaching a few workshops throughout gorgeous Central California. Been trying to get to this thing for years, but, well, paying the rent sorta trumps it at this stage...perhaps in 2014...

Thanks for everything all of you mentioned do...it's been crazy transitioning into this new life path and career and I can honestly it wouldn't be happening if it wasn't for the transparent and generous method of imparting your wisdom and knowledge in the ways that you do to help propel it all forward. I love it! Thank you...

So photogs...go do this thing!!!

And I promise, I'll be back next week with the next installment of the "3 National Parks, 3 States, 2 Weeks, 1 Crap Bag" posts...