I love photography. Anyone who knows me, knows that. When I first got into the hobbie, I was convinced I had to carry my best camera and lenses with me everywhere in order to make sure I got great shots. Inevitably, I'd have at least one camera, two or three lenses, a bag to keep them in, spare memory cards, and in the end - a sore back and shoulders. 

Tip #1: Use the Cloudy or Shade white balance setting - even when 

you're in clear light. Why? It adds a bit of warmth to your image.

Tip #2: Use flash outdoors. I know that runs counterintuitive, but when taking pictures of people

outside, a little flash can go a long way - and I mean a little flash. I typically set my flash exposure

compensation to -1 1/3 to -2 stops. This lets the camera balance in the background while 

adding a little light to the people in the foreground - eliminating dark shadows accross their 

faces. You'll still get enough directional light to keep the naturall shadows, but the really dark

ones will be filled in. 

Here's another example of using fill flash outside. I've posted a few more below too. 

All of these pictures were shot with the same point and shoot Canon G10 that anyone can pick up at their local Best Buy. All it takes is a little knowledge of how the camera works, the willingness to shoot without using the Green Box or Scene Modes, and some basic computer software (I use Lightroom but even Google's Picasa, a free app, will work just fine), and you can really ramp up your own family shots. 

I was in Utica, IL recently for a work funtion. If you've never been to Utica - and Starved Rock - you owe it to yourself to go. It's a georgeous area right on the Illinois River, one of the few non-flat spots in the state! 

View of Starved Rock from Lover's Leap

It's fun to shoot downtown Rockford - especially on a nice day. On this particular evening, the light was hitting just right. 

I went for a walk the other evening in Union, IL (where my parents live). The light was warm and golden. There's some old, worn out, abandoned (?) factories on the other side of the tracks. I spent a little time exploring the area. Here are a few of the results...

Every photowalk deserves a macro shot or two don't you think?

Gotta love a random boat outside a factory next to train tracks.

I like this one. Something about the "Private Property" sign in the foreground and the "F Off" graffitti on the door strikes an odd chord.

Macro shot number 2!

These were all shot on my Canon 40D with the Sigma 18-200 f/3.5-6.3 DC OS lens. I throw that baby on when I want to travel light and really can't decide what lense I want. It really is good glass - though it occasionally catches a bad rap. If you stop it down to f/5.6 or beyond, it's really hard to go wrong.

The camera was set to shade white balance. Now there's a good trick for you: If you want to add some character to your outdoor shots, warm up a cool blue-ish looking atmosphere, or just really emphasize golden light, use your camera's shade or cloudy white balance setting. Heck, I shoot shade or cloudy even when I'm out in direct sunlight. It provides fantastic warmth!

I took these images in RAW + JPEG, but to be honest, I never even bothered with the RAW files. The jpegs turned out great. The camera was set to Landscape (with some of my custom edits) for the Picture Style. In Lightroom 2, I pretty much just added two points to the black clipping, slightly adjusted exposure and highlights, and sharpened them up. I really didn't need to do a whole lotta work.

Hey, shooting jpeg can be fun!

Who says you need a high end camera to take good pictures? Trust me, it's really not about the camera (most of the time) but how you use it (wow that sounds like a strangely familiar saying).  All you have to do is (1) Get the camera out of full manual mode - even into Program exposure mode, (2) Watch your white balance setting, (3) Take control over your exposure compensation, and (4) Turn off that god-aweful little flash (make sure it's a static subject though).

These were all shot on my Canon SD1100IS with black and white conversions done in Lightroom 2. Take a peak...

Yea, yea, I know, it's a hotel bed. Look past the bed at the texture and alignment of the pillows. Well... I thought it looked neat anyway.

And a color shot for good measure...

I think that, most of the time, the reason people don't get serious results from their pocket cameras is because they don't treat them seriously. I mean really - pay attention to the lighting, watch your white balance and exposure compensation, and compose like you would on your serious camera, and you'll often get great results!

As anyone could tell from looking at my library of photos, my daughter is one of my favorite subjects. In fact, I shoot her so much that she's taken to annoyance. I've also run out of ideas lately. Casual portraits are a dime a dozen at this point. Unless I'm documenting something we've been doing, I've been trying to think of ways to get more original.

One evening, I was putting her to bed, when I noticed that she was wearing purple jammies. Now this normally would not be such a big deal - but I suddenly realized that they coordinated with a long purple veil she has hanging from the ceiling over her bed. Now there's and idea! I asked her to indulge me for a few frames (okay, thirty or so), and we shot this:

Not bad for a guy who's been stuck in a rut huh? I shot the image on my Canon 450D (the professional name for the Rebel XSi) with my nifty fifty mark one. The RAW file was imported into Lightroom 2, adjusted, and then exported into Photoshop CS3 where I went to town with the Gaussian blur, sponge tool, and dodging and burning. Hey, sometimes experimentation pays off!

Who says all images have to be sharp and clear? Abstract painting has long been an accepted form of art. Why not abstract photography?

After work on a fairly rainy day, I arrived at home and parked in the parking lot. As I looked through my front windshield, I saw a beautiful blur of colors spread across the glass. I grabbed the G10, set for vivid jpeg, turned on the manual focus and back focused a bit, and shot a few frames like this. Personally, I love it.

Well, I'm way behind on keeping up here - so I'll just post images from multiple sessions in one. The first set of pictures are from a few weeks ago. I had just left work, and the light in downtown Rockford was incredible! Beautiful gold rays struck the news tower and glistened back into the sky. I had to run down to the library to return some books (overdue as usual), so I parked the car in the back, stepped out, and snapped these shots...

As I turned around to head back to the car - a man sitting on a park bench struck up a conversation with me. He was an interesting fellow - he said he was a poet - who lived in the Faust building but was out for a walk.  After asking his permission, I took a few shots while we talked.

FYI, these were all shot on my trusty Canon G10. Most people love this camera because of its RAW capabilities (which I do like), but these were all recorded in vibrant jpeg mode. I then enhanced them all in Lightroom 2. The black and white images of "The Poet" went through a bit of dodging and burning in Photoshop CS3 as well to enhance the contrast, depth, and texture.

The Canon G10 is not a replacement for your DSLR (unfortunately), but it is a great camera to carry with you everyday when you don't want to be lugging around the heavier models (along with every lens you might have a need for). If it could only focus faster, and perform a bit better in low light, it really could replace my larger cameras for many applications.

Now here's a fun image. This was shot the same night, but I used my new Olympus XA with some Ilford XP2 film. I had the negs developed and scanned at Wally World (they give you 2mp scans) and then did some adjustments in Lightroom 2. If I could find a cheap but good quality film scanner, I think I'd shoot alot more film - especially in black and white. I know very little about dark room work, but film just has a certain "look" to it. If I could get high res scans for cheap, or scan the negs myself, I could really integrate film into my process. The problem is, part of the creative process for me is the digital post processing. I don't usually do much more than would be done in the darkroom anyway - but I have no clue or resources for darkroom work, so large resolution neg scans are where it's at for me. Oh well. One of these days.

Again, these were all shot on my Canon G10 - also in vivid jpeg mode. I then did some Lightroom 2 enhancements.

While I love shooting with my DSLR's (I'll never give them up), I have actually started to enjoy shooting on an LCD screen. Sure, it's a little ackward at first - I love shooting through the lens - but I thoroughly enjoy having an on screen histogram to watch for blown highlights and buried shadow detail. The G10 is great for this because the LCD is a whopping 3", the histogram is live, and most importantly: There's a manual control dial for exposure compensation on the top left of the camera. I can watch the exposure live on the LCD - with input from the histogram - and control it with a convenient knob. That gets fun after awhile!

I made another trip to Peoria recently for work. We had a couple days worth of meetings. On my last day, I managed to get out to do some shooting along the river. I stayed at the Paradice Casino and Hotel since they had a good rate. The first couple shots are of the riverboat. The rest are down the river a couple miles. They are all taken from the East Peoria side of the river.

Canon 40D; 17-55mm f/2.8 w/ CPL; 1/15 @ f/11 ISO 100 23mm



Canon 40D; 17-55mm f/2.8 w/ CPL; 1/6 @ f/11 (handheld!) ISO 100 17mm



Canon 40D; 17-55mm f/2.8 w/ CPL; 1/30 @ f/8 ISO 200



Canon 40D; 17-55mm f/2.8 w/ CPL; 1/13 @ f/11 ISO 400



Canon 40D; 17-55mm f/2.8 w/ CPL; 1/30 @ f/11 ISO 400 -2/3 EV



Canon 40D; 17-55mm f/2.8 w/ CPL; 1/25 @ f/16 ISO 400 -2/3 EV





Canon 40D; 17-55mm f/2.8 w/ CPL; 1/100 @ f/16 ISO 400 -2/3 EV

Do you ever have one of those days where you're driving along the highway, and it's not only the golden hour of incredible light, but the light is SO good it's better than anything you've caught all week...month...etc.?

That's what it was like on the way back from Peoria. I was at a point on Highway 39 where there was just no pulling over, exiting, or hanging out the window.  I had to drive for miles watching an amazing sky just pass me by. Finally I was able to exit the highway and catch the tail end of the sunset. While I wish I could have caught some of the earlier sky show, I'm pretty pleased with what I was able to get.

Somewhere on Highway 39
Canon 40D; Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 OS @ 35mm; 1/4 @ f/11 ISO 800

Distant Tree
Canon 40D; Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 OS @ 200mm; 1/13 @ f/6.3 ISO 800

Distant Light
Canon 40D; Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 OS @ 35mm; 1/15 @ f/6.3 ISO 800