Thankful for my family, photography and life!

It is Thanksgiving here in the U.S. and we are all stuffing our face with way too much turkey, ham, sweet potato, and pie. But along with all that food, this is the time for us to think about what we are most thankful for.  Here is what I am most thankful for:

Thankful for my family

Like many of you, I am thankful for my family, my friends, my health, and my job. If it wasn't for my family, I would not be able to do the things I do. People think that I am the creative one in the family, but if they know my wife, they know that she has more creativity than I ever will. My son is growing up fast and has become the video expert in the family, exploiting my 5D Mark II cameras like never before. My daughter is now second shooting with me and learning the craft quickly at the young age of 16. Our dog, Cooper, is the only one in the family who is not part of the photo business, other than being one of my models, but we are working on that.

Family is the most important thing in my life, but I feel like I have many photography things to be thankful for as well.

Thankful for capturing history

Whether I am photographing someone's bar mitzvah, wedding or the Olympic Games, I am so thankful for the ability to capture history. For those of us who shoot professionally, we should remember that we are not just photographers, we are historians. I feel honored to photograph people during their special occasions.

Thankful for the people I have met

Traveling the world with my camera, I have had the chance to meet really amazing people along the way. Sure, I am a very outgoing person who is not afraid to talk to strangers, but I am always amazed at how many people will come up to me and ask about my camera gear or ask what I am shooting. This has started some really interesting conversations, and lead to many new friendships. And I cannot forget the outstanding photographers like Moose Peterson, Joe McNally, Scott Kelby, Jay Dickman, Nick Didlick, RC Concepcion, and others who have helped me along the way and inspired me to keep pushing myself. I have also made great friends in the industry many of whom have given me some cool new products to play with. (And, since I am about to do a huge give-away on Facebook in the next week or two, you will get a chance to win some of this cool new equipment for free! )

Thankful for being able to influence others

It was about 3 years ago that B&H Photo asked me to come speak at their store in New York City. I did a couple of presentations for them at their location, and then they asked me to fly back to present some more, with them capturing the newer presentations on video for their YouTube channel. I had no idea whether anyone would watch the videos, and honestly did not think twice about having the videos posted on their YouTube channel.

Here we are a couple of years later and the videos have been watched almost a million times. Why is this so exciting and what do I have to be thankful for? I am thankful that I get to spread the passion of photography to so many people!

The last couple of years have been strange for me, as my life's experiences are being shared across the world, with more than 30,000 people reading this blog every month. Oh...and I am very thankful for all of you who keep inspiring me to continue the blog posts. The blog started as a way to share my photos and stories with friends and family. And now with so many people reading along, I sometimes feel selfish, as I write about me, my photography, and my exploits. But, I am thankful for having something to share with you all.

Thankful for your feedback

From the B&H videos, this blog and my posts Facebook page, I have have received countless email messages from people who have been influenced by my teaching. People are surprised that I read every message and respond to everyone who writes to me. There are times when this gets overwhelming, but when reading these messages, it is so inspiring for me to see what others are doing with their photography. Thank you to all of you who have written to me with feedback.

Here are some samples of recent emails:

"You did not take my photo, We haven't even met but I wanted to thank you for everything you've taught me! I have learnt SO MUCH from your videos on YouTube and cannot thank you enough."

Haytham - Cairo, Egypt

"I just thought I would take a moment to tell you how much I enjoyed your B&H video about the 15 tips to become a professional photographer. I woke up at 4 am ( couldn't sleep) and watched the entire video! I have to tell you that I was inspired after watching your presentation to dig deeper into my Mark III to learn more on the photography side of things which I know will help in my video production! What you do is great and inspiring and has lit a fire under my ass!"

Andy - Ontario, Canada

"I just wanted to let you know you have made a big impression on us people just getting into the fun of photography. Thanks for all you do and the affect on people's lives that you don't get to see."

James - location unknown

"I have just started with a DSLR, and thanks to your lectures, I was able to take my dream nightshot in my hometown, Budapest, Hungary. Thank you so much for all your efforts in making photography enjoyable for beginners. You are absolutely the best teacher on the net."

Gabor - Budapest, Hungary

Thankful to see the world in a new way

I have been traveling around the world for almost 20 years now, but it wasn't until I started photographing that I truly saw the world. Photography has opened my eyes to the world and let's me see the beauty in my surroundings.

I look back at my photo collection and I see images from China, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Chile, Korea, Canada, England, France, and cities all around the United States. I am thankful for the opportunities I have had to see so much of the world, far beyond what most people ever see.

Thankful for life's experiences

As I make my final plans for the upcoming Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, I am reminded of how lucky I am. People think that I get paid a lot of money for shooting the Olympics, but the truth is, I am usually lucky to break even on this endeavor. I shoot the Olympics, because of the experience, not the pay. I always thought that experiencing the Olympic Games would be a "once in a lifetime" opportunity. And here I am, about to be a part of my fourth Olympic experience. I am very thankful for this opportunity.

I hope that all of you have a lot to be thankful for, and for those of you in the United States, I hope you have a great Thanksgiving holiday!

Pregnancy photos: A gift to my niece and her family

It was a little more than 6 months ago when we got the phone call informing us that my niece was pregnant. She was very excited to give us the good news. And, of course, having an uncle who is a photographer, she asked if I could shoot photos of her pregnancy photos. Now...this is not my specialty, but I readily accepted the challenge and looked forward to photographing her at this special time.

Since Katie and her family live 3 hours from us, we had to plan a time that worked for her and my travel schedule. She is due on Christmas Day, so the time was getting tight. As it turned out, last weekend was the best time, so they drove down for the day.

I set up a pop up Westcott backdrop (using the black side) in our living room and set up a couple of Canon 600 EX-RT flash units, and we had some fun. I used two camera bodies, the Canon 1D X with a 70-200 lens to shoot tight shots and a Canon 5D Mark III with a 24-70 II lens to shoot the wider shots.

Since Katie is due on Christmas Day, we thought it would be fun to use a large bow on her stomach, signifying the perfect gift which was coming. I had Katie lay down on the floor, and I got down low to the ground to shoot straight across her. I had both flash units pointing up and at angles, effectively bouncing the light off of the walls and ceiling. (Canon 5D Mark III, 24-70 II lens, ISO 800, f/5, 1/50th sec, -0.3 exposure comp)



I wanted to try something different, shooting a photo of just Katie's stomach and not including her head. This photo makes her baby bump the subject of the photo without competing with her pretty face. I had her raise her right leg to create a better body line. This was one of my favorite shots of the day. (Canon 1D X, 70-200 II lens, ISO 1000, f/5.6, 1/60th sec)



They surprised me and brought their puppy with them. This little puppy was so cute, that I just knew we had to get her in the photos as well. With a little bit of encouragement, we were able to get her to rest on Katie's stomach and I got this shot. (Canon 5D Mark III, 24-70 II lens, ISO 1250, f/4, 1/60th sec, -0.3 exposure comp)

My wife, who always has great ideas, asked their daughter to write "It's a boy" on this chalkboard. We had her hold it up and kiss her mom's stomach. This was definitely a favorite of mine and is now on my home page. (Photographer's note: In the original photo, her daughter had tilted to board and it had glare from my flash. I saw this on the LCD of the camera and had her tilt the board slightly, so as to avoid the glare. But this particular frame was so cute, with her expression, that I took the board from a subsequent frame, using the clone tool in Adobe Photoshop, and dropped it on top of the glaring board from the original shot.) (Canon 5D Mark III, 24-70 II lens, ISO 500, f/5, 1/80th sec, -0.3 exposure comp)

Then it was time to get everyone involved. (Canon 5D Mark III, 24-70 II lens, ISO 1250, f/4, 1/200th sec, -0.3 exposure comp)

Nothing against Chris, but I like the cowboy hat on Katie. :)  (Canon 5D Mark III, 24-70 II lens, ISO 1250, f/5.6, 1/40th sec, -0.3 exposure comp)

Before they drove down to our house, they had prepared well, with different changes of clothing and they even brought this box and wrapping paper. We put Charity into the box and I asked her to pop out just enough for me to see her face. She had fun with this.  (Canon 5D Mark III, 24-70 II lens, ISO 1250, f/4, 1/60th sec, -0.3 exposure comp)

My daughter could not resist the puppy, and wanted her photo taken with her new best friend. (Canon 1D X, 70-200 II lens, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/60th sec)

After we shot a bunch of photos in our makeshift studio, we headed out for some late afternoon photography in the fall colors. My wife had spotted this cool park in Cupertino, CA (near Apple's headquarters) which had this awesome line of trees which were in full color. This is a photo of Katie and her father (my wife's brother) comparing their stomachs. (Canon 1D X, 70-200 II lens, ISO 250, f/4.5, 1/200th sec, -0.3 exposure comp)

Charity was having fun playing in the leaves, so I asked her to lay down and shot this photo over her. (Canon 5D Mark III, 24-70 II lens, ISO 250, f/4.5, 1/200th sec, -0.3 exposure comp)

Since we already had Charity laying in the leaves, we asked the entire family to get in on the shot. I held the camera high over them and shot this "blind". (Photographer's note: This is one of those shots where you hope your focal point is on someone's face and that you have the camera centered on everyone. I usually take 5 or 10 shots to make sure everyone is looking at the camera and I will periodically check the LCD of the camera to see if I am shooting from the center position.) (Canon 5D Mark III, 24-70 II lens, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/125th sec, -0.3 exposure comp)

I think we spent a total of 3 hours shooting all of these images, and then, when we were done, the mayhem began when a big old leave fight!  It was a lot of shooting, but we had a lot of fun in the process. (Canon 5D Mark III, 24-70 II lens, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/200th sec, -0.3 exposure comp)

Congratulations to Katie, Chris and the extended family!

A great deal on my favorite lens of all time!

For those that might have missed this, or not seen this. B&H Photo is selling the Canon 70-200 F/2.8 IS II lens for $500 off. It was $2499 and is now only $1899, and it includes a 4% Reward and free shipping.

In my opinion, this is the best lens that Canon has ever made. I use this lens for almost all of my portrait photography.

Click here to check this out!

I think this is only good for another couple of days. If you are a Canon shooter and do not have this lens, now is a good time to jump on this.

Hey Canon DSLR users: Count your shutter releases!

I don't know about you, but for the last 10 years I have always wondered how many shutter releases I had on my cameras. I even had a friend offer to buy one of my older cameras, and I told him "you don't want my used cameras, since I probably have shot this past the shutter warranty."

Well...a couple of weeks ago I saw something on the web that intrigued me. It was an application for my Mac that would show me the shutter count of my DSLRs. And amazingly enough, the app is called ShutterCount. I know, I know, you are thinking, "how did they come up with that name?"

This application costs only $2.99 on the Apple App Store and it works very well.

Here is a screen shot of the application showing the shutter count of my Canon 1DX. (And, yes, I blurred the serial number)

The application is very easy to use. All you need is a standard USB 2 cable (and one comes with each camera). You download ShutterCount, connect the camera to your computer using the USB cable, and then launch the app. You may have to power cycle the camera (turn it off and on) for the software to see the camera. At that point, you are shown the camera model, serial number and shutter count. So handy!

Interesting that one of my 5D Mark III cameras has so many more shutter releases than the other. When I travel, I usually grab the same camera, which probably explains why one has so much more use than the other.

You can see that my Canon 5D Mark II cameras worked hard for me with 250,000 shots between the two bodies.

If you are like me, and own Canon cameras and a Mac computer, check out ShutterCount. For $2.99, it was a no brainer!

New York City - Fall Colors in Central Park

With all of my travels, it is frustrating that I do not get a chance to get out and shoot fall colors very often. While traveling to New York City a couple of weeks ago, I had a chance to get out and shoot for a couple of hours. I was hoping that Central Park would be at the height of color, but that was not the case. There were limited locations with fall color, but those small areas still proved to be beautiful!

(Canon 5D Mark III, 28-300mm lens, ISO 500, f5.6, 1/200 sec, -.3 exposure comp, Lexar 1000x CF)

I saw this statue amongst the red and orange leaves, but wanted more in the photo. I moved to a location where I had a tree with green leaves in the foreground, and shot through those colors to create a dramatic contrast in colors. I photographed this at f/5.6 to make sure that the primary focus was on the statue, using the leaves as secondary subjects.

(Canon 5D Mark III, 28-300mm lens, ISO 500, f5.6, 1/320 sec, -.3 exposure comp, Lexar 1000x CF)

The light was trickling through the upper canopy of trees and hitting this branch. I walked by and noticed the awesome light on these leaves. It is times like this that I love being a photographer. If not for photography, I would probably have walked by this and never noticed this simple beauty.

(Canon 5D Mark III, 28-300mm lens, ISO 500, f5.6, 1/400 sec, -.3 exposure comp, Lexar 1000x CF)

More pretty fall colors... You will notice that I shot most of these images at -.3 exposure compensation. This is a great way to accentuate the colors in the trees and the sky. It is also a great way to protect your highlights to make sure that the bright areas of your photos are not blown out.

(Canon 5D Mark III, 28-300mm lens, ISO 200, f5.6, 1/320 sec, Lexar 1000x CF)

As I mentioned, there weren't that many trees showing fall colors, so the ones that has color were attracting a lot of attention. I was attracted not only to the color of the leaves, but also by the way that all the people were rim lit by the sun behind them.

(Canon 5D Mark III, 28-300mm lens, ISO 200, f8, 1/250 sec, Lexar 1000x CF)

It wasn't just the fall colors that attracted me. I saw this one plant and got in really close to show the repetitive patterns of the leaves. I just love finding natural beauty in small places.

(Canon 5D Mark III, 28-300mm lens, ISO 400, f5.6, 1/500 sec, Lexar 1000x CF)

OK, this might not qualify as natural beauty, but on the edge of the park, I came across this light post and had to shoot this photo. I really like the one white pigeon amongst the rest.

(Canon 5D Mark III, 28-300mm lens, ISO 100, f5.6, 1/125 sec, -.3 exposure comp, Lexar 1000x CF)

Back into the park again, I saw this old light that was side lit against the fall colors. This is a simple photo, but it is also a good example of how standing close to an object and shooting at the right aperture can draw the eye to the sharpest part of the photo.

(Canon 5D Mark III, 28-300mm lens, ISO 500, f5.6, 1/200 sec, Lexar 1000x CF)

And then as I continued to walk through the park, I came across this woman painting a Tupelo tree. It was not long before this, that I thought "I need a good subject to photograph in this surrounding" and here she was.

(Canon 5D Mark III, 28-300mm lens, ISO 500, f5.6, 1/160 sec, Lexar 1000x CF)

And of course, I went up to her and introduced myself and asked her about her painting. Her name is Patricia Melvin and she does amazing work which can be seen here.

(Canon 5D Mark III, 28-300mm lens, ISO 500, f5.6, 1/160 sec, Lexar 1000x CF)

I walked around and photographed her from different angles, making sure to include the scene and her interpretation of the surroundings. She also had some other bags of supplies which were blocking the wood easel. I politely asked if I could move them out of the frame to shoot this wide shot.

(Canon 5D Mark III, 28-300mm lens, ISO 500, f5.6, 1/800 sec, Lexar 1000x CF)

I especially love this shot of her unfinished painting and her pallet. I showed this to my wife (also very artistic) when I got home and she said "wow - I love her pallet!!"

(Canon 5D Mark III, 28-300mm lens, ISO 500, f4.5, 1/320 sec, -0.3 exposure, Lexar 1000x CF)

And lastly, here is a photo showing mother nature's pallet. So awesome!

New York City in Black and White

If you are a regular blog follower, you know that I mostly post color photos here. But, that is not to say that I don't like and appreciate black and white images. On the contrary. I really love looking at my images when processed in B&W, as it gives them a totally different feel. Today's blog post is sans color for a change.

This is collection of photos that I took this month while on a couple of trips to New York City. I felt that many of them were strong images in color, but became stronger when processed in B&W. For those of you wondering, I used Google's NIK SilverEfex Pro 2 software to convert the photos.

This first photo was taken of the Statue of Liberty. What makes this a truly unique image, is that there is nobody on the island. Not one soul. This was taken during the US government shutdown and the island was closed. The sky on this particular day was filled with clouds and a bit dreary. Converting this photo to B&W draws the viewer's eye to the details in the statue and helps negate the bland sky. (Canon 5D Mark III, 28-300mm lens, ISO 500, f5, 1/160 sec, +.3 exposure comp, Lexar 1000x CF, Nik SilverEfex Pro2)

This is my favorite photo from this collection. For this photo, I got down low to the Brooklyn Bridge and used the angles to draw your eye along the span. As luck would have it, I captured this shot as people were equal distance from me, walking towards and away from me. Not seeing their faces, the two people become anchor points for the rest of the image, without being the subjects. (Canon 5D Mark III, 24-105mm lens, ISO 200, f9, 1/800 sec, -.3 exposure comp, Lexar 1000x CF, Nik SilverEfex Pro2)

Another view of the Brooklyn Bridge, this time looking up through the cabling. For this image, I chose to use one of the detail enhancers in SilverEfex Pro 2 to create additional contrast and sharpness in the image.  (Canon 5D Mark III, 24-105mm lens  ISO 200, f9, 1/500 sec, -.3 exposure comp, Lexar 1000x CF  Nik SilverEfex Pro2)

Let's stop here for a second and talk about B&W conversion. When most people think of B&W photos, they think that creating the image is as simple as removing color from the file. It really is not that simple. As a matter of fact, there are many adjustments that can be made to the different tones, ranging from the darkest black to the lightest white. This is why I like using the Nik software. It gives me many different presets to play with, but also allows me to make subtle adjustments to each tone. If you look at the collection of images below, you will see some of the endless options you have for B&W conversion.

(You can click on this image to see it larger)

While walking through Washington Square Park, I came across this man who was playing two trumpets at the same time. I don't think I have ever seen that before. I got up close and shot this frame. (Canon 5D Mark III, 24-105mm lens  ISO 250, f4, 1/160 sec, -.3 exposure comp, Lexar 1000x CF  Nik SilverEfex Pro2)

It was a warm day and this guy decided to cool off. He took off his shirt, wandered into the water and hopped up into the fountain. Unfortunately, when we did this, he was facing away from me. Not wanting to miss this cool shot, I went over to him and asked him to head back into the fountain and do the same thing facing me. I guess it pays to be outgoing and friendly to people. (Canon 5D Mark III, 24-105mm lens  ISO 250, f4, 1/8000 sec, -.3 exposure comp, Lexar 1000x CF, Nik SilverEfex Pro2)

A view from Central Park.  (Canon 5D Mark III, 28-300mm lens  ISO 100, f5, 1/640 sec, -.3 exposure comp, Lexar 1000x CF, Nik SilverEfex Pro2)

I have photographed the Guggenheim Museum before, but wanted to try and show it a different way. Again, processing the image in B&W gives this building a completely different look. I think that removing the color from the image, helps the viewer see the shape of the structure better. (Canon 5D Mark III, 28-300mm lens, ISO 500, f5.6, 1/2000 sec, Lexar 1000x CF, Nik SilverEfex Pro2)

After walking for hours, I decided to sit down on a wall outside the museum and relax for a little bit. It was not more than a minute before I looked up and saw this cool intersection of lines. In order to get this photo, I stood up on the wall and framed the shot to include the museum name and a hint of the building circles in the background. (Canon 5D Mark III, 28-300mm lens  ISO 500, f14, 1/400 sec, Lexar 1000x CF,  Nik SilverEfex Pro2)

Grand Central Station is another location in New York where I have photographed many times. This was the second time that I have shot here with a tripod and not stopped from doing so. In the past, the police would not allow tripods in the building, but that rule seems to have been relaxed in the recent years. I love shooting this location with a slow shutter speed to show all the motion of the people in this environment. What attracted me to this particular shot, was the woman right in the middle of the crowd shooting an image back at me. Because I was shooting at f/13, I got a nice starburst from her flash. (Canon 5D Mark III, 24-105mm lens, ISO 100, f13, 8 sec, +.3 exposure comp, Lexar 1000x CF,  Nik SilverEfex Pro2)

So...next time you are out shooting photos, think about what they might look like when processed in black and white. 

A short visit to Seoul, Korea and the Bongeunsa temple

I just returned home from a quick trip to Seoul, South Korea. I was there for less than 3 days, before flying home, but had a chance to grab some photos of this unique area in the small amount of time that I had available.

This first shot was taken from my hotel room when I first arrived in the city. The rain had subsided and the skies were filled with these dark ominous clouds. (Photographer's note: The best way to shoot through windows like this, is to focus out in the distance, and shoot at a high aperture, thus defocusing the dirt on the windows. I also turn off all the lights in the room to reduce reflections. If you are in a public area and can not turn off the lights, use a black jacket and drape it around your camera to shield all the ambient light. Of course, for all night shots, you should use a tripod to get a sharp image.)

Wednesday morning, the skies had cleared and the city was bathed in bright sunlight.

I have stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel at Coex once before and knew that there was a very cool old temple, called Bongeunsa, one block away. I had a free hour to go and explore, and headed straight to Bongeunsa to shoot.

This time, unlike the last time I visited the temple, things were decorated. I did some investigating on the Internet to try and determine if this was related to a specific event, but could not find anything.

This buddhist temple is busy at all hours of the day and night. I really wanted to capture photos of people praying but was a little wary of being disrespectful. I turned off the "focus beep" on the camera and put the Canon 5D Mark III into silent more. That allowed me to capture photos without making any noise. I LOVE the silent mode of this camera!

As is the case for most older temples in Asia, the details are just amazing. I knew that I would have limited time to shoot on this trip, so I only brought one lens. The Canon 28-300mm lens proved to be perfect since I could shoot wide shots, but also let me zoom in for detail shots like this.

There are a bunch of feral cats running around the temple grounds. Normally I would not stop to photograph these guys, but since my last blog post had a black cat in New York City, I thought it was a theme meant to be captured. :)

Throughout the temple grounds, there are lots of these little figurines that people have placed in nondescript areas.

I was walking around Bongeunsa, looking for interesting perspectives, and saw this view of one of the buildings peaking out amongst the trees. I really like the contrast of colors.

It was approaching 6pm in Seoul and I was watching the moon as I walked around. I positioned myself so that I could get a shot of the moon at the edge of one of the temple buildings. (Photographer's note: I metered this shot to get the moon exposed correctly. I knew that the temple would be almost completely silhouetted, but that I could open up the shadows in Adobe Photoshop later. In the retouching process, I lightened the building just enough to see the shingles.)

More praying...

...and more details... I was shooting this photo when I heard a series of loud drums. I stopped shooting and headed straight towards the sound.

One of the Buddhist monks was drumming. I looked at my iPhone and noticed that it was 5:55pm (the exact time of sunset), so I assume that this was signaling the end of the day.

As soon as I saw this, I slowed the shutter of the camera to 1/13 sec to get some motion blur of the drum sticks.  (ISO 640, 180mm, f5.6, 1/13 sec)

This photo was a "lucky shot". If you compare this photo to the one above it, you will notice the cool shadow of the monk on the drum. That was caused by someone else's flash, coming from far to my right. The perfectly formed shadow makes this photo way more interesting.

As I was photographing the drummer, I looked up and saw a couple of other buddhist monks waiting in the background. I was captivated by the last remaining evening light on their faces and quickly moved to capture these photos of them.

And then, after a couple of minutes, the monk moved from the drum to this giant bell. And this thing was really loud! After shooting a couple of photos of this, I decided to put the 5D Mark III into video mode and shoot some video. I put this into a short YouTube video here so you can experience this cool site for yourself.

Later that evening, after a business dinner, I headed back to the temple with some friends to show them what I had seen earlier in the day. This time, I brought my Gitzo tripod and grabbed some nice low light shots. For this photo, I focused and exposed on the face of the woman, knowing that the candle light would be a little too bright. I then pulled back the candle light (using the Highlights control in Adobe Photoshop) in post production.

I remembered this wall of gold figurines from my previous trip to Seoul and wanted to capture this again.

I took this photo at f5.6 to isolate the focus on just one of the figurines. I was on a tripod and could have easily shot this at f/16 to get everything in focus, but wanted the narrow depth of field to draw the viewers eye to the middle of the image.

I also wanted one photo highlighting the candle in front of the figurines, showing the Korean text.

Another low light shot of people praying...

At the top of Bongeunsa, there is this large statue. For this photo I set the camera to f/16 to create the starburst effect from the lights. Again, I was on a tripod, so shutter speed was not an issue. (ISO 100, 28mm, f/16, 20 sec exposure)

After shooting the statue photo, I turned around and saw this view of the Gangnam district, showing the Coex convention center and the Intercontinental Hotel (right), with a hint of the temple at the bottom of the frame. Old and new in one photo.

This was the last photo I took in Seoul, as the sun set and I prepared to head back to California.