Picture of the Week 5-20-2009

Last Saturday we went on a field trip with our Photographics class to Crystal Cove. We got there early, around 8:30 am. As per usual the sky along the coast was overcast. Even though it’s nice to have “open shade” type lighting for outdoor photos the gray clouds made many of our images look dull. Despite this I loved photographing at the beach, the rock formations make for great shots. We also climbed between a few of these rocks and took a few photos of some tide pool creatures including a baby seal. The photo from this week was shot by Bryan and it shows the beautiful rock formations that make this particular beach so photogenic. 

For more photos from our field trip check out our GALLERY.

Photo Info: Taken with the Rebel XTi at ISO 100, F4 at 1/160 of a second.

Black Star Canyon

Lately I have been searching for fun things to photograph. I’ve been wanting to go to new places that we have never photographed and that most importantly were cheap or free. I generally search the OC Register’s events page to find outdoor activities which led me to the Irvine Ranch Wildlands website. If you recall we also found our kayak tour through this website. It’s a really fantastic place to find outdoor activities in the Orange County area. I ended up finding a photo hike in Black Star Canyon which we went on this Sunday. The tour was led by Andre Torng who is a volunteer for Irvine Ranch Wildlands and photographer. Our group consisted of about eight people who were mostly amateur photographers and hobbyists. We started out at the Black Star Staging Area at about 8:30 in the morning and headed down the trail toward the canyon. As we walked Andre gave us tips and pointers about composition and helped us choose camera settings. The main feature of the canyon are the huge red rocks, these rocks aren’t as glorious as the one’s we visited at Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas but they are nevertheless a beautiful landmark. We hiked for about two hours on a very easy trail but it soon got hot and we headed back. It was a lot of fun to get outdoors and photograph some great scenery with other photographers and I think we got some great shots. If you are interested in a photo hike or just some fun outdoor activities check out Irvine Ranch Wildlands. Their activities do fill up quickly so make sure you get your spot. 

Below are a few images from today’s hike. You can also go to Andre’s website and see photos he took as well as the other photographers, including us. We have also posted more images from today in the GALLERY. 

Photo by Bryan

Photo by Bryan

Photo by Jamie

Photo by Jamie

Picture of the Week 5-13-2009

Here is yet another photo from my new favorite place the Laguna Seca Recreation Area in Monterey. Look at that tree! I can’t get over how beautiful that tree is. After looking at this image I realize that it kind of looks like I used a polarizing filter, I assure you I was not. In fact this is a straight out of the camera image, no adjustments whatsoever to the color or exposure. I used the 24-105 F4L kit lens that came with the Mark II, this is quickly becoming my favorite lens. It takes the most beautiful shots. That lens is definitely worth it’s cost.

Photo Info: Shot with the Canon Rebel XTi at ISO 100, F8 at 1/400 of a second.

Picture of the Week 5-7-2009

So I’ve been kind of a flake lately and completely forgot about my weekly pictures. I promise to stop being lame in the future. This week’s photo is one of my favorites that I took on Day Two of the Sea Otter Classic. This was the day that we went to the beautiful Laguna Seca Recreation Area for the Super D. I love the colors in this photo and I really like the composition I chose for it. I hope to visit this place again so I can focus on doing more landscape shots.

Photo Info: Taken with the Canon Rebel XTi, ISO 100, F8 at 1/400 of a second.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

On the last day of our vacation earlier this week we headed down to Cannery Row in Monterey Bay. Cannery Row is a very interesting place full of shops, restaurants and of course the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We got to the aquarium when it first opened and since it was a Monday we figured it wouldn’t be so busy. Well it happened to be “locals get in free” day so the place was actually packed. We have visited this aquarium before back in 2006 for our one year anniversary but back then we only had a little Canon point-and-shoot so we didn’t get any fantastic photos. This time I took the Mark II while Bryan used the XTi. I was debating which lens I would use for this occasion. I couldn’t really decide if I wanted the 24-105 F4L which would give me macro and zoom capabilities but would not allow me to really open up the aperture or the 50mm F1.8 which didn’t allow me to zoom or do macro but allowed for a more open aperture. Ultimately I chose to use both, I just put one lens on my camera and the other on Bryan’s and constantly switched off. I used the 24-105 F4L for mostly wide angle shots such as stuff we took outdoors or huge tanks. When the light was really low I just bumped up the ISO, I shot a lot at ISO 4000-5000 but there were moments when I as shooting up to 25,000 ISO. I tried to use the 50mm 1.8 the most in really low light situations however, there were times where it was too dark for the camera to figure out what I was trying to focus on so it wouldn’t take the photo. In that case I just switched my camera to video mode and took a movie. I love the Mark II. 

While we were at the aquarium we got to see the new exhibit titled “The Secret Lives of Seahorses”. This was by far my favorite part of the aquarium since I love sea horses. They are just so cute with their little fishy horse faces and curly tails. Another one of my favorite things we saw was the sea otters. We didn’t get to see them the last time we went to this aquarium and they are definitely fun to watch. I also liked seeing the Octopus in the Ocean’s Edge section which is a darker area of the aquarium. I want to take a quick moment and talk about about people who photograph the tanks inside the aquarium. There are usually specific places, the octopus tank being one of them, where it says not to use flash photography. I choose to abide by the rule of never using flash on any indoor tank, I don’t appreciate a flash bulb flashing in my face and I assume fish don’t like this either. This is why I take advantage of high ISO’s and fast lenses when going to the aquarium. Flash photography at an aquarium doesn’t make that much sense either, if you use your flash to take a picture of a fish in a tank chances are your flash is going to bounce off the tank and cause a huge blown out area in your picture. So please don’t flash the fish. Okay rant over.

We made it through the aquarium pretty quickly and walked back down Cannery Row where we took a few photos of ourselves overlooking the ocean. You’ll notice off to the left of the picture of us is a restaurant called The Fish Hopper, we decided to eat there before our very long drive home. On our way back to our car Bryan found a candy store where he stocked up on salt water taffy and got some chocolate covered gummy bears. He was like a kid in a….well you know.

For more of our photos from the Monterey Bay Aquarium check out our GALLERY.

Monterey Bay

Sea Otter

Jellyfish Tank

Sea Horse

Bryan and Jamie

Left: Jamie Right: Outer Bay

Left: Kelp Forest Right: Ocean's Edge

Jellyfish

Sea Horse

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Picture of the Week 4-22-2009

April 22, 2009

This week’s photo is a shot that Bryan took at the Sea Otter Classic. The photo shows a Downhill competitor in mid-air speeding down the hill. I really like that Bryan caught the exact moment where the cyclist jumped. Also I love the leading lines, he did a great job on the composition. This is one of thousands of photos we took at the Sea Otter Classic so check back soon to see our gallery of photos of the entire event.

Photo Info: Taken with the 5D Mark II with 70-200mm F4L lens. ISO 400, F8 at 1/2000 of a second.

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