Category: Photography Blog

SUPER WIDE ANGLES CAN BETRAY YOU FAST

Some readers have asked me to elaborate on the use of a super-wide angle lens for photography.

To master anything wider than a 24mm lens on a full frame camera (like the 20mm photo seen here), requires a lot of practice, especially in automotive and architectural photography. The real risk is to unwittingly insert distortion where you don’t want it, in the corners and edges of the frame.

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INSIGHTS TO CONSIDER FROM THE INTENTIONAL ARTIST

1. You can’t fix what you won’t acknowledge.

2. The truth you’re avoiding is the door to your freedom.

3. Every excuse is a story you’re choosing to believe.

4. What would you change if you got brutally honest with yourself about where you are now?

The above from The Intentional Artist

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND “HUMAN” BOTS

Well, it was bound to happen, a company wants to hire me to train AI bots on how to modify photos of cars and backgrounds. Just when I was making a renewed effort to remain authentic!

AI and Human Bots are oxymorons that make me want to un-list my phone number and email address. However, like most people, I hate contact forms. So, If I don’t pick up, and you need to leave a message, you’ll know why.

LATEST COVER

You never know when the photo you make might become a cover on a magazine.

The team at PCA has once again provided me with this gift. It feels the same way every time. A thrill followed by a sense of gratitude. My thanks to them and Lorenzo Strong at West Coast Customs for following me to one of my favorite photo locations in Monterey, CA and bringing along this tastefully modified 1977 911S they built for a client.

This white beauty with blue graphics looks and performs like a 1974 IROC RSR with some exciting modern touches. This is one cool ride. My story and photos appear in this month’s issue of PCA’s national magazine Panorama.

P.S. The trick to making a successful automotive photo using a super wide-angle lens, especially a close-up like this, is to minimize distortion and maximize believability. To master this technique, it takes years of practice with a 16-20 mm on a full-frame camera, along with developing the necessary pre and post-visualization skills. You have to know what the eye sees as normal and make that happen. It’s not as simple as a single Photoshop or AI action.

PCA Panorama

INEVITABLE CONSEQUENCE MANAGEMENT TIPS

Photography enthusiasts who are considering making it a career sometimes seek me out for advice. I always give them what I think are the most important things to personally manage as a full-time professional:

1. Don’t assume anything. (This rule is also #2 and #3)

2. Have a back up plan. Better yet, have three backup plans.

3. Choose your potential clients and co-workers wisely.

4. Only show your best work. If it’s the work you want to be hired for, it helps. If you have talent and are willing to work very hard to become better, you have a chance. If you have something to say, you have a real chance.

5. If you want to stay in business, don’t work for free and never do anything half way.

6. Establish minimum fees depending on the time, energy and expertise required to do your best work.

7. If the client wants all rights, it’s OK. You just need to charge a lot more, unless it’s work you will never want to own.

8. Never complain, and always make your deadlines.

9. Always believe in yourself, and never stop creating new work that pushes the envelope. Rejection and criticism are part of the business, so grow a thick skin. And learn to say no.

10. Equipment is just a tool. Practice until you don’t have to think about it anymore. Use your intuition instead.

Bonus tip: Shoot for yourself, and don’t fall down.

PERSONAL WORK 2025

Followers of my blog know that at the end of each year I post a series of personal photographs made at a non-assignment single location. Here’s a 4-season composite I made at a local road known for cool photo ops. Enjoy something new this season!

Porsche’s 911 Through the Years

SEAT TIME

Seat time is the difference between proficiency and mastery.

Time and energy focused on one goal every day for decades will get you there. Natural talent will make it happen faster. Integrity will make it last for your entire lifetime.

CINEMATIC WIDESCREEN

Framing has an amazing impact of how an image, stills or motion, is perceived.

It can be confusing when describing a stills style as cinematic widescreen. Here is a reference for different aspect ratios. Cinematic widescreen is the widest format at 21:9. Traditional full frame 35mm stills is 3:2, which is entirely different, unless you are shooting side by side panoramas.

MISSING DIANE KEATON

Quirky but irresistible. An actress and photographer, among other things, Diane was a funny, adorable iconoclast who earned my respect. She was an exemplary example for independent women everywhere with her bold ideas, leading fashion sense, and choice in films that she was a part of. She will be missed.

(Self portrait: Diane Keaton)

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THIS IS WHAT I LOOK LIKE ON A HARD ASSIGNMENT

People sometimes ask me, what’s it like being an in demand car photographer that’s always on deadline.

Well, it helps if you keep hydrated, eat a Mediterranean diet, exercise, and have an occupational therapy massage every two weeks. Continue reading “”

THIS JUST IN  


 
THE PARADOX OF CREATIVE INDIVIDUALS

1. Creative individuals often possess an unusual amount physical energy, yet they also value stillness and quiet reflection. They can spend hours in quiet contemplation, waiting for the right moment for creativity to arrive.

2. They tend to be intellectually sharp while maintaining a sense of childlike wonder, seeing the world in a way most people don’t. Continue reading “”