While this is not one of my fine art photographs – it is really cool and I did create it with my iPhone.

I also toured a 2 of the wineries in Sonoma valley and was blown away by the Jacuzzi family winery. I am going to hold out hope that someday I can photograph a wedding there – it is just stunning. I have a number of friends who have photographed weddings and engagements in San Francisco & wine country and I am definitely envious.

Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco

And now that I am back from San Francisco I can work on getting back into shape. I think I ate way to much food – but it isn’t my fault! All the food there was just amazing and delicious. But I am a huge tub of lard now and I need to get back into my size 32 pants – they are going to waste!

And my pet peeve is when actors in movies or music videos can’t or won’t hold a camera properly. And here is a screenshot of the latest Britney Spears music video “I Wanna Go” – the “photographer” is holding the camera by the flash of all places. It is bad enough when real photographers won’t hold a camera properly.

An actor holds the camera by the flash in Britney's latest music video

Maybe I am just on a soapbox for the bad technique I see in other actors/photographers. Proper technique leads to better photographs. If you hold a camera wrong you are going to add some camera shake and photographs won’t be as sharp as they could be. As for the magic enhance button in C.S.I. – there is no solving that problem. Oh well.

I love Britney’s latest album by the way – really great for dancing and even editing photos. You can check it out here.

Even though the weather is a bit nippy and damp – the flowers are out in force and I wanted to blog a photograph I created at lunch. Near the Utah County Courthouse there are a number of spring flowers – and these are the red and yellow tulips that I happened upon this rainy spring day. I figured I would share this photograph – hopefully it will give you something pretty to look at this gloomy rainy day.

Red tulips in a sea of yellow tulips

As the wedding season picks up I hope to blog some more wedding photographs and some engagements. I still have a huge supply of old weddings that I have helped photograph – they are lurking on my hard drive and I really should show them off someday.

I finished reading an awesome book this week – all about retouching portraits. The book is titled “Professional Portrait Retouching Techniques for Photographers Using Photoshop”. I am sure that title was picked so it would show up in Google searches.

I already know a ton about how to make a portrait look amazing. It is helpful to see how other photographers handle retouching eyes, lips, face, skin, hair and more. Every photograph is different and most photographs don’t require too much editing. However, for the portraits that are going to go into a wedding album or onto a wall as a print I will spend time making sure the bride, groom, or whoever it is looks their best.

And I will keep it a secret about what I have retouched. NO ONE wants to know that I may have removed crows feet, baggy eyes, added make up, removed blotchy skin, helped slim done unflattering angles or poses. They will be my secrets and I will take them to the grave.

This weekend I think I will spend a bit of time going through the practice exercises for this book. If you are a photographer – I highly recommend it. And as always I believe practice makes perfect!

This is me screaming my head off on Disney’s Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – in the background you can see my two sisters and one of my nieces – they had a lot of fun. I just ordered a 16×16 inch metal print of this photograph – this photo was created on my iPhone 4 using one of the many apps that gets funky with photos. I absolutely love this photo – one reason I ordered a print.

dav.d screams on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland

Vacations are vital to getting away from our regular day to day routines. A lot of photographers take vacations to get away from photography. Me? I look at vacations as a way to enjoy photography even more. Vacations really become a vital part of my vacation. Since this was a road trip – and I wasn’t the person driving it was a chance to read some books, watch some training videos and more. So I have some great ideas that I hope to start using – yay!

I am prepared to – back up cameras, film, digital, computers, everything! So I will be back in a week. Not sure if I will be able to blog while away but I will try.

Disneyland and California Adventure

I have a few non-wedding events going on and I do have a spring wedding in May – this is my favorite time of the year. And I wouldn’t be surprised if summer gets here pretty quickly. And then it will just be too hot. However, I find that we just need to enjoy each day and not look forward to the next season.

Pink Spring flowers against green

These two DVD series come from two of the most respected photographers in the world of creative lighting. They teach how to use small lights to create powerful images. The photographers themselves work in photojournalism but I find that their techniques and concepts work great with wedding and portrait photography.

Joe McNally The Language of Light

The use of small flashes is really important – especially with wedding photography because weddings move so quickly there is no time for big lights – and I don’t want to be limited to natural or available light. Sometimes I just want to take control and create something that is more fashion inspired and less shooting from the hip.

I won a copy of David Hobby’s Lighting in Layers with Dimension at a recent seminar.

David Hobby's Lighting in Layers with Dimension

This afternoon I spent time calibrating my lenses using a lens calibration target. For the most part you want at least subject of your photograph in focus and you want that focus sharp. Lenses, cameras and such aren’t perfect – and they are probably close enough. Some cameras let you fiddle with that focus and make it more accurate.

Most my lenses were right on and required very little adjustment – which is good to know. I am sure this is pretty nerdy and most people will never need to know how this happens. I figured I would just advertise what I am doing behind the scenes to make my photographs better.

Lens Calibration Target

To help this I used my camera on a tripod. I should try and use a tripod more often – because it can really help with sharp photographs.

Len, camera, and the tripod

Micro adjustments

He is also a film photographer and in part, due to his work, I have decided to at least dabble in the world of film photography. So I am just excited to read the book while mastering some stairs at the gym.

I bought Jose Villa's Fine Art Wedding Photography book

Since I have yet to read the book – and I have barely scanned through I am hoping that I can learn some insights on how to turn wedding photographing into fine art wedding photography. I want to continue to develop my own style that is unique and distinctly my own. Jose has definitely mastered both fine art and style.

Thanks for following my blog by the way – all to often my blog posts are just a list of what I have bought recently – intermixed with photographs with some weddings and photographs of myself.