This photo of the Golden Zephyr at Disneyland California Adventure is probably my first really successful long exposure capture. I think it works well because of the colors and the contrast, but also because of the motion that is captured. I shot it with a really wide angle lens on my 5d, so the most challenging thing was to not let the tower and the ferris wheel in the background become too distorted.
We have had a few late season storms roll through southern california this year, which has made for a few moments like this…
Canon 5d, 1/2 second exposure, f/22, iso 100, RAW image file processed in Adobe Camera Raw
One of the drawbacks to pursuing landscape photography part time, is that you don’t always get to drop everything to chase that perfect weather sequence. When you combine family vacations with your photography, you have to realize that your time is precious and you may not get to go chase that sunset or climb that extra ridge for the view you want. Fortunately, my family is always a good sport about it, but you still recognize that you are often going to come home empty handed. Which is kind of how I felt after my last trip up the coast. While I got some cool shots here and there, I never really saw a good sunset or sunrise. And even midday, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. In other words, the weather was beautiful! But not great for shooting photos. So here’s the great part about landscape photography; you never truly come home empty handed. You find yourself taking in beautiful scenes, sometimes at the crack of dawn when no one else is around. Your memories of being in these beautiful places with your family will stay with you always. Nothing could be better than just being outside, taking in God’s creation and truly admiring how beautiful our world is.
As I so often do, I awoke before dawn, hoping for some dramatic clouds to fill this scene of Morro Rock at dawn. No clouds, but I did manage to grab some pretty colors in the sky that literally came and went in about a minute.
As the sun came over the horizon, the light started hitting the rock, but not nearly as dramatically as I hoped it would! Still a pretty picture with the flowers in the foreground.
I love dogs. And I love to photograph dogs. When you spend enough time with a dog, you start seeing how much they understand and communicate with you. Their loyalty, their agility, their desire to be with us all make them such amazing creatures. These two are cousins; not real cousins but their owners are family. Puppy, the Boxer, and Sydney, the lab mix, look fierce, but are gentle and funny dogs. But I like the teeth in the image as a nod to their wild roots.
During my recent trip to the California Central Coast, I was reminded a number of times of how beautiful this state is. Especially in the spring time when the hills turn to emerald velvet and the air is crisp. What’s important to remember, the thing that keeps these hills so green is rain. And two things definitely don’t mix; a two wheel drive SUV and a muddy highway shoulder. But fortunately for me, people on the Central Coast also tend to be friendly, helpful sorts and they carry tow chains in the back of their 4WD trucks. So after being freed from some of the deepest mud I’ve ever encountered, I still had time to capture the morning light illuminating the hills on the other side of Highway 46 that I had stopped on to photograph. 
This is a Photomerge of 4 images done in Photoshop.
One of the things that fascinates me about digital photography is night photography. And while I constantly find myself drooling over the new Canons with their insanely high ISO capabilities, I’m always stunned by what I can do with my old 30d and a tripod. My goal in these images was to preserve as much detail as possible, without overexposing any of the artificially lit areas of the photo, while capturing the stars in the sky. Considering how bright the moon was and how much city light I was picking up, I was pretty stoked to see a lot of stars in these images. A lot of stars, and one extremely bright planet, Venus, which looks like a small moon in these photos!
All of these images were taken with my Canon 30d, 1600 iso, f/8 with between 20-30 second exposures. Noise reduction and curves adjustments done in Photoshop.
