External light sources, Grace and some balloons...

Ohh how I love clouds. They make portraiture so much easier. The diffused lighting is probably my favorite type of light (second to golden evening light you get from typical sunsets). This evening was one of those classic cloudy evenings in Malibu, where the light was even and the clouds glowed perfectly as sun rays dashed between them. It was a perfect opportunity to photograph Grace...and so I did. Along with some balloons.

Now I've always advocated shooting portraits with nothing but natural light, something I'm very loyal about doing. But most recently, I've been experimenting with external light sources and have grown quite fond of being able to directly control my light source.

The challenges of shooting in the field with an external light source (not flashes) makes photography much more fun for me. Of course, taking studio equipment into the field and finding electricity to fuel the lights is no longer a problem. Thanks to portable power sources. Thanks to the Vagabond Portable Power Units I can use a strobe anywhere in the field.

I've actually gotten quite creative with how I direct light. From bending umbrellas, to mounting a strobe on a monopod and having an assistant hold it up at precise locations, it's made photography much more fun.

For years, I've had studio lights but portable power has allowed me to expand my creative abilities.  Photographing Grace tonight I used an 800w AlienBee with Vagabond power, and of course some balloons.

Here are the results:

Golden light at the Malibu Pier...

This evening, I realized I hadn't actually walked the beach near the Malibu Pier at sunset in a very very long time. So since I've not posted anything in a long time as well, it seemed like a good time to return to both respectively.

As always, the sunset was golden and the light was just magnificent. One thing struck my eye when I got there though. The extremely low tide and the abundance of rocks. I've been to the pier many times before but never actually out far enough to be parallel with it from an extremely low tide. 

For the images I captured this evening I used a Canon 5D Mark iii equipped with 70-200mm 2.8 Sigma lens and a 3 Stop Neutral Density filter. I also used a Canon 24-105mm F4 for the wider stuff.

Here's just a few images from the evening with a couple notes on each -cg

The image below really surprised me. I was trying to focus on the leading lines and the depth of field created by the 200mm at 2.8. With such a shallow depth of field the effect came out nicely. 

Now the image below was taken with the 70-200mm 2.8. Instead of shooting this one wide open, it was shot at F-18 with a 1.5 second exposure. The 1.5 second exposure allowed me to capture the motion in the water.

Black and White version....

The images below were all taken with the sun behind me at 1/10 at F-14 and 100 ISO.

Family time...

I had the joy of photographing Alda at her beautiful Malibu home yesterday. Here are just a few images from this evening session. I'm not normally a children's photographer, but with a cutie like this; How could you say no? More images to come...

LA Lights.

Last night I did something I can't believe I have not done yet. Photograph downtown LA in the night. Coincidentally, I have a client that needs photos of the LA skyline for a website, so it worked out perfect.  All of these were taken on the 4th Street overpass in Downtown LA. Now, for me crossing a busy street was the biggest challenge given my recent knee surgery. But it was worth it in the end as I capture a dozen or so usable images for the project.

All the images below were shot at 10 or 15mm. They are 15 and 30 sec exposures.

Mike & Diane...another perfect Malibu day.

I met Mike and Diane for the first time on their wedding day. They were a super sweet couple from New Jersey that picked Malibu as a wedding destination. They came across my website while searching for photos of a Malibu sunset. Not only was the beach house they rented on Topanga Beach just amazing, but the evening we were given was just one of those perfect Malibu evenings. Here's just a handful of images from the weekend...

Wedding Favorites...a look back.

Every so often when I'm backing up images and clearing space on my hard drives I like to collect my favorite wedding images through the years that I've been shooting. The images below all bring me memories of each and every single one of these special days. I always tell clients that it is an honor to capture their wedding day and to be able to share their big day in the form of art....so here's some wedding eye candy of some of my favorite images through the years.