photographer in huntington beach, ca

Huntington Beach panorama created from four images in Adobe Photoshop.

I am searching and discovering different aspects of my photography.  Growing up I was always the one with the camera, beginning with my Kodak Brownie, evolving into my Canon 20D and now my Canon 7D. I hope to acquire many followers, be they students or experienced photographers,  who will enjoy watching  my continued progress and will come back often to see what they can learn from the things I share.  Thank you and enjoy!

Oh, and since you are here, could you please go to the right of this page (the side-bar) and “like” my Facebook page? Thank you!

I’ll Be Back Soon

The past two years have been very hard on me. To my followers, I am sorry if I have disappointed you. I have a lot of photos on my memory cards to sort through and post. Hopefully I can get to it very soon.

An Addition to the Family

Canon 7D, Raw, EF-S17-55, 33mm, f/11.0, 1/20, ISO 2000

Well, here is Lily meeting her new baby brother Ian, and vice versa of course.  He was really staring at her. She seemed to like him too. It’s an adjustment for all of them. I asked Shelley the other day if it was easier with Ian this time around. She said with him, yes, but Lily is another factor thrown in. They are all awake at night a lot, but they also couldn’t be happier. We took some newborn photos at their home on Saturday and will do a lot more Christmas morning. I will be sharing more with you. I didn’t do much to this photo:  a little white balance adjustment, noise reduction and a small curves adjustment to make sure all is right.

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Vintage Cadillac Hood Ornament

Canon 7D, Raw, EF-S17-55mm, 54mm, f/8.0, 1/200, 320 ISO, SilverEfex

I was lucky enough yesterday to take photos of a completely restored 1949 Cadillac. This one is my favorite. I absolutely love this hood ornament. I did some work in camera raw and Photoshop, then I took it into OnOne Software’s ColorEfex program to maybe convert to black and white. I decided to go with their pinhole choice. I liked the way it makes the face stand out. I then went back into Photoshop and did some dodging on the face and also to get the eyes to stand out more. I hope you like it. Let me know!

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Miss Lily at 19 Months Old

Canon 7D, Raw, EF-S17-55mm, 48mm, f/4.0, 1/200, 100 ISO

As you can see, she is really growing up. I was watching her play the other day and she does so much now. She climbs up on her little slide by herself and her feet even touch the ground when she sits in her little plastic chair! I liked this photo of her because you can see some of her little razor-sharp teeth and she is looking at the camera with a smile on her face. I brought the photo into camera raw and made a few adjustments. Then in Photoshop, I did a levels adjustment so the colors would pop. The biggest thing I did was crop it so she is at one side of the image. This looks much better than her being centered. What is she going to think of her new brother Ian coming in December? Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

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The Dogs Will Love Being in Green Valley Lake!

Canon 7D, Raw, EF-S17-55mm, 35mm, f/4.5, 1/200, 3200 ISO

These two little doggies love being able to see out the front! There is no place for them to do that here in Huntington Beach. They sneek a peak when we open the front door. We will be making our move to Green Valley Lake in a few months. There is a lot to be done to the cabin and a lot to do here. We have lived in this house for over 30 years! Anyway, this shot was difficult because of the lighting. I used a high ISO. I had to use a fast shutter because of the dogs moving and jumping around. There was a lot working against me, but I liked this one and they look cute. Kyla with her bunny tail and of course Donnan is barking. I made a few adjustments in Photoshop with levels and curves.

 

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The Pink Rose

 

I took this photograph at Larry and Shelley’s house. Actually, I took it with my cellphone . I believe this is the first image I have used from my phone. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the resolution. I am not real happy with the way this looks so I may work on it later. (Update: I did change it and it looks a lot better, it is just rather small compared to my other photos). It has been several months since I posted and now that the weather is warm, I will work on doing more.  I downloaded the image using Adobe Bridge into camera raw where I increased the vibrance and lowered the exposure a little. Then took it into Photoshop and cropped it. Usually I show my metadata in the caption under the photo, but I really don’t have any to share today. I will give this a tag of Blackberry 9530, but that is all I have to report!

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In Her Pretty Red Skirt

Canon 7D, Raw, EFS 17-55 mm, 55 mm, f/4.0, 1/640, ISO 2000

I took this photo of Lily in her pretty red skirt. It kind of looks like a tutu, don’t you think? Maybe she will start dance lessons soon! You can see some of the other photos here. The skirt is a tulle fabic with hearts and a satin lining – very nice. She is looking at Papi (Willie) here and she absolutely adores him. I would say it is very mutual. I took these without a flash so I had to use a high ISO. It produced a lot of grain/noise. I was able to run my anti-noise software and take care of that. I also did a levels adjustment and a slight curves tweak in Photoshop. I am getting positive feedback regarding my senior portrait photos, but so far no new orders. Maybe it is too late in the school year. Well, I will be getting out soon to take more photos. Willie thinks I should go back to doing one a day. Now that Spring is here and the weather will be getting better, that is probably a good idea.

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My First Senior Portrait Album

Canon 7D, Raw, EF57-300, 300mm, f/13.0, 1/60, ISO 100

I recently completed my first Senior Portrait album of Whitney, a student at Edison High School here in Huntington Beach. We had a lot of fun doing it and Whitney and her family were all very happy with the results. Be sure to check out the rest of the images here. For this photo, we were under the Huntington Beach Pier. I used my telephoto lens on my tripod. I enjoy using a long lens for portraits. I made a few adjustments in Photoshop so the image would pop a little bit. I am hoping to get some more business for senior portraits. I do believe this is a very good example of my work.

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Miss Lily’s 1st Birthday Party

Canon 7D, Raw, f/7.1, 1/60, EF-S17-55mm, 51mm

I cannot believe how fast the first year of this little one’s life went! She enjoyed her first ever cake and ice cream, as you can tell by the photo. I didn’t really need to do anything to this photo; this is how it came straight out of the camera. With such a beautiful subject, how can one go wrong! There are some more birthday photos here. This was on Saturday at her parent’s house. The next day we met down at the Huntington Beach Pier where there was a kite competition going on. It was kind of interesting and there were a lot of people there. You will see a few photos of Lily and Larry and Shelley there.  I also took the panorama that is at the top of this page that day. It was a beautiful week-end in Huntington Beach!

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Huntington Beach Pier at the Golden Hour

Canon 7D, Raw, f/14.0, 1/40, ISO 100, EF-S 17-55mm, 33mm

I have been working on senior portraits for a very fantastic young lady from Edison High School here in Huntington Beach. We finished up the other day down at the pier. We met about 4:30 and this is probably around 5:30. I will share some with you when I am finished with them. My goal was to take a photo of the pier to replace the one at the top of this weblog. I am tired of seeing that man in the red trunks. He doesn’t even look good! This one did not work for that. Willie and I will be going again soon. I didn’t have to do much to this photo. I took it into Camera Raw and upped the exposure just a little. Then in Photoshop, I increased the contrast. That’s about it. Since I used a low ISO (100), there was no grain so no need to deal with that. I used a small aperture (f/14.0) so I wouldn’t have to worry about the range of focus – meaning I wanted the whole image in focus and not just one point.  I try to take care of things in the camera. If it is not in focus, you cannot make it focus on the computer. You can do a lot of other things, but you need to get your focus right. Until the next image…

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I Know it’s a Rubber Band, But Who Does This Look Like?

Canon 7D, EF35-80, 70mm, +4 Filter, f/5.6, 1/160, ISO 250

Please leave a comment letting me know your opinion of who or what this is.  We finally got a short break yesterday from six straight days of rain. I went outside to move my car. For some reason, I looked down and this is what I saw. Before moving the car,  I went into the house and got my camera. I used my +4 close-up filter so I could get a clear shot. What does it look like to you? I knew immediately what it looked like to me. I also took some photos of some large mushrooms. Soon after I came back into the house it started raining again. I think it will stop now until Sunday morning. I am supposed to photograph a large family portrait (26 people) on Sunday afternoon in a backyard. I hope it clears up so I can do it! I did not do much to this photo. I cropped and straightened the image, then just did a layers adjustment.

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The Youngest Piano Protege

Canon 7D, Raw, EF-S17-55mm, 28mm, f/2.8, 1/125, ISO 320

My son took lessons on this piano for nine years. This past week it was moved over to his house. I sure hope Lily wants to take lessons. You can see how much fun she is having. I watched her carefully so she would not pull up on the keys. It is ok to hit down, just not up. Anyway, I love the color of her shirt which makes her rosy cheeks stand out. I did a levels adjustment in Photoshop to brighten up the photo. There was a little noise that I also got rid of. My Canon 7D is such a great camera, after I download in Bridge and go to Camera Raw, those two adjustments are pretty much all I need to make. FYI, the sheet music is Theme From Ice Castles, a very pretty piece of music by Marvin Hamlisch.

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Lily at 6-1/2 Months Old

Canon 7D, Raw, EF-S17-55mm, 17mm, f/2.8, 1/25, ISO 1000

I know it has been a while since I posted here. I have been VERY busy, which, of course, is no excuse. Here is my Miss Lily at 6-1/2 months old. She is sitting up and showing a lot of personality. I cropped it to make it more of a close up. I love this expression on her face. Oh to have that skin! I did a levels adjustment to get the photo to pop. I ran some other software to get rid of some grain. I also love the light hitting her face. She is so beautiful.

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Surf City Garage Car Show

Canon 7D, Raw, EF-S17-55mm, 17mm, f/7.1, 1/60, ISO 2000

I was at a car show on Sunday at Surf City Garage here in Huntington Beach. I took this photo inside their museum. I really liked all the color in the photos. The car show had a lot of corvettes and “muscle cars.” The rest of the photos are here. It is a challenge taking the outdoor photos in the middle of the day with a bright sun and very reflective car paint. Then when taking inside, I did not want to use the flash on my camera so I raised the ISO very high. Then I have “noise” to deal with. Noise looks like small grains in your image. I was able to get rid of it with some special software in Photoshop. I did a levels adjustment (which I do on almost every image). I wanted all the neon colors in this image to pop and I think I succeeded. Let me know what you think!

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Another Succulent in My Backyard

Canon 7D, EF-S18-55mm, 30mm, f/4.0, 1/250, ISO 100

This gorgeous succulent flower was in my backyard this morning. I just had to take a photograph. I like the way the light is hitting the top of the flower and shining through. Bringing this in to Photoshop,  I did up the saturation  so you could easily see the blues and greens and the reds around the edges of the outside petals. I don’t know what it is called. It grows long stems (look to the left of the flower) with flowers on top. There are no leaves, but I don’t know of any succulents that have leaves! I hope you enjoy it.

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P.S. Lily is 5 months old today!

In My Front Yard

Canon 7D, Raw, EF-S18-55mm, 28mm, f/4.0, 1/125, ISO 100

When I stepped out my front door this morning to get the newspaper, I saw this beautiful bloom. My house faces North so there is not much sun. My bougainvillea rarely gets any flowers. I thought I better take a photo. I like it because it shows the pinks and the oranges. I basically just did levels and contrast adjustments. I like being able to see the texture on the petals and the stamens. In general, I am very happy with this photo. Let me know what you think!

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