I contemplated buying it from Best Buy, but they only had the kit version with the . . . → Read More: My Nikon D7000 arrived this week!]]> I recently received my Nikon D7000 (body only) from Amazon, looks like Santa arrived early at my home! With so much hype over this camera, finding a Kit version or the body only version, has been very challenging.

I contemplated buying it from Best Buy, but they only had the kit version with the lens, which I didn’t need, I was interested in only the body. Plus, I looked at a few at Best Buy and although they were selling them new, I could tell they had been opened and used. The obvious signal was the missing thin sheet that covers the plastic protective piece covering the rear LCD screen. So I didn’t want to risk it, too many people are returning these when purchased at Best Buy, so no need to buy a returned product from them.

So Amazon was my choice. Adorama and B&H, have been too late to carry these, plus the wait time for them is too long using those two sites. It had been several weeks that I planned to purchase it, and to my surprise, I got it 4 days after I placed the order from Amazon. Not bad.

The camera itself is great, however, the weather in Southern California has not. It’s been raining every day, so I haven’t been able to use it outdoors. Too delay things more, the weather calls for at least 5 more days of rain.

So far, I’ve been using it indoors casually and it fits my hand like a glove. The D7000 is solid, with a better quality feel than the previous D90. Since it has a focus motor, I can use all the Nikkor lenses in my goodie bag, especially my Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D ED Macro lens. Which is one of the best lenses I’ve ever owned. You can see the lens attached to my Nikon D7000 below. Much better than the kit lens they are selling it with!

Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D ED Macro lens on a Nikon D7000 body

If you’re a fan of the show Glee you’ll know why the latest photos taken for the GQ Magazine have stirred up so much controversy. The photos were taken for the October edition of the magazine and feature Dianna Agron, Cory Monteith and Lea Michele. Both of . . . → Read More: Love the new Glee photos on GQ Magazine.]]>

Photo credit all photos: GQ/Terry Richardson

If you’re a fan of the show Glee you’ll know why the latest photos taken for the GQ Magazine have stirred up so much controversy. The photos were taken for the October edition of the magazine and feature Dianna Agron, Cory Monteith and Lea Michele. Both of the girls are posing in very short sexy outfits, a contrast from their on-air persona.

The famous fashion photographer Terry Richardson took the photos and in my opinion he did a great job. Some may argue that its too risque to portray them as sexy high school kids, but if your not aware all are well in their 20′s, so I say go for it!

Also, don’t miss these two images in high res: Photo 1, Photo 2

You can also see the full set at GQ Magazine.

When viewing any photo,  I look at the lighting, the positioning of the actors in the frame, and the overall setting. I guess it’s the photographer in me that likes to analyze how these images where created. In some ways I wish GQ would include, like POP Photo and Shutterbug does, the camera type, setting and lights used!

At the end of last month Facebook announced the option to upload and download high-resolution photos on individual and personal facebook photo pages. Directly from facebook:

“we will be rolling out support for print-quality, high-resolution photos. And unlike on many other online services, you don’t need . . . → Read More: Upload high resolution pictures to facebook?]]>

Option for uploading a high resolution image

At the end of last month Facebook announced the option to upload and download high-resolution photos on individual and personal facebook photo pages. Directly from facebook:

“we will be rolling out support for print-quality, high-resolution photos. And unlike on many other online services, you don’t need any kind of premium or paid account.”

I tried it recently and was pleasantly surprised. Facebook increased the size of the photos stored from 720 pixels to 2048 pixels on the largest edge, for an 8 times increase. Not bad since the amount of photos you can upload is unlimited and free to do so.

In order to view a photo in high-resolution, the original picture must be uploaded in high-resolution too. This is done at the initial moment you upload an image, see picture. Once the photo is up you can view it in its normal facebook mode size or choose to download the high resolution version.

Don’t forget to view my facebook page here, I’ll start to upload some new photos there as well.

One of the first things I learned about photography was to understand how the right depth of field (DOF) in my photos can enhance my photos. When one uses point & shoot cameras, most of the time the people or things in . . . → Read More: Alicia helps explain Depth of Field DOF]]>

Sexy Alicia in a photo with a medium depth of field.

One of the first things I learned about photography was to understand how the right depth of field (DOF) in my photos can enhance my photos. When one uses point & shoot cameras, most of the time the people or things in the pictures are all in focus. This is due to a large aperture setting like f/11 or so. Get your first DSLR or higher end point & shoot, and you’ll soon find that by changing the aperture setting along with your distance from your subject, certain things will and will not be in focus. Trust me, this is a good option.

When you want a subject to be in focus as well as the distant background, then you need a large DOF and your must make sure you are not too close to your subject. Too get something in between, then a good example is the photo on the left. I photographed the sexy Alicia to illustrate how I can manipulate the DOF to my advantage. Having her against the fence, I wanted the viewer’s eyes to be drawn to three areas, her face, cleavage and the narrowing fence leading away from her. I shot it at 40mm, f/7.1 and 1/500th sec., I also cropped it a little.

Alicia wearing a sultry dress looking in the mirror.

For the photo of Alicia on the right, I placed a mirror a few feet to her left and away from me. This time shooting at a focal length of 50mm at f/4.5 and 1/125 sec., I was able to have her torso on the left in focus and blur out her reflection in the mirror.  Using the similar setting, I could have focused on the reflection having it in focus but then her torso on the left would have been blurred. By the way, I used Aperture Priority settings for all these images.

Photo of Alicia with a narrow DOF

In my last example, I took a close-up of Alicia against a plain tin wall. Shooting directly against the wall would have revealed the texture of the tin too much, so I shot it at an angle. Since I photographed her close up, I needed to blur out the far and near portions of the tin wall. I shot wide open at an f stop of 2.8, with a focal length of 80 mm and a shutter speed of 1/250. This allowed me to make Alicia’s face the main focus point of the image.

So next time you’re out taking pictures with your new DSLR, take it off of Program mode.  Experiment with Aperture Priority or Manual mode and create great images with various depth of field settings! Finally, I’d like to thank Alicia for modeling for these pictures.

Short but nice site that gives video illustration on how to use the New D7000. From simple photo techniques to taking video in AF mode and manual mode. You . . . → Read More: New Nikon D7000 online instruction videos]]> A quick update to those waiting for their Nikon D7000 to arrive. Get a heads up on how to use the D7000 from Nikon’s Digitutor.

Short but nice site that gives video illustration on how to use the New D7000. From simple photo techniques to taking video in AF mode and manual mode. You can find the D7000 Digitutor here.

Nikon D7000 Digitutor

Spent some time at the beach and captured this beautiful view from the pier. If you live in the area . . . → Read More: Huntington Beach in October]]> It was another beautiful weekend in Huntington Beach. We’ve had some strange up and down weather lately, one week it rains, the next we have 100+ degree days. But this weekend was just right.

Spent some time at the beach and captured this beautiful view from the pier. If you live in the area and don’t visit the pier often, you don’t know what you’re missing. I carried my Canon Powershot G10 for a few fun pictures. It was a laid back day and overall it was a very relaxing day, mostly uneventful. But I always enjoy a walk on the pier, you never know what you’ll run into. From people singing, preaching or doing some crazy acts. You’ll also see new ways to carry your cell phone when pockets are not available!

A little tip for those visiting the OC, you can find some great deals on things to do from various online sites. I like to visit OC Great Deals for some of these offers, like the free balloon rides!

Surf City Huntington Beach

Several months ago, I had the pleasure of taking a 7 day trip on the largest cruise ship in the world, Oasis of the Seas. Oasis departs from Port Everglades in Florida, so I had to take a fly out there, yes I know, poor . . . → Read More: My recent cruise pictures of Oasis of the Seas!]]>

Aqua Theater view from my Boardwalk Balcony stateroom

Several months ago, I had the pleasure of taking a 7 day trip on the largest cruise ship in the world, Oasis of the Seas. Oasis departs from Port Everglades in Florida, so I had to take a fly out there, yes I know, poor me.

Picture of Atlantis as Oasis of the Seas arrived to the Nassau Bahamas

Oasis of the Seas called on several ports on my trip. First we stopped at the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Thomas, then it was St. Marten/St. Maarten and finally at Nassau in the Bahamas. The islands were great, but the real treat was the ship itself. Large and beautiful, a real photographers dream. I spent a lot of time taking photographs. These are just a small sample of my many photos. You can see the rest of my cool pictures of Oasis of the Seas here along with a day by day description of my trip.

The online program makes regular pictures look like you took pictures of miniature models. I was . . . → Read More: Tilt-shift maker with my Hawaii pictures]]> Well its been a while but I’m finally ready to continue updating this blog. I’ve had a busy year and have lots to share. But for now I’d like to share a cool online program called Tilt-shift maker.

The online program makes regular pictures look like you took pictures of miniature models. I was surprised to see how easy it was. Below is a picture I used from my recent trip to Hawaii. I took a picture of the marina from my hotel room at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

What do you think? Cool huh?

Hawaiian marina photo using tiltshiftmaker

Late last year I headed over the the Miramar Air Show. Thought I would share something from that day. Armed with my Nikon DSLR and my 80-200mm 2.8AFD, with my handy Canon PowerShot G10 as a backup camera, I was ready for an action packed day. We arrived early . . . → Read More: Cant wait for the 2010 Miramar Air Show!]]>

CH 53E Super Stallion

Late last year I headed over the the Miramar Air Show. Thought I would share something from that day. Armed with my Nikon DSLR and my 80-200mm 2.8AFD, with my handy Canon PowerShot G10 as a backup camera, I was ready for an action packed day. We arrived early but the show was already in full swing, lots and lots of people.

I took this photo with my Canon G10, with many people as you can see, but I wanted to capture the CH 53E Super Stallion from an angle where I could use the helicopter blade to block out the sun. This is what I came up with. An added bonus was the ad in the sky, funny I guess. I’m sure I’ll return again this year, I enjoyed the event more than I expected.