Jennifer & Matt

Some of the coolest people you'll ever meet. Thanks guys - we've made new friends for sure.



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Christy & Kory - Laguna Beach

What an incredible trip!! Everything about this wedding was perfect, and Christy, Kory - I can't thank you enough for having me along. It was a great experience and I very much appreciate being a part of it.

The short story: This was Laguna Beach Wedding Photography at its finest. Well, okay, a set of colorful storm clouds out over the coast would have made it just a little better, but not by much. lol.

The ceremony was held at the historic Heisler Park in Laguna Beach, California. A short ceremony at the Gazebo followed by pics on the water.

The dinner was held at Ti Amo Ristorante - apparently "the" fine resturant of choice in Laguna. I give the tenderloin five stars. If you're in the area, it's a must visit location. Check the menu.


And while I'm singing praises - I've got to put out a huge shout to my friend Floyd Palitang. He came out to shoot with me though he's many steps above the average assistant. Thanks for coming along Floyd - it was great hanging out with you. Anyone in southern Cali looking for any sort of photography - you've got to give Floyd a call. I'm a huge fan of his work. He's probably one of the best photographers in California so you can't go wrong. Check his website at palitang.com as well as his blog which he keeps well updated with recent work.

Pictures? Oh yea - pictures. I almost forgot.

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Ice cream. When the bride wants ice cream, she gets it. Perfect timing.

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I got "tagged"

So the other day I get this email from my friend and fellow photographer Tawnya Hood...

So, I know you are super busy inventing things, but I am tagging you- I am sure you have heard of it, if not check out my blog! Now it is your turn!

Hmmm.....

I have no idea what she's talking about. I'm obviously not as hip and 'plugged in to the lingo' as I was when blogging was invented last week, so I had a look at her blog.

What I could gather from her post "been tagged two more times" was that someone "tags" me, and I then run to my blog and post random details about myself.

As interesting as that may be, I did some more digging into the phenomena of blog tagging.

ProBlogger.net puts it this way...

When I was a kid, playing tag was a big thing. Everyone would run around the yard trying to avoid the person who was “it” so they wouldn’t become “it”. Eeny, meeny, miney, mo - who would be tagged next?

This is a long way from playing "tag" in the back yard - which was always more an excuse to chase and be chased by the cute girl in the house next door than a sophisticated social game. (I suppose it did seem more important in the 3rd grade, some things were important, others, not so).

Did you know there is an entire blog specifically written on tagging? I kid you not. It's pretty well spelled out at tagsonomy.com - "a blog on tagging". Over 80 posts about... blog tagging. Recent of which seems concerned there has been an apparent decline in the amount of tagging currently happening. This actually concerns the author - driving the internet toward a state of "punctuated equilibrium". Is this a similar significance as our parents pondering the perfect alignment of the planets?

And while I'm on the subject, I'll make another observation - that a site such as tagsonomy can exist, flooded with wonderfully formatted text and none of it actually telling me just what the heck blog tagging actually is. "Good job guys."

Maybe someone can break it down for me in the comments.


and in an effort to not force your counting your time here a total loss - have a look at Tawnya's work. Beauty Of Life Photography - she's got some great child work and totally worth checking out.

Twins

Some friends of ours just returned home from the hospital with their twin boy and girl bundles. These guys were really little. It doesn't get much cuter than this.

Congrats again you two (er "four")!

Another Storm

This season has shaped up pretty well for storms. It's all calm and hot out right now, but last week we had a lot of moisture and that means fun at night. Last week my wife and I were about to goto bed and noticed what looked like emergency vehicle lights strobing against the neighbors house behind us. We went around front to see what was happening and it was lightning! Like a flash every second or so. It was really pretty intense and happening right over the house.

I grabbed the gear and went out for an hour or so. These awesome pictures were shot only a block or so away from the house. Easy hunting. There are some more really great ones from this set that aren't edited out yet - maybe I'll post more later this week.

Gina & Jay - Wedding

Another very enjoyable event. Over the past year we've had a chance to cover quite a few of the "smaller" weddings and I really enjoy these. Such an easy going day. Super cool couple. "Thanks guys!"

Gina and Jay came down from Seattle for their desert wedding at the Four Seasons Resort here in Scottsdale. I've got to say the resort lives up to expectations when it comes to service. My assistant and I actually got our own room, marked with a placard "Photographer Meal". lol. The room included a fully stocked bar with all the goodies we could have needed. We were very much amused at this.

Gina & Jay - it was great spending the day with you. Hopefully we'll get up to Seattle sometime soon. It's number one on my list of places to visit for destination weddings.

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Note for those of you still planning your weddings: It's always a good idea to bring along an 'extra groom' just in case the something happens to the primary groom (hey, you never know, and you're getting married today one way or the other - right?). Luckily we didn't need to use the extra for this wedding so we kept him propped in the corner - but he was still there 'just in case'. Be sure to also order an extra corsage for him.

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How to Shoot Lightning

Okay, I posted a few shots from last night here, and I've already got multiple email requests and posts on forums asking how to do this. It's "storm season" in much of the country right now, so here's a shpeel on how to make these shots happen.

Here's a favorite from last year - shot on top of a parking garage in downtown Phoenix.




WARNING:

1. This is extremely dangerous. I can't stress that enough. You've got a very real chance of being struck by lightning so realize that before running after the next storm. You're generally out in the open, someplace high off the ground, standing on wet ground with a metal tripod. Do the math. Bolts can drop out of a cell and travel over 20 miles before hitting the ground - so if you're close enough to see it, you're close enough for it to reach out and zap you.

2. You want to be inside a full metal body car (not an open top jeep, etc) as much as possible with your hands off of the metal parts. As long as you're inside the car with your feet off the ground, you're pretty well safe. I often setup the tripod right outside the car door, then hop back inside running the cable release through the open window - I sit inside in relative safety while I click.

The "How To":

1. First you've got to find a predictable shot - find a cell with some good activity that's repeating flashes at least every 2 minutes. Hunting lightning is like fishing - sometimes you get it, sometimes you waste your time. Patience is key here. You've got to predict where the cell is moving, at what speed, and how to get into a good viewing location around it while staying safe at the same time.

2. Wider angles have a better chance of catching the strike if it's off of your aim point, but the strike will be smaller in your viewfinder. For something really bold and dramatic you can enlarge well, you need to have a tighter shot - which means a more predictably active part of the sky. Dig? I'll shoot 15mm if I'm not sure or if it's getting really close to me, or maybe 35-70mm range if it's a bit further away and happening in one particular spot.

3. Lock your camera down on a tripod. Focus to infinity manual on your lens (note most pro lenses will focus 'past' infinity, so you need to back it off just a bit of the end stop or your pics won't be sharp - experiment on a clear day to test this). Get your zoom set and frame up your shot.

4. You really need a cable release, or "remote trigger" button. I use the RS-80N3 - works on all Canon cameras and worth having in your bag. You can also get the super high tech version - the TC-80N3 which has a built in cycle timer and other goodies. This may be on a future shopping list for me.

5. Shoot manual of course. You can either "use the force" and time your shots by hand using Bulb mode, or you can use your light meter and let your camera time the shots for you. It all depends on ambient lighting here. If the sun is still up or it's still dusk out, or you're in a metro area - then you need shorter exposures to avoid over exposing. If it's dead dark except for the storm, you can get away with 1 minute plus exposures. This is where you get to be a photographer and figure it out for yourself a bit along the way.

6. Shoot in Raw!!! You'll never get anything but a white strike on a black sky shooting jpeg. You need the extra dynamic range in Raw to pull this off. Export as 16 bit TIFF to Photoshop, tweak as necessary with curves and saturation, clone out the water spots on your lens, flatten, and export Jpeg's to the correct size while keeping your 16 bit originals saved as PSD's.

7. A good starting point....

Dusk / Visible Light:
ISO 100, f/4, ~10 sec exposures. (Let your light meter guide your exposure time)

Full Dark:
ISO 100, f/4, ~30 seconds to 1 minute.

For really active cells, you just Bulb it by holding the button, let a few flashes happen, when you think you've filled your shot with enough, release.

Practice Practice Practice:

Unlike every other type of photography, there is no "easy" way to do this. You're camera doesn't have a "lightning" mode, so there is a certain amount of trial and error here. You've got to guess when the strike will happen and have your shutter open at that time. You'll shoot a whole lot of empty frames to catch that one strike. I probably average one good catch per every 30 exposures. That's just the name of the game. I used to shoot this on Velvia film which got real expensive.

That's part of the fun. It's dangerous, it's exciting, you have to get into position, setup, and dial in the shot quickly to make it happen - but once you figure out the basics, it really is pretty easy.

Depending on the intensity of the strikes and how close they are - adjust your ISO, f/stop and exposure time all together as needed. After every strike do a quick view of your LCD and histogram and see if you got it right, adjust as needed.

Remember, lightning is BRIGHT - adjust your f/stop and ISO as needed to get the intensity of the flashes exposing about right - don't blow them out or you'll loose all the cool purple / yellow color. Lower ISO means less noise as the flash lights the clouds. Lower ISO also means longer exposure times, which means your shutter is open more of the time, which means you've got a better chance of catching a strike.

Challenge:

The challenge (once you catch a strike or two) is to create an interesting picture with it. Anyone can point at open sky and catch a strike. The key is to get some foreground into the shot - give it presence and location. Get the foreground in there, use other objects to silhouette the sky - like a cactus or a barn.

Have fun - and be careful!! If you do get something cool, email it to me - I'd love to see it.

The monsoon is on!

This time of year is like Christmas in summer for me. It's the only thing that makes living in the 115++ desert worth it. The monsoon. For a few short months in the middle of the blazing hot summer we get humidity and some awesome storms. Not as good as other areas of the country, but I won't complain.

A few years ago we had a great monsoon season, but the last two years have been a bit flat. This year however looks much more promising.

I missed the first two good storms but now the gear is ready and waiting by the door. I'll chime in more as the season progresses.

Here is a half-hearted attempt shot this evening right across the street from my house. It's nothing too dramatic but give me some credit for effort. Hopefully I'll pull off something a bit more spectacular in the next few weeks. Enjoy!

Davetta & Bob - Scottsdale Arizona

Formal wear on a hay ride? Surely they were kidding.

This was one of the more unique and enjoyable weddings we've been a part of in a while. I would totally recommend this experience to anyone wanting some authentic southwest style. I'll admit I didn't know quite what to expect. I was sure it would turn out fine in the end but I just wasn't sure.

This was absolutely charming. Brett from Brett's Desert Adventures runs this quaint rustic ranch about 10 miles north east of Scottsdale AZ (read: "the middle of nowhere"). This is actually some of the most beautiful landscape in Arizona (well, the desert that is the central valley anyway).

So we loaded up on a pair of horse drawn wagons and took a 40 minute ride even further into the untouched desert. Stops were made along the way for cowboy poetry and humor. Brett is the real thing. A stop on some jetting rocks for a short ceremony followed by a sunset ride back to "the ranch".

The cowboys left in charge manged to cook up - and I'm not even kidding here - one of the best meals I've ever had - over an open fire. It doesn't get any more authentic than that. Salmon (and I'm picky about my salmon) cooked over an open fire, rolls like you've never tasted - you can't buy food this good. This is probably the best "unknown" wedding spot in the valley.

Anyway, a big "thank you!" to Bob and Davetta. We had a great time going along for the ride.

Check out the ShowIt video here:
http://www.kevinkingphoto.com/shows/davettaandbob/

iPhone Mania - Sales projections exceeded?

They expected it would be big, but now it seems even Apple is surprised at just how big.

Projections said the iPhone would fail if they didn't sell at least 100,000 units during the first weekend. It looks as if they exceeded that number in the first few hours. Apparently a more realistic estimate of 500,000 units is well in sight.

Blackfriars projecting sales of over 1,000,000 total units by next weekend.

Kevin says "That's nuts!!"


Dig it:
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/14130/

Full story here:
http://www.blackfriarsinc.com/blog/2007/06/iday1-brings-16000-iphone-buzz-index

iPhone Feaver - Like, it was really hot!

So there we were - I wasn't one of the total fanatics who stood out there for days. I'm smarter than that. I was only out there for an hour or so. lol!

I figured the most far-flung Chandler AT&T store would be place to go and beat the crowd, but oh no - it was a carnival out there also. The store owner said people had been sitting there since 4:00 AM. Now that's just silly, but I will commend their brand loyalty.

iDay was upon us all. The excitement was as high as the heat - 115 degrees, que down the west side of the building, direct sun - yea, we were hard core.

This line had probably 120-ish people and as far as I know, we all got phones.

Initial Review:

The initial review - it totally rocks. It works as advertised in every way. I'm totally happy. The touch screen is totally intuitive. The text entry pad is very easy to use and amazingly accurate. The screen requires the very slightest contact to work smoothly - the most sensitive "touch" device I've ever experienced.

I can brag about the features all day, and unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you've seen the TV ads. Check out the iPhone guided tour at Apple's site for the real dig. You saw it there, and it delivers in actual application.

What about the service??

The whole drive home I was a bit worried it may not actually, well, you know - make phone calls. I don't exactly live right under a cell tower, and I've heard nothing but Cingular horror stories for the past few months. There was a very real chance I may have no signal at all.

Wrong.

4 out of 5 bars upstairs, 2/3 of 5 downstairs. This a full 6 miles straight line from the nearest Cingular / AT&T cell tower.

And the "Edge / G3" data network? It works very well. Maybe a tad slow, but functional, and giving my location, amazing that it works at all. I expect better service when I'm in the metro area when I'd really need to pull up those google maps and such.

The "activate it yourself" feature was also pretty sweet. It was quick and effortless, and porting my Verizon number happened seamlessly in less than an hour - even given the mass activation traffic on iDay night. I was impressed.

Justification?

The rest of you have to justify this to friends, family, significant others as a new toy. But I get to tout a legitimate business need for the cool device. lol! For the first time in years, I now have a fully functional photography portfolio in my pocket. This is huge. I can't count the number of times I'd wished an easy way to share some images with a casual contact here and there around town. Now it's possible, and convenient.

I can honestly say this is the coolest and most cleanly thought out piece of technology I've ever owned. I'm not really the type to jump on a new product from day one, but hey, live a little - right?

Anyone on the fence - go for it.

Dell Server vs. Mac Pro

We're happy to announce a new addition to the family. Sort of. Our new Mac Pro arrived yesterday. More details on that to follow. Seeing the discussions on some of the web forums, people talking about how much more expensive Macs were and all that (hey, check the archives for this blog a year ago "The true cost of the switch", I was right there too).

Apples to apples, Apples to Macs, or Macs to Windows - whatever - I got curious on our latest purchase to see just how the two really stack up cost-wise. Especially now that Macs include processors from Intel, we really can create two identical configs in the two different platforms.

For *identical* computers I was amazed to see that an equivalent Win/PC workstation is a full, are you ready for this... $1,348 MORE expensive than an equivalent Mac Pro.

I chose Dell as a comparison as they're well respected for building solid machines just as Apple. Based on the standard config (as of today) Mac Pro 2.66 Quad with 1GB Ram and a 250GB HD.

$2,499 - Mac Pro
$3,847 - Identically equipped Dell / Windows Vista


The numbers don't lie, I even print the spec pages to PDF.

Spec Sheet: Dell Precision 690 Quote (PDF)
Spec Sheet: Mac Pro Quote (PDF)