Some of my favorite moments from an impromptu family portrait session at Owen’s first birthday party!

This was not the shot I had in mind when I decided I was going to photograph the Santa Monica pier. I had envisioned a long exposure with the LED lights on the ferris wheel blurred to make a perfect circle, the shoreline creating an abstract reflection of the pier, and the sky glowing fierce red just after the sun had set. When I got there, despite packing a full set of graduated ND filters and a new filter holder, I had forgotten all my adapter rings, along with my cable release. I tried taking some shots with my Lensbaby, but they were completely rubbish. I had to wait about two hours until the sun finally dropped below the horizon, but I didn’t like the composition I had initially set up for. Just before the magic hour (which is more like five minutes, tops), I made a brief detour to get some photos of Casa del Mar (which also turned out rubbish). By the time I made it back to the shoreline to get more photos of the pier, the sky was already way too dark, and I’d missed my opportunity for the perfect shot that would have balanced the sky, the pier, and the ocean (without requiring too much post-production).

Of the 400+ exposures that I took (most of the I immediately binned when I got home), these two were my favorite:

5D2+ Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 at 1s at f/32, ISO 200, Lee 0.9 graduated ND filter (handheld). This was taken a bit after sunset, right after the ferris wheel lights came on. I adjusted the color temperature on DPP and shifted the color balance and hue/saturation on Photoshop to my liking (apparently, I really like my sunsets in all shades of lavender and purple) to bring more drama to the clouds. Next time around I’ll probably move in closer and try to catch more of the reflections on the wet sand.

5D2 + Tamron 28-75 at 55 mm, 1/13 at f/32, ISO 200. This was taken just before the sun dropped below the mountains. There was another couple walking on the beach that I cloned out to simplify the composition.

Each year I get the chance to practice my portrait photography with the residents in the department of internal medicine at Harbor-UCLA. I shot these with my 5D2 + 85 f/1.8. Color temperature was somewhat balanced for indoor fluorescent lighting, and I used a pair of Pocketwizards to trigger a hand-held off-camera flash bounced off the wall camera-left. 

Landscape photos from a recent hike in Rowland Heights.

Canon 5D2 + 70-200 f/2.8

Canon 5D2 + 16-35 f/2.8 at 16 mm.

400D (infrared-converted) + Tamron 28-75 f/2.8