Author Archives: Michael

Shooting fashion

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My years with SATW (the Society of American Travel Writers) have given me the opportunity to shoot a lot of different things. On the first night of our Annual Convention in Guadalajara this year, we were treated to a fashion show during dinner. I learned long ago to always have a camera with me, just in case something spectacular happens (if you don’t have one with you, it will, guaranteed). On this evening I had unfortunately pared down to just the D700 and a 24-120 zoom. It’s not a fast lens, so I was glad to have the D700’s high ISO capabilities. The shots here were made at 6400.

The courtyard had been tented as rain was predicted (and it did indeed rain) but at least the tents were transparent so you could get some idea of the architecture above. It would have been amazing to have had this setting open to the sky but, trust me, we needed the shelter.

I’m not a fashion shooter but I’ll try it once. Heck, I’ll try it every chance you give me. Travel photography is all kinds of things: portraiture, architecture, action, food photography, etc. Take every opportunity and add as much to your repertoire as possible.

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Ropin’ kids

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A couple of kids that performed rope tricks for us during a quick lunch in Magdalena on our way from Puerto Vallarta to Guadalajara. It was a beautiful drive through rain forest, over mountains and through lush valleys but the people of Magdalena were the highlight.

Working the sunset, part 3

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One more from my Puerto Vallarta beach session. I was beginning to feel like I was shooting greeting cards — sunset over ocean surf, footprints in the sand, etc. — so I decided to play a little. Call it a game of “don’t drop your camera in the water”. As the waves would pull back from the beach, I would follow them out. Then, as they came rolling back in, I would hold the D700 down almost to the sand and run backward in front of the waves firing off exposures all the way. I wanted to capture some motion and convey the feeling of the waves coming in. I experimented with several shutter speeds — this was f/6.3 at 1/13th of a second. Strong sharpening in Photoshop helped bring out some interesting texture in the distant wave. Technically, I doubt there is much that’s “right” about this photo but I do feel that it captures the moment better than a static shot. At least that part of the moment that I was shooting for. In the end, whether it’s a success is up to the viewer.

Working the sunset, part 2

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Just down the beach from (and a couple of minutes after) the last shot, I spotted this couple walking along the surf. The two figures added a sense of scale to the landscape — just imagine this shot without them and the beach would seem much smaller. Here it looks endless and as though the two have the entire coastline to themselves. Even with my Nikon’s white balance set to cloudy for more warmth, I ended up adding a warming filter to this image in Photoshop to create a more dramatic, monochromatic look.

Working the sunset, part 1

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On our third night in Puerto Vallarta we were treated to a dinner at the incredible Dreams Resort & Spa. The sun was setting as we toured the grounds so I took every opportunity to take advantage of the light. The rugged coastline, a wedding party dining on the beach, a band on stage overlooking the ocean… it was a productive few minutes that I truly appreciated after spending a fair amount of time in meetings for the past two days. Here’s one from that evening. More to follow.

Puerto Vallarta

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I had frustratingly little time to explore the old town while in Puerto Vallarta last week. It’s a place of narrow streets and twisting lanes where you could wander for hours. Unfortunately I never had hours, but I did manage a little time to get a few photos of the tourism icons like this shot of the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I added a texture layer in Photoshop for a little atmosphere.

Mexican Sunrise

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I returned from Mexico wednesday night to temperatures in the 30s. It was in the upper 90s and humid in Puerto Vallarta. Needless to say, it’s not been an easy transition.

I flew down on Sunday the 4th in three legs: Kansas City to Dallas, Dallas to Mexico City, Mexico City to Puerto Vallarta. With layovers of several hours at each airport I didn’t arrive in Puerto Vallarta until long after dark. The photo above is my third frame of the trip – a 30 second exposure made from my balcony just before sunrise, as I was getting my first glimpse of the Pacific and the beautiful Barcelo La Jolla de Mismaloya resort that was hosting the Society of American Travel Writers Board meeting for the next three days.

The Board meeting preceded the SATW Annual Convention in Guadalajara. I attended the Board meeting as an observer since I would be joining the Board at the close of the Guadalajara meeting as the new Chair of the SATW Freelance Council. It was a great opportunity to get to know the other Board members and incoming Board members – I’ll be serving with a great group of people for the next two years.

With all the meetings, shooting time was limited but I made the most of free moments and some incredible outings that were arranged for our dinners. I’ll share more over the coming days as I begin post-processing.

Hola from Puerto Vallarta

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Actually I’m in Guadalajara, Mexico now but I took this shot a few days ago while on the Pacific coast in PV. I attended a Board meeting there and am now in the midst of the Annual Convention of the Society of American Travel Writers where I will be delivering a professional development session on Photoshop. More photos and stories when I get back mid-week.

Lightning protection

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I’m putting together some last-minute details for a Photoshop session that I’ll be leading in Guadalajara, Mexico, next week and grabbed this shot from my recent St. Louis trip to use for a dodge-and-burn demo. I found this “shrine” in a fantastically junky little shop on Cherokee Street. By duplicating the layer and setting the top copy to “multiply”, I could paint on a layer mask to regain some detail in the windows on the right. There are a ton of ways to achieve a dodge-and-burn-like effect and I plan on showing several during my session. This one is one of my favorite techniques, though. I think it’s a little richer than others.

I programmed Guadalajara into my iPhone’s weather app last night and see that it’s supposed to be in the 90s and they are predicting thunderstorms all week. Maybe having this lightning shrine on my hard drive will help protect me from a nasty zap.

A morning with the alpacas

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I had one of my more pleasant experiences photographing animals this morning at Ad Astra Alpacas. You know what they say about working with kids or animals. Having been a photographer at a “get your picture taken with Santa” booth years ago, as well art directing plenty of dog-and-cat photo shoots for pet food manufacturers… I have some stories. However, I think the alpaca might be one of my new favorite four-legged subjects.

These guys were very calm and didn’t spook terribly easily as long as I kept my movements slow and steady. One thing I did notice early on was that putting the camera to my face would get them a little nervous. I’d move in close and they’d be fine until the camera came up and then they would shy away a bit. On the other hand, if I held the camera out low, they would become curious and lean in to inspect it. My most successful shots came from shooting blind using this technique with my 17-35 racked out wide and an f-stop of at least f/8 to give me a little depth of field latitude.

This shot was made earlier on when I was still getting the system down. I was at f/3.5 here and got lucky that the focus point caught the eye but I do like the shallow focus on the fence.