Last week I was hanging out in Berkeley, California filming an introductory photography video with Peachpit, and I photographed these sailboats at the Berkeley Marina to show an example of the difference between golden hour light and harsh, mid-day sun. In this example I photographed the boats at sunrise (7:30 AM) and the middle of the day when the sun was pretty high (1:30 PM).

For the sunrise photo (on the left) I got some really great images before the sun was peeking over the horizon, but the best photo (in my opinion) was when the sun was just barely in the sky and back-lit the masts of the boats. Overall the light is really soft and has a lot more subtle color. I also love how glassy the water is … the light reflected off it beautifully.

For the mid-day sun photo (on the right) you can see that the image is much brighter, but the light is jus really flat and the water doesn’t look as pretty. The image isn’t bad, but there’s nothing really very special about it. It’s the light in the first image that really “makes” the photo.

I have to say, this was really fun to do. It’s great seeing the contrasts between the light and scenery at different times of day. If you’re planning to do some landscape or outdoors photography in the near future, try this out for yourself. Photograph one image in the mid-day sun, and then re-photograph the same scene (composed as closely as possible to the first) at sunrise or sunset, or whenever the light is at its best. And then, when you do, link to it here so I can take a look!

Faxon Moulder is kind enough to donate an 8×12 Backlit Box for a giveaway over on Google+! All of the rules are listed on the post HERE.

You’ll need a G+ account in order to enter … here’s a link to sign up for a Google+ account if you still need one: https://plus.google.com

Good luck!

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 50mm f/1.4, 1/125 sec at f/4.0, ISO 800 (both images)

This is the view from the window of my condo. I have an entire wall that is almost completely covered with windows (minus a few feet of drywall at the bottom) so it was pretty easy to spot the gorgeous golden clouds as the sun was rising. I had my camera nearby so I grabbed a few photos, then put my camera down and made coffee.

When I peeked outside five minutes later and noticed that all the color in the clouds was gone. It took only five minutes for the gorgeous, beautiful light to be replaced by boring normal-ness. If you’ve ever photographed landscapes or portraits outdoors you already understand that there is literally just a few minutes of this type of gorgeous light in any given day, the kind of light that glows orange and red and is so soft you would stand in it for hours if you could.

And don’t you just love all of the parallels with light & photography … and life? I titled this “cleverly” to mimic the phrase “life is short” because, well, it is. Why not rush outside with your camera when you see something beautiful to hold on to it for as long as you can? Why not get up at 4:00 am to head out to a gorgeous mountain and capture the sun as it rises?

We should do things every day that are filled with meaning, spend time with people we love and do things just because they feel good … because life is short. We should want to hold on to them as long as possible, really live for each moment … and not pass up on opportunities because we were too lazy, tired or scared. We should take more risks, find balance and be adventurous … the great moments in life pass by as quickly as the golden light of the morning sun, so don’t let them pass by without your camera (… or your heart … but they are kinda one in the same if you ask me). :)

I’m finally getting settled in my new place … an out-of-state move plus some travel in the mix pushed back my ability to sit down and get the winners selected for the giveaway. So … here they are!

Winners of the “Sweet” giveaway (held here on this blog): Christina Dey & Melli

Winners of the “Spicy” giveaway (held on Google+): Rebecca Weaver & Christine Kocarek

Congrats to the winners! Please send me a message with your shipping address (along with phone numbers for you out-of-the-US folk).

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II lens, 0.3 sec at f/8, ISO 100

Last night I said goodbye to my friends, shed a few tears and spent my last night in Utah. This morning I was on the road at 7 am to start a new chapter in life … and 850 miles later I’m just a few miles away from my new home in Seattle. It’s been a bittersweet journey, but one that I think has (so far) been extremely rewarding and uplifting. I’m definitely going to miss my friends dearly, but know that I’ll see them again in the future. :)

To me, life is about risk, change and going against the grain. This move is a big leap into the unknown for me … and sometimes you just have to jump right in to test the water. Thankfully I have my trusty sidekick, Fuji, to keep me company. :)

Last night I photographed a beautiful electric storm from my balcony. I got some really great bursts of lightning, and while analyzing them I realized that three of them would work perfectly as a composite. I haven’t had a huge opportunity to photograph lightning since I was a kid living at home, and actually got one of my best lightning photographs in my backyard with my Nikon F4 film camera. (Here’s the link to that image in my archives if you want to check it out: http://nicolesyblog.com/2005/07/11/favorite/)

The composite was relatively simple to put together, the only tricky part was blending the main “bolt” and its surrounding clouds in with the rest of the sky (the layer called “lightning strike”) because it was a different color of light. I ended up just adjusting that layer so that it had some massive contrast (with a levels adjustment), and then changed its blending mode to “screen” so that only the lighter parts showed through. Then, I added a solid color fill layer that was the same color of the sky, change the blending mode to “color”, and masked it in around the bolt.

You can click on the image to see a larger preview, and feel free to ask questions in the comments if you’re curious about any other methods I used to photograph or put this image together in Photoshop.

In celebration of my book being released and on the shelves, I’m going to be giving away four copies!

Here’s what you need to know to enter (with more specific rules below):

Create a food photograph that follows the theme “Sweet” between now and the cut-off date/time of the contest, and then post a link with a story/description about the photo in the comments below. It’s not a “photo” contest, but more of a story-telling contest … but you do need to create a photo in order to have a valid entry. I’ll be selecting one random winner here, and one random winner over on a similar contest on Google+, and then will choose two more winners (my favorite photos/stories) from each site. You can enter both contests on both sites, but can only enter once per site (blog & Google+). Image quality is not as important as creativity, so be sure to keep that in mind. :)

Also, if you don’t yet have a Google+ account, now’s a good time to start! I have some invites to give away (click here) if you need one.

Here are the rules:

1. The theme for the giveaway on this blog is “Sweet”.
2. The photo needs to be new … in other words, it needs to be photographed and uploaded any time between the date/time of this blog post and the cut-off time (listed below).
3. Only one entry on each site per person is allowed. (Click here to access the contest on Google+)
4. Upload the image to the photo hosting site of your choice (Flickr, G+, your blog, etc.). Then, post a link to your photo along with a description/story about the photograph in the comments below.
5. Two books will be given away randomly (one here, one on G+), and two additional books will be given away which I will personally select (one here, one on G+). For the winners I select, creativity is key … image quality is not nearly as important as the story behind the food.
6. The cut-off time for posting your entry for this giveaway is Saturday, September 3rd at 11:59 PM MST.

Good luck!

BTW, the giveaway is open to anyone from any country. :)

This Thursday, August 18 at 11:00 am PST I’ll be doing  a Twitterview with Peachpit discussing food photography and my new book:

Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots

Check out this link for the details … there will also be book giveaways if you get your question asked during the Twitterview. You can post your question to this website (don’t post it here or it won’t count!) or you can twitter it to @Peachpit. Hope to see you there!

Canon 5D Mark II , Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens, 1/10 sec at f/8, ISO 100

As some of you may already know, I’m moving to Seattle next month. It’s been crazy … I have a ton of work piled up that I need to do and my brain is cooked (no pun intended). :) I handle change pretty well, but one thing that is really, really difficult is that “when to pack what” moment. I had one of those “oh crap” moments this weekend.

I love food. I love cooking it, photographing it and, of course, eating it. Now, I don’t always eat amazing meals every day. Being single, and living alone, most of the time I go pretty simple with my food, but when I do cook I usually get pretty fancy. So on Saturday I decided that I was going to cook up a hearty meal … steak, topped with blue cheese and some sweet caramelized onions, and a side of steamed asparagus finished in a hot pan of bacon bits and grease. I was also packing, and had run into a dilemma … I really didn’t want to pack up any of my food photography gear, cause that would mean I had to wait a month before I could shoot anything else. So, so tragic.

My solution was to photograph my steak and go out with a solid “bang”. I hadn’t cooked it yet, but decided to have an early dinner so I would have enough light to work with (here’s a link to the “behind-the-scenes” photo for this shoot). So what you see in the photo above is a fully-edible dinner, “styled” only so that it was plated nicely. Overall I’m really pleased with how the photo turned out, and photographing this “last supper”, so to speak, made me feel a little bit more comfortable packing up my food photography and styling tools.