Sunday Adventure with Tiffany

This adventure did not end up being how I thought it would(in a good way). To start off Karl the fog was out, which I was hoping wouldn't be the case. Well, he wasn't out right away, but as you'll see he did make a good appearance later on. 

We first attempted, and failed, to go to the Jazz festival. There was no parking in the six blocks that I drove through, there wasn't any parking, so we decided to head over the the Palace of Fine Arts. This was the first time that I had been there in a long time. 

We started out by circling the palace a couple of times. Tiffany took a couple of time lapses while we were wandering the second time. I took a few photos of her setting up her phone. These didn't have any crazy edits, so you can see the color of her hair really well.

We joined up with a larger group after a couple of laps. It's funny since both me and Tiffany are not really a big fan of photo meets and this group was starting to feel like one. We made a quick instastory of her retreating into the bushes like Homer did in that one meme. 

For the photo below, I only took one photo of Anne, not just one as in only one came out good, but one as in only one shutter click. I actually really liked the wait came out. This pose itself is questionable but overall I like how it came out, sharp and with good composition. 

Sniped this photo of Tiffany while she was posing for someone else. Shooting through the bush wasn't a good idea though, since it just added that ugly yellow.

Three photographers on the same tree. The tree offered some good bokeh. 

After shooting at the palace, our group moved on to Battery Spencer. The whole day I had one thought, I do not want to drive up to Mount Tam, and that was the most mentioned location within the group. Normally I don't mind driving up to Mount Tam, but I have to be in that mindset. If I'm not chasing the sunset, the hour drive up and then hour drive down just doesn't sound appealing. 

I managed to get a parking close and almost immediately, but I got my door dinged. Its getting fixed now, so overall it wasn't too bad. We walked on down to Battery Spencer and took some photos in one of the fort things.

The photo below is the only close one I got, 8 frames a second and thats what I got. It was also dark, which wasn't easy to shoot with my current camera. I could've gone up on the ISO and have gotten a fast shutter. 

The fog was heavy for almost the whole time we were there. The photo above shows how it was, only a small part of the bridge was visible from where we were. I had a great time shooting with everyone, our group was fun to shoot with, no one was serious and everyone could take a joke. While we were up there, we met a coupe of other people shooting. 

Viceth was nice enough to let us take photos of the model he was working with, Lili. Thank you Viceth, otherwise I wouldn't have had a photo to post on July 4th. You can see everyone climbing down the hill in the photo below. This ended up being a lot more adventurous than I though it would have been. Meeting new people is my favorite part of photography, to meet others and see how they capture the same or similar subjects.

Last photo of the Day

Location

Palace of Fine Arts

Battery Spencer

Models

Lili

Anne

Tiffany

Photographers

Viceth

Brian

Brian

Mark

JP

Shooting with Mercedez

This post is different because it's two different shoots in one; they were shot close to each other and I figured I could put them on the same blog. I actually try to shoot with different people as much as I can. I think it's too repetitive to post the same person or similar location one after another. I try my best to be as well rounded as I possibly can. 

These two photoshoots were with Mercedez. The first one ended up being a bit more difficult that I thought it would. The trees were denser than I remembered they were the last time I was there but like any photoshoot, you need to make the best of it. 

The forest is amazing to shoot in for bokeh. The little openings in the trees turn into amazing bokeh. They also allow small amounts of light in, which can be used as spotlights. 

One thing I also wasn't ready for was the editing on these photos. On a lot of photos, greens and yellows normally overlap. Because of how much green there was in this set I had to edit them separately using brushes. Now that I think of it, I wonder how they would have turned out in black and white. I do not edit in black and white anymore, mostly because I would not post. It would be pretty interesting to do a blog based off of how my photos would be if I edited them in balck and white. Some of my edits start out in black and white, I like knowing some photos will look good in both black and white and in color. It also helps with getting the lighting write.

For the one below, I was trying to get a good amount of foreground in using some branches. Looking back, I would have wanted something, like anything in the background. The light I used was from one of the openings in the trees. It made a really strong spotlight, which in the end blacked out the background. 

A week later, I think, we met up again to shoot on the beach. By the way, that wasn't the last shot from the forest shoot, there are more that I still have not been able to find the right edit for. The beach shoot was the opposite, there was so much light from the golden hour. And being opposite, not a lot of background bokeh. 

The glasses on this first outfit came out really good. Like all glasses, the reflection is only good when tilted in the right way. The timing on this photo was great, the combination of timing and her pose gave it a lot of movement.

The next set faced the sun a bit more directly. The jean outfit worked really well because of all the natural yellows and other warm colors caused by the golden hour. Contrasting colors allow photos to really pop. Some of the most common ones that I've seen lately are the greenish blue and yellowish orange. I would have used those colors for this one but it would have messed with the skin tone and hair color. 

There are a lot more photos to these shoots, a lot that I don't post. But that's why I have recap blogs, to post the ones that I find out how to edit after I edit the large bunch.

The photo above was also one of my favorites of the set. It was done using a dress thing that I don't know what it's called. I think those photos are the only ones that I got a good amount of foreground in. A reflector was also used to some light on her face since the sun was on her back. 

Could not resist this one one the way down to the beach. Light and position of the rocks was just right on this one. The rocks were actually in the shade but the light was in just the right position to add a bit of rim lighting to her. 

Last photo from the shoot.

Location:

Four Mile Beach

Model:

Mercedez

Adventure with Tiffany

Sometimes you need a bit of help to get you going. Lately, I've been out of the game. Similar things have happened in the past, with art and photos. Sometimes you need a break in to re-inspire yourself and take a breath.

This past weekend I went to San Francisco to shoot with Tiffany. To start off, I have to add this video of us riding down California Street. 

Yes that was me falling at the end, which is why the camera started to move a lot. 

The main Idea behind this shoot was a skater look. The board was one that I painted a few years ago. Tiffany really helped navigate, since I had no idea where I was going and am not good at driving in the city. We started shooting in China town in the middle of the street but moved on because of how busy it was at the time. Tiffany led us to this alley where we some photos with the graffiti as a background. Both Tiffany and the board really popped against the red on one part of the wall and the birds on the left also added some flow to the photo. 

Shooting got a bit more difficult as it got darker. There was also fog, which made it get darker faster. This was one of the last photos in the alley before we moved on. We tried to go up on a rooftop but failed and moved back to China town. 

I'm used to taking my time with photos, being able to set up, line up then take couple similar ones to choose from later. The cars passing did not make this shot easy. Tiffany had to back and forth from the parking spot while I ran to line up as fast as possible. This was definitely my favorite or tied for the night. The color in it ended up really nice. Her amazing hair color also added a lot to every photo. 

This was the shoot I needed to get re-inspire me. I think it was because it was more hanging out with some shooting rather than the shooting being the main focus. A lot of the shoots that I was doing were not boring, but had me completely focused on getting a good photo that it burned me out a bit. Even if I didn't get a good photo, this would've been a good shoot.

Last photo of the night. 

Tiffany's Account: Tiffany