1st
July
2009
El Bob spent the day in New York City and made a few new friends. There is absolutely too much to see, it would take El Bob a few lifetimes to cover everything. Due to bad weather and limited time, El Bob could only visit a small seashell-full of places. He started with breakfast at Central Cafe, then off to Grand Central where he took the A to Museum of Natural History. El Bob walked through Central Park and into the Central Park Zoo to say hi to some penguin and polar bear friends. It was then off to the Apple store to play with the new iPhone 3Gs. El Bob walked through Times Square in the rain, visited the New York Public Library, which was kinda smelly, and finally ended up at the Guggenheim. There will be many more New York City trips for him in the future.
The reason why I prefer to use a point and shoot camera is deeper depth of field. Even with a super wide 16mm lens wide open, the background will be blurred out, whereas this does not happen with my Sony Cybershot.
El Bob barely fits on the center island, narrowly escapes the taxis.
Free water park for El Bob!
El Bob enjoys people watching, and watching you too.
Too bad there are no people to watch.
El Bob does not pose for Nikon users.
Welcome to El Bob’s living room.
El Bob wonders how many of his relatives can fit in here.
El Bob rushing for the subway.
El Bob just made it.
El Bob is thinking of getting another tattoo.
El Bob has friends of all sizes, dead or alive.
“Hi brontosaurus.”
El Bob has a staring contest with Sharky. It’s a tie.
El Bob meets Mr Ed.
“Giddy up!”
El Bob enjoys live music.
El Bob wishes he could swim, but he can’t even float.
El Bob walks just like the penguins.
El Bob is always around water.
El Bob wants to give Mr Polar Bear a CocaCola.
This is the perfect keyboard for El Bob while playing “Up.”
DJ El Bob in the house.
Taking a breather, El Bob can’t stand too many Apple fanboys.
El Bob needs these babies in his room.
El Bob is Mac and PC compatible.
El Bob is saving up for La Bebe.
El Bob just met Dug and he loves him.
El Bob helps crush sesame seeds.
El Bob is ready for fetch.
Time for El Bob to get educated.
El Bob should have his own statue.
El Bob is looking out for any cute girls.
El Bob is a bookpig.
El Bob would like to crawl all over the ceiling if he could.
El Bob visits Lady Liberty.
El Bob passes through a wet Times Square.
El Bob with his three new friends.
posted in Photography |
23rd
June
2009
While I’ve always concentrated on shooting people and not landscapes, shooting portrait style (vertically) has always been the way to go. You draw the most interest by getting close up, cropping, and filling the frame. So as long as the person is in a vertical position, a portrait frame would best fill the image with the subject. This style of shooting also carried on to my wedding photography for the first few years, always filling the frame. As my work progressed towards photo journalistic style, the images were less about each individual portrait of every person at an event, and more about capturing the entire scene and atmosphere.
A wedding is full of visual stimulation, from the architecture of the church, the colors of a garden, to the lighting of the reception hall, they all need to be part of the photo so the subjects have a setting or environment within the story.
Another reason for shooting landscape mode is reducing the “energy” in the photo. A portrait photo stands tall and has more potential energy than a landscape photo sitting horizontally. Just like you would not feel comfortable watching a vertical movie screen versus a horizontal wide screen. You want to be relaxed while staring at a photo. A landscape photo also simulates a movie scene.
I still remember the immediate transition from 85% portraits to 85% landscape while shooting weddings, and I’ve loved the results even more since then. Whether you still prefer to frame vertically or horizontally, you must be conscious about the environment you are including in the frame. Tight crop is usually safer at the expense of loosing environmental information, but sometimes too much negative space makes the photo boring as well.
Here’s a final random fact: I dont crop any of my photos with software.
posted in Photography |
27th
May
2009
The day after Italy, El Bob flies straight to Las Vegas for some R&R. Although El Bob does not gamble, there are still plenty of ways to throw his money away. El Bob stayed at The Signature by MGM Grand, which had a great deal for a large one bedroom suite with jacuzzi, and no annoying casino in the lobby. El Bob likes to do manly things, which is why he took a ride in a Corvette ZHZ sporting a LS3 6.2L V8 436 horsepower engine, as well as a Mini Cooper-S convertible. El Bob also went to The Gun Store and rented the Coalition Package which includes the M249 SAW, M16 Riffle, and a M9 Pistol. El Bob tore up Osama’s face, no sweat.
As much fun as El Bob had, he sometimes wishes there was a Miss El Bob (though not really named Miss El Bob) to share a Piña Colada with. Looking for someone to hook him up!
The Sky Mall magazine has a lot of great gadgets for El Bob.
El Bob chills in the living room.
El Bob checks out the other Signature tower.
If El Bob jumps, can he make it to the pool?
El Bob rates this bed 5 stars for comfort.
El Bob likes muscle cars.
And exotics too.
El Bob thinks he should be the emblem instead.
El Bob’s ears flow through the wind.
El Bob says he’s got nothing on us.
Slow poke.
Look at El Bob, isn’t he adorable?
El Bob senses a storm coming.
If only El Bob had a fork in his mouth.
El Bob digs fast cars.
El Bob is on the lookout for cops.
Is she looking at El Bob?
El Bob is such a camera whore.
El Bob thinks he goes perfect with red.
And yellow.
Just enjoying the view.
El Bob cruising in the ZHZ.
Too cool for school.
El Bob having Belgium waffles at The Signature.
El Rambo Bob.
El Bob’s favorite gun is the M249 SAW.
El Bob’s favorite receipt, ever. Does this qualify as a business expense?
El Bob likes round things!
El Bob wants to be El Azul Bob.
El Bob at the Blue Man Group show.
Blue Man and El Bob go way back.
El Bob at the Venetian.
El Bob is not impressed.
El Bob goes home.
posted in Photography |
