Thanks fj5, your wedding work looks great!

Mmm, i plan to do what you mentioned up above with a different image and layer but i don't have photoshop just lightroom to play with. 

 
Love the above images. especially of the one of the Boyrfriend in orange. Looks Baws. 

Recent trip downtown to see the Bay Bridge lights

I have a knock-off Gary Fong diffuser I got online from HK.  Works similarly and serves me well.  The light spreads quite nicely and if the ceilings are low, I remove the top cap.  YMMV.  As for umbrellas, no I don't bring those on wedding shoots, too much equipment.  I use umbrellas and softboxes for studio shoots only.

What you can try next time for your long exposures, if you wish to preserve some sharpness on a windy day, is to take a short exposure as well and layer the two images and play with the transparency.  I've never tried it but just thought of it now. 

Probably my favourite one from today. Southbank waters beach, just out from the CBD. Not many people here on a rainy afternoon considering its holidays. 

Bit of romance, come for a swim. 

Under exposed on purpose, probably a bit too much but i like the dark, stormy feel. 

Originally posted by fj5 Originally posted by koji3 Hey FJ, i got a question if you don't mind.  With most of your indoor wedding photography how do you go about lighting?  like your pre-wedding shots etc.    Hey man, I try to use ambient light for most of my indoor prep shots.  I try to get as much natural light through the windows as I can and shoot wide open with relatively high iso.  If that's just not an option, then I use external flashes and bounce off the ceiling with a diffuser.  Oh, and nice shots with the ND filter!

Ahh sweet to hear about the ambient light, I plan to do the same as i suck sooooo much with flash photography, not that im a great photographer anyway... but... 
Have you used the 'Gary fong' flash domes at all? And what about umbrellas? waste of time/money? For that kind of shot anyway, i don't plan on doing any studio work. 

And thanks  I know that in the river one, the trees/shrubs are a bit out of focus because of the long exposure on a windy day but happy with the composition for once. 

So I finally got to use my ND 3.0 filter (10 stops) which i bought from EBay. Super cheap and I think it works great!!!

A few shots from the river and waterfall near Brisbane after 6 weeks of non-stop rain. 

I wanna go through more but its late! ahhh damn sleep..

Keep them coming really really great work.. nice edits. really.

Or this (as FJ asked), http://www.red.com/
If you are really keen on motion picture but can't afford the RED check this out btw. 
http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/au/products/blackmagiccinemacamera/

Anyway, heres a few in phone pics (capture and edit). 

How do you find nikon over canon? 

Oh and why downgrade the 50mm 1.4 back to 1.8? Id it better for video? I have both for canon and I much prefer the 1.4 (Still photography). 

Haha, Totally agree spencer. And I love the 70-200, rented it out for my last shoot. pictures look amazing straight off the bat with it. 

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II 
Canon EOS-1D Mark II
Canon EOS 50D + Phottix BP-40D
Canon EOS 3 + PB-E2
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 

Then I sold it all (except for the Elan 7e and 50 1.8) and switched to Nikon:

Nikon D3 (x2)
Nikon D700 + Phottix BP-D700
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED
Nikon AF NIKKOR 35-70mm f/2.8D
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED VR
Nikon AF NIKKOR 35mm f/2.0D

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G
Nikon AF NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4D

Nowadays, for weddings I mainly shoot:

D3 + 35 2.0

D3 + 85 1.4

D700 + 14-24 2.8

Plus a handful of flash units.  For macro, I have Canon FD 100 4.0 that I mount with an adapter.  After a while, you really hone in on the system that works best for you.

Downgraded my 50 1.4 to the 1.8 and sold my 24 2.8, 35-70 2.8, and 70-200 2.8.  I really miss that Canon 85 1.2L sometimes!

canon 10-22 ef-s

canon 40mm pankcake 
canon 50mm f1.4
canon 100mm macro IS

Really want better lenses, well more, like the 16-35mm, 70-200 etc Thinking about getting the 10mm sigma fisheye as a fun lens seeing as its cheap as well.  

And yer, i was planning to upgrade my camera to a full frame once i had a decent kit of lenses and use the 550D as a video. 

Just a pic of my dog napping in the yard. just my iphone and some photobucket editing filters i thought it came out good.

some ducks at a local lake same deal iphone and some photobucket.

this is the revel casino in atlantic city, taken with my dad's olympus dslr camera and a little photobucket again.

This is a fishing spot i was scoping out in where i currently live. i think i put a little to much saturation in this pic not sure...

A pic from the yacht club down by the beach with a nice sunset

A new port rhode island mansion on the breakers.

and heres the breakers in Newport

Sorry for the super delayed reply.  Yes, as Spenser pointed out, there's definitely post processing there.  All my pro work and blog posts go through basic editing... fix the contrast a bit, white balance, saturation, sharpness, certain tones.  Sometimes I experiment a bit with post HDR.  It's pretty fun, the trick is to minimize the "exaggeration" ... so yeah, I too like the "less is more" mentality.

Congrats on landing your next shoot!  You're on your way!!!  Yeah, I'm a "Full Time" photographer... but my winters tend to be quiet (most weddings spread from spring to fall) so I get a lot more time to snowboard, which is nice! 

The 550D (T2i) is a very worthy camera.  I have one too, I use it more for my video work.  For photos, I shoot Nikon (D3 x2, D700) and a bunch of Nikkor fast glass.  Used to shoot a lot of zooms but have fallen in love with shooting primes for weddings.  I definitely recommend investing in higher end glass!

My blog:  http://fjsarmiento.tumblr.com

what's your screen resolution?  I can send you a larger image if you like

shit for brains, hah.  here is the actual photo.

I don't think they are spectacular at all as far as photography goes, but it's a good view of them up close.  anyway, both bald eagles, and the first one is a juvenile while the other is an adult.

they printed another shot of mine in the paper, front page of the outdoor section again.  I always seem to get large prints, haha.  stoked!  I really didn't think this was that awesome of a picture, as it was just a point and shoot that anyone could take, but hey, that's pretty cool either way.  I'm starting to build quite the photo-in-the-paper wall in my room, hah.

haven't posted in a while cause i haven't been up to tahoe yet this season, and i didn't want to get jealous looking through the site and all the gear and this forum. decided to take a look today, and saw this thread is up agian! my favorite to look through....so i'll contribute some photos

anyway, definitely some very high quality images from Fj5.  good work!

I saw your 500px link, good stuff man, just keep shooting and try different perspectives out.  We all start somewhere, I'm still learning every day dude.


Just wanted to share a few more shots from work and some shots I took for fun:

Nice photos man. Wish i was as creative as you. 
I did a wedding shoot for my work mate for free. Was my first time so i didn't want to charge. (image up-loader won't let me upload...)

Just a few of my shots. Still learning. 

montana creek in the rain yesterday.  'twas a wet shoot... i had no boots and spent 35 minutes in knee deep freezing water, which was actually refreshing.  don't really know this girl either.  fun day.  i'm not sure what's up with the gogo theme, but i'm not gonna complain.

   

this was "behind the scenes" while trying to figure things out, but i like how it turned out. kinda like... should i even bother wearing my boots anymore?

I assumed this forum had auto-resize :/

unfortunate that woman fell a few weeks ago on the sawtooth

I had seen photos of iphone users do this, but not panaramic style, just individual pictures of the user or something...i wanted to try something different showing interaction. I just took the first photo, and tried to line up the people as i went down the line with each phone. i'm the guy on the end. if i were to do it again, i would make sure to account for the phone bezel so it doesn't look like everyone got stretched arms haha. phones from left to right...htc aria, htc mytouch 4g, samsung vibrant, htc thunderbolt, motorola droid incredible

Pismo Beach

SD

Hmm. Sounds delicious. That is slightly annoying. 

I'm still on vacation, have about 10 panoramas to process when I get home. Plus a couple thousand pictures to sort through. Uploading will resume when I get away from slow hotel internet!

Are you interested in one as a background?

Grand Canyon August 2008: (Probably in another thread on here, or this thread, if I've forgotten about it)

A few from my trip to Italy this past March:

Looking down a street in Pompeii:

Panorama of Pompeii:

Looking down a cliff on the isle of Capri:

Looking out my hotel window in Sorrento:

Looking up at a building in Assisi:

Looking up an alley in Assisi:

A panorama looking at the mountains along the Amalfi coast:

Somebody's parking job in Rome:

And on my trip that I'm currently on, fireworks over DC:

having some panoramic fun

between tok and wasilla AK

my friend josh at the wasilla skatepark

juneau on a nice day.

sunset a couple weeks ago

trail walk a couple weeks ago

 

My wife had this picture blown up 6ft by 2ft for my game room.  When we took our late honeymoon to see the Dodgers.  Living in Western PA, this was a huge trip for us.  I think this picture is amazing in my eyes.

where is this picture taken?  Is that snow? 

Some pictures I took in Turkey in February

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeeah, just a little. 

And thanks.

Photo by Patrick Ross:

photos from pier 5 in sf

Post up some photography!

Your google skills are growing, grasshopper.
 

Stock of bridge at low tide.   

LMAO at the wet. 

Anyone up for a game of guess my hometown?

NOT MINE but i love the person whom this belongs to. i'll post more if people like it, HAhaha

couple snaps from our first fire out the road this year, last night.  they all look the same every time.

   

another beach tonight with my friend

 

couple from tonight in the moonlight

captainryanfarrell

house on the moonlit water

moon?  not really for a "photo," i just wanted to see the details

ryan above downtown juneau

shot this one quick and it was kinda blurry, but ryan liked it, so..

today

my friend hilary sketching, first time we've hung out in four years since highschool.

found a pincer from a crab...

jerms doing his thing

   

ShredBetty... nice pics... I really like the ones of the guys on the BMX bikes. They were kind of retro looking. I think you posted them like 2 years ago.... Your art is great! post some more...

Little Lizard

getupk3v: it varied throughout, but most were atleast 15 sec...

San Francisco

New York

Seattle

Shibuya

Yokosuka

Las Vegas

Portrait of the Loch Ness Monster and Myself

check it out http://www.shutterculture.com/ and support if you like

I think this is La Push, those rocks look awful familiar. I'll post up some pics when I switch computers. :)

 

 

 

 

not really for photography, more just scoping lines, but these are two main mountains i see from my house, a few miles away.

took these earlier today...

Haven't seen this one up in a while.. here are some others

To me, this looks like a scene from the Twilight series...  don't ask...

Shot this w/ a homemade 16x20 pinhole camera

for some reason this shot reminds my of The Goonies

 

My last day of last season.  Snow on one side and grass on the other.   I thought it was a pretty cool picture.

 

 

 

 

 

You could say that.   Was pretty cool watching the front wheel wobbling right in front of me the whole time, too.  Gotta love the old school parts.

 

 

 

Thanks!  It was really beautiful up there, I wish we could've stayed for sunset but we were all carrying ultralight gear and some guys said it had gotten down to 25F the night before and wind was supposed to pick up to 10mph from the pre-trip forecast I read so we took river trail down and camped low for the night.  Hopefully I can make it out to 1000 island lake again some time though.. especially when there are some trout there! 

 

Did you read the story...

Just came back from a short hiking trip this weekend out to 1000 island lake by MM.  seeing all that snow made me anxious for this season! 

I got to break in my new camera bag though.  Can't wait to take it out onto the slopes 

 

 

Some dude's been waiting 40+ years to capture a shot of this and finally accomplished it in September.  Not sure if anybody else has seen this yet, but I just came across it tonight thanks to the MSN homepage.

 

great job Z, reminds me of an old friends work http://www.jorydayne.com/

I really need to get back on the vector train

august 9

These should be posted on the Friday for the ladies thread Zoe.  Oh and great pictures of the rocks as well....

a couple more

sweet shots

Motorcycled down to Albuquerque with the girlfriend for the weekend. we took the sandia peak tramway up and did some hiking around.

Thanks! it was my first time visiting and i was trying to capture the "pace" of new york

my cousins son checking out the sea lions at fisherman's wharf, sf

visiting NY, waiting for the train

top of empire state building, everything in NY is always moving

girlfriend at golden gate park

at her brothers wedding

Wow! You've got ups! :)

Any of you talented photographers, get yourself in on the Intern Positions at Mt. Hood.

We are hiring two videographers/editors, but photographers are welcome to apply, we can train you up.

 

WOW! do you have a high res version so i can make it my desktop background at work?!

This was his second time riding, and by the end of the day, he was carving down with me and my brother! look at the focus and determination in his eyes! hahahaha

break time...

tired at the end of the day...

i didnt' take this, but it's a picture of me that my girl took...

these are from the Science museum in SF

can you see us?!

 

 

 

 

the house i used to live in is a quick walk up the hill through the woods right about where the trees dip down the lowest about 3/4 toward the right in the photo

+1

one from yesterday.. driving past auke lake where i used to live, the water was completely glassy, so i pulled over...

Canon 5D w/ 16-35mm 

DFW Airport, Long exposure

Driving to Denver from Dallas, Clayton, NM around 3am

Downtown Los Angeles outside The Standard

The Alamo world premiere, San Antonio,TX

if you were including my photos in that, mine are all taken on a basic/cheap point and shoot camera.  i dont have a DSLR.

that would be the pacific ocean, haha.  i used to live right up a short hill through the woods from an epic lake (which is half a mile from the ocean) but now i moved about 20 miles away.. i can run to the ocean in under a minute right now if i wanted.. or i could jump in the mini pond behind my house.

anyway, here are a few from this evening.  the weather has been amazing here these last few days... a sight like these are just part of the norm here in southeast AK :)

 

Mammoth yesterday, it was windy.

 

 And a very rare sight in southern california taken from Long Beach harbor on 1-20-2010.

 

 

to spenser love your pics especially the karate kids. wish i live by the lake. 

here are some recent ones that i like more as "photos" rather than just "pictures," if you know what i mean.

my friend joe, nose butter 3 or whatever they call it.  few weeks ago.

one of my best friends, lydia.. few weeks ago.

me, taken by lydia.  i call it "karate kid winning the heisman trophy"

two days ago hiking a trail up a mountain

last night

   

 

 

OK, so I know this post is about 18 months old but damn it made me

^ random shot outta moonroof in Oakland business district. 

I just posted this in my US Open Picture thread, but I like the way it pops with the black and white

Playing with night shot, long exposure

My niece playing

Japanese tea garden in SF

Japanese tea garden in SF

Alameda beach

Central Park NY

Not my shot, but a still image taken from our last trip to Tahoe!

I've got the standard 18-135mm f/3.5 that came with my kit, but I also grabbed a 80-200mm f/2.8 and 50mm f/1.4.  Next on the list are two Tamron lenses though.  Their 60mm f/2.0 Macro lens and their 18-270mm with Vibration Compensation are calling my name.

Relaxing on my front porch