Want better pictures? Then, go away…

I’ve noticed that I have a hard time coming up with good pictures when I’m home. I come back with the same old pictures, same framing, same “safe” shots… it’s, to say the least, frustrating. In direct contrast, I get pictures I’m much happier with, when I go out of town (and to a lesser extend, when people from out of town come to shoot with me). So forget about the new lens/camera/strap/gizmo, and invest on a plane ticket (it doesn’t have to be Tibet, I’ve been going to Miami), it will do great things to your photography.

       

I recently ordered a set of cheap ND Filters, and inspired by other photographer’s use of them, I started mixed them with off camera flash for portraits. This 3 are my first try at them, so I will have to play a bit more with them before I can say if it will be something I want to continue doing or if it was just a nice try, and move on. I will however say, the neutral part of the “Neutral Density” is a lie, there’s a purpleish color cast added to the pictures, it isn’t so bad (and easy fix in Lightroom/Camera RAW), but it is very evident when opening the pictures straight out of camera (not trying to discourage you from buying them, as I am, so far, reasonably happy with them. However, be aware of the problems).

And that’s it for now, I will be back in Florida next week, and I will take some more portraits, until then, here are some pictures

 

             

Thank you very much

 

Andres Trujillo
NOVA Photographer

What a week

So I’ve been out of the count for a better part of a week, due to some hamstring related back pain… needless to say, I didn’t do squad this weekend, sometimes my body REALLY sucks.



Anyway, as I mentioned, I pretty much got rid of my zoom lenses, and I only carry two primes in my bag, the 50mm 1.8 (nifty fifty), and my new baby, the 85mm 1.8.

So far I’ve been really happy with the new lens, the biggest issue is getting used to the focal length, not being able to zoom to adjust the frame and composition (I have to zoom with my legs). But that’s only until I get used to it, other than that, I freaking love the lens.

        


In other news, Apple banned the 500px app recently, due to boobies (I’m sure there’s a more mature way to say this, but this pretty much sums the extend of the problem). Don’t get me wrong, I understand that you do not want to promote porn in your apps (so lets ignore this, and this, and perhaps this too), but even though there are nudes in 500px, they were more artistic than racy (some exceptions, but as a general rule). I have never gone to 500px or Flickr for racy pictures, or for boobies, I go for art. If I want racy pictures within an app, I’ll use Tumblr (where you get racy pictures whether you want to or not), or if I am specifically looking for it, I’ll use this

unless they decide to block it too

500px has a “safe” filter applied to every account by default (Hell, you can’t upload a picture without specifying if it is safe or not), you have to go in and turn it off (however, it is up to the photographer to categorize a picture as “safe” or “not safe” so I will admit that it isn’t perfect), so this “protecting” the innocent sensibilities of the users seem out of place, this is just a case of not understanding the app enough before making a decision, and it is a shortcoming on Apple’s  side (the app has been reinstated in the app store [today], with an NC-17 rating and a “report” button, however, there were several other apps using 500px API available in the app store during this time… Are you fucking kidding me Apple?).

Anyway, in other news, Flickr new updated app… I’ve been burned before by Flickr, so it is hard for me to say this, I-LOVE-IT

hey, Apple, I did a search for “boobies” in the Flickr app, guess what I found?... BOOBIES (not shown here), and not even the classy type, noooo, I found among other shots, cell phone self shots of boobies…. I’m a child, I know that.

Anyway, the app looks amazing (it actually looks better than the website), and it shows as a very nice step on the right direction… I do have one request, they need to make an app for the iPad… that’s it, other than that, I’m very happy.

Oh well, I guess that’s my rant for the day, here are some pictures:

 



 

 


 










Thank you very much for reading

Short and sweet

Well, I’m back.

Not much new since last I wrote, I did the Kelby Photowalk (met some great photographers in it), I won a Camera Dojo contest (a million thanks to Fundy Software’s Andrew Funderburg, and Kerry Garrison from Camera Dojo, I will be writing a review in the near future), I’ve been spending a lot of time in Florida, and spent Christmas with Pat (love you, thanks for reminding me to write, now it is your turn… no pressure), and she got me a Canon 7D (she inherited my Canon 50D), got rid of my 70-300 and replaced it with a Canon 85mm (I LOVE THAT LENS, again, million thanks to Pat), got a new roommate who got me back on the mat (Brazilian Jiujitsu FTW).

 

I will write a little bit more of this past year and changes during the week, hopefully.

 

Update

Well, on a crazy month, I have done everything I’ve been saying (for years), I would never do… I went back to Flickr (mostly to be able to get my old images back), I switched to iPhone and I may be soon purchasing an iPad (this move was forced by several separate issues, principally, the apparent suicide of all my Android based gadgets… do not worry, I still maintain that Apple is evil, I do miss certain things about Android [oh widgets, how I miss thee], but I can’t argue that the iOS platform is far more stable), and I forgot I had a blog (again)… in my defense, I haven’t done much lately.

I did do a shoot for Soapbox Gypsy (the website isn’t done yet, but you can see some of the images HERE), that came as a direct result of shooting an event at work (one of the owners of Soapbox Gypsy is a coworker of mine). It took two meetings, but I am quite happy with the result of them (as I hope Soapbox Gypsy is happy with the results too).

Two flashes blowing the white seamless, a softbox (an umbrella on the first shoot), and JJ's crotch...
My first production shot, I'll do better next time

I also put a new portfolio for review (HERE), and I sent it to a photographer I really admire for review (if/when he reviews it, I’ll post a link to the review). Other than that, it has been a pretty quiet couple of months. Hopefully it will get better pretty soon, but in the meantime, I will continue taking some pictures and hopefully uploading to Flickr and here.
In the meantime, here are some of the latest pics: