So many pictures, so little time.

It's been a crazy and exciting couple of weeks, still trying to catch my breath and get caught up with post processing & uploading. 

First, there was my first trip to Big Sur.  Originally planned to go their for a friend's wedding but decided to make it into an extra long 4 day weekend.  So much to see there, need to go back for an extended trip and just focus on photos, every turn in the road is a new opportunity.  I managed to get up for sunrise every morning.  I had rented a tilt-shift lens to get more practice with panoramas, some were successful, others weren't.  Here are some of my favs.

 

 
Sunrise from Lucia Lodge

Sunrise on Sand Dollar Beach

Pacific Valley bluffs

Limekiln State Park

 
Limekiln State Park

The setting for the wedding was incredible, in the forest with a nice bridge and running stream.  Proper exposure proved to be more challenging than expected because of lack of light under the trees, was equipped with the 24-70 2.8L lens but wish I had brought the 50 1.8, good thing I was just a guest.  Got a couple breaks with the sun coming through the canopy and smoke from campfires added extra ambience.

Immediately following this weekend was the fires that filled up my entire week with obsessive shooting, see previous post.

The following weekend I drove down to Yuma, AZ to hit the dunes as a favor to a friend.  There was a meet up of 1/5th scale R/C car enthusiasts.  I'm still an r/c dork at heart so it was interesting, but entirely too hot in the desert.

This weekend took some conceptual shots for stock usage, we'll see how they turn out.  Next weekend off to Maui for 8  days, boo hoo.  I keep promising to pack light in the camera department but don't know what will happen.  It would be a shame to leave the 100-400 at home and miss some freak giant waves at jaws.

Brush Fire in Irvine

We got home last night from our Big Sur trip shortly before this fire broke out. I resisted the urge to go out and shoot that night because I was beat but decided to get up early to see what I could see. Since my previous brush fire pictures are some of my best sellers in iStock I thought it would be worth it.

It's been my experience that it is much easier to find a place to park and just walk to a good location rather than dealing with the traffic and road closures. I initially parked in the shopping center at the corner of Sand Canyon & Irvine Blvd. I was walking across the street in front of a barricade when the officer manning it asked if I was there to take pictures. Considering I had my tripod with 400mm lens slung over my shoulder I thought it a silly question. I told her I was and she said if I wanted to go get my car she would let me through the barricade to get closer. What luck! I unknowingly fooled her into thinking I was some sort of professional.

Once inside the protected area I drove for about a half mile before foolishly consulting another of Irvine's finest on where I could go. He asked to see my credentials (doh!) and when I couldn't come up with any made me turn around, which I did with my tail between my legs. Next time I am in such a situation it is key to pretend like I actually know what I'm doing there.

I retreated back down Irvine Blvd and grabbed some sunrise shots through the smoke. They opened Irvine back up a few minutes later so I went through and turned down Modjeska Cyn. right into the heart of Portola Springs. This entrance was blocked off about 10 minutes later so I got lucky and was able to get up close & personal with some fire and got a face full of smoke & ash.

More Santiago Fire Pictures

Hummingbirds

I recently started trying my hand at hummingbird pictures. These little devils are so fast it's hard to get a good clear shot. Initially I was juicing up the ISO and shooting wide open to get the fastest shutter speed, then realized that there is a much easier way. Shooting around f8 I set my 430EX flash off to the side and try to stick the shutter somewhere in the 1/200 - 1/300 range. I have been experimenting with a couple different methods and so far have had the best results using rear curtain synch. The hummers seem to get spooked by the flash and/or the loud shutter on my rebel XT. If they are sitting at the feeder and I take the pic they flap their wings a few times. The pictures that are captured are funny looking with the wings sometimes covering their eyes or head. With the rear synch the flash fires and freezes them with wings fully extended.... Usually a much more interesting pose. Although they seem to be getting used to the sound and having me so close so sometimes they don't react at all to the shutter.

Our feeder is hung in a nice spot, shaded in the afternoon sun but the tree directly behind it gets full light. Shots with the flash are filled in nicely and the background has good exposure as well. This afternoon I came up with some of my sharpest ones yet.




Full gallery can be seen here:
http://scottvickers.smugmug.com/gallery/3547976

Newport Beach Pro Surfing

I hit up 56th street on Saturday morning to take some pics of the NB Pro competitors. I think they turned out pretty good but what really blew my mind was looking at the photos that were posted on the official site later that day. Check out the photos below, basically as close as you can get to taking pictures at the exact same moment:
Mine of Shaun Burrell:

Hennings:


Mine of Micah Byrne:

Hennings:


The first is almost spot on, you can see a difference in the hand relationship to the board but the rest is essentially exact. Russ was standing probably 10 yards behind me and slightly up the beach so there is a difference in the angle. The second one it looks like I was behind by a fraction of a second, the board angle is lower and there is a longer trail of water coming off of it. Pretty trippy considering there weren't hundreds of photogs on the beach, actually only 3 or 4 that morning... Even better is that Russ Hennings is a sr. photog @ Surfing magazine, maybe I have an eye for this stuff after all?

I was using my Rebel XT w/ a Canon 100-400 4.5-5.6L lens, most shots fully extended and wide open. You can view the other pics in the gallery here:
Newport Beach Pro