Pierre Steenberg

Lemonade ...

July 10, 2016 • Leave a Comment

On the last photography workshop we got handed some lemons. Don and I checked in with the people in charge of the park and arranged times for them to open the park for us. We confirmed our discussions via email. Everything worked well everyday, till the last morning. We arrived at the gate as scheduled, but there was nobody to open the gate for us.

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Be out when others go in (always do what is safe)

July 03, 2016 • Leave a Comment

Every time I co-instruct a photography workshop I see the same thing. We get up early and hike in the dark to get in the right place at the right time. We shoot until the light is too harsh. We pack up and exit the park. All this time we basically had the park to ourselves. Then as we drive out of the park the masses come. They come in tour buses....

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Lens hoods

June 26, 2016 • Leave a Comment

Lens hoods are wonderful. I hate lens hoods. The wonderful: If the sun shines directly into your lens you may get flare and or a washed out image (no contrast) or even an ugly color cast over parts of your image. Believe me, top photographers love shooting into the sun. Whenever the sun is at a lowish angle you may encounter this problem and when...

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Do what works for you

June 19, 2016 • Leave a Comment

Most of us have little quirks or things we do simply because they work for us. In photography we all have our way of shooting, our habits, or a sequence we use when we shoot. At times we laugh when we see how others do photography. At times we wonder why we did not think of that because it makes sense and may be helpful. Today I will share one of t...

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Planning a shot

June 12, 2016 • Leave a Comment

I have written a previous blog about planning a shot. Today I would like to show you how to practically work that plan. I had to be in San Francisco for a public speaking appointment. Naturally I wanted to get another image of San Francisco, but I wanted an image that I don't already have. That eliminated the Golden Gate bridge, the Bay Bridge, and...

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Break Through Photography filters: A Review - Part II

June 05, 2016 • Leave a Comment

Now that I have used both filters from Break Through Photography I would like to talk about their performance. Polarizer filters take reflections off of leaves caused by the waxy sheen on leaves. They can also make clouds pop. Interestingly, they can make rainbows disappear. On the other hand they can also aid rainbows. Using filters in White Sand...

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Break Through Photography filters: A review - Part I

May 29, 2016 • Leave a Comment

Since my switch to the Sony system I have needed to get new filters as the new lenses have different diameters than my Canon lenses. First of all you will remember from previous posts that I do not believe in UV or so called protective filters; so I don't buy those. Secondly, I believe in buying very good filters, even at higher cost. Your lens wil...

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A closer look at river rocks

May 22, 2016 • Leave a Comment

River beds can be littered with rocks. When we are lucky or plan correctly we find moss on them to add color and interest. Rocks can be a wonderful tool to lead the viewer into the image. Remember the viewer will follow anything that is different or that stands out. If there is a river bed filled with sand that has on rock on it the viewer's eyes w...

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Mixing cold and warm colors

May 15, 2016 • Leave a Comment

I love the ocean. I love shooting the ocean using long shutter speeds. The wave movement and sometimes spooky effect is interesting and surprising because you don't quite know what you are going to get until you review the image. Shooting these kind of images at or near sunset adds to the image because you are mixing cold and warm colors. Because...

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Using brightness compositionally

May 08, 2016 • Leave a Comment

I have mentioned before that the eye will always go to the brightest parts on an image first. Black and white images where edited by dodging (lightening certain parts) and burning (darkening certain parts) them, yes image editing is nothing new. We too can use brightness compositionally to attract the viewer's attention to the part of the image we...

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