This shot is another one from the night I went to Venice Beach. I go to Venice a lot, it's kind of my get away beach, but the other night I went there specifically to take photos. Might do it again this week sometime since my auto mechanic is down there for my wife's Saab. We'll see.

I've been really shooting more photos with a 2:1 or even 3:1 crop in mind. This was one of them. It's not cropped here but I did crop it for my Google+ page. It looks better cropped in my opinion but I figured I wouldn't crop it for my smugmug portfolio page because someone can just crop it on checkout to suit their needs. I've usually only been forcing a crop when there is something in the image I'm not happy with. It's one of those tough decisions us photographers have to make especially when not shooting Medium Format.

And yes, I use Google+. Not sure what kind of future it has since it seem my followers are going inactive faster than I can get new ones as of late. Seems only to be really useful for those photographers Google blesses into their recommended system where they get 4 million followers in a year, essentially advertising thier presents. The rest of us have to go around and add everyone we see, or engaging in their posts hoping they will follow back and engage in our posts. The interesting thing about Google though, is your friends of G+ who do Google searches will see your blog posts that hit those keywords before anyone else. So if your a blogger that Google's blessed you into the system and you have 4 million followers that could triple your sites traffic over night and make your site instantly rank over everyone else. Lucky them. That's why it's always good to participlate in all the new stuff that's out there because you never know what will happen. The world and success all revolves around getting lucky. 

Blue Infinity at the Venice Beach Pier

I used my new LIght Craft ND 500 for this shot.

There is a certain style of photography that I've always been attracted to. Not like sexually or anything, well maybe. A little. . . Just Kidding. Anyway, it's known as Long Exposure Photography and it creates this effect where the water and clouds all look really smooth and milky. See, now you know why I'm attracted to it. 

To do this style of photography I've learned you really just need to get a massive ND filter. Just raging! And only ND filter powerful enough to do this that I knew of (and was of good quality) was the Lee Big Stopper. But this filter is always on back order. Always! And if you're anything like me, I can only buy camera gear on impulse. So I wasn't going to wait around no 6 months while I wait for the mail man to come by with that raging Big Stopper. So instead of waiting and spending an additional $150 dollars on mounts I decided to impulsively order the Light Craft Workshop ND500 MC+H.R.C 82mm. It's not 10 stops like the Lee ND but 9 is good enough for now. Actually one more stop would have been nice since I end up at around a 30 second exposure and an f19-f22 in mid day sun. I'd prefer to be at an f16 or lower but at least with this ND filter I can still see through my viewfinder to frame the shot. Barely, but it can be done. And if I want to go darker I could always screw on another ND.

Since I just got this Light Craft Workshop ND filter I'm going to test it out a bit more and then write up a better review. A real review. But so far it seems to be a great alternative to the Lee Big Stopper and I'm actually glad I bought this instead. Screw on filters are just more convenient and it only costs $100 bucks.

Here is my first photo from my first attempts using this thing. 

Today's Long Exposure Photo

This was taken with a 30 second shutter at an f19 and an ISO of 100. This is the Venice Beach Pier in Los Angeles California. 

I live only a few miles from Century city, maybe two but yet I've never been there to take photos. I've been to China, Indonesia, Japan three times, the Grand Canyon twice but I haven't been to this cool little place that's only two miles from my house. Kind of funny how that works. Century city is pretty cool, a quiet little spot in Los Angeles but this city also holds the infamous Die Hard building. Remember that building from the first Die Hard? Yep I drive right buy it every day from work and I can see it almost from my house. I've been meaning to get some photos of it one day. But for tonight, I went down to the mall wondered around for a bit to find a cool spot until stumbling upon this bridge. My main goal was actually to test out my new 9 stop ND filter but it got two be too dark before I found a good spot. I'll probably take it to the beach next weekend and see what it can produce. 

Today's HDR Photo

Every once in awhile we get some amazing sunsets in Los Angeles. The whole sky will just turn to a fiery orange or red. Sometimes purple. This was one of those times. This was taken from the rooftop of the building I work in. The reflections off the glass enhance the colors nicely. 

Since I live only two miles from Westwood Los Angeles, I decided to walk around and see if I could find anything interesting to photo. The apartment buildings all around there are really cool but it's hard to get a good view of them so I ended up sticking mainly to the little college town itself. It's kind of sad I live so close to this place but never go here unless I'm picking up meds from CVS. Which I was feeling sick this night so had to cut my adventures short. 

I did end up finding this cool little spot that has this Spanish style. I was able to get one or two photos of it then the property manager came out and closed it all down. It looks exotic enough but don't be fooled, there is a Verizon store on the other side of that wall.