Author: Alik Griffin

Mud Jeep – Canon 5DmkII

This little masterpiece is a great example of why you should always take your camera with you everywhere.
Grand Canyon – View from Mather Point

A year and a half later, I returned to the Grand Canyon with two new lenses. This time, I had a little more time—about two hours. I was able to use my tripod and switch my lenses a couple of times. This photo was taken on my Canon 70-200mm f2.8L IS II. The Grand Canyon…
Santa Barbara Orange Reflection

The other night, I was in Santa Barbara taking photos around the Pier. I’m slowly collecting all the piers of Southern California. While walking down to get a nice wide shot of the pier, I looked across this dirty little inlet lagoon thing that smelled really bad and saw all these trees and this little…
Lightroom Running Slow? Here’s How You Can Fix It

If you’ve upgraded from Lightroom 4 to Lightroom 5 or even Lightroom CC, you might have noticed things suddenly getting slow at times. It happens to me all the time and under different circumstances. It’s inconsistent. I’ve hit the forums and Google and decided to compile a list of every solution I’ve found related to…
Tower Pizza of The Danish Town Solvang

A couple of miles out of Santa Barbara, California, is a small Danish town called Solvang. It feels as though Vikings built it one hundred years ago or something. Actually, they probably did, but I haven’t done my research on the place yet.
The American Falls

This photo is from last year when I went to Toronto, Canada. It’s of the American Falls taken from the Canadian side. To the right of this is the Niagara Falls. This is one of those sites that is just breathtaking in real life. It’s hard to really capture the scale of this in the…
Redondo Beach Pier

The different beach cities all along the coast of California all seem to have their own little vibe. And Redondo Beach is no different. For this shot, a thick marine layer blocked most of the sun. A few minutes after this, the light from the sun was pretty much gone, even though the sun was…
Two Seagulls in a sea of Mussels

This is an HDR photo of two seagulls relaxing in a sea of mussels during sunset. It was a very low tie, so the mussels were all exposed. I’m sure the seagulls were looking for an easy meal with all the other animals that were exposed. I’m on a 16mm shot in this photo, and…
How to Shoot Better Photography with a Tripod

I’ve started shooting many more landscapes, long exposures, cityscapes, and HDR Photography in the last few years. Using a Tripod has taught me a great deal about why and how to use a tripod and other photography techniques.
Beach Photography

Like most people, I love the beach, I love shooting there, and I always love great ocean and beach pictures. I grew up on the beach and have spent a lot of time in the water—hours a day surfing on summer break or between semesters. It’s safe to say I’ve learned a thing or two…