Did you get to see the solar eclipse on Sunday?
A friend of ours gave us a pair of glasses, so we used that to see what’s happening. We didn’t really prepare to shoot the solar eclipse, but we happened to have a polarizer, so we decided to photograph the eclipse with that.
We used Canon 7D with 70-200mm lens. Our setup was 200mm, f/32, 1/8000s and ISO100.
So here is a photo at the beginning and the middle. Since we are in California, we could not see the ‘ring’… I think you had to be in Oregon.

Also, big trees with lots of leaves are acting as millions of pin hole cameras, so the shadows on our neighbor’s house were all shaped in eclipse. How fun!

Mother’s day is this weekend and considering the weather, a lot of people may be planning a picnic at a park just like we are.

When the sun is high, and people are in the sun, it creates harsh shadows on their faces as you can see below. But they really wanted to have a picture on the rooftop and have some of the skyline in the background. And due to their schedule, we could not shoot much earlier or later.

Another thing to consider is most people can’t help squinting in the bright sun… Being in the shadow can avoid that also.
There is something you can do in this situation, which I will blog about in another blog…

So the best and easiest thing to do is to find a shade, just enough to cover their face. For this picture, we had a little shade from a tree near by.

So if you are at a park this weekend and want to take pictures of your mom and family in the middle of the day, look for a shade or bring An umbrella.

I just got a new photo prop, so I thought I will test with my dog, Mochi. He is a reluctant, but good model. I am not even holding a treat. All I have to say is “ducky?” He knows it means “duck jerky”. Then he can be very attentive. Yes, he did get a duck jerky in the end.

I had an opportunity to photograph the owner of Tamarind Financial Planning in San Mateo. She has a photo on her site, but her hair style has changed and it has been a while, so she decided to update.

Her office had a few nicely lit spots for us to shoot. One of them was at the lobby. Sun was coming in through the glass walls, shining her hair. There was a nice water fountain in front of the building, so it would have been nice to take pictures in front of it, but it was just too breezy…

Here is one in her office. We tried with some flower in the background,

but headshots are usually cropped into a square, so it would be more like this in the end…

Is your photo on your business card or website up to date?

I get emails from software companies that develop software for photographers. A couple of days ago, I got an email about free version of photo editing software I already have… It has limited amount of effects, but still fun to have. It is called Perfect Effects 3 Free Edition from OnOne software. Here is an example.
The original photo from Eggstravaganza at central park in San Mateo.

With their “Brandon with Frame” effect. All I did was clicking an image button in the software!

With their “Secret Formula and Brownie” effects combined. You can also adjust the opacity of each effect to get different results using same 2 effects.

If you are like me who likes to see how your photos will look like with different effects, this is a great addition. You don’t have to have Photoshop. This is a stand alone software.
Enjoy!