Long Exposure Light Leak With My Lee Big Stopper
Hi everyone. Here's my public service announcement for the week. I had a trip out to Portland, OR last week so I decided to extend it by a couple of days and head down to Bandon Beach, OR with my buddy Brian Matiash. I'll make sure I post some photos this week, but...
Nikon 24mm f/1.4 Review (from a Landscape Photography view)
A few weeks ago I test drove the Nikon 24mm f/1.4 prime lens on my trip to Death Valley. I ended really liking it and wanted to give you some thoughts about why I did. A Surprise Test Drive It was weird because I had absolutely no interest in using this lens. But our...
Video: Photo Workflow From Start to Finish
Last week I was extremely honored to be featured in another episode of onOne Software's Perfect Inspiration series, hosted by Brian Matiash (and I'm totally stealing it at my blog post for the day) 😉 Basically, it's like a Before/After video where you take a photo...

Free Lightroom Presets – Tonal Contrast Effect
One of my favorite effects in Photoshop plug-ins is the Tonal Contrast effect. onOne Software's Perfect Effects has it, and Nik has it as well. But I know that lots of people still don't use 3rd party plug-ins, so I set out to try to recreate the effect in Lightroom....
The Phrase Photographers Hate: “Your Camera Takes Great Photos!”
This past weekend some of my close family (uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews) were in town for a family event. Being the only photographer in the family, I try to bring my camera with me when we get together. Not just for big group photos, but I know how hard it is for...
Free Lightroom Presets – Black & White HDR Presets for Landscapes
Some of the most popular presets I have are the HDR presets I created for Lightroom 4. As I looked through my website stats, I also realized that some of the other most popular presets were the black and white presets for both landscapes and portraits. Then it hit me...
Some Quick Thoughts About Showing My Throw-Away Photos
I was thinking this morning about yesterday's post, where I showed some of my not-so-good photos from my recent trip. I figured I'd share some thoughts with you. 1. It was one of my most popular blog posts since I've started the blog. It's really interesting because...
When A Death Valley Landscape Photography Shoot Goes Bad
Yesterday I posted some of my favorite photos from my Death Valley trip. First off, thanks so much for the nice comments. Well, today, once again figuring why should I end it on a high note, I thought I'd follow it up with some of the not-so-good photos from the trip....
Photographing Death Valley (My Trip Recap)
Before we get going, if you're into Lightroom I have a few seminars coming up. This week I'll be in Oklahoma City, and next week is Austin. In February I'll be in Arlington, TX and Atlanta, GA. Then in March I'll be in Phoenix. Here's the link to the seminar page if...
The Benefits Of Re-Processing Your Photos
I was going through my photo library the other day and came across the photo here. It's a photo I took about 5 years ago in Moab. I thought, "huh... that could be pretty cool if I re-processed it". I mean, the sliders and effects and filters that we have today are far...
5 Quick Photo Observations From My Death Valley Photography Trip
Hey everyone. I'm on my flight heading back to the East coast from my recent Death Valley photography trip. I'm beat! Four days of going to bed late and getting up at Oh-Dark-Thirty takes it's toll on you. And luckily I was smart enough to ensure I'd get no sleep by...
Photographing Death Valley (Day 1)
My buddy Brian Matiash and I arrived in Las Vegas yesterday, rented our car and started our way toward Death Valley (after an In And Out Burger stop of course). It was already getting late in the afternoon and we didn't think we'd make it in time for a sunset shoot so...