Shooting at the Same Location

We all have our favorite spots to shoot, one of my personal favorite spots is up on Russian Ridge. This past week I went to the same location 3 days in a row to capture the fog bank. In the past I've had a lot of luck taking photos of fog up on Skyline. The first day was just a drive up highway one that ended up on russian ridge because the fog blocked the sun from hitting the beach.

Even up on Russian Ridge, the fog was too high and dense to see anything. The photo above was taken on Paige Mill road. The photo is facing in the direction of Russian Ridge, which explains why the drive up was so dark and gloomy. 

On the second day I didn't have much better luck. The fog was the same as the day before up on Russian Ridge, even more than before since I couldn't see it from the same spot as the previous photo. I took the one above even further down facing the bay. The sunset would've been amazing had it been able to pass through the fog in the south bay. Still it made for a great photo. 

I had the best luck on the third day, since the fog had still not gone over the hill.

But soon after the previous photo, the fog did get over the hill. It ended up getting almost as bad as the previous couple of days. The sun had some moments where it was able to pass through the less dense clumps of fog. I manage to capture the photo above before I went up to the top of the south hill(I also ran into the couple again on my way back to my car).

Quick photo on my way up the hill. I was hoping for more of this by the time I got to the top, but by the time was able to get there, the fog had caught up and I was unable to see anything. 

Last photo of the day. 

Location

Russian Ridge Open Space

Page Mill Road

Shooting with Niki

This blog will mostly focus on photography and my thoughts behind photos. People ask what my thoughts are being the shots so this a good insight into my thought process. 

My original plan was to head up to Mount Tamalpais for our shoot. But on our way over, I realized that the fog bank was high enough to cover the hills. I decided to shooting down on Baker beach would be the best place to get some golden hour light. We first stopped up on the Golden Gate overlook to take a few photos in Battery Godfrey. 

For me, I try to shoot for the brightest spot. The shadows are easier to bring back, the highlights usually lose there color easier than the shadows. I also was able to add some foreground using the rail and the flowers we found. 

We found a little spot on the side of the path to shoot before going down to beach. At this point I had to use the reflector. Even with he reflector, there were still harsh shadows.

Their glasses definitely added something special to this shoot. I love shooting people with glasses because they add a lot to portraits. Something to focus on, making the rest of the out of focus parts look more out of focus. They add a lot of symmetry to faces too. The reflection off of glasses also looks amazing if used correctly. 

Final portrait of the day. I took a few that were vertical but having the dead space on the right added a lot to the photo. I was able to get a good transition from warm to cool tones with the extra space. The reflector brought back a lot of the shadows caused by the sun and being backlit. 

Bridge panorama taken on our walk back up to the car

Last photo of the day. 

Location:

Baker Beach

Golden Gate Overlook

Links

Niki

Charlotte

Shooting with Steph

I've only ever known Steph through Instagram. Just through shared likes and comments but nothing else. This past Monday we went on a drive up the coast from Santa Cruz to up on Skyline Boulevard. 

Once we started driving north of Santa Cruz, I realized that there gas going to be a heavy amount of fog. I was expecting sunny weather because of how warm it was in Los Gatos. The first, and only, stop on the coast was at Shark Fin Cove, somewhere that I've shot at often in the past.  Posing models is something that I have still been working on. Working with models with experience is definitely something that is much easier because they know how to move and pose themselves. I want to pick up on it more in the future in order to help with shoots I have with people that have no experience.

I've been trying to add foreground in my photos to add depth. When I look through my photos, the composition looks a bit flat because they don't have foreground. By shooting through the flowers I was able to add some depth. 

After only a few photos around the cliffs, we headed back up the coast. To get a good sunset we needed to go up the coast and up to Russian Ridge. The clouds did allow for good photos, but they were flatter than what I have gotten used to.

We tried to do some good hair flip photos. I think I need to work on my framing. The most difficult part was to get the composition correct, moving the camera to get photo weight evenly distributed.  Also, having there be a good amount of space in the direction she was facing was important.

Nice rim lighting. Sometimes less is more. A simple portrait with a little bit of rim lighting.I used her hair to block out any harsh lighting, then I was able to bring back the shadow in post. 

Last photo of the day. The tall grass had a nice gradient to it. 

Location:

Shark Fin Cove

Russian Ridge Open Space

Link

Steph