Hiking to serenity

Over Mother's Day weekend my family and I went for a hike through Armstrong Woods. It was great being in the redwoods and enjoying nature. The hike was uphill pretty much the whole way, so as a photographer I could only imagine what was in store for me at the top. A few hours later we finally got there and it was as good of a view as I had imagined. Tired and physically drained, we sat down and enjoyed the view. It was extremely peaceful up there. It was the type of place that takes you away from the hustle of your daily activities. The light wasn't the greatest but I decided to take a few shots anyway. You can see them below.

Discovery

  Over the past month I have gone on a few hikes to places I haven't been before. I've said it countless of times I am very lucky to live in a area with such beauty just around the corner. Sometimes photographers can get in a rut and discovering new places for me is a great way to get my creative juices flowing again. Here are a few photographs of the areas I went hiking. 

   

The Art of the Challenge

I am lucky enough to live in an area where hiking trails are just around the corner. Crane Creek Regional Park is one of those places, along with this its a great place to take photographs. I have taken many clients there to do Family and Senior Portraits.  I have also done a fair share of Landscape Photography there as well. Something I find great about going back to Crane Creek to take photographs is it challenges me to do something different every time. This month I went for a hike with my son to capture some fun images of us together. Along with that I challenged myself to capture Crane Creek in a way I haven't done before. Below are some of those images. Do you challenge yourself to see life through a different lens every time?

Keeping The Tradition Alive

   Last month my family and I took a tour of the San Francisco Giants stadium. I felt like a little kid again getting to step on the field and sit in a professional dugout.  It took me back to the days of going to the ball park with my parents: great memories of watching batting practice and asking players for their autographs. I couldn't help but thinkabout how I'll soon be carrying on that tradition for my son.   And of course seeing one of the most beautiful ball parks in the country up close and personal was amazing. The stadium has such an beautiful view and as a photographer I had to make sure I took advantage of that. Take a look below to see some of my favorite photos of the tour.

Here's to another great year

Another year has come and gone so I though I would share my favorite blogs from this year, along with the most popular one.  Before that I just want to thank all my readers who have been reading my blog from day one. I love getting your emails and your support is amazing. Thanks you all and here's to another great year of photography.

Top 3 favorite blogs in 2014:

1)  "Lions tigers and bears oh my":  Click here to see it

2)  "5 Ways Becoming a Dad Made Me a Better Photographer": Click here to see it

3)  "The Beauty That Never Gets Old": Click here to see it

The most viewed blog was:
  "Lions Tigers and Bears Oh My" (link provided above).

Leave me a comment below and tell me what your favorite blog for 2014 has been?  Thank you once again and here's to 2015! 

Happy Holidays

I thought this holiday season as a way to thank you to all my readers I'd offer a free wallpaper. In order to download the image to your computer all you have to do is go to this link (KO Photography Wall Paper), or click on the images below.  Once there just simply right click to save it to your computer.  I have two sizes available one for the iPhone and the other a desktop version which is HD(1920x1080).  I wish I could offer more but there are just way to many screen sizes out there for me to even being.  I hope you enjoy this gift to you, for the holiday season.  If you do please feel free to share this with all your family and friends!


Click the photo below for the HD Desktop Wallpaper

Click the photo below for the iPhone Wallpaper

Five Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Compact Camera

Compact camera's today can be very complicated and I see a lot of people that are just overwhelmed with what they can do so they stick to just using the auto settings.  So I thought for this post I'd give you five tips that can help you get the most out of your camera.  Check them out and leave a comment below if these tips help you!

1)  Always use the highest resolution. Yes, if you use the lower ones you'll get more photos but the quality isn't as good. You know what they say "quality over quantity".

2)  Try to learn the manual modes. Automatic is good but sometimes doesn't always get the shot right. If the photo looks over exposed in auto try to learn how to take it off auto and into manual. Sometimes you can fix that over exposed image by messing with the + and - of the exposer setting.

3)  Try turning off the automatic flash. Sometimes using a flash isn't always needed. For example, in my previous blog about night photography (see it here), I talk about not using a flash at night.  This is actually better when taking photos of landscapes.

4)  If you are going to be editing the images to black and white sometimes doing it on the camera isn't the best option. Let's say that image doesn't look good in black and white you can convert to color. But if you edited your image after you took the photo on your computer you can always revert back to color.

5)  Last but least the most important tip I can give is to experiment with your camera. Compact cameras have some amazing features to make taking photos fun. Be sure to go out there and have a good time and use all these cool features.