Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Photos I took lately

My personal life and my life as a professional photographer moves, in the first place, around my beautiful family and church-related activities; then, in the "third place", around what I do to get all my photographs done... It's interesting to note that my job, even has the third placement in my "list of priorities" and it is not my main and fore-most important activity in my life, it takes most of my time during each individual day.

Because most of my days are spent behind the cameras or in front of my computers (a decade and a half ago I spent my hours in the darkroom, as well) I am capable of study as I work, I am able to communicate with many people in divers parts of the world simultaneously (including people from my house, my town, my country, my continent and even abroad), I edit photographs, and create what I think are pieces of artistic photography, I meet many, many people and become friends with most of them for a lifetime.

Here are some photographs I took recently and post in my facebook site over the past weeks... at least most of them as I can recall.

Enjoy them!










 
 

Monday, October 14, 2013

ADVENTURE PHOTOGRAPHY

This is our latest addition to "AA PROFESSIONAL Photography".
ADVENTURE PHOTOGRAPHY.

Dare to be a part of it !!!
Give us a call, now, to reserve your spot.!!!


There is a myriad of options for you and your group.
Let us know what are you looking for... like:
    - Migrating birds watch.
    - Sunrise over the peak of the mountains.
    - Deer, Moose or Elk watch.
    - Mountain goats.
    - Bald eagles.
    - Bears (Black, brown and Grisly).
    - Star trails, low light and night photography.
    - White sand desert
    - Fall color workshop for portraits, landscapes, etc.
    - Mountain biking on desert, mountains or coastal shores, etc.
    - Etc.

801-603-9837
www.aa-photography.com

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Manual Mode "M"

Another fellow photographer experience.

When I was 16 and drove a car for the first time, my teacher took me to a large parking lot.  He asked me to floor it as fast as I possibly could across the parking lot.  This was my first time driving!  So, I went for it.  I felt like I was FLYING!  Then, he told me half way across the parking lot to look at the speedometer.  I was only going 10 miles per hour (16 kilometers)!  The point is, the first time you try anything, it feels intimidating and like you’re out of control.

The first time any of my students use a camera in manual mode, I can see them terrified to try it out.  However, shooting in manual mode really isn’t as difficult as it may seem.  To understand manual mode, the example below will be helpful.


Manual mode.  Aperture: f/18.  Shutter speed: 1/60.  ISO 100.  Nikon 10-24mm lens.  Nikon D7000 camera.

I took the picture above while at a photography conference in San Francisco.  In a situation like this, the bridge isn’t going anywhere, the bay isn’t going anywhere, the chain in front of me wasn’t going anywhere… I had a captive audience to say the least.  In situations like this, I always use manual mode.  I then set my shutter speed to 1/100.  I set my ISO to 100 because I wanted no noise in the picture and I knew if I needed more light, I could just slow down the shutter speed.

After taking the picture with the settings above, I realized that the picture was coming out a bit too dark with 1/100 shutter speed.  So, I slowed it down to 1/60 and it looked just how I wanted.
The point is that, eventually, you’ll find yourself wanting to shoot in manual mode for situations where you aren’t rushed to get the shot.  If you’re shooting sports, outdoor portraits, or other things, then aperture priority is simpler and faster than shooting in manual mode.



Aperture

Basics of Photography: Your Camera’s Manual Settings
Aperture is often the most difficult concept for people to grasp when they're learning how their camera works, but it's pretty simple once you understand it. If you look at your lens, you can see the opening where light comes through. When you adjust your aperture settings, you'll see that opening get bigger and smaller. The larger the opening, or wider the aperture, the more light you let in with each exposure. The smaller the opening, or narrower the aperture, the less light you let in. Why would you ever want a narrow aperture if a wider one lets in more light? Aside from those situations where you have too much light and want to let less of it in, narrowing the aperture means more of the photograph will appear to be in focus. For example, a narrow aperture is great for landscapes. A wider aperture means less of the photograph will be in focus, which is something that's generally visually pleasing and isn't seen as a downside. If you've seen photographs with a subject in focus and beautiful blurred backgrounds, this is often the effect of a wide aperture (although that's not the only contributing factor—remember, telephoto lenses decrease depth of field as well). Using a wide aperture is generally considered the best method for taking in more light because the downside—less of the photograph being in focus—is often a desired result.
Basics of Photography: Your Camera’s Manual Settings
Aperture is represented in f-stops. A lower number, like f/1.8, denotes a wider aperture, and a higher number, like f/22, denotes a narrower aperture. Lenses are often marked with their widest possible aperture. If you see a lens that is a 50mm f/1.8, this means it's widest aperture is f/1.8. The aperture can always be set to be more narrow, but it won't be able to go wider than f/1.8. Some lenses will have a range, such as f/3.5-5.6. You'll see this on zoom lenses, and it means that when the lens is zoomed out to the widest position it's f/3.5, but when it's zoomed in all the way it can only have an aperture as wide as f/5.6. The middle changes as well, so halfway through the zoom range you'll end up with a widest aperture of about f/4.5. An aperture range is common with less-expensive zoom lenses, but if you pay more you can get a standard aperture throughout the range.
That's pretty much all you need to know about aperture. The important thing to remember is that a wide aperture, like f/1.8, lets in more light and provides a shallow depth of field (meaning less of the photo appears in focus). A narrow aperture, like f/22, provides deeper focus but lets in less light. What aperture you should use depends on the situation and the type of lens you're using, so experiment to see what effects you get and you'll have a better idea of how your aperture setting affects your photographs.

Shutter Speed

Basics of Photography: Your Camera’s Manual SettingsExpand

Photo by Digi1080p
When you press the shutter button on your camera and take a picture, the aperture blades take a specific amount of time to close. This amount of time is known as your shutter speed. Generally it is a fraction of a second, and if you're capturing fast motion it needs to be at most 1/300th of a second. If you're not capturing any motion, you can sometimes get away with as long of an exposure as 1/30th of a second. When you increase your shutter speed—the length of time where the sensor is exposed to light—two important things happen.
First, the sensor is exposed to more light because it's been given more time. This is useful in low light situations. Second, the sensor is subject to more motion which causes motion blur. This can happen either because your subject is in motion or because you cannot hold the camera still. This is fine if you're photographing a landscape at night and the camera is placed on a tripod, as neither the camera nor your subject is going to move. On the other hand, slow shutter speeds pose a problem when you're shooting handheld and/or your subject is moving. This is why you wouldn't want a shutter speed any slower than 1/30th of a second when photographing handheld (unless you're known for your remarkably still hands).
In general, you want to use the fastest shutter speed you can but there are plenty of circumstances where you'd choose a slower shutter speed. Here are a few examples:
  1. You want motion blur for artistic purposes, such as blurring a flowing stream while keeping everything else sharp and un-blurred. To accomplish this you'd use a slow shutter speed like 1/30th of a second and use a narrow aperture to prevent yourself from overexposing the photograph. Note: This example is a good reason to use the Shutter Priority shooting mode discussed in the previous lesson.
  2. You want an overexposed and potentially blurred photograph for artistic purposes.
  3. You're shooting in low light and it's necessary.
  4. You're shooting in low light and it's not necessary, but you want to keep noise to a minimum. Therefore you set your ISO (film speed equivalent) to a low setting and you reduce your shutter speed to compensate (and let in more light).
These aren't the only reasons but a few common ones. The important thing to remember is a slow shutter speed means more light at the risk of motion blur. A fast shutter speed means low risk of motion blur while sacrificing light.

ISO

Basics of Photography: Your Camera’s Manual Settings
ISO is the digital equivalent (or approximation) of film speed. If you remember buying film for a regular camera, you'd get 100 or 200 for outdoors and 400 or 800 for indoors. The faster the film speed the more sensitive it is to light. All of this still applies to digital photography, but it's called an ISO rating instead.
Basics of Photography: Your Camera’s Manual SettingsExpand

Photo by CNET Australia
The advantage of a low ISO is that the light in a given exposure is more accurately represented. If you've seen photos at night, the lights often look like they're much brighter and bleeding into other areas of the photo. This is the result of a high ISO—a greater sensitivity to light. High ISOs are particularly useful for picking up more detail in a dark photograph without reducing the shutter speed or widening the aperture more than you want to, but it comes at a cost. In addition to lights being overly and unrealistically bright in your photos, high ISO settings are the biggest contributors to photographic noise. High-end cameras will pick up less noise at higher ISOs than low-end cameras, but the rule is always the same: the higher you increase your ISO, the more noise you get.
Most cameras will set the ISO automatically, even in manual mode. Generally you can stick with the same ISO setting if your lighting situation doesn't change, so it's good to get used to setting it yourself. That said, sometimes lighting changes enough in dark, indoor settings that letting the camera set it for you automatically can be helpful—even when shooting manually.

Combining the Settings

In manual mode you set everything yourself (except ISO, if you set it to automatic), so you have to think about all three of these settings before you take a photograph. The best thing you can do make this easier on yourself and hasten the decision is to give priority to one of the settings by deciding what's most important. Do you want to ensure a shallow depth of field? If so, your priority is your aperture. Do you want the most accurate representation of light? Make ISO your priority. Do you want to prevent as much motion blur as possible? Concentrate on shutter speed first. Once you know your priority, all you need to do is set the other settings to whatever is necessary to expose the right amount of light to the photograph.
In manual mode your camera should let you know if you're over- or under-exposed by providing a little meter at the bottom (pictured to the left). The left is underexposed and the right is overexposed. Your goal is to get the pointer in the middle. Once you do that, snap your photo, and it should look just how you want it




Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Happy October 01st !!!!

Happy October 01st !!!
It's amazing how fast this year have past (at least from my personal point of view). I've done quite a few things this year and kept myself busy as much as I could... to the point that I have not been able to accomplish other (more of a secondary) stuff.
This year my job (my company in photography and video) has taken me to different U.S. states, like Maryland, Virginia and Idaho.
I wanted to create a second version of "Spirits of the West Lakes" and "Mountain Spirits", but it was not possible (at least for now).
October first, to me, means that the year is almost over and I only have 3 more months to accomplish and to finish all what is still pending.
Then, Let's get busy!!!

Here is a photo I took just a week ago (or something like that).





Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Assignment #02

Here are the details of the Assignment #02 for Harmony students.

I am including this photo (below) for you to create and submit via email to: aaphotoart@gmail.com
Remember the rules:

1.- Your subject have to be in following the "Rule of Thirds"
2.- The lighting have to come from on top but has to light the face (be creative)
3.- The photo HAVE TO BE well exposed!!!
4.- Must be send over email by Friday night (aaphotoart@gmail.com)

Tips:
1.- Work with your Manual Settings: Aperture keep it as open as your camera will allow you.
2.- Set your shutter speed 1/30 or so (be careful not to make sudden moves because your photo will be blurred).
3.- Set your ISO accordingly to get a well exposed photo.

Email me if you have questions to : aaphotoart@gmail.com

GOOD LUCK!!

AL Aguayo.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Assignment #01


Dear students from Harmony education, this is the sample photo I want you to recreate as for your assignment this week.
Take a portrait like the one just here  below:

Make sure the exposure in your subject's face is well exposed.

Write your name and Include: Aperture setting, Shutter Speed and ISO in the body of the email.
In the subject write: Assignment 01
BE CREATIVE!!  I will give extra points if you are more creative.
First of all, make sure you are subscribe to this blog!!
Send your photos to: aaphotoart@gmail.com
If you want to send something additionally, feel free, but make sure you send AT LEAST what I am asking you.
This assignment is due this Friday September 20th via email. Though, if you bring it of Monday 23rd I will consider them only for review.
Enjoy.

Wednesday, August 07, 2013

2013-2014 High School Photography Class Syllabus

I have had the privilege and blessing to be hired as the teacher for the photography class in one of the schools in Riverdale, UT. 
As part of my responsibilities I had created a syllabus that meets the basic needs of learning photography for students from 12 to 18 years of age (and older).
You, as parent and/or student, will have questions in regards of assignments and other information for the class... those questions are most welcome to be addressed at any time, but most likely, they will be answered regardless during the school year.


Basic Photography Class 2013-2014

Instructor : Alvaro Aguayo (AL)
Contact : 801-603-9837
Website : http://www.aa-photography.com
Email : studios@aa-photography.com
Blog : http://aa-photography.blogspot.com/

About the Teacher
I enjoy the practice of professional photography as much as teaching photography skills to energetic, enthusiastic students of every and any age.
I finished a minor in photography in the “Saint Mark University” while I was studying Veterinary Medicine in South America in 1997. Decided to follow the career of photography and opened my company in 1998, working as a full time photographer since then until, so far, today.
I did several internships for 1 year long each, in: Portrait studio photography (1999), Wedding photography (2000) and Printing and Laboratory processes (2005).
I've done studio work as well as on-location, including, but not limited, to: family portraits, children and high school seniors, wedding photography, traveling and landscape photography, fine art, commercial portraiture and products, etc.
I enjoy spending time with my family and experiencing outdoor sports like mountain biking, road cycling, hiking, kayaking, camping, etc.


Course Description and Objectives
  • Hands-on” and practicing Photography in every lesson.
  • Students will, generally, receive basic instruction, demonstration, and see samples of the desired outcomes, at the beginning of each class. They will shoot assignments, based on what they are learning. Perhaps the most useful part of classroom instruction will be the reviews of photos students have shot during the assignments.
  • Introduction to the Business of Photography including but not limited to portraits and weddings.
  • We will talk about an “Introduction to Video work flow”.
  • This course also includes some investigation, reading, writing, and presentations.

Course Requirements and Materials
  • A digital camera per student (DSLR is preferred), with enough battery power and memory card space, placed in camera (the school does not provide cameras, so students are expected to bring one themselves).
  • A notebook and writing utensils.
  • A Flash Drive (8Gb or grater) or an SD Card (8Gb or grater) to transfer photos, assignments images, etc. for class analysis
  • Enthusiastic participation.
  • Demonstration of knowledge through quizzes and/or class presentations.
  • Respectful conduct to peers and teachers at all times during class and good behavior.

Daily Procedures and Conduct
  • Each student will use their own camera. Failing to bring camera will decrease class participation.
  • The class will be given and the principles taught.
  • Questions and concerns are always answered. A proper student/teacher etiquette of conduct is expected and enforced (like raising their hand before asking questions, referring to the teacher as “Teacher” or “Mister”, or if use with respect, I will allow students to call me “AL”).
  • Some assignments will be given to work as small groups; other assignments will be given to work individually during class. Some assignments will be demonstrated by the students in front of the class; other assignments will be presented to the teacher to be graded.
  • Near the end of the lesson I will try to resolve any question or confusion still remaining.
  • The students will remain in their seats until the teacher dismisses them and not when the bell rings.
  • No electronics other than their own digital camera, will be allowed to be used during class, like cell phones, iPods, mp3 players unless is used directly for the benefit of the entire class. Needless to say texting will be prohibited at any time unless is expressly permitted by the teacher only in case of an emergency. First warning will allow the student to put the device away without any further consequence other than losing participation points for that day. Second warning, the teacher will confiscate the device plus the lose of participation points for that day. Third warning, the student will lose participation points and the teacher will confiscate the device and will not returned it until student bring at least one of their parents, to whom it will be given back, regardless the potential importance and/or cost of the device in their personal life.

Grading
  • To be successful in this course each student must demonstrate the skills required to complete each project during class, have a passing grade on the quizzes and to have a positive attitude.
  • Additionally, each student will be able to increase grading points when present assignments, which are optional, and at the end of the school year they present a portfolio of “one-representative-photograph-per-each-assignment” for the final review and grading.
  • Grading will be using the official scale for grades (ex. 93 – 100 A, 90 – 92 A-, 87 – 89 B+, 83 – 86 B, 80 – 82 B-, 77 – 79 C+, 73 – 76 C, 70 – 72 C-, 67 – 69 D+, 63 – 66 D, 60 – 62 D-, 59 and below F Grades are NOT rounded. For example, 89.9% is B+).
  • Students will have all aid possible from the teacher:
    • During class time they can ask all their questions related to the subject being taught.
    • Right after class students can stay to resolve personal/class related questions or issues.
    • During the week students can communicate with the teacher via email, stating their concerns and questions. The teacher will answer them in the same fashion.

Assignments
    1. Appropriate Subject Matter
Photographs must be in compliance with school rules and policies. If the students are not assigned to a subject is the student responsibility to select a subject that is appropriate and double check with the teacher in case of not being certain (i.e., no drugs, paraphernalia, gang activity, violence, sexual conducts, sexually explicit or implicit conduct and dressing, etc.). Assignments will get a failing grade if the subject chosen is inappropriate, regardless the quality of presentation.
If you are unsure whether or not something is appropriate, please ask before starting the assignment. You might be surprise how much misunderstanding happens for only supposing or assuming things.
  1. Outside-the-Classroom Photo Assignments
    When students are outside the classroom on photo assignments during class time, they are expected to observe classroom and campus rules at all times. Additionally:
    - A photo pass must accompany students at all times on campus.
    - Stay on task. Students engaging in any activity other than the assigned task, including loitering, will be escorted back to the classroom (consequences will apply including loss of privileges which could cause grade to be affected).
    - Students will not enter or disturb other classes while taking photos or walking to location.
    -Students will stay in the approved shooting location. Leaving the campus during school hours is strictly prohibited and will be penalized if happens.
  1. Home Assignments
    When students are assigned to do home work, they have an entire week to complete it, by themselves, before the next weekly class. Failing to do this, the students will receive a failing grade for that particular assignment.
  2. End of Year Presentation
    Out of each assignment, the student must select one best representative photograph, which at the end of the school year, each student will present as a portfolio (a group of photos) including a written brief explanation of the chosen subject, exposure used, lighting used, rule of compositions achieved, and other important information for each individual photograph.
    It will be graded and pondered averaged with the final test.
    The portfolio, in order to have maximum scoring, can be presented in either of 2 different ways:
    a) Digital Presentation: the student must create a Power Point Presentation as elaborate as possible, showing the different photographs taken during the school year including some technical information as described above.
    or
    b) Printed Presentation: each photograph should be printed on a photo paper or art paper, in an 8x10 size or larger and presented in a nice professional folio. Each photograph should include some technical information as described above.
      Both presentations will have the same grades if are done to the best of the student's abilities and are suitable to the teacher's criteria. The portfolio will be scored for:
      - exposure (up to 15 points) - overall presentation (up to 10 points)
      - lighting (up to 10 points) - personal effort (up to 15 points)
      - subject (up to 10 points) - creativity (up to 10 points)
      - composition (up to 15 points) - complexity in the elaboration. (up to 15 points)

      Things that will decrease your score are:
      - Your home work was done by someone else.
      - Poor overall presentation.
      - Lack of personal effort.
      - Poor photography quality in exposure, lighting and composition.
      - Wrong choice of subject.
Disclaimer
  • Each student will be solely responsible to her/his equipment. The school will not be responsible to compensate, restitute or replace equipment even if the damage had happened during class time and/or on school property.
  • If the teacher is responsible for the direct damage, the teacher will replace the equipment damaged, not the school.
  • Damage to school property by students will be penalized and it will require
  • Damage to personal property by the owner-student or other students due to accidents, miss-use or neglect will not excuse the student for not begin able to give assignments in time.

Parents
Please take a moment to read, fill out and sign the attached acknowledgment and agreement form. If you have any questions concerning the syllabus please feel free to contact me by phone or email.
Thank you!
Alvaro Aguayo (AL)
801-603-9837



I, _________________________________ (Print student's name), commit to following school and classroom rules. I understand that not doing so could cause me to lose classroom privileges and thus affect my grade. I am aware that when I check out equipment I am responsible for it. I will be held financially responsible for any lost, damaged or stolen equipment.


Student Printed Name_____________________________



Student Signature________________________________



Parents, please print your name and sign acknowledging the above. In addition, by signing this form you are giving permission for your child's picture to be taken, if needed for class purposes, during any given class time, without notification, and to be use for class purposes both in class and online (the address of the class blog will be given during the first day of class).



Parent Printed Name______________________________



Parent Signature_________________________________



Phone Number__________________________________



Best time to reach you ____________________________
Thank you!


_________________________________________________________________



Photography Lessons
(still under review and possible modifications)

1.- First Lesson – Aug 19th 2013
  • Getting to know each other
  • Basic Class Rules
  • Introduction to photography
  • Questions and Answers
  • Main Interests to learn from students

2.- Key Camera Controls I – finding them and knowing how to use them. - Aug 26th 3013
  • Working in Manual Mode
  • Shutter settings
  • Aperture (Depth of Field)
  • ISO
  • Raw vs Jpeg
  • Image sharpness
  • Contrast and Saturation

3.- Key Camera Controls II – Getting familiar with them. - Sept 09th 2013
  • Review of previous lesson:
    • Working in Manual Mode
    • Shutter settings
    • Aperture (Depth of Field)
    • ISO
    • Raw vs Jpeg
    • Image sharpness
    • Contrast and Saturation

4.- Exposure Controls and Settings – Playing with camera Exposure Controls – Sept 16th 2013
  • Under exposure
  • Over exposure
  • Perfect Exposure – Main purpose and subject.
  • Using in-camera exposure meters
  • Using an off-camera exposure meter
  • First Assignment – To take 5 different subjects. Each subject will have:
    • One (-2EV) under-exposed photo (record your settings: Ap,ShSp,Iso,Lens).
    • One (+2EV) over-exposed photo (record your settings: Ap,ShSp,Iso,Lens).
    • One perfect exposed photo (record your settings: Ap,ShSp,Iso,Lens+Subject purpose).
    • To present them digitally in a flash drive (the due date) or send it via email (before due date).

5.- Principles of Composition I – To learn How to create interesting photographs. - Sept 23rd 2013

  • Review of previous lesson
  • Review Assignment from previous week.
  • Leading lines
  • Angles
  • Rule of Thirds
  • Practice Rules of Composition I


6.- Principles of Composition II – To learn How to create interesting photographs – Sept 30th 2013
  • Review of previous lesson
  • Mood photos vs Happy photos
  • Golden Triangle Rule
  • Practice all Rules of Composition I & II
  • Second Assignment – To photograph a sample of each different composition reviewed (5 different subjects) and present them digitally in a flash drive (the due date) or send it via email (before due date).

7.- Practice of Rules and Principles of Composition – Oct 7th 2013
  • Review Assignment from previous week.
  • Review of previous lesson
  • Practice


8.- Light I – To learn quality of lights and how to control it. - Oct 14th 2013
  • Review of previous lesson
  • Review different light's qualities: harsh, soft, dim, harsh, etc.
  • Time of day for photos (sunny, overcast, harsh light, too high light, too contrasty, etc.)
  • Direction of light and shadows (back light, front light, side ¾, side split, accent)
  • How light affects the photograph in portraits, landscapes.
  • Using our creativity (Gobos, Walls, Natural reflectors, etc.)


9.- Light II – How to use light in our advantage – Oct 21st 2013
  • Review of previous lesson
  • Reflectors
  • On-camera flash units
  • Off camera flash units
  • Strobes
  • Third Assignment – To create 5 portraits of 2 different subjects (10 photos total) using the 5 different light conditions: sunny, overcast/covered, back light, incandescent and candle.


10.- Review of Composition and Lighting – Oct 28th 2013
  • Putting all knowledge together and combined.
  • Review of all previous lessons


11.- Analysis of classic photographs and Questions and Answers – Nov 04th 2013

12.- Brief review on How to process a photo in Photo shop – Nov 11th 2013
  • Demonstration on projection how to work a photo.

13.- Refining Portraits – Nov 18th 2013
  • Capturing expressions
  • Moving fast
  • Eliminating distractions
  • Changing the angle and height (going to the floor).

14.- Photo walk around the school – Nov. 25th 2013
  • Photographing their peers in the school perimeter

15.- Analysis of photos taken the previous week. - Dec 02nd 2013
  • Class analysis of the photographs taken the previous week

16.- Business of Portraits – Dec 09th 2013
  • Pricing a photo session
  • Pricing prints
  • Advertising

17.- Practice your own business of Portraits – Dec 16th 2013
  • Create your business: name, pricing structure, advertising, shooting, review of samples

18.- Business of Wedding photography – Jan 06th 2014
  • Pricing structures
  • Pricing prints
  • Advertising

19.- Practice your own Wedding business – Jan 13th 2014
  • Create your business: name, pricing structure, advertising, review of samples
  • Assignment.

20.- Questions and Answers, Review of assignment and confusion-solving – Jan 27th 2014

21.- Nature photography – Feb 03rd 2014
  • Principles for a Landscape photograph
  • Composition: Capturing color, lines, isolating subjects, basic rules, etc.

22.- Wildlife photography – Feb 10th 2014
  • Principles
  • Composition.
  • Assignment.

23.- Review of photographs and analysis of assignment – Feb 24th 2014

24.- Using Reflectors, Filters and Tripods – Mar 03rd 2014

25.- Still-life photography (a review of macro) – Mar 10th 2014
  • Lighting for the close up. Mini reflectors and gobos
  • Subject and purpose matters
  • Practice in class.

26.- Create an abstract photograph – Mar 17th 2014

27.- Review of other types of digital photography – Mar 24th 2014
  • HDR (High Dynamic Range)
  • Night photography
  • Macro photography
  • Underwater photography

28.- The Art of Black & White, sepia and other monochrome photos. - Mar 31st 2014

29.- Quick review of Composition Rules – Apr 14th 2014

30.- Quick review of Lighting and Uses – Apr 21st 2014

31.- Introduction to Video and Motion pictures – Apr 28th 2015


32.- Final Questions and Answers – May 05th 2014


If you have any questions about this syllabus, please contact me at : 801-603-9837

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Reviewing some of my old posts in my blog, I've come to realized that I had not post almost anything during winter!! That's particularly interesting since I've been "inside" most of the time during this bitter cold winter (especially during January, where the average high temperature has been about 15°F!!).
One of the high key sessions I did during winter was the wedding of Kortney and Rick! I will be posting a couple of their photograph in this blog.
Their wedding was in the brand new Brigham City Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The cold weather and the snow did not stop us from having a GREAT time, especially me, who I was taking all their memorable photographs (and I was layered like an "esquimo"),  (I think they suffered a bit with the cold, though!! especially Kortney!!... SHORT SLEEVES!!!)
Anyways!, it was a great and beautiful day for all.
Enjoy the photos!









Washington DC stroll

This is my last video produced.
Be aware that I am not a story writer, but a photographer who see the detail of image more than the story told... in fact, in this video, I am not adding any story to my imagery.
Enjoy a good stroll in Washington DC downtown in a Saturday night.

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Videos

I just wanted to stop by and say "HI".
Has been a while since I have post anything in my blog... and has been quite a few things happening in my life and in my company worth of many comments and posts; things like:
 - Christmas !! (that's a big one)
 - I went to Galveston, Texas for a paid job.
 - I released 2 nice Videos, as personal projects, which can be seen from my web site:
        a) http://aa-photography.com/filmmakingWork-08WestLakes.html
        b) http://aa-photography.com/filmmakingWork-10MountainSpirits.html
 - I've been hired more for my commercial videos than my photography... and these are just a few samples of the work I've done in the last 3 months:
        a) http://aa-photography.com/filmmakingWork-09RCS.html
        b) http://aa-photography.com/filmmakingWork-12Kadince.html
- Last week I went to Washington DC to create some photographs and a small video out of the visitor center in the LDS Temple. Here is the video I've created:
        a) http://aa-photography.com/filmmakingWork-13VisitorCenter.html
- Among my pile of work I've done some high school senior portrait sessions, engagements and bridals, as well as some personal projects like the Bald Eagle shoot out, which could be seen at:
        a) https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151280794642694.456098.168356637693&type=3

If you have comments, please feel free to write them below.
I'll continue posting photography tips for those of you who want to learn the tricks and trades of the craft.

Keep on shooting photos!!

AL Aguayo.