As you probably know, I don’t use flash very often. In fact, I call myself a natural light photographer. I typically shoot outdoors with whatever natural light is available to me, and even when I shoot indoors I try to only use natural light coming in through windows and doors. 

If you don’t already know by now, I use a lot of manual focus lenses.

Not that I have anything against auto-focus lenses, I think they’re awesome! But here is why I use a lot of manual focus lenses.

When I first started photography I knew that I wanted that blurry background and foreground in my photos.

For me, I somehow understood how to do that. But as a photographer, I get asked this question a lot.

A lot of people think this is done in Photoshop. Are though you can add blur to your photos in Photoshop, it certainly isn’t the easiest are the best way to do it.

Photography has everything to do with light. So the time of day to shoot is very important. But remember, it all has to do with light.

Here is how I chooses the best time of day to shoot.

I want to be able to move around as I please and not be weighted down by a ton of photo gear. One of my pet peeves is that I do not want to be restricted in any way shape or from when I am shooting. 

As much as I love the latest and greatest gadgets and photo gear, flexibility is WAY more important.

Here is what I take with me on my photo sessions.

Recently a good friend and huge inspiration, Iwona Podlasińska, one of the worlds best children photographers had her Instagram account hacked and stolen losing almost 80k followers overnight!

This situation is beyond heartbreaking and one of those worst-case scenarios that got me to thinking about what I would do if I lost it all.

I absolutely love snow photos! Unfortunately we just don’t get very much snow here in Southern Missouri. 

We get some nice little snows from time to time but it is never convenient to take photos. I’m usually at work or something when it happens and by the time I get to my camera, it has melted or stopped snowing and just looks plain ugly. 

So Christmas is right around the corner, so this article is a few tips for taking Christmas photos.

It’s such a wonderful time of year and a perfect time to take some magical Christmas photos!

There’s so many great things you can use. Christmas tree, Christmas lights, Christmas decorations, and if you’re lucky, maybe even some snow!

When I first started photography, it was candid photos that really helped me.

After I got my first camera, a Samsung NX 500, I tried to test it out be doing a little family photo session with my kids. They hated it! I was trying to pose everyone and get them to set still.

After a couple of emotional brake downs, I gave up and put the camera away.

For the first two years I did photography, I put almost no effort into posing my subjects. I didn’t think it was that important. But the truth is, it’s one of the most important things you can do during a photo shoot.

This article won’t make you a pro at posing, but it will give you a good start.

If you are just starting photography you’re probably wondering what shutter speed is and what kind of effects you can create with it.

You have to think of the shutter in terms of time. The shutter is that click you hear when you take a photo. Depending on what you have it set to, the shutter can click incredibly fast or incredibly slow.

I get asked how I find such amazing photo locations all the time. The truth is, I don’t look for locations as much as I look for light.

The way the light effects things is absolutely remarkable. So I am very conscious about how the light effects things and where it is coming from.

Here is how I look for locations.

A question I get asked quite frequently is, how do I get tack sharp focus in my images.

As many of you know (if not, I’m telling you now) I use manual focus lenses.

But rather you shoot auto or manual, both can benefit from this article.

When I first started photography I was using the auto setting on the camera. I almost gave up because I just couldn’t capture the photos I wanted. It wasn’t until I started shooting in manual when I began to get the results I was looking for.

It is that time of year again. Yes, Halloween. The time of year when we get to dress up and scar the crap out of complete strangers and get away with it.

Even though we try not to get too involved with Halloween and steer the kids away from violence and gore. We are totally cool with super hero’s!

When I think of how to take great photos, I think of these 4 simple steps.

First I think of a great concept. I think of movie posters or book covers. Or even just think up a story in your mind. I use teddy bears in a lot of my photos, so people make the connection with Christopher Robin. Here is a concept I turned into a photo.

As most of you know, up to this point, I don’t use autofocus. The reason for that is simple. The systems I was trying to use were too slow and inaccurate. I could never trust autofocus to actually focus.

So I decided I would only shoot manual focus until I could afford a system that was at least as fast and accurate as I was.

Well, that time has come...

I’m excited to announce that I have purchased the brand new Sony a7 III and I am patiently waiting for it to be delivered as I type this!

Since I’ve started doing photography, I’ve mostly been using the Sony a7 II, which has been more than sufficient for what I do. But the time has come for me to upgrade. 

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been experimenting with shooting in extremely low light situations to see if I could do it.

I’m pretty happy with the results and I wanted to share them with you and tell you my approach and how I achieved it.

Are you confused with how to use or set white balance? For most people, auto is fine. But for me, I need it to stay consistent. Here's why.