The Sunny 16 Rule allows you to set correct daylight exposures without the aid of a light meter. It uses a combination of observation and calculation to set the aperture and shutter speed. But why, when all modern digital cameras have an internal light meter and modes that set shutter speeds or apertures automatically, would I bother to estimate exposures for myself?

What is depth-of-field?

Depth- of-field can be described as the part of the photograph in front and behind the subject that also appears to be in focus. I use the term “appears”, because only one part of the picture can be truly in focus, but in some photographs the out-of-focus portion is almost as sharp as the rest of the picture.

We like to use a shallow depth-of-field when we want to concentrate the viewer’s attention on the subject. Shallow depth-of-field makes the subject pop out of the blurred background and the background seems more uncluttered when we can’t distinguish detail.

If you live in San Diego and you’re a photographer, it won’t be long before someone asks you to take their picture at the beach. San Diego offers great opportunities for beach portraiture. Some photographers make their living from photographing families, kids, and couples on the rocky shorelines of La Jolla Cove and Wind-and-Sea Beach, or the open sands of Coronado or Torrey Pines State Beach. With seventy miles of coastline, San Diego County has lots of beaches to choose from.

I run photography workshops on some of San Diego’s beaches for enthusiasts of digital photography. It is a fun place to be and a fun place to do photography. In this short article, I would like to share some tips on successful beach photography.

So, you’ve managed to get yourself hooked into photographing a wedding. If you can’t feign illness, get yourself imprisoned, or skip out of the country, it looks like you are going to have to do it! Fear not, because although weddings are hard work and stressful to photograph, with a little planning and following a few simple rules, I’m sure it will be a success. I wrote this article for two of my photography workshop attendees who had agreed to shoot a wedding for a friend. It contains the advice I gave them. Please feel free to add your own tips in the comments section.

Mark Holmes describes a digital photography method for shooting black-and-white digital photos in the streets and bars of San Diego at night.
See the gallery of images.

Recently, I have been doing Film Noir scenes using two Alien Bees 800 strobes. Some examples are shown in this second gallery:
See a new gallery here.

Check out a film noir or night photography workshop in San Diego.