The rusty colored sands of the Sleeping Bear Dunes seem to glow against the subtle blues of Lake Michigan. I visited this area that Good Morning America named “The most Beautiful Place in America” just before heading west to visit Colorado and New Mexico. The fall colors here were remarkable.

I wanted to catch the sunset so I arrived around 6:00 PM and waited.

I was able to get shots of people at the park as I waited for the sun to go down. These two were comfortably sitting next to some trees that grow at the edge of a large hill. The view from here is impressive. You can get here by taking the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive to parking lot #9 and taking the short hike up on the trails.

Once you get here you’ll be met with incredible views of Lake Michigan that stretch out before you on the horizon.

While I normally don’t consider myself a landscape photographer it’s nice to have beautiful scenery to inspire the shots.

This young man seems to be walking out of the wilderness.

To wrap it up. I finally got my sunset.

For the location, I contacted Melinda Lombardi at Salon de Capelli to see if she could ask her husband to let us into a building at the former state hospital. What came next was a total surprise. Melinda emailed back and asked if the salon could do Megan’s hair in exchange for portfolio pictures for the stylist.

I asked Megan and we both agreed.

The stylist, Cindy Toranzo, did an amazing job. We told her that we were planning a rock-and-roll themed shoot and Cindy worked magic on Megan’s hair. We never expected that. Thanks to Melinda and Cindy at Salon de Capelli for all their help and to Tony Lombardi and his son for operating the fog machine

The shooting location is a garage that someone was using to store lawn maintenance equipment. The garage caught fire because a motorhome that was also stored there had faulty wiring. Most of the building didn’t have a roof and everything inside was in charred and in ashes; perfect place for what I had in mind.

Tim Miller with one of his handmade guitars.

Opening day is in August and Joe and I will be there with our camera to document the celebration.

As you can see in this behind the scenes shot we had two alien bees that we used to light our subject. Our model stood still throughout the 30 second exposure. When shooting in darkness you can vary your shutter speed without affecting the overall exposure.on the model.

This is the resulting image you get from the set-up pictured above.

The light painting technique offers a great variation to your normal backdrops as the models seem to be engulfed in light.

Sometimes, by using this technique, you get some interesting results.

Both of these photos were pretty easy to make. I set my camera on a tripod facing the computer screen and turned down the screen’s brightness. Next  I opened Adobe Lightroom and found a folder of images, (You could also do this technique using a folder of images from Facebook, Picasa, Flickr or any other location where you can find images in a sequence).

I set my camera up for a 30 second exposure at f32 with an ISO of 100. I clicked open the shutter and scrolled through the images on screen. My first attempt using a screen brightness of 50 percent resulted in an over-exposed shot and a totally white image so I turned the brightness down even further until I ended up using a brightness of 30 percent. This trick also has to be shot in a dark room. Be sure to turn off the lights and pull the blinds.

Here are some things I discovered while shooting that might help you if you decide to try this technique.

• If you use Lightroom push the “L” button a couple times to advance to a full screen with a dark background.
• You may also use an ND filter to lower the light needed for a proper exposure.
• Scroll through the images at a variable rate in order to capture one or two images that show the subject.
• Scroll using the right and left arrow buttons on your keyboard
• Preload the images by scrolling first without the shutter open to reduce the amount of computer lag, (Some of my pictures showed Lightroom’s “loading” icon at the bottom of the pic. Preloading will help you avoid that),
• Use a tripod and a shutter cable release.

This is a fun technique and the results are awesome. Pick up your camera and give it a go.

Here Comes the Bride

“Until the 12th of Never”

Claudia and I teamed up a couple days ago and so far we have one photo that is going to end up on a book cover and another that is still being offered.

“I’ll wait for you.”

Meg Howard and I have worked together several times. She is one of my favorite models, This photo was taken on the State Hospital grounds in Traverse City. This was a fun shoot. We had no idea that it would end up as a book cover.

I will post more information about the book and author as soon as it becomes available.

“Sun kissed”

This photo was taken on a windy day at the Old Mission Peninsula. The wind was so strong that I had a difficult time keeping the softbox from blowing over. Amy Sevenski is a beautiful model and her hair and eyes lend themselves to the soft glowing effect of this photograph.

I just added a new tool to my photographic arsenal. Click on the photo above to be taken to an immersive 360 degree view of the model four-bedroom apartment at the  Lodges of East Lansing. Not only was this was a lot of fun to shoot,  I love the results. It almost makes you feel like you are there.

I put together a few items to show you some of the possibilities.

This first one is a senior composite. This is a fun way to showcase your images. There are several styles to choose from.

This locker template is is a great way to share photos with your friends at school.

We also do wall clusters. This one is a thin wrap with a 16X24 image on the left, an 11×17 on the top right, and two 8×12’s below.

Here is another variation of the wall clusters. This includes one 20×20 and four 10×31’s.

These are only a few of your many options. Look through the catalog and let me know what you are interested in and let us quote you a price.

The leaves are changing in Northern Michigan, Autumn is here again. Yesterday I took my father’s boat out for a spin and took my camera along as well. This photo was taken on Green Lake in Interlochen. When I loaded the image in Photoshop I thought that it would look nice as a painting so I grabbed the new mixer brush and decided to give it a whirl. This was my first time using the mixer brush. It is a new feature in CS5. I love the effect and look forward to exploring this feature with some of my other photographs. Stay tuned for more.

This digital painting is available on Canvas or as a print. Contact me for details.