To Me, Christmas time has never been a big thing in my life, sure as a kid i loved it.....what kid didn't.....for christmas day is truly for the kids.
whilst the season itself..is what makes it such a blessing - and I'm sure many would agree...its not about the gifts..its about the company and friendships

but theres so much more it offers to me personally
In my past ....I've spent most of my life on the road or endless miles away from my family, and the actual holiday was a time spent either on the phone wishing greetings.....while waiting for my pizza to come to the door ...MMM PIZZA ...or soaking on some beach where it just feels wrong to celebrate christmas while wearing shorts ...surfing or sipping gin and juice or some other tropical flavoured beverage
(not that im complaining about that )


but the point I'm making ...is, that to me --- christmas is all about the season ..and its the season i love
Walking out in that brisk cool air that makes you feel its the first breath of fresh air your lungs have ever taken, surrounded by a sky so seamless and blue; whilst the snow so white, it glistens and shimmers and burns your eyes.. its so bright.
The crunching of each step as you walk, the snuggling under blankets and keeping warm as you listen to the soft pattering of snow against the windows at night.

yes winter is truly beautiful ..and it makes me happy to be a Canadian to enjoy all it has to offer.

of course..the cold and the slush ....and the constant shoveling of driveways.---> can be a pain ...but the beauty the fresh snow brings....is well worth it

not to mention .....that early morning call of the mountains as i glance at my dust gathered snowboard

yes....the mountains do call to me....just like water in the summer
casting a spell over me .....that just makes me want to dive in and have it all around me

and ohh ...the beauty of fresh powder.....and the wake that surrounds you as you soar thru it...

its just a purely majestic feeling


so no matter what you do this season ...whether you celebrate christmas or nothing at all; or are one of those few like my prior self who spent those days distanced from your loved ones -
regardless what situation you fall into .........wake up ..stretch your arms...and find the beauty and enjoyment that awaits all around you.

Cause life is out there for you, beckoning for it to be lived.
And i wish you all the happiness exploring it

so stay cozy...stay safe, make someone smile and be sure to stand under the mistletoe, for you never know who may fall into your life




i will keep this minimal **but if you have any questions..feel free to ask..i can provide more indepth later if needed**

so where was i .....yes....Reaching into my santa sack and pulls out my first goodie

but before i hand this out ...i must start off and say HDR photography is a joke
yes...im sure we have all seen some good images done with this technique and some lurid crazy stuff that doesn't even look remotely real

but as a career standpoint of things....its not photography..and photographers in the field..will laugh at the use of it ....

I know chris weeks has gone off on this a few times..and i couldn't agree more..and i am not alone on that

but .......the reason i bring it up
is you do not need HDR editing programs.....to capture what you want ....

Passes out my first and essentially important goodie for all the landscape photographers out there

BY FAR THE BEST FILTER ANYONE SHOULD HAVE ...AND IT SHOULD BE THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU THINK OF AN ESSENTIAL FILTER ...along with the afore mentioned filter i talk about at the end of this grouping


this is the Singh ray ND Grad filter

this filter is amazing ....allowing you to capture both the sky and the ground .....allowing you up to 4 stops to expose the foreground perfectly

thus providing you the details in sky .....and ground
properly ---> IN CAMERA <---- meaning NO HDR PROGRAMS NEEDED

Here is a link to there site ...
take a look .....
[link]

so run off..and go sit on santa's lap ..and make sure this item is in under your tree

while your there .....ask for the VARI-ND filter too

giving you up to 8 stops
check this awesome thing out..beats stacking and carrying a bunch of them around

the vari ND filter..is smooth - just take a look at the little video on there page how this works

[link]

Singh-ray are the best in my opinion

and these two filters..are something ...every photographer should have

on to the next little goodie

how to Shoot Colour reflections in water !!!!
we've all seen those amazing coloured images of fall colours rippled thru water ...offering swirls of gold and red and whatever else.

the key to this ..is to shoot in the shade ....on bright sunny blue sky days

- this is one of the times....being out in the afternoon can offer good result for shooting

as the old addage goes (primarily for landscape photogs)
grey days....shoot all day
and sunny days..you shoot mornings or late afternoons / sunset time

but this tip...will provide you something to do on the days....where its sunny ..and your feigning to get some beautiful shots taken

my third goodie from the bag

deals with more landscape imagery

we've all taken beautiful scenic shots of places
and regardless if you use your sunny 16 rule or not .....thinking all your image will be in focus...

but when you get home....you see the foreground..isn't fully in focus (like say the blades of grass that lead out into the field with mountains around or whatnot

its the front of the image..that bothers you ..cause thats the lead in ...


well ......here is the solution to that (without getting into explanations why it does that)

but you focus 1/3 down lower in the image....
so the top part you leave 2/3 up

as the lens and focus system ....only cover a certain amount of area..and by lowering....you ensure the foreground will be in full focused.....and you allow the f16 or f22 or whatever is optimal for the lens you are using to capture the rest of the scene in focus

and this will result in a perfectly sharp image (from foreground to background)

********* for a cheesy little diagram of what i mean ****

take a look at this link
[link]

the red x is where you would have focused.....drop that down lower
By lowering it down ....you will get a fully sharp / in focused foreground & image

i hope that makes sense.....give it a try ..you will understand what i mean..when you put it into use


if not.....and your rich ...go out and buy a 85mm Tilt Shift lens
that baby will isolate and make everything sharp

Santa feels around in his bag.....yup ..we have some more

BULB mode .....exposing

this is a bit of math ....as photography is in theory

but say your shooting night / long exposures...and you just don't know how long to get the proper exposure time for that image

its not guess work.....yes in the digital age..you could stand there for along time..trying to get it right by taking different times

but the best thing to do ..is to give yourself a guide..to know how the time works for a good exposure

so your shooting at f11 for night..but your under exposed
so you turn it back to
f8 shows a perfect exposure for your scene ......and it shows you a 30 second exposure would be best

well for f11 you double it going to 60 seconds
f16 would be 2 minutes
f18 would be 4 minutes
f22 would be 8 minutes...
etc etc

knowing that each increment....doubles helps you determine what time length to expose at

this is only a rule of thumb to work off....still be creative with your shots...but....hopefully this little table will start you off in the proper direction..and spare you standing around guessing

now speaking of f22 ...on to my next little tip

ive been asked before in my images .....how to capture sunstars

as you've all seen sunstars from major light sources in imagery

to be able to capture those....f 22 is perfect for that achievement

looks around and sees there isn't many people left reading this .....

so ill quickly pass these out ..
but a fun tip...for shooting christmas lights...or even some other things.....

is to breath on your lens....making it fog up
the effect done from this....with a good exposure...can lead to some really nice images

and before santa walks out the door yelling ho ho ho

for anyone who has ever looked into buying a lens baby, but didn't really like how limited they are

well go look into the new 3G lens baby ...
its far improved and i think it should be hanging in many of your christmas stockings this year

and with that .....i think im gonna go see what my girls stockings look like

Take care all ..and have a wonderful holiday