Lars and Sandra :: Married

Had a great morning wedding at Makena Cove a few days ago. Lars and Sandra were here all the way from Germany! What a great couple. What a great morning!!!

Sonja :: prenatal sess

For me, a pregnancy session is about more than a woman having a baby. It's also about the sensuality of the woman and the last few moments in time that the man and woman get to spend together before becoming a family. Here is Sonja's prenatal session. Enjoy!

Better portraits tip #5: Bokeh!!

Tip #5 is all about bokeh - for art and getting rid of busy backgrounds.

Bokeh is not just a blurred background. Certain lenses can make bokeh into pretty cool shapes. By adding bokeh, you draw the attention to a very specific point in the picture.

What makes bokeh is the combination of three things.

1) a large aperature (small f-stop number, such as f/2).

2) a long focal length (a 200mm lens will give more bokeh than a 24mm lens)

3) increasing distance between subject and background.

Many lenses that have larger aperatures can get quite pricey, but there are some affordable lenses with large aperatures out there. For instance, Canon makes a nice little 50mm f/1.8 which is around $90. But, if you simply don't want another lens, work on the other two points...

Start by getting the aperature as large as possible while shooting in "aperature priority" mode (this may be around f/5.6 for many zoom lenses). Next, use a longer focal length. Finally, move your subject further forward from the background.

Mostly, have fun experimenting with creating bokeh!

Feel free to comment if you have any questions.

Shell hunting

Luke (and Sierra) having fun looking for shells at Lane's beach on Maui. And I had fun playing with my camera :)

Rossland 2010

Here are a few more from our trip to BC. still have a few more to go... Boy do we miss the snow. But good to be back on Maui!

Rossland, BC - part one.

People often ask me where folks who live in Hawaii go for vacation. Well for us, we head to British Columbia, Canada to go visit the snow and do some skiing. Here's part 1 of our first trip to BC with baby Sierra. She handled the snow like a champ. More to come as I get the pics processed. We're back on Maui now so send an email if you want to set up a family photo session or if you or someone you know is getting married!

Aloha, Kristin