Extreme macro

Sometimes people do things just because they can, not because it’s the best way to. This is one of those cases. 

Statues

I absolutely love capturing the essence of statues, especially those that evoke the grandeur of the Roman era. 

Another favorite from last weekend

I knew this would happen—after a long weekend and 300 photos later, picking a favorite feels impossible!
But hey, here’s another one I really like. Who says you can’t have more than one favorite, right?

Shooting Indoor Events

Shooting indoor events comes with its own set of challenges. You have to consider that these events often take place in large rooms with poor lighting. In such cases, having a good “fast” lens is probably more important than having a high-end camera—but how fast is fast enough?

In my opinion, f/2.8 is the sweet spot. You might think that going with f/1.8 or even faster would help more, but it usually doesn't. That's because most of the time, you're shooting with a zoom lens—and aside from the fact that zoom lenses with an f/1.8 aperture are practically nonexistent, such a wide aperture results in a very shallow depth of field. This increases the chances of getting out-of-focus shots, especially when photographing multiple people performing at the same time.

An f/2.8 aperture gives you a better balance—more of the scene stays in focus, which is particularly useful when you're capturing groups of people on stage.

Considering all of this, I love bringing my old Canon EF 70-200mm L lens to these events. (If you can afford the RF version—even better! Otherwise look at the used market where you can find very affordable options for good quality glass).

A full-frame camera is a must—and if it performs well in low light, even better. In my case, I use the Canon R6 Mark I, but the R6 Mark II or the R3 would also work very well. All of them are well known for handling low-light conditions exceptionally.

The photos in this article were taken during a recent event in a church, and my ISO ranged between 2500 and 4000. This range can easily be cleaned up using most post-processing applications available today. In my case, I used DxO PureRaw, and I have to confess—this software has freed me from worrying about shooting at high ISOs, even as high as 12,800 or more.

Shot at 12800 in a very dark room without flash.

For Sharpening I use Topaz Photo AI. Recent features added to this software such as Face Recovering help a lot to achieve the highest quality in your pictures. 

As you can see, post-editing is just as important as having a good lens and a quality camera. Most of the time, you’ll spend twice as long editing your photos as you did actually shooting the event. Of course, if you're a professional sports photographer, you may not have that luxury—so having the best gear possible becomes essential.

In conclusion, taking great photos is not an easy task. When you see photographers charging a high price for covering an event, consider the cost of their gear, the software they use, and the hours spent on post-processing. If someone is offering extremely low prices, chances are they’re not investing the time or tools needed to deliver high-quality images. You get what you pay for. 

For new photographers, lenses are more important than cameras and post editing can fix the lack of quality you may get from your cheap lens and camera. A good lens and camera will save you time in post processing.

Look around

Take a moment to look around when you're at home. I'm sure you'll discover great photo opportunities in the small details we often miss—simply because they're woven into our everyday lives.

Why I do not use burst mode?

To be honest, it's not that I don’t use burst mode—it’s just that it doesn’t give me the same satisfaction as capturing a photo with a single click. Sure, when you shoot 15 to 30 frames per second, you're almost guaranteed to end up with at least one good image out of 100. But if you stop to think about the fact that you needed 100 shots just to pick one, to me, it feels a bit like cheating. The funny part is that even with burst mode, you can still end up without a single good photo—and a memory card full of junk to sort through at the end of the day.

Yes, I do use burst mode when photographing birds in flight, because it increases the odds of getting one perfectly in focus. The same goes for sports photography—it’s nearly impossible to capture the exact peak moment of the action in just one click, and also have it perfectly sharp.

Captured using a burst at 1/2500. ISO 12800. 

But even so, it doesn’t give me the same pleasure. To me, it’s like bringing a machine gun to a hunt. Where’s the fun in that? One bullet, one kill. I treat photography the same way: one click, one perfect photo.

And speaking of hunting—if hunters would trade their guns for cameras, oh God, we’d be living in a perfect world.

Captured using one click.

I enjoy watching dozens of videos from other wildlife photographers, and whenever I hear the rapid-fire sound of burst mode, I can’t help but smile and think, no wonder they end up with such great shots.

But for me, the joy I get from a single, intentional click would be lost if I had to sort through hundreds of images just to find one good one. I feel that when you press the shutter once—when you really feel the moment—you remember it forever. But with burst mode, it’s easy to forget the exact instant it happened, buried among so many frames.

Burst mode just isn’t for me.

 

Minimalism in photography

Minimalism in photography is a compositional and aesthetic approach that emphasizes simplicity. It seeks to convey an idea, emotion, or story using the least amount of visual information possible—focusing on elements like space, color, form, and texture. 

Here is an example from last weekend.

What Were They Thinking? The Silent Drama of Sports Faces

One of the things that fascinates me most when photographing sports is the look on athletes’ faces just before they perform—or immediately after. There’s a quiet intensity in those moments, a story unfolding in their expressions. Unfortunately, no camera can capture what’s going on inside their minds. All we have is the image—and the lingering question of what they might have been thinking in that split second.

 That’s part of what makes sports photography so compelling. It’s not just about action shots or peak performance—it’s about emotion, anticipation, and reflection. A single frame can hint at triumph, doubt, exhaustion, or resolve. As a photographer, you become a silent observer of these raw, human moments, trying to preserve something that goes beyond the physical act of competition. And sometimes, it’s those quiet, in-between frames that say the most.

Here are few pictures that illustrate the above. 

 

In the end, that’s the beauty of photography—it invites us to pause and wonder. We may never know exactly what was going through the athlete’s mind, but the image invites us into that moment, asking us to feel something, to connect. And maybe that’s enough. Sometimes, the power of a photograph lies not in the answers it gives, but in the questions it leaves behind.

From last weekend

Last weekend was a busy one. I took more than 800 pictures, and on Sunday, I edited them down to 463 high-quality images, which can be downloaded here. Facebook kills any picture published there. If you want any of my original pictures download it using this link. 

This last weekend I photographed a Karate event whose theme was the Terracotta Warriors from China. All the pictures from this event were taken using a Canon R6 Mark I and the EF 70-200mm f/2.8 Lens Mark II. This lens was first released by Canon in 2010, but looking at these pictures, you would never guess they were taken with a 15-year-old lens. If a lens is good, it doesn’t matter how old it is.

Why am I still using an older lens? Price. You can buy this lens for less than half of what you would pay for the latest RF version.

But a good lens alone isn’t enough to create great pictures. I spent more than 12 hours editing all the photos. First, I reviewed them all and selected the ones I wanted to edit. After that, I ran the selected pictures through DXO PureRaw to remove noise. Then I imported the cleaned images into Adobe Lightroom Classic, where the real editing process began.

Adjustments to contrast, white balance, blacks, and whites were made to achieve the final results, which you can enjoy on my Facebook page and Flickr. Pictures straight out of the camera are an unfinished product that require work to reach their full potential.

The main difference between someone simply taking pictures and a photographer is the time the latter spends on post-processing. Keep that in mind.

Here are few more pictures from this event.

Camera gear that improved my photos

I’m sure everyone has bought a piece of gear that, at least in their mind, improved their photos. For me, it’s the Canon EF 100-400mm L Mark II, which I bought used but in very good condition. What’s that piece of gear for you?

If you want to know which one it is for Duade Paton — a wildlife photographer and influencer with around 100K followers — you can check out the following video.

 

Only during Easter

Only during Easter can you go for a hike looking for wildlife to photograph and end up with a picture of a giant rabbit.

Well, in reality, it’s not a rabbit, but a clever photographer using an assistant dressed as one to get a nice picture for a client.

This time of year, you start seeing photographers in our parks taking senior photos. 

Yeap, it's this time of the year. Of course, a nice time to take some candid pictures.

 

 

RAW vs cRAW

Over the years, I’ve read many articles and watched numerous videos on this topic—just like with the RAW vs. JPEG comparisons. But recently, I came across a video that I really liked because it explains the differences so clearly.

 

From last weekend

 Last weekend, I spent some time visiting the local botanical garden and a local park. From these two photo sessions, here are some of the pictures:

I have started creating slideshows of my photo shoots, and here is one I made using pictures from the botanical garden.

Photos from last weekend

 Last weekend was a wildlife weekend. Here are some of the pictures I captured:

Duck In Flight

A motorcycle rider passed by, and I couldn’t resist capturing some shots.

 

Wildlife Photography vs Environmental Photography

 

Wildlife Photography and Environmental Photography overlap in some ways but have distinct focuses:

Wildlife Photography

• Focuses on animals in their natural habitat.
• The subject is the animal itself—its behavior, movements, and interactions.
• Photographers often use telephoto lenses to capture distant or elusive subjects.
• Examples: A close-up of a bird in flight, a lion hunting, or a macro shot of an insect.

Environmental Photography

• Broader category that includes nature, landscapes, and human impact on the environment.
• May feature wildlife, but the emphasis is often on the ecosystem, conservation, or the relationship between nature and human influence.
• Can include landscapes, pollution, deforestation, and climate change documentation.
• Examples: A photo of a forest recovering from a wildfire, a polluted river, or a wide-angle shot of animals within their changing habitat.

If you’re shooting a Carolina Wren perched on a branch, that’s wildlife photography. If you frame the wren against a deforested background to highlight habitat loss, that’s environmental photography.

Where the past meets the present

 This family came to an event dressed as the late 1800s and made me smile. Can you guess why?

Photos from last weekend

Last Saturday, I participated in an event celebrating the 182nd anniversary of Hernando County. Many attendees wore historical costumes, making it a great opportunity for photography.

 

I took to the event the Tamron 28-300 EF, It’s a very convenient lens because it covers a wide focal range. However, that comes at a price—photos aren’t as sharp as those taken with my Canon L lenses. Still, as you can see, the images have enough detail to satisfy any photographer. At one point, I had to remove the battery from my Canon R6 because the camera became unresponsive—something that occasionally happens when using this lens. Keep that in mind. You can enjoy the rest of the pictures from this event at Flickr. 

On Sunday, I returned to wildlife photography and captured this beautiful shot of a Carolina Wren. It perched nearby, delighting me with its lovely song. 

Taken using a Canon R6 and EF100-400 Mk2 with 1.4ext.

 

 

 

Is photography an Art?

That’s the subject of a recent article published by The Photographer.

Conquering the top of the world!

 According to Google AI: "Art is a creative expression that can be a physical object, experience, or skill. It can be beautiful, thought-provoking, or emotional. Art can be created through a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, music, dance, and photography."

Google AI goes deeper by saying that photography is an art because:

It's a creative endeavor that uses skill and imagination

It can evoke feelings and memories

It can be used to express thoughts and emotions

It can be used to research the world and our place in it

Do I think that photography is an art?

Putting modesty aside, yes, I do. What do you think?

Underwater photography at 163 feet

 According to this tweet, this is a new Guinness record. 

 New record: Deepest underwater model photoshoot - 49.80 m (163.38 ft)

Hear from photographer Steven Haining on the logistics of choreographing a shoot nearly 50 meters deep underwater.

The role of photography documenting history

There’s no doubt in my mind that photography plays a vital role in documenting history—perhaps even more so than video. While browsing Flickr for street photography, I came across an album created by Eran Horn, an amateur photographer from Israel.

Through his lens, he has captured the unfolding events surrounding the potential liberation of prisoners held by Hamas.

His black-and-white photographs are truly remarkable, conveying the deep sadness and dramatic intensity of the moment with profound impact.

Photo by Eran Horn.