Nano Banana

 I asked Nano Banana to create versions of this photo:

And here are the results:

 

I was not pleased with the second photo because, by rotating the subject, it looked like a different kid, in my opinion. Here is the prompt that I used to get the first picture edited by Nano Banana.

"An expressive, natural portrait of a subject, bathed entirely in warm, directional golden hour sunlight. The light should be low, highlighting the texture of the skin and hair with a vibrant rim light. Camera/Settings: Captured on a Canon R6 with a 85mm lens, f/1.8, shallow depth of field (bokeh) in the background. Composition: Leading lines from a distant fence drawing the eye to the face. Style: Cinematic realism, saturated gold and orange hues, high dynamic range. Do not change subject position. Do not edit the face of the subject." 

In my experience, Nano Banana tends to always edit the face of the subject, which is the reason why I do not feel it’s a tool that can be reliably used for editing. However, you get decent results if you try to replace the background or use other tricks in that sense. If you do not put both pictures, the original and the one edited by Nano Banana, side by side, the results look nice, but if you compare them you can notice the AI editing right away. 

You can find other prompts and test them yourself here.  

 

Birds portrait photography

I'm fascinated by bird portrait photography. While capturing the entire bird showcases the vivid colors of its feathers, shooting portraits highlights the beauty of its eyes. Birds' eyes come in a stunning variety of colors. Click on the image to zoom in and appreciate the details.

 

Karate competition

 Last weekend I took my camera to USA Sport Karate Competition at Orlando, Florida. Here are some of the pictures I took there. 

One of the things I focused on during the event was capturing the emotions of the participants, especially those who did not win.

Here's a moment I captured: a young lady engaged in a heartfelt conversation with her coach, analyzing what went wrong.

This young guy was in tears after losing his first fight. Remarkably, he was still crying during his second fight—which he won!

He won this fight!

Sports photography, for me, is not just about the action—it's about capturing the raw emotions of those who come to compete, giving it their all. Who says you can't capture great portraits at these events?

The highlight of the event was my grandson winning his first Kata 1st Place Medal!

His Performance was amazing!

All pictures were taken using a Canon R6 with a EF70-200 L f/2.8.

Motorcycle Rider

 From time to time, I photograph strangers. Last weekend, during a hike at a local park, I encountered a motorcyclist. She was riding a distinct white bike, and since it’s not often I see a woman on a motorcycle, I decided to take a picture of her. I had my EF 100-400mm L lens with me and decided to capture a portrait, focusing on her eyes even though her helmet partially obscured her face. As I looked through the viewfinder, I was astonished by her striking blue eyes staring back at me.

 

Using a R6 with EF100-400L

Using a R6 with EF100-400L

Close to 10 years...

In March 2025, I'll reach 10 years since I got my first DSLR, a Nikon D5200, and began regularly taking wildlife pictures, mostly of birds and sometimes the two legged animals called humans 😂.

It has been a long learning process. When I look back at the pictures I took back then, I can see the significant improvement I've made over these 10 years. 

Photo taken in 2015 using the Nikon D5200.

I've taken more than 69,000 pictures, and that doesn't even include the ones that ended up in the Windows Trash Bin. This number may seem small for some photographers that use their camera in burst mode and shoot thousands of photos in one session. But believe me, these are 69000 pictures edited by me representing long hours seating in front of my computer. 

You can see these pictures organized by albums at Flickr, the platform that use to backup online my pictures.

Photo from my album Quinceañera, from November 2015. 
One of my first attempts to shoot an event.
At that time I was a firm believer in not editing my photos. 

This is one of my latest photos in a Karate Event, using a Canon R6 Mark I. 

 

 

Another picture taken with the Canon R6 Mark I,
an example of me editing a photo.

From time to time strangers ask for their photos to be taken.
Taken using the Canon R6 Mark I.