Category Archives: How To

Focusing on Portraits: Animals and otherwise

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Galen Leeds Photography

A portrait tries, with a single snapshot in time, to tell a story. This is true, whether the image is of an old ranch hand, a cow, or a wild animal. Usually this will be a tightly focused image, where … Continue reading →

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Finding scale in New Zealand

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Galen Leeds Photography

So often when taking photographs, we see something amazing, raise our cameras, take the shot, and walk away very pleased with ourselves. Until we get home and review our pictures. We were so impressed with how much larger or smaller … Continue reading →

Posted in documentary, How To, How To, marine life, nature photography, New Zealand, photography, SLR | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Intro to aperture, shutter speed and ISO: Part I Aperture

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Galen Leeds Photography

There are three main factors within your camera that affect the proper exposure of your photographs. They are the aperture (how much light you let pass through the lens at any given moment), the shutter speed (how long you let … Continue reading →

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Anatomy of a photo #51: Oyster Mushroom

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Galen Leeds Photography

We are now getting into our hot summer days, and I cannot help but day dream about last winter’s wild mushrooms. It was not as stellar of a year for chantrelles as I had hoped, but it was decidedly a … Continue reading →

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Anatomy of a photo #48: Cattle chute at sunset

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Galen Leeds Photography

Sometimes you see a sky that just begs to have its picture taken, but there are already so many images of pretty skies that you almost have to ask yourself if it’s worth it to put yet another one out … Continue reading →

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Anatomy of a photo #47: Mt Tam from Mt Vision

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Galen Leeds Photography

Early morning. What a wonderful magical time of day. I’ve heard that from a scientific point of view the range of sunrise colors is equal to sunset, and that one is simply the other in reverse, but from an emotional … Continue reading →

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Anatomy of a photo #46: Young Raccoons on the rocks

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Galen Leeds Photography

Early morning, extra low tide, the long days of summer… Put them tgether, and it’s the perfect time to find and photograph raccoons as they search for crabs and tidbits by the first light of the day. The other time … Continue reading →

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Anatomy of a photo #45: Wild rose with dewdrops

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Galen Leeds Photography

Flowers are wonderful subjects for photography. In a short space and time they will go through many shapes and forms- the plant iitself, the bud, flowers, and the seed head or pod (or in the case of roses the hip). … Continue reading →

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Anatomy of a photo (series): #44 Octopus event on Tomales Bay (the days before Hawktopus)

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Galen Leeds Photography

The other day I was speaking with someone that had seen my Hawktopus post (the Red-tailed Hawk that I was able to photograph as it flew with an octopus) and while they were very enthusiastic about it, they chided me once they … Continue reading →

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Anatomy of a photo #43: Fallen Star a.k.a. Simpsons Cartoon Hands

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Galen Leeds Photography

Paddling along Tomales Bay in my kayak one day, at a very low tide, I came across a star fish whose own weight had peeled it off of the rocks. I was enthralled by the various textures and shapes, the … Continue reading →

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Anatomy of a photo #42: Finding the invisible sheep

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Galen Leeds Photography

Out here where I live lambs are born in December or early January. This means that if you head out with your camera in February and March you can get photographs of playful, joyful lbs gamboling through the fields and … Continue reading →

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Anatomy of a photo #36: Surfer and the Bridge

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Galen Leeds Photography

I have no idea how often you can find people surfing under the Golden Gate Bridge. In fact, I hadn’t planned on photographing surfers at all on this day, only the Bridge itself by the early mor ing light, but … Continue reading →

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