Have you ever wondered how to take those gorgeous photos seen on the postcards? You can do better than that!!! Come join the monthly Crystal Cove State Park Nature Photo Sessions. Besides beach sunset, There will also be flower, landscape, and tidepool photo sessions. Be prepared to stand in the ocean waves for those best shots. You can find CCSP activities at http://www.crystalcovestatepark.com/calendar.htm. WARNING - Salty sea water can be corrosive to your camera equipment.

Before planning your next national park trip, you can sharpen you photography skills and take great photos in your own backyard. There are plenty of local locations you can practice during our Irvine Ranch Wildlands and Parks Nature Photo Sessions. Besides sunset/moonrise photo opportunities, we'll also have flower, or sometimes sunrise and midday photo sessions. Wear long pants and hiking boots. You can find IRWP activities at http://www.irvineranchwildlands.org/activities/index.asp

See you at these future sessions -
Crystal Cove State Park - (no need to sign up, just show up)
Wednesday 11/21/09, Pelican Pt Parking Lot #1, 3-6pm, Sunset/Low Tide
Sunday 12/13/09, Rocky Bight, Los Trancos Parking Lot, 3-6pm, Sunset/X'Mas
Sunday 1/17/10, Reef Pt, South Parking Lot, 3-6pm, Sunset/New Moon/Low Tide
Sunday 2/28/10, Rocky Bight, Los Trancos Parking Lot, 4-7pm, Sunset/Moonrise
Sunday 3/21/10, Pelican Pt, Parking Lot #1, 5-8pm, Sunset/new moon
Sunday 4/18/10, Ranger Station, 5-7pm, Flower
Sunday 5/23/10, Rocky Bight, Los Trancos Parking Lot, 5-9ppm, Sunset/New Moon/Flower
Monday 6/21/10, Pelican Pt, Parking Lot #2, 6-9pm, Sunset
(All schedules are subject to approval by CCSP, check back for changes and cancellations)

Irvine Ranch Wildlands & Parks - (must sign up at their website)
Sunday 12/6/09, Hicks Canyon South, Hicks Cayon South, 3:30-6pm, Sunset
Thursday 1/28/10, Baker Canyon, 3:30-6:30pm, Sunset/Full moon
Sunday 2/7/10, The Sinks, meet at Hangman Tree, 3:30-6:30pm Flower/Red Cliff
Sunday 3/28/10, Loma Ridge, meet at Augustine, t-8pm, Sunset/Moonrise/Flower
Sunday 4/25/10, Bommer Canyon, 4-8pm, Flower/Sunset/Moonrise
Wednesday 5/26/10, Baker Canyon, 6-9pm, Sunset/Full moon
Friday 6/25/10, The Sinks, Meet at Hangman's Tree, 6-9pm, Red Cliff/Full moon
(All schedules are subject to approval by IRWP, check back for changes and cancellations)

You may bring either an SLR or a Point & Shoot camera. A tripod is a must for sunset. Please do read your manual about the setups of your camera. You will not benefit too much if you can't find the controls that can make your images better.

During our sessions we can share various composition techniques such as: rule of 3rds, C or S curve, V shape, anchor subject, pattern, color, framing, leading to, panning, zooming, selective focus, high sky/low sky, check 4 sides, shooting low, glowing effect, light painting, and a few other tips to make images more interesting. Most of these techniques are applicable to point & shoot cameras too.

It is my hope that we share the beauty of Orange County with others and learn how to take better pictures. Each trip I'd like to collect photos from you and post on this web site. We will learn from each others from the trip.

Kowing how to adjust the setup of your camera can help you make much much better photos. Read your manual on the following camera setups, we will practice during the meeting -
1) Shooting Mode(P/Tv/Av/M) - To really take advantage of your camera, you need to shoot at least with P mode. I usually shoot with either Tv mode (if I have enough light), or Av mode (if I want depth of field). Adjust ISO accordingly to get optimal image quality.
2) Exposure Control - Read the histogram and adjust your exposure control accordingly. If anything is flashing on your LCD, adjust it down. If the histogram is over one stop short, adjust it up. You can always darken the image with no quality loss, but brighten up an underexposed image will also exaggerate the noise. As long as nothing over-exposed and you have some in the brightest stop, the image should be good. No need to go all the way to the right.
3) White Balance - Try different white balance options to see if you like the effect. When you use shade, the sunset image will be much warmer, more than what you see with your own eyes.
4) Style - Using landscape (or vivid) style usually gives you more saturated image, colors are much richer.
5) Focusing Point - Try to use single focusing point at the mid point of your image to get better depth of field. Using auto focusing point can't guarantee the camera will choose the right point to give you what you want.
6) Manual Focusing - Once you've setup your camera on your tripod, and has framed your composition, as the sky gets darker and darker, or if the contrast where you focus on is too contrasty, it becomes difficult to focus. You may want to switch to manual focus to maintain your focus.
7) Metering - Evaluative metering is usually fine for landscape. During sunset you may want to switch to partial metering at a specific point to make sure proper exposure.
8) Aperture - F2.8 gives you shallow depth of field, f22 gives you much bigger depth of field. But f2.8 allows faster shutter speed. When using f22 without sufficient light, use high ISO.
9) Shutter Speed - The reverse of your focal length is usually the minimum hand held speed. e.g, shooting at 200mm you need 1/200 seconds speed, shooting at 50mm you need 1/50 seconds. Using IS or VR you can shoot with 1 or 2 stop slower speed.
10) Bracket - Now that I shoot mostly raw when lighting condition is extreme, I don't need shoot with bracket any more, instead I create 2 images from the raw image, one exposes for highlight, the other exposes for shadow, then blend the 2 together. This is especially important for shooting beach sunset as it doesn't matter how fast you shoot with bracket, the wave patterns between 2 images will be different unless you use the same image.

Any questions? Feel free to contact me at AndreTorngOC@aol.com or 949-331-3801.

Just FYI, here's a list of what I bring -
- A camera body, a tripod is a must for sunset and evening,
- Lenses for sunset: 24-70mm, 100-400mm or 70-200mm
- Lenses for flower and tidepool: 100mm macro, 28-135mm, spray bottle (for flowers)
- Accessaries like extra battery/memory cards, lens brush, cleaning cloth, etc.
- A 2-stop Graduated Neutral Density filter (for sunset) and a Circular Polarizer (for landscape and flower) will definitely help
- Snack, drinking water,
- Hat, jacket, headlamp/flash