It won't hurt - Trust Me

Another tattoo being done. I heard someone saying it won't hurt, trust me................. Followed by, "Ok, it hurts a little". No electric here. They take that metal rod to tap the needles into your skin. I can't even imagine getting a full tattoo like this. It is fascinating to watch and these people are artists. It is even more fascinating to watch the people getting their tattoos.

Hula

Normally I like when people are making eye contact with the camera. But some photos work well without the eye contact. The photo on the left has no eye contact, yet I really liked the photo as it really conveys her happiness and being lost in the moment. I used focal point to add some blur around her and draw attention to where I wanted to. Of course, this was taken at night and I had to use a high ISO, despite the lights. If you can't get a fast enough shutter speed, Anticipate a moment when dancers are not moving as fast and then shoot. I hope you enjoy this photo.

Thanks to Mike Wong of onOne software for the nice comments about my Samoan black and white photo I previously posted. I use and recommend a number of their products, including focalpoint, genuine fractals, mask pro (which is so easy to use to cut out backgrounds etc.) and photo tools. I'm not going to lie, the software isn't cheap, but it is well worth the price and I was never disappointed. The amount of time I have saved using their products and some of the results have made the investment well worth it. check out the blog at http://www.ononesoftware.com/blog/ to see more.

Samoan

I'm not normally into black and white photography, but some photos lend themselves well to black and white. This photo of American Samoans performing is a good example. There was a lot of color cast from different lights that made it difficult to get an effective white balance. So, I decided to make this a black and white photo. Now although some cameras have a black and white mode (digital cameras), I prefer to shoot normal. Since I use Raw, I know I have all the information I need to keep the color file, or convert to black and white. Since I use photoshop, I converted this image in photoshop. Now, I have been considering getting a lensbaby (www.lensbaby.com) to get some selective focus. These lens allow you to get a unique selective focus. The use of selective focus allows you to get focus attention on your focal point and blur distracting elements. But I already had purchased a suite of photoshop plug-ins from onone software. This included focal point, which simulates the effects you get from a lensbaby. I used this in the photo to attempt to draw attention to the subjects. I like the effects I get with this and will have to play with it more.

Samoans are great performers and I never get tired of watching them perform. This was a great evening and a couple of photos to add to my collection. It was dark and I had to shoot at ISO1600, even though I was shooting at f2.8. I was using a sigma 70-200 lens. The lens is good (the only non canon lens I own) but has a hard time focusing in low light. Also, wide open the quality diminishes after about 135mm. But it was half the price of the canon 70-200. But if I had the same choice, I would save up for the canon lens next time.