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Mayan near Tulum

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     This gentleman is a Mayan near Tulum in Mexico.  Him and a partner were dancing and putting a show on for us touristy sorts.  I shot the photo with a f90x camera on Fuji Velvia 100 ASA film and scanned it using a slide scanner.  I thought about putting the whole image on, but I kind of liked the framing with the rule of thirds—body line in a third, arm swinging down a third, and the head dress on a third.      I just love shooting with fill flash.  For those of you who don’t know what fill flash is, quite simply put fill flash is a simple way of adding light to a picture which doesn’t need the extra light but will benefit by having it.      Basically what you do is set your camera (film or digital) up so that you have a nice low aperture and a shutter speed to allow the right amount of light in to give the picture a normal exposure.  Then, you turn your flash on.      When the flash fires, it adds just a hint of extra light to the picture.  This does a pile of things.  F
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Garter Snake

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     Hi there, I’m Eric, and this blog thing is new to me but I thought that I would try to do a once or twice a week posting of a blog and see what kind of response I get.  If you read this, please be kind enough to email me at eric@ericspix.com to let me know that this actually fell on somebody’s eyes.  Thanks.      This is a Northwestern Garter Snake which I found resting in a wild rose bush not too far away from my home.  It was enjoying the sunshine and sitting about 3 feet off the ground at the time.  If you look at it’s eye closely, you can see a reflection of me shooting with my D70 and flash unit.       Garter snakes are really common in Canada, although there are many varieties.  I have enjoyed catching them since I was a kid.  They are very versatile in their diets and need for habitat, which is why they seem to thrive so well in so many areas.   Garter snakes eat worms (no kidding), fish, slugs, frogs, and all kinds of other critters, vertebrate and invertebrate ali
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Depth of field

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In photography, depth of field is huge.  It is defined as the distance that is in focus, front to back (away from the camera at right angles), in the image. Depth of field allows you to control what is in and out of focus, and by how much.  It is used to help draw your eye to a desired location.  It can make the difference between an average, good, or excellent shot.  You can control depth of field using several methods.   #1:   The size, or f/number, of the aperture is very important.  A small f/number means a wide open aperture.  It also means less depth of field.  A large f/number means a small aperture; it gives you more depth of field.   #2:   The focal length of the lens has a great impact.  Wide angles settings (28 mm relative to a 35 mm film camera) gives you more depth of field than telephoto settings (105 mm).   #3:   The point of focus is also a factor.  As you get closer to your subject, the depth of field decreases.   #4:   Film or sensor size is important.  Small se
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