Today is International Women’s Day. I want to take the time out to thank all the phenomenal women who have blessed me in front of my lens. Clergy, Models, Teachers, Pilots, Lawyers, Police Officers, Restaurant Managers, Entertainers, Entrepreneurs, Artists, Performers, Beauty Professionals, Cancer Fighters and Survivors, Actors, Photographers, Brides, Motivational Speakers and many more. I want to say THANK YOU!
If the name Donna Maria sounds oddly familiar it might be because she has been all over television and media from ABC to the Wall Street Journal. Maybe you have followed her journey of helping and empowering others all over the world as they build businesses while maintaining life balance through the Indie Business Network. However she has entered your life, one thing is probably true, your life is the better for it!
Adjanie is a ready-to-wear resort wear brand that infuses cross cultural inspirations, sophistication, and great influence from Adjanie Muller's Caribbean lifestyle. (@Adjanie)
The Designer Shows was titled sponsored by jewelers, Diamonds Direct and Henri Daussi. The four showcases were from Mason Hosker Bridal, Lovely Bride Charleston with its 'Made with Love' presentation, Emily Kotarski, and Modern Trousseau.
I had a great time at the Embassy Suites in North Charleston, SC capturing the Auto Money Holiday Party and Awards Ceremony. Over 500 hundred guests from the Southern Region gathered together in December to not only celebrate the holiday season, but to congratulate the top performers across the organization from Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
The Photography team was:
Lead Photographer: Leighton DaCosta
Second Photographer: Geno Porter
Photographer's Assistant: Tyler Pentia
Full Gallery can be found HERE: https://leightond.shootproof.com/gallery/automoney2017/
Charleston Harbor July 4, 2016.
This is a 17 frame HDR Merge done in Adobe Lightroom.
I do not normally photograph fireworks, because I would rather just sit, watch, and enjoy them. This year for the Fourth of July, I was fortunate enough to have a great vantage point to watch the fireworks over most of the Charleston area. The one I came to watch, was the big one over the U.S.S. YORKTOWN, a retired, World War II Aircraft Carrier from the US Navy.
The fireworks were absolutely beautiful and I wanted to share a couple of things I learned that night for those wanting to do fireworks photography.
Straight out of camera Shot of the fireworks over Charleston Harbor
Slow Shutter Speeds. When Photographing moving luminous objects, to give a sense of motion, you are going to want to use a slow shutter speed to better capture the trailing light. I know many who photograph around 1-5 second exposures. Because of the distance, and the width of the lens I was using that night, I was between 15-25 seconds in exposure time.
TRIPOD!!! Bring a tripod to give you the best stability when doing long exposures. Not only will it keep your camera stable, but it will allow you to take several images with identical frames that makes post production easier.
Mirror Up. While I had already planned on using the live view function on my Nikon D810, I knew that I was only going to use it for precision focusing. In my experience, when using long exposures over 15 seconds, the mirror slap in a DSLR can cause enough vibrations to cause motion blur in distant luminous objects like stars and fireworks. For ideal stillness, photograph using a laptop and a tether cable, so you do not have to touch the camera at all.
Straight out of camera shot; you may not know when something may go off causing a little more light than expected.
LD
