Nowadays affordable technology means that almost anyone can capture amazing travel images. These can happen through luck and circumstance, but with a little thought and practice, you can return home with a whole portfolio of professional-level snaps. Read on for advice on how to capture some really special images on your next trip – whether you’re exploring in Peru, enjoying ski deals in Sweden, road-tripping across North America or sunbathing in Spain. Read the rest of this entry »

Here are some of our favorite select stock photos of New York City.  NYC is one of my favorite places to just go and shoot the sights.  It doesn’t matter where you go in New York; the photographic opportunities are everywhere.  If you’re planning on visiting NYC anytime soon, here is my best piece of advice: don’t expect to be able to capture of it all within a day or two.  You can easily kill a week, and still just scratch the surface of New York City and its many boroughs.  They say that about visiting Rome Italy, as well – spend a week.  If you’re planning on going to NYC with a large group of people, you might want to rethink that… take my advice.  Groups of 4 or less are perfect.  Be smart, the city can be just as dangerous of a place in certain areas as anywhere else in this crazy world we live in.  Use the buddy system, and rely on your gut instinct at all times.  There are certain areas where you might not want to whip out your $5000 camera/lens combo without someone else by your side to have your back.  NYC is a very inspirational place. There is so much to see and do, and so many people in such a small area, yet it seems so grandiose like you will never be able to experience it all, no matter how many times you go back.  I wonder if those that live right in the Big Apple even feel that way?

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Stock image of the words “Puerto Rico La Isla Del Encanto”, which means the island of enchantment in English. Famous locations are montaged into the letters of this design.  A great design for everything from shirts to mugs and more.

Puerto Rico La Isla Del Encanto Montage by graficallyminded
Create promotional travel mugs at zazzle

Puerto Rico La Isla Del Encanto Montage by graficallyminded

For those that find themselves in Puerto Rico on vacation, or otherwise… don’t think you have to stick to the main island.  If you haven’t been to the island of Culebra you are missing out on one of the world’s best beaches!  It’s so close, it would be a sin not to visit.  Don’t take my word for it; just google Flamenco Beach and you’ll find it on many of the top lists. White sands, and crystal clear blue waters are what you will find there. It’s the Caribbean at its finest, and feels so private even when there are 100 people spread across the beach.  You find yourself tucked in a gorgeous cove with mountains all around you, palm trees, and a coral reef that is great for snorkeling. Culebra’s world renowned Flamenco Beach is no doubt the best beach I’ve ever been to in my entire life. I forgot to record some video of it, but here are some stills instead. Read the rest of this entry »

Recently I was in the mood to create something a little wild in Photoshop that I could also license as a royalty free stock photo.  I’m not the visionary type that can just get ideas in my head, and then go run and shoot all of the separate pieces.  I’m more of the type that shoots a lot of “stuff”, browses through it all, and realizes later (sometimes accidentally) which elements might play nicely together.  So, I started with a shot from my own photo library of a few little kids running. They were the son and daughter of some friends of mine, and I got a shot of them running through the park during a family photoshoot I did for them about a year ago. When I was in NYC recently, I caught a crazy shot of the traffic driving across the Brooklyn Bridge, with a slight gap in the traffic. I was standing above the highway on the foot path, and shot it at a slight angle so that it looks a bit more candid.  What was the result? Here it is!

The original kids shot:

The final:

The shadows were a bit tricky, but I got them right.  The size and skew angle of the children was probably the most difficult part.

It’s so much fun when you realize that you can combine multiple photo pieces to create and entirely new and different composition. Gotta love it!  The parents and kids got a kick of of it, and laughed their heads off on seeing this final result   That’s about as good as it gets.

Now why would someone want to use this photo?  Why bother going through all of the trouble to compose such an image?  Why not?  First of all, I had fun doing it.  Even if I don’t make a dime from the photo, that right there was worth it.  But unfortunately, homeboy has to pay the bills.  If my wife thought I messed around all day on the computer creating “fun” photos that I couldn’t sell, she probably might not be very pleased with me.  How might someone put this final image of kids running through highway traffic to good use in an advertisement or magazine article? I was thinking it might apply to childhood behavior concepts; perhaps even hyperactivity or ADHD.  Wild kids, kids gone wild, or other topics of that nature.  What about the location?  It’s New York City, and we all know that NYC is one of the most visited cities in the entire world.  Maybe an article about family friendly vacations to the Big Apple might find a nice use for this hilarious photo.  In the end, it can be applied to a number of different concepts.  Safety, behavior, travel, parenting, and more.

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