Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography

Thanksgiving

2009-11-14T21:48:00.000-06:00

With Thanksgiving coming up in just two weeks I have decided to do a series of blogs on things to be thankful for. Today's is the first installment of this series. I have chosen the first day of a couple's married life together. All of us that are married remember how happy and elated we were on that day. You have so many hopes and dreams for the future. All too often in the ensuing years life gets in the way of those hopes and dreams. It is all too easy to forget how we felt that day. In this season of Thanksgiving I encourage you to think back to that day and let your spouse know how thankful you are that you get to spend the rest of your days with him or her. Until next time - God Bless Sabrina Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Google sidewiki any good for search?

2009-10-21T15:21:00.001-05:00

very neat Idea. Will this help websites with SEO and other search formats?

in reference to: Google Sidewiki (view on Google Sidewiki)

Bees Collecting every last bit

2009-09-14T00:59:00.000-05:00

As Summer is coming to an end the animal kingdom is franticly collecting there winter harvests insects included. This makes one of the best times to try and photograph bees.

I really like the challenge of photographing bees. Bees jump from flower to flower always moving making a difficult subject to capture at times especially if you are tying to capture a bee in flight.

This is always my goal to capture a bee in flight and I wish I could share a sure fire way to capture bees in flight. Unfortunately I have not mastered this yet which is probably why I like trying so much. The best advice I can offer is to just stock the bee. Follow it everywhere trying to get your photo never taking your eye off the view finder. The only problem with this is that you can trip or stumble over things so use some caution. Also to capture a crisp sharp in focuse shot of a bee in flight is to have a fast shutter speed. By fast I am talking above 1000th of a sec and up. In some conditions you will need to use a wide open F stop like 2.8. This will give you less margin for error due to the shallower depth of field so raising your ISO is usually the first step in keeping a fast shutter speed with a good exposure. This is only good up to a point when the high ISO will degrade the quality of your photo. As always feel free to ask any questions and leave your comments and feedback.

Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Olympus 14-35 SWD Review by Brandoneu

2009-09-12T00:42:00.004-05:00

A Buddy of mine wrote this review and as soon as I read it I had to ask if I could link it through my blog. This is a link Review of the 14-35 SWD Olympus SHG Lens.

Image by Brandon Eu Photograpy
The newest SHG flagship lens. If you shoot with a 4/3 body professionally or as a serious hobbyist it is definitely a lens you have to check out. Click the title or photo to go to his review or HERE
I hope you take the time to check out Brandon's Review as well as his blog. As always feel free to leave your comments, feedback, and questions. Thanks, Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Do you remember?

2009-09-11T12:18:00.002-05:00

Today marks the anniversary of one of the United States' most tragic events. Anyone that was old enough to understand what was going on eight years ago remembers exactly where they were that day. So for today's blog I won't be posting any photos. We've all seen numerous photos of the destruction and devastation from that day and some will always have those images imprinted into our minds. What I am going to do for today's blog is share my memory of that day and encourage others to comment back with their stories. I think it is a very important that none of us forget the events of that day. Because when we forget we become complacent to other travesties that happen around us every day. So my memory of 9-11-2001... I was a sophomore at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois. After my freshman year I never had classes that stared before 9 am. I was just getting ready to get up and get ready for my day. I always listened to the radio all night long. As I was waking up I heard the people on radio talking about a plane crashing into the World Trade Towers. I was convinced at first that I had heard what the announcer said totally wrong. So I turned on the TV to CNN and sure enough there was the footage of one of the towers on fire from the first plane hitting it. As I was watching the second plan crashed into the other tower. I remember having a feeling of total disbelief. How could this possibly be happening here, in the United States!? I went ahead and got ready for classes and went to my first one. Western canceled classes for the rest of the day. In the four years that I attended Western this was the ONLY day that classes were canceled. My roommate and our friends all sat around the TV and watched CNN most of the rest of the day. Even now, all these years later I still get that somber feeling. After 9-11 the FAA grounded all planes. I remember walking outside at night and looking up and not seeing any planes. It gave me an eerie feeling to know that there were no planes flying. After the FFA started letting planes fly again I remember being in my dorm room one afternoon and hearing a plane flying low over the building. The stark terror I felt still stays with me. For an instant I just knew that some crazy terrorist was going to fly a plane into the college!!! It ended up being just a little plane flying by and they don't fly as high as jets do. Like I said before all of us that were old enough to know what was going on that day has a memory of it. I encourage any that would like to share to do so. Also remember all of those that gave their lives that day. May they rest in peace. Until next time - God Bless. Sabrina Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Open-source camera could revolutionize photography

2009-09-05T17:51:00.001-05:00

This is some interesting news (Photography wise)
The ability to mix match hardware and basically software as well.

I think this will be interesting to watch how

this develops.
Would it not be a dream to be able to use Olympus Super High grade lenses with a D3X sensor. It would not be something I would be willing to spend my money on until it has a few years and or some really solid results. However I would be willing to do some alpha and beta testing for the project. Here is a link to the full artical overall a good read make sure you check it out.
Open-source camera could revolutionize photography

Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Leica M9 site leak

2009-09-05T15:56:00.002-05:00

Somebody stumbled upon a Leica web page for the M9 and was able to grab some screen shots before Leica locked the page up.
Here is a sneak peak of the page.

There are 15 other screen captures of the page. If interested in seeing them let me know and I will post the others. Here is a link to the now locked M9 Page http://m9.leica-camera.com/home_en.html Which seems to me an official Leica url. So if it a hoax some one has went to a ton of trouble for something that is going to be announced in only 4 days. Oh P.S. here is a link to the Brochure http://litpixel.com/m9_brochure_english_RZ_low.1.pdf

Cicadas

2009-09-04T12:24:00.002-05:00

A few Wednesdays ago when we arrived at Faith Assembly of God for church we saw this little fellow hanging off of a tree.

Corey looked up locusts and cicadas. According to the information that he read there are two types of locusts.
One of them hatches every 13 years and the other one hatches every 17 years. We aren't sure which one of those two kinds this one is. Here is another picture of it from another angle.
This is the same angle just has a little more light on the locust. So..if anyone know which one this is we would be interested in finding out.

One of my good friends from high school left a comment on the blog. So we went and investigated a little bit more on cicadas. (All of the following information was found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada ) Most of the cicadas that one would find in North America come out in late July or August every year. The best known genus in North America is Magicicada. These are the cicadas that live for 13 to 17 years and emerge in large numbers. The male cicadas are the ones that make all the noise in the late summer. Their noise makers call timbals are on the sides of their abdominal base. Unlike crickets who rub two legs together the cicada has a specially designed "rib section" that makes the noise that we all hear. Each species has it's own distinctive song. Cicadas have 3 small eyes on the top of their heads in between 2 larger eyes. Cicada's are the only insect that can change thier body temperature. Desert cicadas actually sweat to cool themselves while many other species can raise their body temperature as much as 72 degrees Fahrenheit above ambient temperature. After mating a female will lay several hundred eggs in slits she cuts in tree bark. After the eggs hatch the newborn nymphs drop to the ground and burrow in the earth. Most cicadas go through a life cycle of two to five years. However, some like the North American genus, Magicicada, have "broods" that go through a 17 year life cycle. In the American South you will find a 13-year life cycle.

So I don't completely bore any one I will end my "essay" there. If you are interested in more information click on that link above for Wikipedia. There is a lot of information that I didn't put in here for those of you that are interested by cicadas.

Until next time God Bless Corey and Sabrina Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Prarie Flowers in Grinnel Iowa

2009-09-01T23:16:00.000-05:00

Today I am going to show off some of Corey's pictures of wild flowers that he took this past Saturday in Grinnell. This is just one of several great photos Core got of some beautiful flowers.
Here is another flower. All of these were taken at Rock Creek State Park in Grinnell Iowa. Thank you for Reading and as always Comments and Questions are Always welcomed. God Bless, Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Leica is trying to jump start there Sales

2009-08-31T20:06:00.001-05:00

As every one who knows much about photography Leica is a world renowned Camera manufacture. Though this day and age a lot of there "new" products are still dated by todays standard. Even with that in mind the Co. has managed to stay afloat as well as there own. If you know Leica Cameras very well you will notice Or think you notice a few things and differences that you have not seen on previous Leica's. Feel free to leave you Thoughts and comments. Thank you and God Bless, Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Grinnell Ia Olympus Walk About.

2009-08-31T16:15:00.013-05:00

An Olympus Get together in Iowa? Yes It actually happened 6 Olympus photographers got together with what was probably the largest collection of Olympus gear in Iowa including any camera shop. We went out armed With 5 digital Olympus cameras, 8 OM Cameras, and 27 lenses. 27 lenses in one location right in the middle of Iowa. A site that few ever get a chance to see. In fact it was the first time I had ever seen any thing close. We went to the Spalding Factory to start the Day of photography and socializing off. Then we were off to Silver Creek Which is a preserve for wild flowers, grass and many verities of prairie grasses. Silver Creek is Maintained by the Audubon Society. This is one of the many different kinds of Flowers. I shot this one with My Olympus E3, 12-60 lens and a FL50R (with a stoffen cap for diffusion) fired off Camera. It is one of my favorite set ups to go out shooting with. Because with a pair of cargo paints I can carry enough gear to cover so many different situations. It was also a great Day to try and practice on some Bee in flight skills. A area of photography that I have not quiet mastered, however I am getting better at it. After Silver Creek we were off to Rock Creek Ia State Park. Rock Creek has recently added this Section of preserved prairie land. Rock Creek as you can see is another great location for wild life and flora galore. With such a rich photographic area I never even made it off the main path before it was time to break for lunch. However before we went to a late lunch we had to get a group photo. I set up the E3 on my tripod fired it by wireless remote, with a Metz 54 to camera right on a stand with the Glad Box for diffusion Fired wireless with my Elenchrom Skyport. Here is a photo of the six of us, From left to right Paul, Joel, me, Gordon, Ken, And Michael. To See more photos that I took on our outing just got to my Gallery HERE Thank you for Reading and as always Comments and Questions are Always welcomed. God Bless, Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

A Olympus Home town Walk about

2009-08-29T03:01:00.003-05:00

Today A good photography Friend of mine has organized a walk about in Grinnell Iowa which is just south west of Toledo 20 miles and South west of Marshalltown Iowa 20 miles or so.One of our first stops will be the Spalding Factory. The Spalding Factory is a neat place to photograph. One of the Reasons is because I have captured the Best Natural light that I have ever photographed during some of the harshest times to take pictures. The photos that I have posted are all naturally lite and if you view some of the other pictures that I have taken there all are natural light. The old Spalding Factory is one of those places that looks like there is nothing there except a few decaying buildings cluttering the view in basically a residential neighborhood. However with most things that do not look like they are worth the time or effort to go check out, It is. In almost every direction there is something adding to the story, something that has seen more sitting in one place then most have there whole lives. Like the Spalding Factory Our small home towns of Iowa have things with as much to tell. With stories needing to be heard and retold before they are forgotten forever. If any one would like to join us just send me a message or give me a call. Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Grinnell's architecture

2009-08-27T11:14:00.003-05:00

Grinnell Iowa is a smaller town. One thing that I've noticed in my many drives through the downtown area is it has a distinctive old feel to it. The finish on this photo really helps to bring out the old time feel of the downtown area. This was taken on a winter afternoon... during one of the family's drives. Most likely we went to get some coffee at the Grinnell Coffee Company. Unfortuneately it doesn't exist any more. They went out of business several months ago. Another wonderful thing about Grinnell is its acrchitecture. I will be posting some more blogs that show some of this off in the next few days. Hope you enjoyed today's blog. Until tomorrow... God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

The Firemen came to town!

2009-08-26T09:14:00.003-05:00

Several weeks ago we had the Marshalltown Fire Department come to our church to show the classes on Wednesday night the truck and equipment. The kids really enjoyed the truck and all of the cool stuff on the truck! Three fire fighters came out with the captain's truck. The went all the way around the truck and showed the group all the equipment on the truck. Here is the gauge panel that they use to run the water with the hoses. All the kids that wanted to got to set up in the truck. One of the firefighters even put on all of the gear that they wear when they go into a fire. The evening was a fun break from our normal classes and the kids, hopefully, still learned something! Until tomorrow God Bless! Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

My first taste of rhubarb

2009-08-24T09:03:00.002-05:00

At the beginning of August our neighbors and we had company on the same weekend. One night we were all congregated in our back yards. The neighbors have rhubarb plants growing in their garden. Our two daughters decided that they needed to taste it like the other kids were doing. Here Jenna is showing us that she has a piece. And in this one she is actually eating it!!! I was totally surprised that she actually chewed on it for quite a while. She didn't even make a face when she bit into it the first time. I know I used to pick it right out of the patch when I was a kid and eat it until I got a stomach ache. I think it's wonderful that I get to experience all of that kind of stuff again through our daughter's eyes!!! I hope you enjoy today's post and also hope it brings back some good memories from your child hood. Until tomorrow - Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Baptism at Faith Assembly of God

2009-08-22T09:13:00.003-05:00

Several weeks ago we had a water baptism at our church, Faith Assembly of God in Marshalltown, Iowa. All of us in the congregation were very excited to welcome four new family members to our Christian family. Both couples were Baptised together. Here is the second couple. Hope you all enjoy and God Bless!!!! Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Playing hide and seek?

2009-08-21T10:06:00.003-05:00

This little fellow just happened to be standing in the fence row right beside the road when we drove by. He was standing there just having an afternoon snack. He was on the passenger side of the jeep so I had Sabrina, my wife, take the picture from her window. She isn't the most comfortable with my camera, but did pretty good considering she never takes pictures. The little deer actually stood and watched us for several minutes and Sabrina was able to get a few decent pictures taken before he decided that it wasn't a safe situation and ran off to find some cover. Hope you enjoy the blog today! Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Early Morning Dew

2009-08-20T09:09:00.000-05:00

To catch the dew on the grass like this you have to get up fairly early in the morning. I took these out in the front yard one morning last week while my oldest daughter, Bella, stood on the front porch giving directions! Bella is my little helper! She really likes spending time with Daddy while I take pictures. Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

NEW!!!! Most Recent Photo Page

2009-08-18T17:26:00.004-05:00

Check out one of our Newest features on our Main site. A Most Recent Photos page Making it supper easy for You to find the most recent Photos that we have added to Our Galleries. To check out a small Preview just click the Proceed To Full Post

Wading in the river

2009-08-18T09:13:00.004-05:00

For today's photo I chose one of our oldest daughter, Bella. This was taken on the boat dock at 3 Bridges County Park in Marshall County Iowa. On our weekends, which happen to be in the middle of the week we often go for afternoon drives. This sunny afternoon we chose to go take some photos at 3 Bridges. Bella was SO excited about getting to wade a little bit in the water on the boat dock! The water that you see is the Iowa River. It was running a little bit high that day. I actualy wanted to get some photos of the shore line. Unfortunately the water was up too high for me to do that. So we got some awesome shots of Bella playing in the water. Hope you all enjoy and have a wonderful day!! Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Road to nowhere

2009-08-17T09:19:00.002-05:00

Do you ever wonder where a road that you see in a photography leads to? Although the title to this entry says road to nowhere this road really does lead some where. This was taken out in the country in or around Tama county Iowa. Driving around and taking photos on a clear spring day is a favorite pass time for me. Our family likes to spend warm and sunny afternoons driving around out in the country near our house in Toledo, Iowa. I always find something interesting to take a photo of. On this particular day it happened to be a different perspective that makes this road look like it goes on forever. Hope you liked today's entry! Check back tomorrow to see what I picked. Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

A lake in the fog

2009-08-16T09:00:00.004-05:00

So for today's picture I chose this one with fog on a lake. Some people say that these types of photos are over done. I, on the other hand, love these kinds of photos. They always make me think of Ireland and it's mists. This photo was taken at Pilgrim Heights Camp Ground in Montour, Iowa. Montour is a smaller town in Tama County Iowa between Tama/Toledo, Iowa and Marshalltown, Iowa in Marshall County Iowa. I took this during my fall photography seminar that I taught in October 2008. Please let me know what you think of it! God Bless! Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Pretty in Pink

2009-08-14T10:11:00.002-05:00

As most of you know I have been slacking on my blogging for the last several months. I will be starting to post a new blog entry everyday starting today. So...today's photo that I picked is one of our youngest daughter all dressed up for a wedding we went to in June. Sabrina's roommate from college got married at the end of June in the suburbs of Chicago. Sabrina was a bridesmaid so I was in charge of keeping the girls out of mischief during the wedding. This picture show Jenna playing in some rocks (although you can't see them in this photo) and sand that the church had at the entry of the sanctuary. Both Bella and Jenna had lots of fun playing in the rocks and sand. They seem to gravitate to anything and everything that will end up making them messy and dirty. But I wouldn't have it any other way. So for today that's it. Check back tomorrow to see what I pick for tomorrows photo of the day! Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Our main web site

2009-08-12T01:57:00.003-05:00

Our Main Web site glory2jesus4photography.smugmug.com will be down late Tue night - Wed morning as well as late Thursday night and Fri. Morning for some upgrades and maintenance. I hope this does not disturb anyone's viewing or Ordering time frames but it is necessary at this time. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact Me. Thank you, Corey Brown

momentary loss of sanity.

2009-07-25T19:54:00.003-05:00

Oh ya it was that bad. For some reasons in the way distant past now it seems. I was convinced I had to change some stuff on my blogs. Well I kind of did. I was meeting traffic limits with some standard formating. So I decided I would go plan ahead and get more than I plan on using until the first of next year. If you're going to spend the time to upgrade why do it twice in a year. Well after I got that almost finished (It is still not all the way done) I looked at my main site and realized that hey I think my blog is starting to look as nice or at least as modern as my web site and said I can not have that. I need to upgrade that as well. So now I am writing to you 4 full days latter after pulling two all nighters and I know I slept one night but I really cannot figure any of that out right now. So if you are not understanding this or even following I really hope you are laughing. Please Take the time to let me know what you think of the make over love it, hate it, don't care, it was a waste of time. I now have a full integrated rss atom feed between all my blogs and my website so check it out if you like. Thanks and God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

This Upgrade is almost done

2009-07-21T06:40:00.002-05:00

Finally I am almost finished with most of the upgrades I wanted to do. I am really starting to understand why So many photographers use just a plain black or white very minimal blog. I am still chasing down a few small bugs but every thing seem vary stable at least on my end. I have learned that I really do need to learn more about HTML & XHTML if I am going to keep taking on these projects myself. The biggest problems that I ran into though were all javascript related and I really have no clue how I fixed the issues but it is working now and I am pretty sure I know less because of it.Thank you for your support.

Time to upgrade

2009-07-18T11:52:00.004-05:00

Well good news business is growing enough that I need to upgrade my blogs and stream line some galleries and nav bars. I was really hoping to be able to put it off till the winter months while things are a little slower but as it is now it is cutting into my work flow and is too slow for some people with dial up. So If you go to check out any of my blogs or Web site and things are not working quite right that is just because it is in a transition. I hope to do all the upgrades with out taking anything off line. Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

The Field House

2009-07-04T13:09:00.005-05:00

Happy fourth of July. I took this photo some time back but it is one that is really enjoyed be many so I thought I would share it here as well. just click on photo's to enlarge Most people enjoy old barns and I was out shooting some landscape when I came across what I thought was an old barn until I got closer. That is when I realized that it was an old house right in the middle of the field. Being in the middle of the field was just a little odd, Considering that I am used to seeing livable houses being destroyed just for the extra field space. So to leave a house that is not even able to be rebuilt in the middle of a field that has to be planted around. Thanks for looking and comments are always welcomed. Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Chicago Skyline

2009-06-29T21:10:00.006-05:00

I had to go to the Chicago area for the weekend. One of the Jobs I went up for was a Photograph of the City Skyline. The Photograph is going to be used as a panoramic for a Sub City. The End product is going to be around 14 feet long be 30 inches tall. This is just a sample shot that I took. I got some good advice from a friend to take the photos from the Adler Planetarium. So that is what I paned on and from What you can see I had a really good turn out. For the Panoramic I am taking aver 20 photos and blending them together to create a very High resolution single image that should have a close viewing distance as well as huge. This is a small sample of the finished product but is less then 1% of the actual size of the finished picture. Thank you for taking the time and if you have any Questions or comments just please use the comments, I will try to answer them all here. Thanks and God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Fog Docked

2009-06-23T09:54:00.006-05:00

Well Just because I have not posted anything does not mean that I have not been doing anything. I have been very busy and trying to get free time to shoot for my self let alone follow through and get every thing up loaded and then post about it. I have been taking a lot of pictures and and staying very busy. Both with regular clients and the family, who would have thought that only one more child could add that much more work. I have been busy enough taking photos that I have almost filled 3 750 GB hard drives and a 500 GB as well. Here is a photo that I really like how it turned out. (click on photo for a larger view and to go to the gallery) I took this photo while teaching a workshop here in Iowa and it is one of those scenes that was not intended but just happened. The goal was Get up early and be set up lake side by 6:30 A.M. to teach how to take a sunrise photo. However when we got up it was nothing but fog so the lesson plan changed from sunrise over the lake to fog on the lake. This particular photograph was taken at F 9 1/50 s at ISO 100. All in all it was a very productive morning with many great photographic opportunities with many great photographs captured. Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Friend Feed Better then Twitter?

2009-05-15T03:17:00.002-05:00

Hey Every one I am so sorry that I have not kept my blog up. In fact I have fallen extremely behind. However there is good news to this. I have been spending my time on a few more DIY projects that I will have full tutorials up on as well as spending some time on improving my photography. Something I know every one would benefit from. Anyways enough excuses and smooth talk on to the real subject. Friend Feed, Friend Feed is a fairly new social network kind of like twitter but in my eyes, so much better. FF has taken Twitter to the next level but with out cluttering it like MySpace or FaceBook. You can set your FF up to update your RSS feeds and as well as putting it on your FF it can add a Twitt on your Twitter with a link to the Photos or what ever on your FF. I use my FF to run the Rss from my Main web site so every time I up load a new public gallery it will show the first few photos as well as link each one right back to the gallery the are hosted in. It also sends a twit with the ff link. So I never have to manually do anything. and Friends can keep up to date on my latest photography by just dropping by my Friend Feed here is the link http://friendfeed.com/glory2jesus4photography . Thank you for your continued support and following. Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

A video to Think about

2009-05-01T04:21:00.003-05:00

Sorry I have not posted anything for such a long time. I have been pretty busy. here is a Video I think you should watch enjoy Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Daydreaming Sadness Potd

2009-02-11T23:42:00.002-06:00

I will let this speak for it self. All comments and feedback is appreciated. Thanks and God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Pigeon Water POTD

2009-02-09T23:14:00.003-06:00

A photo taken in Tama Iowa that can really grab your eye with such contrast of colors. I always like red on blue so I think that this just works on these beautiful days the silver is a bonus. You usually never think of pigeons being photographed unless it is in some large city park setting so I think it is nice to try and show them in other settings as well. Enjoy and God Bless. Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Not all of Iowa is Flat

2009-02-08T19:56:00.003-06:00

Some People just envision the mid west as the Great plains and completely flat. Well Here in Tama Co Iowa right in the middle of the Mid West it is not flat at all. Granted we do not have any mountains. What we do have is some breathtaking rolling hills. Hills that can be used for fields but also have a way of dancing with the shadows of the clouds and yet the ability to meet the sky and touch the Sunsets. They also have the ability to hold a farm and protect it from the driving wind. Thanks for stopping by enjoy and God Bless. Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

The Monkey Grab

2009-02-07T21:03:00.003-06:00

While at the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines we did get to see one breed of our grabby little friends. I am not familiar with this particular breed, he like most little monkeys are very curious and wants to automatically start checking every thing out. It did not take this little guy very long to come over and check us out. As soon as he did he was right to the point of letting us know that he was checking us out not the other way around. It did not take him very long at all to figure out that he wanted to check out my camera as well. As I can not blame him if I am near a camera I tend to try and pick it up as well. Camera stores love that habit, The person sitting next to you at a graduation noticing you eyeballing their camera is more then just uncomfortable. Anyways that is a whole other story. While taking photos this little guy starts trying to grab my camera, It is a really cool camera so like I said I can not blame the little guy. Well once he figures out I am not going to let him have my Camera you guessed it he just took off. And here I thought he came over to check us out, nope I see his ploy now it was just a play for the camera. With agile moves, cute as could be he did make a good run at it. However he will have to try some one else. Plus there is no way my camera could have fit back through that fence. Enjoy and God Bless. Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

The Sea Horse Prance POTD

2009-02-07T00:10:00.002-06:00

Just a quick one today every one from the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines Iowa. The Sea Horse Prance Enjoy and God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Stoned Frogs POTD

2009-02-05T19:45:00.001-06:00

Ok I know I can be a little strange at times and this picture may not help my plead for sanity. I have always had a fascination of playing in the water and still do. So when I see something neat in the water I am automatically drawn to it. I took this photo because of how the light was deflecting and falling on the rocks. And as you look close see how many shapes you can find. You know like we all use to do laying on our backs looking at the clouds. If you have never laid on you back looking at the clouds trying to find shapes, faces and so on then you really need to because you are probably to wound up or just uptight. There is a reason that the title of this photo has Frogs in it see how many you can find. Enjoy and God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Solitude Enduring the Winds of Change.

2009-02-04T12:31:00.005-06:00

Wind mills were a staple of our growing farms back when farming was about the only industry in Iowa. Being used for many things from pumping water to powering tools. Today we are starting to see Huge colossal wind mills popping up and now their main purpose is to use the wind to generate electricity. That is enough about wind mills on to the photo today is a picture of an old wind mill that is still standing in Tama Co Just East of Toledo Iowa. I took this photo just after sunset making a nice silhouette. Now I have a problem I think the photo needs to be Color to really work. However I showed it to my Wife as a B&W and she informed me that is what works for this photo. So for today and to appease I will post both the color and the B&W. If you would like to comment on which one you like better please do (I know you will say the Color version). Enjoy and God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Deer in Flight POTD

2009-02-03T21:35:00.004-06:00

One thing about Wild life Photography is it can have as much excitement as it can be boring. Here in Tama County Iowa we have such an over population of deer it is so much easier to capture good photographs now compared to 10 years ago. Even though it may be easier you still need to be prepared. One way is to try and always be ready to take a photo even if you do not have anything in sight. You just never know when something is going to come running over the hill towards you or sneak up from behind you. Also you need to be prepared to be outside for long periods of time. It really does not take that long to get frost bite or worse if you get to far out and are ill equipped. So always make sure you take the time to be prepared. Let some one know where you are going and when you will be back. Your comments and feed back are always welcomed Thank you and God Bless, Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Geese Over Dimonds POTD

2009-02-02T21:00:00.004-06:00

I think here in the Mid West is one of the best places to photograph geese. I particularly like Marshalltown and Tama Iowa for quick easy access areas where the birds are wild enough that they do not look tame on film. As well as use to people enough that you can get close enough to get a reasonable photo at times. The two love birds above got a little uncomfortable with my prescence so they decided to fly out to the Ice shelf giving me the opportunity I was waiting for. Enjoy and God Bless, Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Over grown Corn Crib

2009-02-02T01:01:00.005-06:00

I went for a drive while all the girls were sleeping and found some really nice scenic views as well as some wild life. After taking a photo I turned to get back into the jeep and I seen this sitting back in the woods. It is an old corn crib. It looks like It has been there for decades and realistically probably has. I have not seen a corn crib of this style since I was a boy and even that one was a more modern design. I just automatically got lost in the scene with the way the the sun gave it just enough accent to catch my eye but no matter how you look at it you know it is from a time long forgotten and that will only be vaguely remembered through years of memories and growth. Enjoy and God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Sons of Korah

2009-01-31T03:03:00.005-06:00

I thought I would share one of my favorite bands with every one. They are very easy listening and can just be pleasing to the soul. Even here in Central Iowa we can get be exposed to all kinds of music. This Australian Band takes Psalms and sings them. As some people know the Psalms are made up mostly of songs and poems so it is only natural that some should be sang instead of read. I hope you enjoy and if you would like to find out more you can visit Sons of Korah's web site here and they have links to their facebook and myspace as well as more samples of their music and tour dates. Enjoy and God Bless. Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Snow Dusting Pine POTD

2009-01-28T23:41:00.003-06:00

Ever look at winter in B&W. I think only certain feelings and looks can be expressed in B&W. I do not see many winter photographs in B&W but I really like the outcome when done right. Today is another short day I am working on a few other projects and took the day off to calibrate a birthday. Enjoy and God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

My White Snow is Gray!

2009-01-26T19:37:00.004-06:00

Have you ever tried taking some landscape and winter scenery photographs just to have them all come out dark and gray or blue. I know I have and I can tell you what causes that and better yet how to fix it. So what exactly causes the photo above to be dark and gray? It is a mixture of a couple of things. The first is how the camera meters the lighting. Since the snow is bright white the camera is thinking this is a light source and then adjusts the camera to expose as if the snow is a huge light. Now that explains why it is under exposed and it can also explain why the color can be off by so much. In a lot of P&S cameras and base DSLR's there is a snow setting which compensates for the exposure as well as the white balance. I know most people think well the snow is white how hard should it be for the camera to tell that. Well the camera sees things a little differently then we and our eyes do. One thing is our eyes and brain automatically WB correct. The next is a camera is always trying to balance to 18% gray. Now this is where we come up with either blue, gray, or some other off color pictures and it will vary from camera to camera and the settings you are trying to photograph. Some cameras will see things literally. So on a clear day the camera will see the blue reflecting off the snow. Thus allowing your photo to have a blue tint to it. Realistically taking pictures in snow can be some of the most challenging situations for a camera. The first thing to do if you realize by reviewing your photos that they are dark or if your camera has a histogram and it is bunched up to the left is to add exposure. Once again this will vary from camera to camera but it is not uncommon to have to add +1EV to get a proper exposure. As for WB this will depend on if the sky is clear or over cast or a mixture. However, a good rule of thumb is in between 5500k to 6500k that should be your daylight and shade or cloudy WB. So do not be afraid to take control of your photos and change things. Auto on the camera is not always right and some times it is just way wrong. So it is always a good idea to slow down take your time and make sure you get as much right in camera vs trying to fix it later and losing so much of your quality and detail. I hope you find this helpful and as always feel free to leave your comments and feedback Thanks and God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Bella in Makeup POTD

2009-01-26T14:52:00.004-06:00

Clang, Bang, Bounce coming from the bathroom. Sabrina And I jump up making a dash to the Bathroom as Sabrina rounds the corner laying eyes on the bathroom door she just starts rolling in laughter. My mind goes from racing What in the world in fear to shear confusion. Then I see my precious oldest daughter jumping in to mom's arms with her first self done make up job. While mom and dad had our backs turned Bella had gotten into the bathroom and gotten into mom's makeup to administer her first make over. Enjoy and God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Snow Cap On the Iowa River POTD

2009-01-25T19:34:00.003-06:00

This photo was taken on the Iowa River of of HWY 63 on the south side of Tama Iowa. This is one of those photos that is familiar to you if you look at many photos. Granted that is not what I usually want to go for in my photography. However, in this case it is a photo that I never tire of. I will do a little write up about photography in the snow here soon so I will cover this photograph and others like it. Thanks for reading and God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

POTD Ice flowing roof!

2009-01-24T16:37:00.002-06:00

As a kid I remember always having a fascination with icicles. Even after "growing up" I still have certain fascinations with winter and the beauty that comes with it. Here in central Iowa (Tama / Toledo) We have some very cool winters. Giving the ability to find things like this ice flow outside your back door. This shot was taken rite before sunset and the sky was just breath taking, so I had to incorporate that into the photograph. To do this I used the on camera flash to fill on the ice set the shutter speed at 250th and this allowed me to run an aperture of in between F10-F13 all at ISO 100. Enjoy and God Bless, Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Jenna 4 month old and cute as a button!

2009-01-23T18:45:00.003-06:00

That is right this is my youngest daughter already 4 months old and growing like a weed in ever way. I took This photo was taken while Jenna was playing in her exersaucer. I did use flash with an Omni style defuser and just bounced it. She is great to photograph with endless expressions and very happy. Thanks for reading and God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Smugmugs new pro lab

2009-01-22T23:24:00.005-06:00

Smugmug has long announced that they were going to be integrating a new Pro lab. In fact they have been saying this for about a year. Well it looks like it may come to pass. A few clues have been given to me by David Jay and Andy Williams. The first clue is: That they met in California last week for a few hours. The next clue is that they will be with the new pro lab at WPPI Feb. 14-19. Well if you look at the floor plan of WPPI booth 1525 is Smugmug right next to it is 1519 which happens to be a Pro Lab. This same lab is located not too far from the physical address of Smugmug. One is in Santa Cruz, the other in Mt. View. If you do not know where they are here is a map View Larger Map So you want to know what Pro Lab is in Santa Cruz, CA? It is Bay Photo. Now keep in mind this is pure speculation and I am only going by clues and could be wrong but we will see before the 14th of Feb. Thanks and God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

The start of the Potd Picture of the Day

2009-01-22T15:43:00.005-06:00

I am going to start a Picture of the day series just to help share some of what I am shooting and how I practice my photography. Not every thing I share will be professional work and some will be from my private family life. My Family is one of the biggest reasons I love photography so much. So it is no wonder that they are my most photographed subjects. Not all photos are going to be from that day and some will have as much as a 14 day delay for the simple fact I do try and keep my skills sharp by shooting film manually. This Picture was taken in between the Meskwaki Indian Settlement and Tama / Toledo Iowa. In the distance you can see the Meskwaki water tower as the January sun sets in Tama Co Iowa. Thanks And God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

The Passion of Photography Part 2

2009-01-17T23:54:00.009-06:00

Last time I discussed how passion for your camera can tie in to the passion of a photographer. In part 2 I am going to discuss your photographic passions and putting them to work. How does a photographer use their passion to make money? A lot of professionals become professionals because they have a passion for photography. However, not many professional photographers have a passion for the photography they do. (I know this sounds confusing but stick with me.) Most “professionals” do not have any passion for the field of photography they try and make money in. Have you ever seen a wedding photographer that can charge $5,000 + per wedding? (Yes) How about the photographer charging $500.00 to do weddings and giving all the photographs on a CD for their client? (yes) I can tell you that the average bride hiring a photographer would love to know why one photographer can charge 10x the amount than the other guy. The answer is fairly simple. A photographer charging 10X the amount has mastered something the other guys have not. The funny thing is, it is not all skill that makes the price increase. In fact the technical skill level between the two is not that big of a gap some times let alone a 10X price gap. Just because a photographer is doing weddings or portraits or what ever their money making photography is, does not always mean they have a passion for that field . Does this mean that all photographers who do not have a passion for their field are bad photographers? (NO) What it means is some/(Most) photographers find an area to make money to support their passion. Lets go back to the wedding photographer that charges 10X the amount and why this is justifiable. The first reason could be that their passion of photography is wedding photography. Another reason is they have managed to establish their passion and incorporate it into their wedding photography. The latter here is harder to find, however, they are a very skilled and diverse photographer. Just because some one is passionate about photography does not mean that they are a successful photographer. On the contrary, most people who have a passion for photography ever become successful. Realistically most fail. It can become a stumbling block when all your focus is in an area of photography that you have no passion for. However, the photographers that are passionate and successful look at things in a different light. I will use my self as an example to help illustrate what I am trying to say. I do a lot of portrait, life style and environmental photography to make my money. However, I am passionate about landscape scenery and in the moment people photography. The reason people hire me to do their portraits is not because I am a better portrait photographer per-say. The reason is I have to include my passions into all of my photography to be able to produce my best photography. Here is an example. This is an on location portrait. This is another taken on location. So what makes these photos special? It is the style. I am not only taking a portrait. If you look at the first photo I am taking a landscape photo that happens to have a portrait in it. Since landscape photography is one of my passions I always try and mix my passion with my business photography. If you look really closely to the very first photo in this article, to the family portrait, you will notice that this is the same location. This is also one of my favorite spots for wildlife trails and scenic photography. Most people who visit this location never see it the same way my photographs show it. The is because I am mixing my passion with my work. I am willing to shoot at dusk and dawn because I know at those times what kind of scene will come out. One of the tricks to being a passionate and successful working photographer is to incorporate your photographic passion into your"work" photography. If you can not incorporate what you love about photography into the type of photography you make a living with; you should go out and shoot at least once a week just for yourself. Why shoot once a week for yourself? Simple, to keep doing what you love and to keep growing in the area of photography that you love. This in turn will make it easier for you to find a way to mix your passion with your work; making your photography natural and something you love to do. Your clients and future clients will see this and want to work with you just for those reasons. Thank you and God Bless, Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

The Passion of Photography Part 1

2009-01-13T14:23:00.008-06:00

Photography can be a Passionate art. However looking around at how many people have cameras and how many passionate photographers there are, the numbers do not even come close to matching. In today's world of photography I do not see very many photographers (Professionals included) that do have a passion for photography. So to start this series off I am going to go over a few different Passions in photography and the first one I am going to discuss is one that very few people know even if they rely on it. It is the camera experience. Now stay with me because some things may be revealed to you. What is the camera experience? Lets take a look at 1st how we use our cameras. It is hard if not impossible to use a camera that is uncomfortable in your hand as well as up to your eye. So how much conscience thought does one person put into how the camera feels. I think the more passionate photographer either puts a lot of time or very little. Let me explain, If someone is upgrading to a different model they may dwell on the feel of the camera a very long time. If it is a purchase of a camera that has been designed to feel like an old friend then it is only a quick once in my hand I know you (the camera) and we have already been through a lot, before I even take a photograph with you. So the feel of a camera will make the difference between I always want you in my hand VS. were can I sit this down or it is always in my pocket. If you like having the camera in your hand you will take more photographs and in turn become a better photographer. The next thing is sound. Sound you say? That is right, the sounds of a camera are part of your experiences with your camera. Lets start looking at a few examples. Take the Olympus E-1 for example, it is a 4 year old digital camera and by today's consumers standards the E-1 is obsolete. However the Olympus E-1 has a very strong following of people who have not and will not upgrade because they feel the upgraded models are not adequate updates. The first thing is the feel which I covered above. The next though is the sounds. If you ever hear an E-1 shutter it is very unique and very quiet, just a soft click whir. None of the Olympus models since have had a shutter as quiet or as short. The Olympus E-3 is different by feel and shutter sound it has a soft ca click however not as soft as the E-1. How do I know shutter sound is that important to a passionate photographer because when the Olympus E-3 came out many people were doing shutter comparisons for others to hear. This is one of many examples on the web if you just google the camera model you are interested in followed by shutter sound will usually bring up some audio as well as some video files for your enjoyment.

The sound and vision of an Olympus E-3 DSLR @ Yahoo! Video

There are other sounds that we can become attached to. If you look at Leica, they manufacture some of the most expensive cameras and lenses. They are also some of the most coveted cameras and lenses available today. So what all makes a Leica so sought after. It is not the general image quality, However Leica and their lenses have an ability for unique qualities in their images. Leica also tries very hard to keep each upgrade in a series familiar to the previous models. Leica's have a unique shutter sound as well as having other sounds the aperture is on the lens and has a soft yet solid click for every step in its range the focus is always looked at as class leading and is done by hand / one finger on the lens. Usually the owner of a Leica will only buy another Leica to replace it. So This is a video done by Wim Wenders that really shows the Passion of a photographer. So how does this relate to the average photographer. Well if you find a Camera the plays to your senses as much as to your image quality needs, you will find your self using it that much more. Keep in mind That not all cameras are developed with this aspect of the camera being a priority. Then there are other manufactures that spend 100,s of hours and a lot of money to ensure it. So next time you go to purchase a camera it could be something as small as the sound of the shutter or the lens having an aperture ring that improves your photography. I hope you find this interesting, feel free to leave your feedback and comments. Thank you and God Bless, Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Whoo Whoo out side my DOOR?

2009-01-12T15:26:00.004-06:00

11:30 P.M. I here whoo whoo and think that is an Owl but I live in town. In the past two years of living in Toledo, Iowa I have never seen or heard an Owl around here. So I jump up Throwing my boots and jacket on and grab my Trusty E3 with 50-200 swd lens attached and throw the FL 50 R flash on top. I run (walk) out the door and listen. Sure enough I hear Whoo Whooo and then a little further south Whoo Whooo. There was not just one owl but two. After just a minute I was able to locate the one closest to me. So I get a good focus and start to slowly walk closer. He knows I am there and checks me out once in a wile but does not seem to concerned that I am getting a little closer. As I aproach the tree that the Owl is in he starts showing sings of being nervous at about 20 yards from the tree. He knows that I am there so I take a shot. Drats it is a little to dark so I push the flash 2 stops to help with the reach and adjust the Iso to 640 giving me a little more room and shutter speed. This way I was able to keep the shutter at a 250th. I take another photo, not a bad shot just he was not looking at me. Then he shows He is really uncomfortable and starts to ruffle his feathers. So I quickly take another photo (the top one) and sure enough he said that is enough and leaves. Swooping down the first 15 feet leaving me very little chance to get an in-flight shot. I really would have liked to been able to get a owl in flight at night but no such luck. Maybe Next time. Thanks for reading and God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

An Evening Winter Walk

2009-01-11T02:15:00.008-06:00

What do you do when you are fed up with being in the house all day watching the kids and trying to get work done. (If anyone does not know getting work done with kid is usually a losing battle on all fronts.) So as soon as I could get out of the house I did. Unfortunately this was after dinner around 7:00 P.M. In a small town such as Toledo, Iowa where I live every thing is pretty dead in the evening. With the streets being empty gave a great opportunity for some long exposure night photography. So that is exactly what I did. Night time street photography can be a lot of fun. However there are some challenges that do come with it. One is the street lamps and the color cast they put off. To me it is just ugly and if you WB (white balance) correct for the lights the scene can look unnatural. That is why B&W can be nice in this kind of shooting not only can it give you more leniency with your WB but it also can give your photography a more dramatic feel. To achieve the photo above it has to be a long exposure night shot. By shooting it this way instead of a high ISO shot I get a very clean photograph that you can see the light on the snow all the way up the street. Giving the photo above a lot of depth. This photo has a lot more light to the overall scene. As you can see there does not seem to be as much depth however it has other benefits. The lights in the garland are not blown out and ugly. They, to me, have a very nice timeless feel. I also used a unique composition to draw more effect out of the lines not only with the strings of lights but the single middle of the street traffic light as well as the building behind. In photographs like these it is hard to get the full impact at such a small size so feel free to visit the Gallery and check them out in full detail. So next time you go for a walk take your camera. If it is after dark then grab the tripod as well Image Stabilization will not work for this kind of photography. I hope you have learned a something and feel free to leave your feedback and comments. God Bless, Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Fire, Ice, & Wind

2009-01-05T01:40:00.000-06:00

On a recent mission to photograph eagles at Pellas Lake Red rock had come to the point of calling it quits a bit of light started to poke out. It was soon pointed out to me that we were on the wrong side of the damn and quickly running out of sun. So we Ken Norton and I quickly crossed The damn and set up not only putting our faces to the sun but the 30+ mph winds that were coming right off the lake. Even with the wind and quickly fading sunset I managed to get a couple reasonable sunset photos. With the cloud deck being so low and the thin opening for the sun to peak through made for a very dramatic scene with the frozen lake adding just that much more to it. The opportunity did not last long as we knew it wouldn't. However in this case it was fine because be the time the sun went below the tree line and bluff on the other side of the lake I was cold enough I was not to worried about getting one last photo. If you would like to view these as well as other images in a larger size you can visit the gallery here. Thanks and God Bless, Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

When in doubt change birds.

2009-01-04T00:52:00.008-06:00

Last week a friend of mine & I went to Lake Red Rock in Pella Iowa to try and Photograph eagles. Usually Lake Red Rock is a Very popular place for many birds this time of year. However This particular day there were no eagles to be found anywhere. The wind had came in on our way down from Grinnell and was blowing at 30+ mph with gusts of 45mph. However the birding was not a complete loss from across the river south of the damn some birds spotted us. And came over to visit. So we proceed to try and take photos in such high Winds. As you can probably tell from the water in these photos that it was very windy. After coming across the river it did not take long for them to come on up and check things out. I do not know the particular breed of these birds They have some similar markings of a white-fronted goose however they do not seem to have enough black on their breasts and their bills look different. After coming a shore they started looking for food. Since this is a public park area it is not unusual for people to feed the birds. However something a little unusual happened a pair found a piece of bread and stood side by side taking turns eating the bread. They did not honk charge or show any aggressive behavior to one another. I found this very intriguing. After a few minuets of searching for food and successfully clearing the area they started to do their normal cleaning. It was not long before they were comfortable enough with us that they were almost posing. The sun came out just enough for a nice back lighting making some very nice portraits. All in all not bad for 30+ mph winds and what was beginning to look like a bust for shooting. If you would like to see more photos and larger then the above you can check them out HERE. Thanks and God Bless, Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Raw converter gone Extreme!

2009-01-02T20:24:00.013-06:00

What do you do when you have a photo that is just OK. You know that photo that just really lacks the drama and punch you were going for. You go EXTREME. The photo above was not processed in Photoshop or any layered graphics program. It was achieved in Capture One 4. Most of us have seen presets for other raw converters and how they work for them but when the normal person tries to copy it something goes wrong and you can not achieve the same kind of punch. I will give you the setting to the above photo first and then we will discuss how and why this is working. EV: 0, Contrast: +14, Brightness: +1, Saturation: -29, Shadow: 0, Highlight: 16, and Levels: Black: 4, Mid: +0.16, and White: 253. Curve: from left to right, input first then output. A: 6, 6 B: 35, 44 C: 86, 106 D: 155, 159 E: 208, 69 F: 242, 224. WB: Kelvin: 11100, Tint: +16 A friend of mine (Ken Norton) and I were discussing conversions the other day and how it is difficult to get a repetitive conversion VS film. So I started to play. Below is the same image as above that has been converted using Capture One 4.2 and you can see it is not terrible but just lacks anything that grabs your attention. It has been sharpened, curves applied and so on. This last image is just straight in and straight out only applying the Capture One camera profile. So how do you go from this image to the first one. well it is not that hard. First you apply a funky curve. A curve set to hold the shadow detail and highlights. If you look closely at the screen shot below it relieves some secrets. Age old I am supposed to kill you if I tell you secrets. First I place a mark at ma shadow to hold it where I want it then one just to the right of it we will call them A and B just for lack of better creativity. Now the point of mark A far left is to keep my black point stable. B will work for my shadow detail. Now lets go all the way to the other end of the spectrum to the highlights Z will be the mark far right and Y is the one to the left. Now Z will control the white point the highlights and some cool back lighting effects on certain extreme conversions. Y will control the cool darks and colors you see in the sky. Now every point in between is just as important to keeping your photo together so to speak. By now you should have the basics of how with one mark it will cause the curve on the opposite side of any mark on either side to move in the opposite direction. So play with these even after the WB stage. Then you saturate or desaturate as needed I usually end up desaturating a photo more often then saturating one for this kind of conversion. With the photo above and any that you want to give a look like you used a type of ND or split filter with desaturation is key. It works with the curve and WB because on the scene at hand I wanted to increase the sky's drama and that is mainly in the upper mid tones so that is where the curve is set for and will cause the most abstract when you shift the WB Now the Biggest trick is WB (White Balance) yes that is correct. WB will play a vital role in the look you are going for more then just color. It will give different tones, contrasts and gradations to an image that can not be had any other way. That is why (My Theory) is that digital is so inconsistent when trying to make a B&W or other conversion for that matter. Your WB is always changing. With Film you got the WB for that whole role. You did not go back and forth and constantly changing for the environment you were in. Now just adjust highlight and shadows to taste. Keep in mind you should not be trying to copy a style or a cookie cutter preset, Play with your image and make it how you think it should look. That is it. I hope this is helpful and feel free to ask any questions and leave your comments & feedback. If you would like to see the images larger and some others you can go to the gallery Here Thanks and God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

HELP The Graduation Pictures I took look like #%x#x%#

2008-12-31T00:49:00.000-06:00

As a Professional Photographer I some times get to go to some really fun jobs, Some times I get to do a job that is life changing, and other times I get to do jobs that can be meaningful. More and more these days I am finding I am getting hired to do a job that most people will usually try and take on themselves. Now there are a few big down falls for some people trying to do these things themselves. The first is the lack of know how, which I am going to help with that here in a minute. The other and biggest down fall is if you are sitting there trying to get every moment caught on camera you really do not get to enjoy every moment while it happens.

Now lets get down to business How do you get pictures at say a graduation.

Well this can be a very challenging situation especially if you do not have a good understanding of all the obstacles you face. The first is the distance between you and your subject. If you are more then 15-20 feet away from your subject your on camera flash is worthless. Not only is it not helping it is actually telling your camera that it is giving enough light for the scene but it can not. So in turn your image will come out dark. This is true for every camera from a basic P&S to a canon xti , nikon d90 and so. To use a flash over 20 feet you will need an external flash, flash gun, there are many names for them but it connects to your camera VIA a hot shoe. If your camera does not have a hot shoe then you will not be able to use one in this situation. The next problem / obstacle is the lighting. Usually graduations are held in a gym or auditorium that has poor lighting for photography meaning that if the flash has already been ruled out then you will need to compensate in a few different areas. Shutter speed ISO and Aperture. Now keep in mind most P&S cameras do not let you adjust each of those individually and even the ones that do I am just going to try and get you started. If your camera is in Automatic or priority and you force the flash off (because you know it can not reach your subject) then the camera is going to automatically start adjusting the shutter speed ISO and Aperture. The first thing to realize is that now your shutter speed will be a lot slower your ISO will be Higher and your aperture will be lower. Now as long as your camera can go to an ISO of 400-800 (and give acceptable photos) then your shutter speed may be just fast enough to keep motion blur to a minimum. Also with the camera using the smallest aperture your DOF will be narrower so you will need to pay more attention to your/the cameras focusing.

Now this leads in to timing. Timing really is everything. Especially if you have to use a slow shutter speed so you will need to keep an eye on this. It is hard to get sharp photos of people (not moving) below an 80th of a sec. However it can be done as slow as a 20th. The key will be timing your shots. Since all P&S cameras have a shutter lag you will have to add this to your timing. It is best to find where people will be stopping, such as a hand shake, the handing of the diploma and or receiving, awards, ribbons, cords, hoods, etc. If you pre focus on the place where your subject is going to be and then press the shutter (any where between a split second to a full second) right before your subject comes to a complete stop. Once you have your timing and rhythm down you will see some large improvements in your photographs.

I will reserve the more in depth how to for my workshops and one on one training. It is usually easier in person so I can show some one what I am talking about.

If you have any questions or feedback feel free to leave a comment I will try and respond to all of them either by comment or email.

Thanks and God Bless.

Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

All photos were taken at Western Illinois University in Macomb Il for the 2008 winter graduation.

Water, Rock, and Snow?

2008-12-30T00:57:00.017-06:00

I went out scouting for eagles today for an outing that I hope to put together in the near future.
The only problem was I did not find any eagles today.

So I started looking for other things to take photos of.
There is a spot In Tama Ia just behind the Paper mill that the lake stays thawed and you can get some really cool photographs year around. While looking around and I came across this.

Now being in small town Iowa you will hear that there is not much around to see or enjoy. I will agree we may not have a Grand Canyon in our back yards or a Mountain Range but we do have some beautiful things in this area.

Most of the time the biggest problem with never seeing anything is never taking the time to look for it. Even though we live in rural Iowa we can still have a tendency to get so caught up in "life" that we miss the beauty that is all around us.

Sometimes we just need to take a walk with out a clock. What I mean by that is go out and do not have a time to be back. Do not worry about what you could be doing or need to get done just go get lost and find something worth your free time. You may also want to consider free time is not because it does not come at a cost it may be because it is freeing you.
Thank you and God Bless.
Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Sun Bathing Ice!

2008-12-28T22:51:00.004-06:00

Well after such a gray and dismal day yesterday today was nice to see. Clear Bright Blue skies. Today was a little bit special though. Even with the bright clear sky the sun shining it was not melting the ice. now most people would see this as bad. However I seen it as beautiful. So what else am I supposed to do when God gives me a day like today. Thats right enjoy it and take some photos to be able to share it and remember it with. Enlarge this Photo HERE With the sun shining the way it was just made every thing shine. This first photo was taken at the River View Cemetery In Marshalltown. I really liked how the ice was highlighting the edges of the tries from the sun shining on them. Enlarge this Photo HERE The second and third photos were taken off of highway 30 in between Marshalltown and Tama Toledo Iowa. With a layer of ice on almost every thing it really did make the vegetation look like some special day time Christmas lighting. Enlarge this photo HERE I just love when the sky is as blue as it was today it really seems to brighten the day. Enlarge this photo HERE Enlarge this image HERE Once God set Time in motion not even mother nature can freeze it. It is one of those beautiful things God really is the one in control. Enlarge this photo HERE There really is nothing like Ice covered thorns with a touch of red. You really have to enlarge this one to appreciate it. Thank you for checking up as always feel free to leave your feed back and comments. God Bless Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

When schedules Change?

2008-12-27T14:25:00.006-06:00

And it Rains IN DECEMBER. A good friend of mine Ken Norton of Zone-10 (Pictured here) and I were supposed to go and try and photograph some eagles today however due to the Ice this morning and Ken having a 20+ mile drive just to come up. It was decided that standing in this weather trying to get a few photos of some eagles just was not worth the risk. Instead Ken had the idea to take some photos of the ice on the windows. I will try, I have some on my screens that is kind of neat, I am game. Well to say the least mine did not tern out that good and to top it off Ken's turned out better. To boot he wrote a poem you can check it out here at Inside, Looking Out So I just got another photo from a series I am working on that I shot last week in south east Iowa near Ft. Madison. I did not want to look completely out done. Thanks for viewing and feel free to leave your feed back and comments. God Bless. Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Walking The Sun Dogs!

2008-12-26T21:38:00.003-06:00

Some times even in central Iowa you can come across some pretty cool things to photography even if it is over a corn field. The other day was one of those really cold windy Iowa days, so instead of staying inside I thought I should get out of the house and try and take some photos. I had been out of town for the past week with the family so any time alone was welcomed. As I was headed south through Tama I could see what looked like a rainbow to the west of the sun. I thought that is neat as I got to more of a clearing I could see what is known as Sun Dogs. These are actually small and can get large enough to make a circle around the sun. It is a very cool effect none the less and on a bitterly cold very windy day made it very worth while to go out taking photos. If you would like to see the rest that I took with the ability to enlarge them just follow this LINK Sun Dog's Thanks for looking and feel free to comment, God Bless, Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

A Family Chow Chow Photo Shoot

2008-12-14T00:30:00.008-06:00

I really like location portrait shoot. well I should it is how I make a living. But some days you get to a shoot that is really great and would have no problem taking a few hundred portraits. Well Today was one of those days I had a family portrait shoot that included two Chow Chow dogs. Some times pet photography can be a huge challenge in it self however today the owners of these Chow Chows show their dogs so they were very easy to work with. ( both the owners and the dogs) Even the pup that is just over 3 months old was already showing good sings of being a very good show dog. As you can see He is very loved as well being very playful, He is still just a pup. The older female does not get shown any more but she had no problem posing for us as you can tell with these two photos. Even all together they just make one happy family and photogenic family. I really do enjoy the challenges and rewards with on location portraiture photography. It is not like in the studio were every thing is set once and usually stays fairly close to those parameters . That kind of photography can be very repetitive and become boring. I mean if the studio is already set up with very few variables almost any one can take a photo and make it look ok. Look at Walmart and JC Pennies. I really like the sense of achievement when a client says "I want my photo here" and being able to give them just that and make it look good to boot. If you would like to see more photos from this shoot in a larger size you may go HERE

How to Become Successful

2008-12-10T22:40:00.007-06:00

Now if I told you there is an easy answer to this you would tell me I am crazy. Well no one has ever accused me of being sane. So yes I am going to tell you there is a fairly short answer to how to become successful. The first part of how to become successful will leave you saying well Duh. However you will need to hang on for the whole thing so you can put it together. First for you to be successful you have to be so good at what you do that you can not be ignored. Plain and simple. If some one is better then you in that field you just try harder and more ways until you are good enough you can not be over looked. DUH! Now the Question is "how do I become this good?" This is where the answer is not that hard it is just more then what most people want to do. Malcolm Gladwell gives an informative yet entertaining 40 min. speech on it Here Mr. Gladwell Outlines how it takes the average master 10,000 hours to become just that a master. 10,000 hours is a lot of time to devote to any one thing but as you look at successful people all around the world most will have put roughly that kind of time and effort to their cause. I hope you can find Malcolm Gladwell's speech as entertaining as I did. As always I look forward to your comments and feedback. Thank you and God Bless. Corey Brown ( Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography )

You feeling Froggy

2008-12-10T11:41:00.004-06:00

It is cold here in Iowa again today and with the girls getting kind of cooped up I thought it would be nice to try and visit a warm memory. My oldest daughter Bella loves frogs, so when we get a chance we will go out to a couple of spots and see if we can find some to check out. This first frog we fond on a trail just off the Iowa River near La Grand Iowa. It is a neat trail for the area it even has a suspension bridge on the edge of one of our few cliff fronts. This Frog was fond in the back waters of the Lake behind the paper mill in Tama Ia. There is another trail that you can walk around the North side of the lake. This third photo was taken at the gold fish pond at MMSC in down town Marshalltown Ia. They have a nice set up and you do not need to go through the hospital to get to it. It sits on the North side of the hospital next to the cross walk that goes to McFarland Clinic. If you would like to see these and a few other photos at a much larger size and resolution you can folow this link Thanks for looking and God Bless. Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Do you see that out the Car window.

2008-12-08T00:52:00.003-06:00

As most people who know me know that I almost always have a camera with me. By doing so I try to always get a photo every time I go anywhere Whether by myself or with the family. Even if it is an area that I travel all the time. This really does help my photography in a few areas. The biggest is always trying to find a photo worth taking. The second is practice plain and simple. This first photo is one south west of Tama Iowa. Before Jenna was born Bella and I would always take a Sunday cruise after Church and take photos. This is from one of our Sunday drives. I really hope to get back into that habit soon with both the girls. This Second photo is of a small Iowa snow storm going in front of the sunset. I love trying to capture photos like this for the challenge of how much dynamic range is in the scene. To Capture a Photo like this you really need to decide what is important to you to have in the photo and compose your photo around that. With any luck others will see what you were trying to capture. I took this photo on the way back from a location model shoot I took a Three Bridges Park near La Grand Iowa. The main reason I was able to get this shot is I left the camera out after the shoot just in case I ran across something cool to take a photo of. Just a few miles up the road I came across this sunset that happened to have a train in it. This is another shot that can be difficult to get exactly what you are going for. Shooting into the sun can cause the train to end up black or if you get the train exposed properly the sun and sky will be blown out. So once again a shot like this is choosing what you like best in the scene and compromising some other parts. Usually to get a scene like this it is best to shoot, expose for the Sun set or shoot with a - EV and try to bring your shadows up the best you can in post process. The Main reason for this post is that you can never get a photo if you do not have your camera. As most People know I try and make it a habit to always have a camera with me. By doing so I was able to get all the shots above. It seems you see the coolest things when ever you do not have a camera or have one ready. So does this mean that if I always have a camera at hand and ready I do not see any thing cool? Not at all. It just means when I do I have a photo of it when others just have a fleeting memory. Thanks for looking and God Bless. Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

It is time for your Christmas Cards.

2008-11-18T22:23:00.013-06:00

That is right it is that time of year. Let me tell you to say I am excited is a understatement. We have so many more options and possibilities for our customers this year I can hardly contain my self.

This year we are offering both 5X7 folding cards as well as the 4X8 flat cards. To get more details visit my web site Link Here. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks and God Bless. Corey Brown

Immigrants arrested at Poenys in Toledo Iowa

2008-11-18T17:55:00.016-06:00

Today immigration made arrests at Peony's Chinese restaurant in Toledo Iowa. A result of the events has left the parking lot empty and the doors closed during the dinner hour. However the news was big enough that Chanel 7 News KWWL came to run the story. I took a some photos of them running the live story. I have some more photos on my web site you can see them Here. I am sorry I do not have a link to our local New so you can get more of the story. If they provide one for me I will gladly link it. Thanks and God Bless. Corey Brown

Been very busy.

2008-11-12T01:32:00.005-06:00

I am sorry I have not given a update in so long but I have been super busy. I would like to say that the workshop went great. We had a great weekend and were able to cover a lot of ground. I will try and do a separate post as soon as I can with some photos. We also have the new addition to the family Jenna was born Sept. 20 th and all is well and healthy. I have also received some equipment to check out and I hope to have some reviews up before Christmas. Senior season and Christmas card season has started very well this year so I have not had much time for any thing except family and clients. Thank you every one for your patience and understanding God Bless. Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)

Fall Photography Workshop 2008 Reminder

2008-09-26T14:23:00.004-05:00

Just a Quick update The Fall workshop is just around the corner ( Oct. 17th & 18th) so if you have not singed up yet and are planing on it now is a good time. You can get more info or register at http://www.pilgrimheights.org/groups/Photography_Fall or here is the Registration Form PDF And feel free to contact me directly if you would like This workshop will be covering the foundations of photography. Anybody from the novice to the advanced hobbyist should walk away with with a greater understanding of photography and the ability to put it into practice. I will update next week when I will have a head count to let everyone know how many opening are still available. Thanks and God Bless, Corey Brown

Welcome Jenna

2008-09-26T05:14:00.005-05:00

I had the Great opportunity to photograph my daughter right in the Operating room. My Wife and I did not want to have her VIA a C-section However it had to be that way. Right from the start she is Bright eyed and checking everything out. She is very alert while awake. Her Color is starting to come in. You can see how her bottom half is still some what blue in this photo. The whole process really can be scary cleaning out her mouth getting her to breath and so forth it can really make you forget that women have been having babies for over 5,000 years. Isn't she adorable but in the air and fussing. (Thats my Daughter) I am really happy how well the new camera Olympus sent me handled these conditions. The Focus speed was great and it handled all the mixed lighting very well. All in all it is a great camera to work with in situations where you will never get a chance to retake the shot. I would like to thank every one for their support and Prayers. I know that it is In God that everything turned out as well as it did. My wife and I would like to give a very spacial thanks to Our Pastors Wife for being by my wife's side practically the entire time. Thank you so MUCH Joan for living your ministry. Mom and Baby are doing very well. I would like to say life is getting back to normal but my life has never been normal so no reason to start now. Let the more fun begin. Thanks and God Bless, Corey Brown

Olympus is anouncing the tweener (E-A1)

2008-09-22T00:56:00.003-05:00

Tweener is a nick name for this camera that will be placed directly between the E3 line and the E520. Most user that are looking for that E1 replacement will have some familiarity. However the ones who will mostly benefit are people looking for a camera that is just not quite as much as the E3 but with most of the usability. It will also make a great backup to E3 owners due to the button lay out will have a familiar feel. Here is a portion of the announcment.

The camera announced today is being developed as an advanced amateur model that will be positioned between the E-520 and E-3. In terms of quality and performance, however, there is nothing mid-level about this model. It will inherit all the outstanding features of the E-3 such as the high-speed AF system using 11-points-full twin cross sensor and the built-in image stabilization mechanism with a correction effect of max. 5 EV steps*1. Other features include a new and updated feature to replace the current splash- and dust-proof function. Olympus hopes to release this new camera in the first quarter of the year 2009.

With the introduction of this new camera, Olympus will expand its line of Four Thirds System-compliant digital SLR cameras, providing a wider range of choices to a wider range of users from serious amateurs to professionals.

Outline of Developed Product

Category	Product Name	Launch Date	MSRP
Four Thirds System-compliant, Lens interchangeable type digital single lens reflex camera	Not determined	First quarter of the year 2009	Not determined

*	According to our in-house test conditions

Developed Product: Olympus E-System interchangeable-lens digital SLR camera positioned as a mid-level model *The company names and product names specified in this release are the trademarks or registered trademarks of each company. Thanks for stoping by Corey Brown

Panasonic G1

2008-09-12T22:34:00.002-05:00

Just a quick update to the previous post Panasonic has definitely made the announcement official and here is a link to the English web site.

The first real micro 4/3 offering

2008-09-12T01:27:00.004-05:00

Panasonic has a web page up that has not hit the us market as I write this but these are some of the photos off of Panasonics site. It looks as though that the Panny/Olympus announcement was not to be taken very lightly because be the looks of it and the information that I have gathered shows that we could expect to see this camera on the shelfs as early as Mid November. Shown above is some of the CAF tracking and note the micro 4/3 symbol top left corner of the body. The first lenses that should both be avalible at the same time as the body are the 14-45 F 3.5-5.6 and the 45-200 F 4.0-5.6. Both equipped with O.I.S. Which works very well Panasonic as been using this kind of image stabilization for a few years and improving it along the way. As you can see that this camera has a few color choices and by the scene selection and the open user interface will make it very desirable for a novice wanting to expand their quality of their photos. However if you look closely below you will see on the mode dial on the right hand side of the body that this camera has a full line up of user controlled empowerment including full manual. Making it a camera that will be very easy for an inspiring amateur to learn with and whant to carry with them. This will have a 12 MP sensor making it the most MP on a 4/3 sensor that I know of. The body it self is supposed to way a mere 385 grams that is less then a pound ruffly the same as a Wendy's triple cheese burger. It will also have the Supersonic wave filter dust reduction system Which is very effective and highly rated in many reviews. The G1 also features a flip out screen like that found on the Lumix L10 and the Olympus E3 which in some circumstances makes getting so much easier if not the only way. It is just in my professional observation that this sure does look like something aimed at soccer moms collage students needing a little more camera for a course but still something easy to carry around ect. ect. However many professionals will be happy to find a smaller package to use with this kind of flexibility and control. Though there is not a lot of information out on this camera at least in English I expect we will get the full details at Photokina. Here is the Link to the Lumix/Panasonic Web site if yo would like to check it out. Thanks and God Bless Corey Brown

Morning will Break in Concert

2008-09-07T21:31:00.008-05:00

I shot a small intimate concert this Past Saturday and One of the bands that played was Morning will break. They are a five person band out of Lake County, Illinois. With Daug Weier playing Guitar, David Rosing playing Bass Guitar, Chelsea Troemel Playing Violin, Luke Bowman on the Drums and Skyler (Sky) Herman pulling every thing together with lead Vocals. As a young Band they are showing some skills that will give them an edge. They bring a great attitude backed with good energy, making for a rather enjoyable stage performance that should just keep getting better with each performance. Morning Will Break brings some well rounded musical skills, With David Rosing not only being the Bass player he also has a background in piano and is not shabby at all. Chelsea Troemel has be developing her violin ability's with the education of classical violin, A very hard area to master and she has shown that her time has not been wasted. Speaking with Daug it does not take long to see that he has a real passion for his friends and his band. He is seems to always be looking for ways to make things better and more prepared. I did not get to spend much time with the band and I feel like I missed a lot by not being able to. Despite their young age I think they have a lot to offer. You can check out their music and more about them on their Myspace . If you would like to see more photos please go to the Gallery I shot from Saturday Here . I will try and post a little bit about the other two band that were there as soon as I can. Thanks and God Bless Corey Brown

Fall Photography Workshop 2008

2008-08-29T23:51:00.003-05:00

As many of you know I am teaching a photography workshop in October at Pilgrim Heights. Registration is now open. However, the seating is very limited due to the fact that we want to be able to supply as much one on one attention that might be needed. You can register at http://www.pilgrimheights.org/groups/Photography_Fall or here is the Registration Form PDF you can fill out and mail in. Please keep in mind that all registrations will be handled first come first served. So if you want to join sign up soon while there is still room. If you have any questions you can call Sara @ (641)-492-6165 or call me at (515)-991-9649 or Email me at glory2jesus4photography@gmail.com Thanks and God Bless, Corey Brown

My little Model in an exlusive wooded location.

2008-08-18T13:33:00.003-05:00

Bella is growing up so fast it is hard to believe. At least she lets me take all kinda of photos to keep the memories. If The scenery does not look familiar it is because these photos are taken in a exclusive location in between Marshalltown and Tama / Toledo Iowa. She loves to play in the dirt and get dirty. Thats my Girl Lost in those Child's dreams Yep still playing in dirt. Fine I will be lady like if I have to and put my legs together. Thanks for looking and God Bless. Corey Brown

My Glowing Wife

2008-08-13T04:38:00.003-05:00

We were out at the lake the other day and I got Sabrina to pose for me. I thought this a huge accomplishment considering she is now 8 months along and does not lake her photo taken. Here is one that I took I have more but I just have not got them up loaded yet it has been a very busy two weeks and I do not see it slowing down for a while. I hope you enjoy thanks and God Bless. Corey My Wife and Daughter can you guess which one is the Model of the family.

God Can work with the least

2008-07-29T13:06:00.004-05:00

Caution This video has been know to make life's change and people cry. View With Caution! May you have a blessed Day. God Bless, Corey Brown

Wow My Blog has disappeared

2008-07-25T23:03:00.003-05:00

I do not know if others are having troubles finding my blog but it has almost seemed to have disappeared sense this afternoon. I am posting this just to see if it shows up or not more latter. UPDATE: Well I do not know what was causing the bugs but things seem to be getting back in order. Most all of the html and java script is now functioning properly and the blog has returned to goggle and other locations on the web were it had previously just completely disappeared with no trace. Altho it is further down the list but it always seems to be on a yoyo anyways in goggle surch and other search engines. If you are having any problems with this blog please let me know. Thanks and God Bless, Corey Brown

Ragbrai came and gone From Tama Toledo Iowa

2008-07-24T18:39:00.006-05:00

Ragbrai came to town in a Blaze of glory. It was as if some one had opened a flood gate and the people just poured in. As if Ragbrai was not enough entertainment in it self there was plenty of extra entertainment that came to town with it. One of the more heated forms of entertainment took place right in the middle of the crowd at the intersection of Broadway and High st. yes our one Stoplight downtown. It did not take long before the crowd got into the act. Although they do ask you to keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times until they come to a complete stop! We definitely did not have a shortage of interesting people or out fits and some times they were even paired together. One theory is if you can not collect the most beads at least make sure you have the biggest. As the Night went on things just kept spinning. The hardest decision was how to juggle all the activities to be able to see every thing that was happening. I was not able to, but I had a blast catching what I did and I hope every one else did as well. You can view all the galleries that I have up from Ragbrai here http://glory2jesus4photography.smugmug.com/Our%20Home%20Towns%20of%20Iowa/404111 Thanks and God Bless, Corey Brown

Amazon has S3 service problems.

2008-07-20T18:38:00.003-05:00

Amazon has had S3 service problems today which has caused problems for my main page because SmugMug uses the S3 service for the Primary storage provider. This has been one of the longest outages that I can recall and hope every thing will be up and going soon. However I would rather it take longer and not have to reload the site verses every thing come back live and in full working order especially sense I have over 70 Gig's of photos and information on the Main site.

So if this has inconvenienced you I sincerely apologize and I know that there are many engineers working on the problem.

Thanks

Corey Brown

Upcoming Photography Workshop

2008-07-12T20:22:00.007-05:00

Pilgrim Heights Camp and Retreat Center has extended an invitation to me to teach a Photography work shop October 17th and 18th. I happily accepted the invitation and will be opening up registration By next month. ( August ) There is limited openings and this will be handled first come first served. The registration is only $75.00 and will include meals, room, and board which are being provided by Pilgrim heights. Zone-10 will also be helping sponsor the workshop by providing curriculum, materials, and some personal assistance. Zone-10 has a strong foundation aimed at helping up coming photographers with necessary resources to teach and develop their Photography into a craft and an art giving the photographer the opportunity to be able to embark into a successful working career. Please take the time to visit Zone-10 web page at http://zone-10.com/cmsm/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 And see what they are about here. Please stay tuned for more information on times and registration. Thanks and God Bless, Corey Brown

The 4th of July

2008-07-07T19:04:00.003-05:00

The 4th of July was very enjoyable for me this year.

My Father and Mother were able to come up and visit for the weekend. this also gave me a better ability to take a few photos of the fireworks while nana and papa were able to enjoy them with my daughter.

These are some of the photos that I took.

I have more posted on my main Web Site if you would like to take a look you can do so here.

http://Glory2Jesus4Photography.smugmug.com/gallery/5329587_3BbwX/2/325707766_Ms4N7#P-1-16

Thanks for looking and God Bless.

Corey Brown

New Temptations in the Market

2008-07-02T00:32:00.005-05:00

Nikon has just put another full frame / FX sensor camera out on the market. Nikon is definitely showing it's drive to move up the Market share ladder.

It is definitely interesting to see how different manufactures have taken to strive for the next position in Market share. Sony has seemed to almost flood the lower to mid range dslr field with as many choices as possible but there is good reason to believe their full frame camera will be out this year to join the FF scrap.

Nikon came out swinging with the D3 and followed up with the D700 before anyone could answer the D3. I have seen some people concerned or wondering what Olympus will do. will they make a FF camera. I really REALLY doubt that they will. One thing they would have to go back to the drawing boards on every thing including lenses. My opinion is that Olympus is in a very strong position right ware they sit.

While some Manufactures pour money into development for the next best FF to keep up. Olympus can sit back with a growing lens line up that is 2 to none in the designed for digital.

This leaves other manufactures having to split their efforts to grow two lines of lenses to get the best results for each sensor size or making compromises for one or the other. This makes it hard for anybody stepping up to a dslr for the first time. I mean who really wants to wade through, this lens is best on this body but not very good on this one. So if you upgrade next year are your lenses going to be the best for the next body. With Olympus the answer is easy, yes they will be very good for the next model coming out. So what gives me this opinion that Olympus will stay in the direction they have been heading with the 4/3 sensor. The same thing happened with the 35mm film cameras. Yes MF and Large format are still around and they do have some very good uses but they are not the mass market they are tools for the job. So I look at it this way in Two years if you are not dedicated to a system you will have 3 general choices 4/3, 35 mm/ FF or a MF. If you take the cost, results, and pack size how much of a benefit will a "FF" camera over a MF, size cost IQ. Now look at were the 4/3 camera stacks up in the end it is generally lighter , and more compact and no confusion for which lens works on what body. The MF system is also pretty clear for what lens system works on what body. So after all the marketing hype and the pro shoots with this. What will be important to the user. For me it is easy of use in every area when I order something new for my system I do not want to have to study which ones will work at all and then find out which one of those will give me the best results. I am only given the options that work on my system to start with. I like that so I use Olympus and get great results and can spend my time shooting instead of studding my next purchase to make sure I get the best results for me and my clients.

So if I had to move up from my current system it would be to go ahead to MF and spend the extra $ for a system that has been around and is only improving and getting cheaper to get in to. Just my opinion.

Thanks and God Bless.

Corey Brown

A 50th Wedding Anniversary

2008-06-23T03:18:00.003-05:00

I got to shoot a 50th wedding anniversary last weekend that was just a joy to be at.The entire family is Just plain fun to be around it made the afternoon just fly by.I wish every shoot could be this much fun. I have posted a couple of galleries for the friends and family. and this is a slide show of just some of their friends and family as they came and went to share in their joyous celebration. Congratulations and thank you. God Bless.Corey Brown

Wow It's been to long

2008-06-16T02:06:00.003-05:00

I have been super busy for the Past month I have not even had time to sit down and post anything. I had the pleasure to do a large multiple family shoot last month at the Des Moines Water works Park. If you are not familiar with the Park it is a really nice park with a ton of locations for sittings and a variety of backdrops that makes it a photographers dream for a location shoot. To bad I think it is under water right now due to all the flooding.

Here is one of the many shots I took that day

I also had a out door wedding that I shot. This was at Pilgrim Heights Camp and Retreat center just outside on Montour Ia. This is another one of those locations that is just fantastic. I was so impressed by this location and the staff that I am doing a review of it for Wedding Dream Spots.(that I hope to have done within the next few weeks)

Here are some Photos of the ceremony it was a picture perfect day.

I also got the opportunity to help Pilgrim heights with a multi media Presentation for there annual business meeting. I put together a nice arrangement of some of there camp photos as well as some Pictures I took of the facilities and areas that they are growing in. I put that together with the music that I cut, remixed and Edited for them. I was told that it went very well. I was not able to make it to the presentation do to other obligations, That is the life of this business you will very rarely see your work appreciated.

This is one of the many scenic views around the facilities.

I have so many more things that I could write about for what all has been happening, However I do need to tend to more of that work if I intend on getting paid.

Thanks for all your views and support it really is nice to see and here especially when people are now coming up to me in-person and commenting on some of the posts I have made.

Thank you and God Bless.

Corey Brown

A shoot in a Beauty Salon?

2008-05-25T00:34:00.005-05:00

Thats right a photos shoot is a beauty salon. Some of the Best Clients that I have ever had probably because they are some of the finest people you could ever meet decided to have their 50th anniversary photo for the news paper done in their Beauty salon. Main street Styling in Tama Iowa was kind enough to let us use there very small shop to do the shoot sense our client had just had her hair done and it was very windy it seemed like the best solution at the time.

The Original plan was for a lake side photo shoot but the weather changed that. However I think the end results turned out well for the impromptu lets turn a small Beauty salon into a studio for an hour on the fly.

I shot every thing stobist style with 1 285 HV and a Metz 54 both fired with my Elinchrom Skyports. The 285 was placed subject left about 4' shot through a transparent white umbrella at 1/2 power. the Metz was clamped to the door frame above the door use a better bounce card to help direct the light. The Metz was set at 5.6 ISO 100 and 1/4 & 1/3. The Camera settings were ISO 100 1/200 F/6.3 shot with my Olympus E3 and the 50-200 SWD.

This was such a fun shoot. It was very HOT with the Hair dryer going and the flashes and how small it was but I know I will remember this for a very long time. I don't know if Main Street Styling will every be the same and it will give the ladies something to talk about for awhile and we got pictures to boot. Thanks for the Experience and the memories God Bless.

Corey Brown

New Feature

2008-05-16T23:30:00.003-05:00

We have a new feature available. we will now be able to take your slide shows movies and other video that is in H.264 format and host them in Blogs, YouTube and other forms of media sharing. This option will be available for our premium hosted galleries. Any currant customers will be given this upgrade for free and immediately. Here is a example. (Fast Internet may be needed it is fairly high quality taken from 3600x2700 photos and in a 960 x 540 video) This is a test to see how well it down sizes from DVD quality to web Quality so Pleas let me know how it is working for you so we can make any and all tweaks necessary for you and the next person.

Thanks.

Corey Brown

A new Addition on it's way

2008-05-08T13:45:00.005-05:00

Our Family is Expecting a new addition this year.

My wife had a ultra sound yesterday for our second pregnancy. It is amazing how much detail they have on the newer sonograms. We never got anything even close to this with our first child just over 2 years ago.

Hmm deep in thought. or maybe peek a boo I see you too!

So far every thing is looking good and we will find out the official results of the ultra sound in a couple of weeks when we go back to the Dr.

Check out my big foot.

Put'em up come on put'em up

Check it out I already have a skeleton outfit.

We thank every one for your continual prayers for we know that it is through God alone all things are done.

Thank you and God Bless.

Corey and Family

Warning CopyRight Law Change?

2008-05-06T15:53:00.004-05:00

There is a Bill that is trying to be pushed through in a hurry to change the Copyright Law as we know it. This new Bill would make it almost impossible for any artist or private photographer to keep His of Her work protected. This means if you love to take a lot of photos of your family and Google decides they want to use that photo of your family with your kids in there add the will be able to and you will be able to do nothing about it. Does this Make you Feel Good the bill is called the Orphan Works Bill here is a site that has a very good audio interview that does a great job explaining it. http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html There is also the House of Representatives and the Senates version of the bill their so you can down load if you like and read it for your self as well as some ways to start to take action.

This bill is being backed by some Major financial backers and they are trying to get it pushed through before summer. If you ever post your photos on the web or have any visual artistic content that you would like to make sure it stays yours please do not sit around and do nothing take action.

Other Sites I have found.

http://www.epuk.org/Opinion/848/uncle-sams-thieves-charter

http://www.IllustratorsPartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00264

http://www.IllustratorsPartnership.org/index.php

Is this how you feel. It may be how your kids feel!

2008-04-30T20:20:00.007-05:00

The ending can be the same. Through Jesus all things are possible. Just call on Him, He is here to save you.

The Sacrifice has already been made for You.

2008-04-21T10:36:00.008-05:00

Please watch this it may change your life or help you to change some body else's.

God has already sacrificed his Son for your Debt of sin are you willing to receive the free gift of Forgiveness.

Spring is Finally here.

2008-04-18T03:49:00.002-05:00

This past Sunday me and my Daughter went on our normal Sunday Drive from Church to home taking pictures. This week we got to spend a lot more time taking pictures because we finally had a really nice day.

The Area we live in has some very beautiful country and is definitely worth while to go for a ride and enjoy what you can see.

Between the Farm land rolling hills streams and wild life making a 20 minute drive from Tama / Toledo to Marshalltown can tern in to a 45 minute ride to enjoy some of God's creation.

Some times people think they have to get away to enjoy life but in reality some times all it takes is getting to enjoy the things near to you.

I hope this will inspire you to go take a few pictures of what is in your back yard and enjoy it today and tomorrow.

Thanks and God Bless.

Corey Brown

DOMKE Bug Bag 30

2008-04-04T22:00:00.027-05:00

I have had the LowePro slingshot 300 for 8 months and I was carrying it every ware with me. Over time I realized that I really needed a smaller bag for my average day trips or just walking around with.

So the search began!

I took a inventory of every thing I wanted to be able to take with, then I added in every thing else I have to carry on an average with a 2 year old daughter that I take with some times

( she loves to go out for car rides and take pictures )

I knew I had to try and keep it small and real easy to carry but with a lot of versatility.

As I was searching I fond that Adorama was having a sale on some older discontinued Domke Bags. I know that Domke has some good quality now but I did not know any thing about this bag that I found that the specs and size seem to mach what I need but the photos are very poor. http://www.adorama.com/DMBB30BK.html

So I thought For $25.00 and I needed something else from them any way I would give it a shot. When I received the Bug Bag 30 I was surprised at how roomy it was. In Fact the Bag was a little larger then I anticipated Adoramas web site gives the external dimensions of 10.5 W x 5.5 D x 8.5 H most of the time companies like to stretch the limit of their numbers to make it look better however in this case they did not do that at all in fact I would say that is closer to the small average of the Main internal dimensions.

This case is intended to be used for my take any where quickly but to do many jobs case. So to pack it I have chose an Olympus E3 with a 12-60 swd lens also a 50-200 swd lens a Olympus 50R flash a Metz 54 4i flash with sca m6 and a standard sca and the Elinchrom skyports to handle all my wireless needs. Plus all the batteries and accessories to make it all work.

Here are a couple of photos one fully packed the other is about half way just to give you a idea of the size of the main compartment.

I have many people ask how I get all I do into a bag this size so I will try and share both some review of the bag and how I pack it at the same time to save some space and time.

in the photos above you will notice there is two bags total that I carry inside my main compartment. These bags consist of one on the front left bottom is my to go bag it is a small camera bag bought from walmart for around $5.00 it holds 2 camera batteries a lens cloth a set of AA's for my flash and some Biz cards. ( the reason there is no CF cards is I have a holder on my camera strap that holds two CF cards ) The second bag is another smaller camera bag that holds all my wires and connectors to set up my wireless flash system stobist style. That bag sits on top of the other making up the space of a medium lens or LG flash.

Front center is a CF card case but it is the perfect size for two Elinchrom Skyport receivers and that is there resting place.

Above are some photos to give you an idea of how much can be carried in the main compartment and pockets except the front pocket I will get to that latter. The lens in the photos is a Tokina 100-300 f4 that I was borrowing It measures about 9" long and the hood reversed is a almost 4" across just to give you and idea of what size lens it can hold and still close easily. As you can see this bag can hold quite a little bit of equipment to go do about any job.

Sense I do some storbist shooting it just would not be wright if I did not throw some thing in here.

The Bug Bag has three weak spots from my point of view.

The first and what I think is one the weakest links of the Bug Bag 30 the side pockets. The side pockets are about 2/3 the depth of the bag which is fine but the do not expand much at all. They really are only wide enough for a wallet or a pack of AA or a Ipod. all these things are great to have a pocket for but I really like to have a out side pocket to hold my lens that I am changing or a water bottle or a flash and you will just not get that out of this bag.

Here are some examples to try and show you just how narrow it really is.

As you can see just the small reflector is already pushing in the interior compartment.

So this is all I load in to one side, in the two Sandisk card cases are 4 AA's a flash bounce card and a flash stand. On the other I put a Card holder case that holds 8 AA's and my bag of rubber band things.

The second is the pocket on the inside of the lid things can very easily fall out of it so it is not a good place to put any thing of value or that can break easily.

The Third is that while wearing the bag it can be difficult to access all your items in the main compartment the way the lid is designed. Since the lid flips back towards your body and it is cupped it leaves access to your equipment in the back of your bag very difficult.

Those are the only complaints that I could come up with on this bag and I was looking because you know for $25.00 there has to be a lot to complain about. Not here though so lets get back to some of the good things. on the top of the Bug Bag it has a small pocket that is very easy to get to at any time and can hold a pretty good amount before it started collapsing the way the lid is designed. It could hold a large Ipod and a camera battery or any thing in that size and weight range. I carry a large lens cloth and some lens cleaner and it still would have some room.

The literature that cam with the bag says that it is water resistant and treated inside and out a definite plus. The material that is used seems very sturdy and is comparable to my Slingshot so it should also take waterproof treatments very well if you feel it needs more protection. The lid has a very nice sized lip on it to cover the zipper of the main compartment, this will help with keeping things dry and clean that you intend to stay that way. The front pocket is a good size any bigger would just add bulk and thickness to the bag and any smaller would really start cutting in to it's usefulness. I can carry another set of AA's my Elinchrom Transmitter another large lens cloth, one to two camera batteries some pens and a permanent marker a card holder ( and this one actually holds some of my CF cards go figure) and some breath spray. The pen holders are actually large enough to hold two pens side by side.

The Back pocket is good to hold a map or a few other thin odds and ends. It really works out well for me I use it to carry four different bounce card styled after the better bounce card.

There is also straps on the back so you can run a belt through so the bag will stay tight against your body. There are also adjustable straps on top of the bag that you can easily attach a tripod to a light stand and they do work fairly well.

This is with the 12-60 attached an lens hood attached ( not reversed ) as well. If you were to put the flash in the other way or have a short lens there you would be able to have a battery grip attacher as well.

So my conclusion is this the perfect bag? Well no, it does have the few short comings I mentioned earlier. However for $25.00 it is the first time in a long time I felt like I have got more then what I paid for. the Bug bag is very well padded, very adjustable, can hold a lot of gear. I think any Strobist would be very happy with this bag. Plus it meets all airline carry on specs so you do not have to check your kit and hope it arrives when you do in one piece. although the airlines probably will not let you carry on with attached light stand or tripod. I hope this has been helpful and feel free to leave your comments. if you want to view more photos or larger sizes you can see the full gallery here .

Thanks and God Bless

Corey Brown.

Web tweaking takes a lot of time

2008-02-19T05:39:00.009-06:00

I have been spending the past two weeks tweaking the web site and putting together some other projects that I have been working on. I finally got my navigation bar done for the web site and I am very pleased at how well it went. It only took about 25 hours of total work so I thought that was pretty good for me for what ended up being a 58 tabbed nav bar that is completely open on the code so it will be easy to build on. For all you SmugMug fans here is a link for some base code that is a really great start http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=42747 .

If you go to start a project like this make sure you are working on a format that will handle the width of the code easily. Word and Pages do not work so well. On a Mac there is an app called Text editor that works great and can go full screen. (you will need it) You will also need to be saving. I run two copies at all times and am always saving along the way. It is also a good Idea when ever working on anything like this to have your entire code backed up and saved. If your browser or internet go down while on a project like this you are at square one. I also use two browsers with 2 windows open each. One window on each browser will always hold my starting point so if something goes wrong I just hit update on the other page and every thing is reset. This keeps my down time very little on my web site.

As most of you have noticed I have been playing with a new music player, well it is not new. Sonific has been around for a few years and offer their service free to the user with some limits in their contract such as you can't cover it making your viewers unable to click and go to their site to see the artist and have a chance to buy the music you are playing. The Sonific widget is real easy to put in in most all web pages and blogs and can be done with some simple html if it needs a little push.

If you have any questions you can leave a comment or go to my main web site links on top right and you can leave an email or a comment there if you would like as well.

Thanks for stopping by

Corey Brown

Are we to Dependent on Technology to learn the fundamentals

2008-02-09T00:21:00.000-06:00

while I was reading a article on Zone 10 written by Bob Whitmire called Learning not to be lazy I was thinking it is hard to learn real techniques.

Over the past year I have been trying to learn to be a skilled enough photographer to make it my profession and there is a lot of truth to Bob's article and it can really play against those of use who are trying to increase their photography skills. There is so much that I rely on with my camera that it is humbling. During this week I have been using a few of Ken's OM lenses. I had not realized how dependent I was on Auto Focus for my photography. I am so used to just half pressing the button and once I here the beep see the light I know it is good I take the shot. With a Manual Focus lens well there is just a little more to this. I have really had to think more on my shots not just the focus but the aperture is also manual when using OM lenses with the E3 body. So I can not set the camera in this mode or that and spin a dial here or there for quick and easy shooting. So I think it is good for any body and every body to know the fundamentals and realize why people have pushed the technology to the level at where it is and be able to use your equipment with out the technology. So next time before you turn your ISO up and while you are using AF with Image stabilization just think, Can I get this shot with out all of this? You can read Bob’s article here.

Thanks for stopping by

Corey Brown