Over Thanksgiving break, I spent an afternoon with my older brother, a contractor and owner of SoCal Siding Solutions. As part of a redesign for his company website, he wanted a set of photographs to showcase his work.
First, we spent a couple hours on Black Friday picking out a new DSLR for him to use when I'm not around to help. He ended up choosing the Canon EOS Rebel T1i, an excellent camera, and, though it isn't the most up to date, more than enough for his needs.
Then we went around his Solana Beach neighborhood to houses that he had already refinished. The sun was setting, so there was gorgeous light.
I recently downloaded a set of plug-ins from Topaz Labs so I thought I'd try them out with these images. While he will probably use my less artistic edits for his work portfolio, I really liked some of the results I got using Topaz Adjust.
While shooting this first house, I realized we were going to be cutting it a bit too close to sundown. In fact, we were unable to get some shots on the opposite side of the building. But check out the warmth of those rays.
As the sun was setting, we arrived at this gorgeous home. I love the architecture and landscaping. Look at that sunset in the sliding doors! Wow!
We were able to take a couple of long-exposures of the left side of this house, with a glowing waterfall and lit windows.
Lastly, we arrived at this modern home after the sun was down. My initial thought was that it was too dark for my camera which does not do well in low light. But then I thought, what the heck! What is there to lose. And boy am I glad we took a chance.
This picture was taken with nothing but a lingering bit of light from the already set sun and a couple of distant street lights. Shutter speed = 15 seconds.
Thanks, Eric, for a fun and challenging photoshoot. Can't wait to see the new website.