The other evening, I was strolling False Creek in Vancouver. I had come for a scenic city shot that I had envisioned from a previous visit. The shot was not there at this time of year. The sunset was not reflecting on the buildings as it does in the summer. So now I know. I need to wait till summer to capture a gorgeous scene that I had witnessed last year.

All was not lost though, there is an area of the sea wall where a huge flock of crows always gather. My wife was with me and knows the area well. She explained how the crows seem to have a schedule and were likely to be sitting in certain trees. Anyways, it was kind of a creepy scene so I made some captures. I added some blue-ish split toning to give it a colder(which it was) creepy feeling.

Hope you enjoy.

David DuChemin has written another eBook for his publishing company, Craft & Vision. Which is by far the best value for photography education that I know of. Seriously.

In Forget Mugshots: 10 steps to better portraits, David talks about how we can create portraits that matter. How we can move from taking a mugshot, or snap shot, to creating a portrait that shows the true soul of the person being photographed… their true character. He talks about,  you guessed it, 10 techniques to help you achieve those goals of being YOU while photographing a portrait that shows the true THEM. Also, David has some very interesting strategies and exercises for us to practice with.

David does NOT draw out lighting diagrams and such but he does talk about light. He talks about light on how you would use it on an individual basis in varied circumstance. David does not want us photographers to set up a “cookie cutter” Sears portrait studio, rather, he encourages the reader to bring his/her own unique personality in showing the unique personality of the portrait subject.

If you have followed David DuChemin for  a length of time, you will recognize the images in Forget Mugshots. Personally, I never get tired of them and they are great examples. His portraits have emotional impact. This ebook is really about how to get the “subject’s” soul revealed. David’s images do just that. So, if your looking for HOW to get emotional impact in your portrait work, this is the ebook for you. If you are looking for lighting diagrams and poses. This ebook is not for you.

Weight of this ebook is: 35 pages at 20mb of valuable content.

Special Offer on PDFs
For the first five days only, use the promotional code MUGSHOTS4 when they checkout, they can have the PDF version of Forget Mugshots: 10 Steps to Better Portraits for only $4 OR they can use the code MUGSHOTS20 to get 20% off when they buy 5+ PDF eBooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm (PST) March 17, 2012.

I am writing this post on my last day in Vietnam. We left the island of Phu Quoc today via a short flight yesterday. Now for a bit of time in Saigon(Ho Chi Minh City) before our flights back home this  evening.

Phu Quoc is a place we wanted to visit before, as many places, it became over-developed. They say it’s what Phuket would of been if not had not been over-developed. Phu Quoc is an island that is home to a fair number of resorts but they are mostly of the quante, family owned variety. It has a population of about 80,000. The island produces the world’s best fish sauce and is also known for it’s black pepper. There are several fishing villages so there is seafood everywhere!

One thing that I had noticed myself doing with my photography this trip, I was abusing the “rule of thirds”. I had shot way too many boat pictures and after doing some reviews of the images, I noticed the pattern. Bottom right third seemed to be my preference for some reason. Maybe because most of the boats were heading from right to left? I dunno. What I do know is that it was getting boring. However, I do like this above image. The lighting was incredible that evening.