Jeff Smallwood Photography
Driving from Day to Night
Daylight on the left. Evening on the right. Being a member of a photo club or photo group can have great rewards when you're pushed to try something new. That's exactly what happened here.
 
The Calvert Photo Club's January assignment/challenge was the term "motion". I've wanted to experiment with capturing motion in the car for quite a while but never got around to it. Having to produce something for the monthly challenge finally kicked my butt in gear. Keep reading to see how this image was created.
Creating Gritty Black and White Portraits
In the quest to improve my photography skills (does that ever end?), I've been looking at the work of others I admire. I've been looking at portraits in particular and one of the techniques I've been interested in learning is how to create gritty, dark, black and white portraits. I figured that before I try this with photos of anyone else, I better experiment on my own photo first. What follows is a detailed step-by-step on exactly how I created this self-portrait.
Morning, Evening, and Night - A Slideshow
Jan 2, 2014
A compilation of photos from the last two years I've taken in the morning, evening, and night. Music is titled "Stars Collide" by Josh Woodward.
Stacking and Bulb Ramping
Dec 31, 2013
Bulb ramping is the ideal technique for shooting time lapse segments, but you can do more with the resulting photos than just animating them. Stacking them together allows you to simulate extremely long exposures without the use of filters, and helps preserve the original contrasts and colors of the scene.
The Hidden Gem
Aug 21, 2013
Found a very cool spot, totally hidden and secluded, on the side of the road in West Virginia. This waterfall is proof that you should not only pay attention with your eyes when photographing, but pay attention to your ears as well. Read more to find out where it is and how I found it.
Don't Be Late - A Poem
Aug 6, 2013
Sometimes we need the innocence of youth to remind us what's important...this time captured in a poem.
In Search of Bigfoot and Facebook Photo Quality
Jul 21, 2013
I've been asked why I frequently post only smaller size photos to Facebook and why I provide links to my photography website for the same shot. The answer boils down to quality. This is not about the content of the photos on Facebook, but rather the digital quality that Facebook uses to display them. To be straight with you, Facebook photo quality sucks. Here's a prime example.
Learning Long Exposure Photography - Part 2
Jul 14, 2013
From ISO to HDR to filters, this post includes lots of tips and tricks to help you capture high quality long exposure photos. This is the follow-up post to what we learned in part 1 from Ratatouille: that "anyone can cook".
Solitary Tree
Jul 13, 2013
A poem inspired by this solitary tree 
A Walk in the Woods
Jul 6, 2013

Being out in the wilderness for days on end can rejuvenate your perspectives on the world. I decided this image goes with a poem I wrote last year on that same subject titled "A Walk in the Woods"

Learning Long Exposure Photography – Take a Lesson from Ratatouille
Jun 20, 2013
What is long exposure photography? How do you use it? What are some tips, tricks, and lessons learned that can help you get started?

But first, what can Chef Gusteau and the Pixar hit movie Ratatouille teach us about long exposure photography (or photography in general for that matter)?

I'll answer all those questions and more. So if you've ever wanted to learn about long exposures or weren't sure where to get started, this post will help you get the ball rolling.
Tiny Aperture? Blurry Photo? Blame Physics!
Jun 17, 2013
When it comes to aperture settings on our cameras, we've all learned that a smaller aperture not only means less light, but it also means greater depth of field (DoF). But did you know there can be a significant downside to that tiny aperture you're using?
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