Sharing The Roijoy

I had my camera set up to take a shot of an ant that seemed to be on sentry duty at an entrance to the nest. Normally when I do macro photography I set the lens and camera for manual focusing. On this occasion I opted to leave the lens set to operate on autofocus which I had set on continuous mode. No specific reason behind it, I just did. I held my camera so that the lens was about six inches away from my subject and held down the focus button to compose my shot.   At the split second I pressed the shutter release, something unexpectedly filled the viewfinder. I was quick enough to realize it had been a fly although I was already out of range to see what kind by the time my eyes caught up with it. Not thinking any more of it I went back to taking ant shots although mr sentry ant had moved on by now. After downloading my files to my computer later on in the day, I was pleasantly surprised to see just how fast the autofocus had worked. In the second that the fly had landed

Here are a few photos from a wedding at San Francisco, City Hall, for a couple who flew out from the UK to be married in this great destination. As has always been my fortune to date, they were really fantastic people and great to work with. I was also their witness so I really did take part in their day with them.

Not long ago I completed a photoshoot for Skype's Xbox One campaign which is now live. We shot using 10 models over a 2 day period and created 4 different "room" sets for the concepts. It was a lot to get done in the time but everyone was exactly what they needed to be and more - including the clients. Which meant that we got everything done and we wrapped after a very successful shoot. Setting up for one of the shots

We did a "2 look" session in Dolores park this past summer. It was one of those glorious summer days that San Francisco does so well when they come along. I used the sun for the key light and used a small had held speedlite for the fill and to put catchlights into the eyes of the model. We found some shady areas where we could control the strength of the sunlight by positioning the model to get the amount of lighting I was after. There was also lots of light bouncing up from the ground in some places which I was also able to make use of. I shot both full frame and Nikon crop sensor to make good use of the 3 lenses I had with me. A 50mm f/1:8, a 17 - 50mm f/2:8 for crop sensor, and a 85mm f/1:4. I shot both full frame and Nikon crop sensor to make good use of the 3 lenses I had with me. A 50mm f/1:8, a 17 - 50mm f/2:8 for crop sensor, and a 85mm f/1:4.

This amazing couple live in Sweden and decided to fly in to San Francisco for their marriage ceremony. They found me online and after we exchanged a few thoughts and ideas, they hired me to be the photographer for their special day. They were truly amazing to share they day with, and even though I was working, it felt like I was just spending some quality time with good friends. This allowed us to capture some really relaxed and fun moments and here is a quick look at some of the results.

I get asked this quite a lot and there is no cut and dry answer or formula since each month's sales period has a diverse set of conditions that drive the sales of certain types of image. Seasonal, news, trends, are just a few of these drivers. So for the month of August, here are the unique image sales I made. A number of these images enjoyed multiple sales which made a month total of 71 image sales. Because of the spread of libraries I work with sales are routinely made all around the globe. FREE PRINT GIVEAWAY One of the images shown here has been sold close to 500 times so far. If you can guess, send me a description of which one you think it is and I'll be happy to gift you a lab produced print of one of my photos that you choose at any size up to 11 x 14 inches. You can choose prints from any of the following sites: https://www.facebook.com/RoijoyPhotography/photos_stream http://www.tumblr.com/blog/roijoy http://www.flickr.com/photos/roijoy/ Entries accepted

Just a few days ago I was having a conversation with a fellow photographer and all round creative, about the importance of keeping physically fit as another tool for a photographer. So I was in the Mission today doing a Senior portrait session for a young lady who had traveled to San Francisco with the rest of her family for a few days of vacation time. While shooting I had rested a camera bag on the ground containing a spare camera body and 2 very fast lenses including an 85mm f1.4, and some other goodies. My client was really inspiring to work with and we got some great shots including backdrops such as this one in 18th Street. The family went off to their car to drive to the next meeting point. While changing a few camera settings before I grabbed my gear, out of the corner of my eye I saw a guy ride pass my bag on a bicycle and grab it.  He pedaled out into Mission Street heading toward 16th. I gave chase but he was really cranking and I couldn't catch him.

I really enjoy engagements sessions in San Francisco when the couple is from outside the city. We often end up doing a mini tour depending on the budget and always have a lot of fun. It also keeps me searching for interesting locations and angles in and around San Francisco and the immediate area which benefits my photography in general. These are a few of the photos I did with a couple who were so much fun to work with and found giving them a mini photo-tour to be extremely rewarding. On the day, San Francisco was playing peek-a-boo with the sun. Even though it was mainly overcast, we still managed to make the natural brightness of these two people light up the shots! And while I'm here, these are the first and last stock image sales of July: