I've been a slacker when it comes to posting my images online so I am hoping that this newly revamped blog will motivate me to do just that. I plan to keep this blog updated with photos from just about everything so definitely be sure to check back often.
Abel Longoria 
Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L : 1/1250th : f/2.8 : 400 ISO : 24mm : Aperture Priority : 0 Bias : No Flash
I drove from Los Angeles CA fdown to San Diego CA and made a stop in Huntington Beach. I had never been here before and I noticed they had a Dukes restaurant right on the beach so I had to get my Hula Pie fix. =) It was pretty crummy weather and a storm was rolling in so I didn’t spend much time hanging out on the beach. Here’s a couple of shots of the pier. View full post »
This past weekend I spent a few days in California and decided to make the drive from Los Angeles down to San Diego since I had never been before. I ended up making a ton of stops all along the way and this particular stop was at Scripps Park in La Jolla, CA. I noticed there was a small Seal Pup and her mother taking refuge upon a rock not too far off of the parks edge. I wandered down there to get a closer look since it seemed the seals were very used to having human visitors.
Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L : 1/500th : f/2.8 : 100 ISO : 70mm : Aperture Priority : 0 Bias : No Flash
It was obviously low tide at the time so I managed to walk my way out some 30 yards or so around to the rock the pup was perched on. Having nearly busted my butt a couple of times I happy to say the shots I got from this vantage spot were worth it. lol. The seal pup was just hanging out while momma got her rest close by. Momma knew I was near by since she’d open an eye every now and then to make sure her little one was still safe and sound and all in all it didn’t seem like she minded visitors.
Added one more photo…
Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L : 1/500th : f/2.8 : 100 ISO : 70mm : Aperture Priority : 0 Bias : No Flash
Seal Pup in La Jolla, CA.
Beautiful
Wow, Abel! That is a phenomenal shot!
This is awesome, Abel! Next year come up to Jenner by the Sea for more sites like this!
Jenner CA? Just north of San Francisco right? I stayed there one year and in fact the main header image on LongoriaPhotography.com site is from a lookout in Jenner. =)
Perfect shot! I love that area of La Jolla.
That is the spot! I will have to pay better attention to your site!
This is so beautiful and your description made me tear up a bit.. dang it for female hormones. I love this picture Abel, pretty sure it’s my favorite one you’ve done so far.
One of the shows I watched religiously is The Walking Dead on AMC and as soon as I noticed Imaging USA was going to be held in Atlanta, GA this year I knew I had to make the trip. The entire show is filmed in Georgia so I began to look up various filming locations and such in order to find places to stop by and photograph.
The original promo poster for the show depicts the main character Rick riding into a run down, deserted, post apocalyptic city which just so happens to be Atlanta GA. I found the original spot where the scene was filmed/photographed from The Walking Dead Locations website which also helped me locate a ton of other spots used for filming. I took a promo poster I found online, cropped it way down so I could print it out on a 4×6 print and have plenty to try to line up with the actual cityscape. This is the result.
Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 15 f/2.8 Fisheye : 1/125th : f/18 : 200 ISO : 15mm : Aperture Priority : 0 Bias : No Flash
It’s not a perfect match but that is really tough to do without having the exact spot it was shot from both horizontally and vertically and well as what focal length lens was used and all. Even though its not a perfect match I’m still very happy with it. This was one of the main shots I wanted to get while I was spending some time there in Georgia.
The idea behind the photo is taken from a method I also use in photography called Instax Window. This method is where I use a Fuji instant film camera to photograph a scene, remain in that spot while the film develops and then I’ll hold the instant photo up matching the lines with the real scene while photographing it with my DSLR. It creates some really neat images and I knew I had to try it with some filming location and what better one to do it with than with The Walking Dead.
Many have mentioned online that the spot I shot the photograph is not whats depicted in the original promo poster. Well a lot of whats in the original promo poster is not actually real since a lot of it was post production work and editing. The skyline portion and roadway is true so that’s why I decided to create this shot here. Below you can see the differences between the two.
For those that are also interested in seeing the location in person here is the spot located below. I parked north of the bridge about a block or two and walked to the overpass. The railing on the bridge is a bit on the low side so definitely mind yourself when looking through the viewfinder as not to find yourself amongst the traffic below.
I have a bunch more I shot from this trip of other Walking Dead location so I hope to get a gallery online very soon.
I LOVE THIS!
Still shoulda come to Seattle 
.
Super cool pix!
Awesome photo. I love Walking Dead.
That’s awesome!
Love this….great idea for future travels!
Loving it!
Haha. I know. My bad. Next time promise!
Test
testing… FB Comments plugin, that is:)
Abel, wash your chones.
Who says I’m wearing any?
Testing, and it works. And this picture is great!
Testies, testies… 1, 2, 3. Wait, wut?
Great picture! Although it’s Rick, not Carl…
The script on your nav bar has some old links in it.
Sick!
Language Room which is a band based out of Austin, Tx was in Houston for a show and we thought we’d knock out a few promo photos. Lets just say it was CRAZY HOT outside. ugh. I hadn’t shot any promo photos in awhile so I was really looking forward to getting back out there and making it happen. Every time I shoot I ALWAYS learn something new and this shoot was no exception.
Anyways I thought I would post a photo from our session and a setup shot so you can see what I used in order to capture the photo. Here is a final photo of the band completely processed in Lightroom 3.
Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 17-40 f/4L : 1/160th : f/8 : 100 ISO : 40mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : Strobe Fired
This is the setup shot of a different photo but I used the same basic lighting setup through out the shoot. I normally try to use an Elinchrom Octabox on my lighting kit but since we had 4 band members to cover I opted for a Westcott 60″ Convertible Umbrella which would help spread the light out bit more. Having a bit more spread made sure that I could light up all 4 guys when stood side by side. Plus remember, the larger (and closer) the light source is to your subject, the softer the shadows.
I’ve owned several inexpensive eBay light stands in the past and earlier this year I decided to purchase a much more stout Light Stand that also included a Boom Arm. I chose the Avenger A475B 7′ Boom Stand which is much more pricey than my previous light stands but its worth every penny. The Avenger stand is very well made and even has a built-in leveling leg which is nice when used on uneven ground and/or steps etc. I added the Manfrotto 026 Umbrella Swivel Mount to round out the stand and mount my light and umbrella too. I’ve used plastic mounts in the past and those are just made too cheap.
For this shoot I mainly placed the light directly in front of them, up high as shown angled down at the guys. This allowed me to get equal lighting on all 4 of the guys from left to right. This is really where the boom arm comes in handy since I don’t have to maneuver around a vertical light stand when shooting them head on. When shooting small groups of say 1 or 2 people for instance then I wouldn’t necessarily light them from head on, I’d place the lighting off to one side in order to get a little more dramatic feel in my lighting.
Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 17-40 f/4L : 1/160th : f/8 : 100 ISO : 17mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : Strobe Fired
The biggest piece of my lighting kit is the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra Light Kit. I have the one light, A Head kit which never fails to impress me anytime I use it. It’s so compact, so light weight, so easy to use I absolutely love it. In the past I’ve only used smaller speedlites for my on location lighting kit but this new Quadra puts out an amazing 400w/s which is plenty for my style.
The Quadra kit has a built-in Elinchrom Skyport receiver and it even comes with a Skyport Transmitter to use on camera but I’ve mainly stuck with my PocketWizard Plus II Transceivers since I’ve had some initial concerns about the Skyport’s reliability. I can say that the last time I used my lighting kit I used the Elinchrom Skyport transmitter setup and it worked flawlessly. I still don’t see myself selling my PocketWizards off anytime soon just in case. Ha!
Anyways… I hope this post was a nice little peek into how I shoot promos and what equipment I use.
Great shots of a good band. Hopefully I will get to see them soon.
Back in October (ironically) I was asked by if I had any group shots of Blue October performing on stage that could be used for a magazine ad in a few different guitar magazines. I went through the catalog of thousands of images I have and submitted about 10 photos that I thought would be print worthy. A couple of days later I was told that they had chosen one of the photos to be used in a nationwide ad campaign to help promote their product. Sweet!
The photo they chose was one that I had take on April 29, 2011 at Moody Theater in Austin, TX. It was an amazing venue with great lighting and Drew, Blue’s lighting engineer did a GREAT job in giving me plenty to work with. The show itself was a blast and I came away with a ton of great images but the only disappointment I have in this shot is that I couldn’t get guitarist Julian Mandrake in this shot as well. Being in the photo pit, up close an personal I couldn’t get a wide enough angle to capture all 5 of the guys in the shot. Even with a full frame camera I would have needed something wider than a 24mm lens and I didn’t have my 17-40 f/4L with me on this trip. Any concert photographer is well aware of the challenges in getting a full band shot of ALL of the members on stage at once… and having ALL of the members looking cool at the same time. It is tough. HA!
Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L : 1/160th : f/2.8 : 2500 ISO : 24mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash
I am always the “I’ll believe it when I see it” kinda guy and this past week I now believe. The photo is currently in the January 2012 issue of Premier Guitar as shown below in the snazzy iPhone photo. lol. I picked it up at my local Barnes & Noble Bookstore and I’m also told the ad is being used in a couple of other magazines as well but I haven’t taken the time to check them out yet.
Apple iPhone 4s : 1/20th : f/2.4 : 80 ISO : 4.28 : Auto Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash
Anyways… I thought I would share this story since I think it’s very cool to see my work and of course my name in print. =)
Congrats Abel – what an accomplishment
Thanks a ton Rosemary… I really appreciate it.
Congrats Abel………..you ROCK!
‘Bout time you got the recognition your talent deserves. Congratulations – indeed, very cool!
by Abel Longoria