Matt McGuire Photography

Canon EF 70-200mm F2.8 L IS II USM lens

Matt McGuire — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:04:31 +0000

I finally purchased the Canon EF 70-200mm F2.8 L IS II USM lens!! I have been saving for this lens for a while now and was able to finally pull the trigger. I have only had time to shoot a handful of photos with this lens, but I am loving it so far. The clarity of the lens is awesome and you really appreciate the 2.8 aperture in lower light situations.

Here are a couple of photos I have taken with this lens. I will post more soon.

Folsom Vista Freshman Football Photos

Matt McGuire — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:46:57 +0000

This year I will be capturing photo at all of the Folsom Vista High school Freshman football games. I am working on getting a sideline pass now so hopefully I can get some really good shots of the team.

All photos will be uploaded here and they will be organizes into one gallery for each game. I have already started taking some pre-season shots which are found in this gallery.

All of the photos are for sale, look for the buy button above each photo. If you want more photos taken of your son or daughter let me know. I am also available for JV and Varsity games. Send me an email at matt@mattmcguire.com and we can talk about the details.

Covering Diabetes Advocacy Day at the Capital

Matt McGuire — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 01:03:01 +0000

I will be out covering the Diabetes Advocacy Day at the capital on April 19th. Come out to join me. The event is designed to encourage lawmakers to pass AB 1802, the California bill that would permit voluntary non-medical school personnel to be trained to administer insulin. The bill will be voted on April 20th by the Assembly Business & Professions Committee.

The group Diabetes in CA Schools is heading up the rally.

from the group’s website:

. . . several nursing groups have fought hard to defend their position that only a licensed nursing professional may administer insulin. These nursing groups assert that administering insulin requires “a substantial amount of scientific knowledge and technical skill”. Yet, diabetes medical professionals have testified before lawmakers that the very foundation of modern diabetes care is training non-licensed people to safely administer insulin – parents, grandparents, babysitters, teachers, friends, siblings, and even the children themselves who courageously live with diabetes. The nursing groups have exerted a great deal of energy toward discrediting this expert testimony. One can’t help but wonder…by the nursing groups’ own definition, who could be “other school personnel”?

I will be out there photographing the event so if you see me say hi or at least smile for the camera.

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Save $5 on a SmugMug.com Account

Matt McGuire — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:28:16 +0000

I am using SmugMug.com to host all of my photos. I have a personal account as well as a professional account. SmugMug is awesome. There are tons of features and depending on what you need they have accounts ranging from a standard account for $39.95/year up to a professional account for $149.95/year.

Even if you are not a pro, I highly recommend SumgMug. Your photos are safe. They are stored in several different location across the US. They allow you unlimited storage and unlimited bandwidth. They have several tools that make it easy to share photos on social networking site or via email. SmugMug customer service is second to none.

Now the best part, use my email address and they will take $5 off your first year’s fee. When signing up just the email address matt@mattmcguire.com and they will apply the discount.

Need a Sacramento Photographer?

Matt McGuire — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 00:19:40 +0000

Do you need a Sacramento area Photographer? Send me an email at matt@mattmcguire.com to talk about your needs. My busiest sports season is coming up so my time slots fill up quickly.

Also remember I do almost any type of event photography not just sports so let me know what you have planned and I will make sure your event is covered. I cover Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, Yolo, and Amador Counties. Most destinations are covered without a trip charge.

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Daffodil Hill

Matt McGuire — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:20:12 +0000

We recently headed up to Daffodil Hill with the family. Daffodil Hill is about an hour outside of Sacramento. It was a nice trip to take with the family and an opportunity to take some great photos. Check out the photos of Daffodil Hill.

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The NEW EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens Pricing

Matt McGuire — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:13:04 +0000

I so want the new EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens. I have been watching for pricing since it was announced. Today I was googling for it and I see both Amazon and B&H Photo have it listed. Both sites show it for $2,499.00, ouch. The current version of the lens is $1,799.00. Can I justify the price difference? $700 is a lot of money.

I hear that when it’s finally released in April the price will be lower. I have heard anywhere between $1,900 to $2,100. That better, but is still worth the difference? For me it probably is worth it. I have been saving for a while for this lens, what’s a little longer. Also I don’t upgrade often so this focal length will need to be satisfied by a single purchase for the foreseeable future. I might as well get the biggest bang for my dollar.

My hope is to purchase a bigger backpack, a couple of filters, and a Canon EF 1.4x II Extender at the same time I buy the lens. With all of the we are probably talking about spending $2,500 at one time.

Indoor Sports Photography

Matt McGuire — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:33:44 +0000

Indoor sport photography is tough arena to master. I was at an indoor soccer game yesterday taking pictures for a local team. I decided to experiment with different lenses. While there were quite a few differences between lenses my main desire was to test each lenses difference in aperture.

Aperture is sometimes called Fstop or depth of field (DOF). Aperture is basically how wide open your shutter will go. I have lenses from 1.8 to 5.6. It was very interesting to see the differences. With my 1.8 lens I could have the sutter speed pretty fast. As soon as I put on my 3.5 lens everything was black. I had to slow down the shutter speed a lot to even get somewhat light picture.

I am still saving for the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS, which will make a great indoor (and outdoor) sport lens. If you are going for indoor sports shot don’t plan on using a lens with a smaller aperture than 2.8. Anything larger and your photos will be blurry or very dark.

Site upgraded

Matt McGuire — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:19:27 +0000

I just upgraded WordPress to 2.9.2. Let me know if you see any issues. Related posts:Site Update – New Theme Related posts:

Site Update – New Theme

Examples of great night photography

Matt McGuire — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:50:26 +0000

Each type of photography present it’s own advantages and it’s own challenges. Night photography is no different. For sports photography I am almost always enjoy the full sunlight. Low light is challenging and there is really is not advantage to the low light levels.

Most other photography I really like the lower light situations. They can still be a challenge to get a crisp shot, but the tones are generally more pleasing. Night photography can produce some very cool photos.

Here are some great photos taken by others at night.