Aaron Riveroll | Photographer

For someone who doesn’t like change, I sure do like changing things up a lot. I can remember when I was younger, I used to redecorate my bedroom every few weeks…I would move the furniture around, move stuff around on my shelves and my walls…a complete transformation. I don’t embrace change, but I do like trying new things out.

A few weeks ago, I was shooting with my homie, Monica Renée. About halfway through the shoot, I started to get bored. I say that in a good way, of course… Monica is amazing to work with and I knew we were getting awesome shots… it’s just that I felt like trying something new. I was inspired.

Most the time, when I shoot on the beach, I use a combination of artificial light and natural light. I use the natural light as a secondary light source, positioning it as a rim light. I use my strobe as the main, or “key” light, positioning that in front of the model. However, those of you who shoot with natural light know about the “golden hour” and how the sun is in a sweet spot around that time. The light is soft and warm…but, it’s also low enough to the horizon to act as a main light source and not create any funky shadows.

On this particular day, I flipped Monica around, shooting towards the shore and away from the water, using the sun as the key light. To add a little “something special” to the shot, I added a little artificial rim light. I placed my strobe directly behind and to the left of Monica; the strobe was modified with a diffused beauty dish. To add a little bit of “warmth”, to the strobe I added a yellow gel directly to the middle of the beauty dish. The effect was subtle…but I think we got some pretty awesome shots. Here’s the diagram:

And here are some shots of surfer girl, Monica, using this lighting setup…

I always encourage people to try and see things a different way and to not be afraid to try new things. And when I say “people,” that includes me as well. :)

So, I’m totally surprised that I never shared photos from my photo shoot with Sophie.

Sophie is a Hooters girl from Hooters of Mission Valley… And we got the chance to shoot last May at the beach. Seriously, I totally lag!

She has a real girl next door look about her… Not to mention, she’s a total sweetheart! The weather was a little gray and cloudy, which is typical for here in San Diego, but we got some awesome shots regardless. Hope you enjoy!

Last November, my friend Reuben was heading to Vegas for a weekend business trip…and when he found out he would be staying in a pretty sweet suite, he invited me to come out as well and shoot.

First, let me just say that I haven’t had the best luck with Vegas over the years…it seems that every time I plan on going out, I get sick. And not just mildly not feeling well, but really really sick. But, I came out anyway since I thought it would be fun…and it was, despite the fact that I was feeling under the weather.

Any who…so I hooked up with Terah, a local model from Vegas…and she came out for an evening shoot in the suite. She was a blast to work with…and even though the shoot wore me out, we got some amazing shots. Here are a few…

It’s officially spring…and that means spring cleaning.

I always get myself into trouble because when I do actually get into these spring cleaning moods, I start finding old pictures, CDs, letters, and a bunch of other stuff and before you know it I’m doing a little more reminiscing and a lot less cleaning. It’s not a rare sight to see me reading old letters while sitting in the middle of a pile of crap. :)

Well, I was over at Ennis’s place today and he came across some old behind the scenes footage we had shot while shooting our homie Candace…almost TWO years ago! It was the first time we had shot with Candace…and we got some pretty sexy sunset shots together (click here to see the shots).

But I threw this video together from the footage we found…hope you like. :)

Photo shoot with Candace from Aaron Riveroll on Vimeo.

Wow, so I don’t think I EVER shared the kick-ass pictures I shot with Angelica last summer-ish. And that, my friends, is a travesty…because they are effing amazing. :)

So Angelica came down to LA for a spell last year for some gogo-ing and such…and she hit me up for a shoot. We ended up shooting on a very HOT afternoon in Laguna Beach. But let me tell you, the conditions could not have been more perfect.

We played around with some cool outfit sets she brought…did a little natural light stuff as well as some with the strobe. most of these shots were taken with one light or just the sun…but the last few actually used two lights; one key light and another unmodified strobe just to the right of the model (left of me). I’ll have to share more shots later…but these were taken towards the end of our shoot.

I was starting to get a little burned out with beach shoots and I was excited about how this shoot turned out. I got to play around with different techniques as well as adding different/more lights to the mix. I really dug the results…especially since I know you gotta change things up sometimes to keep things interesting. :)

We finished off with some killer sunset shots…the sky was off the hook that day. Several people, including one lady who lived in the area, were down there as well – right next to me, as a matter of fact – taking pictures of the sky one way or another.

But these are definitely some of my favorite and sexiest beach shots I have done…everything worked out great…I hope you enjoy.

Check out Angelica on Twitter too. :)

So if you know me, you know that sunset is my favorite time of day. And nothing beats spending those few moments taking in a gorgeous sky and taking pictures of a gorgeous girl in front of it. But for as long as I have been doing this, I’ve learned there are definitely tricks to getting it done right. I’ve seen my share of good and bad…and also taken my share of good and bad. It’s half art and half science.

I’ve been meaning to do a post or a podcast or a video or SOMETHING so I can share with all of you how I get it done…but I just haven’t had the time or the motivation. Someday, though…

In the meantime, I did stumble on a great post over at Todd Mizomi’s blog about this very subject…and let me just say, he gets the job done. First of all, I do have to give him crap for living in one of the most picture perfect places on earth…seriously, Hawaiian sunsets are amazing. And you mix that with a beautiful model and a photographer who knows how to light it just right and you get some amazing photos.

Check out his blog and his post that shares 6 tips to getting sunset shots done right.

• Mizomi Photography | 6 steps to shooting at sunset

I had the opportunity to shoot with Monique Myriah quite a few years ago when I was still sort of new at model photography. We actually shot on the first day of the wildfires out here in San Diego…I remember this because as we were shooting out in La Jolla, we noticed that the sky was a lot more orange than usual. We got some great images that day, especially considering I didn’t know what I was doing and the sky was on fire… as well as most of San Diego county.

Okay, so I exaggerate.. I only sort of sucked. . :) But armed with just a camera and a reflector, we got some pretty hot shots that day.

A few years go by and we run into each other at a bikini contest, so we decided to get together and shoot again.

We originally planned on doing some beach stuff., but because the weather was sort of iffy, we decided to do some studio stuff…and it gave me a chance to try out some new techniques as well as use some new materials that will make studio shots a little bit better (more on that in another post…). But it was fun to shoot with Monique…even more fun to hangout and grab In and Out after the shoot. :)

Stay tuned for more pics coming soon…we’ve got some great ideas, we just need some good weather. :)

Here are the shots…

Okay, the title is a bit of an inside joke…

While we were doing this shoot, a drunk dude walked by the club and asked for a beer. Unfortunately, the club was closed so because he wasn’t able to get his beer, the dude told us to continue our shoot and that we were “so Hollywood.” Whatever that means. :)

Apparently Ally and I were just too damn Hollywood for him. Too much sexiness does that to you.

So, it had been about a year or so since I had the chance to shoot with Ally. Last year we had a fun beach shoot…so when she hit me up a few weeks ago for a shoot at Bar West, uh, hello…of course I was down.

We ended up shooting some super sexy swimsuits and some foxy fashion/casual stuff too for some submissions she has coming up. All in all, we got some killer shots…

Hopefully it won’t be another year before you see some pictures from us again.

In the meantime, enjoy these.

Photographers, we all have our dream photo shoots…models that we dream of photographing…people that would be amazing in front of our cameras. Ever since I picked up a camera and started shooting glamour and fashion, I’ve wanted to shoot with Jessica Burciaga. Call it a bucket list item, a dream photo shoot…whatever.

So needless to say, when Playboy’s Miss February 2009 called me up a couple months ago and said she wanted to shoot with me, I nearly passed out.

Okay, so I’m exaggerating a little bit. :) But seriously, I can now die a happy man.

Jessie and I met up in La Jolla on a gorgeous January afternoon…just days before my birthday. We wanted to do something a little more fashion-related…not just your typical glamour at the beach stuff. So, we set out to do just that. Her first look, which was a super cute teal Chynna Dolls crochet bikini, fit perfectly with the scene. I blew out the background a little and did my typical faded fashion look in post for a 70′s SoCal feel. Sorta dreamy, but totally sexy.

Second look was a red crochet one-piece that we set in front of the gorgeous sunset. It really set fire to the beach.

Our last look, as it was getting colder, was a simple pair of jeans. And no one wears them better.

All in all, it was an amazing shoot. Not only is she totally beautiful, she’s super sweet too. Thanks, Jess, for an amazing shoot!

My homie, Ennis Rios, was on location as well capturing a little video…so hopefully I will have that up soon to share as well.

Check out the pics here and on a post over at TheSmokingJacket.com.

And follow her on Twitter too. :)

It’s rare when I can go out on a shoot with JUST a camera and have it be so laid back that it becomes a “two friends hanging out” session rather than a photo shoot. Occasionally, we’ll take a picture here and there…but it’s an effortless sort of deal. In the end, we have some pretty awesome pictures…but we mostly just had fun hanging out.

Last week, I had a shoot just like this with my beautiful friend, Camille.

We spent the afternoon at Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach, shared the sunset, and took some pretty pictures. With nothing more than a camera and no lighting equipment whatsoever, she lit up every single frame on her own.

It’s can be a challenge sometimes to use “natural light,” and to use it CORRECTLY…but it’s a challenge that all photographers should do now and then, even if they have all the lighting equipment in the world. Don’t get me wrong; I LOVE shooting high end glamour with strobes and gorgeous models. Knowing how to use lighting correctly is a challenge in itself…but I will always say there is something about taking a picture and being able to capture a great image with nothing more than a good eye and your camera. That’s where it starts.

It also helps when the person you are shooting is just so naturally beautiful. These shots I got with Camille are probably some of my favorite images ever. I hope you enjoy them too.