Lisa Mize Photography

This is the Baker Beach Viewpoint, just north of the town of Florence, on the Oregon Coast. It was a perfect moment of haze, active waves and just a wonderful soft light. Have you stopped here for the view?

My phone was blowing up all afternoon and evening, telling me of a possible aurora borealis! Sure enough, I went out when it got dark enough and used my cell phone to take a photo...purple skies! It was still too light, so went back in the boat and went back out later to do the same, but then quickly grabbed my camera! It is surely not the best aurora we have ever seen because of the clouds AND the moon rising (on the right side of the images), but seeing ANY part of the aurora brings me joy! Yes, these are long exposures. Yes, these are edited. Yes, I was on a floating dock (if you see any movement). Yes, I love all of the colors!!! I just wanted to share my experience...
Taken from Shilshole Bay Marina in My Ballard, Seattle.

New on the blog! 🎆📷

With the Fourth of July coming up, I put together
my complete guide to photographing fireworks! Including your settings, smoke management, composition, and a full safety section, because that part matters just as much as the camera settings do!

Fireworks are actually one of the more forgiving subjects in
photography once you understand a few things: why a long
exposure matters, why autofocus will fight you in the dark,
and why the wind direction you choose before the show even
starts will make or break your shots once the smoke builds up.

I also added a full section just for phone photographers
because most people at a fireworks show aren't carrying a
DSLR, and you genuinely don't need one to come home with
images you love!

Whether you're shooting with a full camera setup or just your
phone, this one's for you. Link in the comments!

Have you ever tried photographing fireworks before? How'd it
go? Any disaster stories? I'd love to hear them. 😄

Continue down the Oregon Coast with me! I finally went to Smelt Sands! What a gorgeous beach! It was about 9:30am and the sun was up. I wanted to do some really long exposures so on went the circular polarizer and I believe it was my ND6 (6 Stop Neutral Density Filter)! I was able to do 20 second exposures for most of these. I just love this look. I love when it looks ghostly!
It is such a different feeling than the actual loud crashing waves of the ocean! So fun to be able to create an image that is the absolute opposite of what it was like at that moment, just by changing the shutter speed of the camera!
Do you prefer this or the fast crashing waves? (September 2025) Oregon State Parks

Milky Way images from my campsite at the Tillicum Beach Campground on the Oregon Coast! The light over the hill, I believe is from San Marine and/or Yachats. Always worth getting up in the middle of the night to take these images! September 2025