Reggie Ballesteros Photography

02/16/2026

How do I document my family without drawing attention to me or the camera or distracting from the moment?

I don’t. As a father and husband, my goal is to be present, engaged, and actively participating in the moment. So in actuality, the photos of my family are not 100% camera unaware.

To authentically document the moment, my presence (with camera in-hand) needs to be acknowledged in this process. It is no secret to my kids that “daddy has his camera and is taking pictures of me”. I’d rather have them think that, then think I’m a fly on the wall documenting - someone who isn’t involved in their life or the moment.

I involve my family in the process by explaining to them why I take photos, the important of preserving memories, and always giving them the option to tell me they don’t want to be photographed.

This opens up the possibilities for shared experiences and bonding. I can remain engaged in conversation and shared excitement, my kids can provide direction on what they want to be documented or how they want to appear in front of the camera, and the entire act becomes a memory itself beyond just the photographs. My kids love looking at old photos and telling me what happened in them or asking me more about them if they don’t remember.

My camera facilitates the connection between me and my family rather than acts as a barrier that separates me as a watchful, inactive, bystander.

I’m the husband, dad, uncle, cousin with the camera and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

01/18/2026

I’ve always dreamed of owning a Leica M.

What started as a 19-year-old Filipino kid from the 707 taking a film photo class to hang out with his gf during the summer… turned into a 16 year rollercoaster of journey with photography.

Ngl, I’ve contemplated quitting photography hundreds of times, but I kept going.

Gear isn’t the end goal. But taking a moment to celebrate how far I’ve come and everything that’s had to happen to get to this point 💜

HCB would be proud 🐕

01/12/2026

The photo critique video is up on YouTube! Link is in my bio

Special thanks to for helping me host this photo critique 🙏🏽

Do you want to do more photo critiques? Let me know in the comments 👇🏽

01/10/2026

Manual mode is not the only way - why introduce more friction if you don’t want it.

Here’s my process:

1. Set camera to Aperture priority
2. Set auto ISO with minimum shutter speed of 1/160s for people, 1/60s for still life, and 1/15s for intentional motion blur.
3. Select aperture for desired depth (I typically shoot between f/2.8 to f/5.6 unless I’m trying to get shallow depth of field)
4. Meter the scene and lock AE (autoexposure) - I usually use the standard metering mode (matrix, multi, evaluative, etc.) and sometimes I use highlight weighted metering for high contrast scenes.
5. Adjust exposure compensation to my vision for the scene:
(-) negative exp comp for dark & moody
(+) positive exp comp for a lighter feel

6. Then take the photo 📷
7. You can change compositions and keep the same exposure since the autoexposure is locked

Don’t forget to unlock autoexposure lock when moving to the next scene.

01/06/2026

How to fix the storing “issue” delay on Fuji cameras 👇🏽

If you’re new to Fuji cameras and are using film simulation recipes, you’ve likely encountered this “storing” lag when you take a photo.

This happens because most film simulation recipes use a negative clarity adjustment to give a softer film-like look to your jpegs. What people don’t realize is that this clarity effect is added to the image in-camera after capture, hence the slight delay.

This isn’t an issue, but just a trade-off due to the image processing pipeline latency of Fujifilm’s clarity algorithm (that’s just a fancy way of saying, the clarity adjustment takes time for your camera’s computer to apply after the fact).

When I photographed weddings, this slight lag hindered my ability to document moments quickly, so I set the clarity adjustment to zero. And to add back that soft film look, I use diffusion filters instead.

Another workaround I’ve heard from others is to set your camera to continuous shooting mode, and in these modes, the camera does not show you a preview, so the clarity adjustment is added after you stop shooting a burst.

Have you experienced this “issue”?

11/13/2025

® x CAMEROPE CHUB Strap in UBE. Out now 😮‍💨

Head to my link in bio to pick one up 💜

07/08/2019

We stumbled upon some awesome golden hour light yesterday. So good! Congrats to Tiffany and Wilson!

07/02/2019

Haven't posted here in a while, but these teasers from Amber and Josh's day need to be shared.

04/17/2019

I usually try to keep blog posts short and sweet, but Lynn and Daniel's engagement session just had so much to showcase!

Last month, Lynn and Daniel invited me to their home in the Palo Alto Foothills for their engagement session. Before I even got to their front door, I was greeted by their energetic pup, Koda. And as I stepped inside their home, I met Lynn and Daniel's other fur baby, their cat Baloo.After some quic

02/25/2019

Trang and Jacob and their sunset engagement session are on the blog!

The average person goes to Disneyland maybe a few times in their lifetime. But if your family is like mine, then you plan your entire year around the multiple Disneyland trips you’ll be making. Trang and Jacob are those kinds of people too.