Day 180 - The Driver

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ISO 200 f/13 1.6s 1 SB-26 @ 20mm 1/4th power behind steering wheel and 1 SB-26 @ 20mm 1/2 power inside of open glove box triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs.

View On Black


I had the idea for this shot months before every owning an ultrawide angle lens. Months ago I had planned to do a similar shot using my 18-105mm kit lens at 18mm with me sitting on the car photographing the driver. I never could set the shot up with someone, so I decided to make it a a self-portarit.

setup shot


until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 179 - The Bike Rig

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ISO 200 f/16 1/1000s 1 SB-26 subject right mounted on the handle bars @ 18mm 1/4th power, and camera mounted on the bicycle down tube. All synced with Pocket Wizard Plus IIs.



Late post this. I stayed out later last night than I expected. I was not quite sure about the results of this shot at first, but now I really like it. I know it's really weird because of the extremely wide angle, but bicycles are a huge part of who I am; and my 366 project would not be complete without them.

setup shot


results from 1st attempt using spring clamps that couldn't support the additional weight of the radio trigger


Until later tonight,
enjoy

Day 178 - Rim Light

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ISO 200 f/2.8 1/30s 1 SB-26 @ 85mm 1/64th power bare behind me (It's the big white ball below my left ear). Triggered with Pocket Wizard Plus IIs.

View On Black


Started off the night with another multiple exposure shot that I trashed. The shot that didn't make it was of me looking into a mirror before my hair cut and another an hour later after cutting my hair looking into the camera. I then layered the shot so both images of my face would be looking into the camera. It didn't turn out well, and I think my bathroom is too small to pull off that kind of shot.

After caning the first shot I drove to a local outdoor shopping center to shoot, but I was then kicked out 20 seconds after setting up my tripod.

After being escorted out of the shopping center, I then went to Big Spring Park to take this shot. It is actually a composite of two exposures. The first was with my flash firing, and for the second; I locked the focus and turned off the flash. I then blended the two layers in photoshop after I had imported them into Lightroom. I then made several adjustments in Lighroom of the composite. Once all of those tweaks where made, I then exported the image back to Photoshop to add in Scan lines, only to import back into lightroom a 3rd time to add a grain effect.

Flash


Ambient


until tomorrow,
enjoy

Happy Hour

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 ISO 200 f/16 1/1000s. 1 SB-26 fired at poster board behind subject @ 35mm 1/4th power and 1 SB-26 @ 20mm 1/4th power in mini-softbox to fill in foam.

  Larger on White as it should be viewed

It has been far to Hot in Alabama to shoot outside for long. I hope you enjoy this shot, and I promise I'll have more to say tomorrow.

setup here


until next time,
enjoy

Day 176 - Don't Play with Fire

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ISO 200 f/10 1/25s

1 SB-26 @ 35mm 1/1 power with a CTO Gel (to match the color temperature of the flames) in a partially collapsed umbrella triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs
View On Black

setup here

Day 175 - After Glow

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1 SB-26 on each side of the glow in the dark ball @ 85mm full power triggered with Pocket Wizard Plus IIs and a Sekonic 758-DR.

View On Black


To start lets see what this shot looks like with all light turned on in aperture priority.

ISO 100 f/22 1/2s (pretty boring image)


Let's cut the lights off and add a stop to the shutter.


Not enough light! You can see a faint glow, but not what we want.

Now for the inspiration behind this shot. Years ago, film cameras had flash sync ports with the settings "M" and "X". M for Flash Bulbs, and X for electronic flash. So what's the deal, and why should you care. Before electronic flash, people used flash bulbs for extra light in a shot. The problem was that flash bulbs took awhile to reach maximum brightness; therefore the M setting would trigger the flash bulb just before the shutter opened, and the X setting would fire the flash the moment the shutter was fully opened because electronic flash duration reached it's maximum power much quicker than flash bulbs. Years ago I read of a hack where film photographers would use the flash bulb setting to fire electronic flashes to light phosphorescences before the shutter opened, and flash itself would not appear in the final exposure. I found this exciting, but I was never willing to risk the 120 film to try it.

Now for the process of how I did this.

setup shot first.

I have a special trigger cable that allows me to trigger my camera using my Pocket Wizard Radio transceiver. In this case, I used my Sekonic flash meter with built in transmitter because I only own 2 Pocket Wizards. Setting everything to channel 1, I press the test button on my meter. This will fire the camera and flash simultaneously, the problem is the flash is so fast that the exposure is over before the shutter ever opens. Pocket Wizard worked around this by having the camera trigger receive the input on channel 1 and then transmit on channel 2 allowing the camera to trigger all flashes on channel 2 allowing everything to sync properly. In my case I left everything on channel 1. The flashes fired charing the ball, and then the shutter opened when the glow in the dark ball was at its maximum brightness.

What I did, was basically simulate the "M" mode used for flash bulbs to allow me to do phosphorescent photography with a digital camera. The most interesting part is, I came up with my exposure settings out of nowhere; and I was right on 1st shot with no adjustments to ISO, aperture, or shutter speed.

Just for fun! Let's set my flash trigger to channel 2 as intended.


what a mess!

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 174 - Kodachrome 64

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Insert Paul Simon Lyrics here

ISO 100 f/22 1/200s. 1 SB-800 @ 105 mm 1/128th power for rim triggered with Pocket wizard plus II, and 1 SB-26 @ 18mm 1/8th power with mini soft box camera left for key.

I prefer it on black


Setup here


and from the top


This photo is a possible entry for the North Alabama Photographers Guild monthly photo contest. The theme is "OLD". I Don't know if Kodachrome would be considered old, but since you can no longer process K-14 film; I think it's old enough. Not exactly sure what to do about this film, I have herd you can cross process it with C-41 and skip the bleach step, but I have not found a lab yet willing to do so.

I shot this image on a my mirror table but chose to mask out the reflections because the reflected letters looked funky. I really enjoy shooting on a reflective surface and I think I am going to purchase a black sheet of acrylic specifically for this purpose.

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 173 - Rose of Sharon

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View On Black


Seup Here


So I thought I was done shooting flowers too, but I had a busy afternoon and the 95 degree day pushed my dog walk to 10 p.m. I had planed a still life shot, but found this Rose of Sharon Bloom on the side of the road. The setup above is how I take 90 percent of my flower shots.

I usually strap a smaller flash light to the flash head when working after dark, but tonight I used this light which is pointing at the ground in the setup. Simply aim the light at the flower, focus, recompose flash and shoot. Tomorrow I promise to offer you something more than another flower shot.

until then,
enjoy

Day 172 - What's Pink, White and Blue?

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ISO 200 f/2.8 1/200s 1 SB-26 on a Nikon AS-19 (plastic foot) stand camera right 3 feet from subject triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs.



Tonight is thursday, which means I go out and ride bikes and drink beers. I knew this shot was going to be weird the moment I came up with idea on my bike ride home. I have been eye balling this pink door near my house for almost a year waiting to use it for a shot. This was another one of those super wide shots that created huge shadow from my lens hood; my solution was to take the hood off and then push the camera as close to the subject as possible and maintain an exceptable level of focus. I really love to push boundaries and I was well beyond the 10 inch minimum focus distance.

Tonights bike ride included a crash, a found wallet with a large undisclosed amount of cash (it was later given to a police officer), and our group being chased by an overly friendly German Shepard named "Husky"; still not sure about the name choice on that one. I hope you enjoy this shot and take a look at the setup.

setup here


until tomorrow,
enjoy

Downtown Huntsville in HDR

1st attempt in a long time at HDR. I have never been good at HDR tone mapping and I am certainly no Landscape photographer.



As always comments criticism and suggestions welcome.

Day 171 - Bike Polo

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ISO 100 f/2.8 1/200s 1 SB-80 @24mm 1/4th power into a collapsed umbrella camera left 24 inches from subject triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs

View On Black


Tonights shot is a photo I took to make a flyer to revive our local bicycle polo game/scene.

setup here


Until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 170 - Wide Open

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ISO 100 f/1.4 1/50s 1 SB-26 behind camera right fired at large truck triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs.

Better on Black


Setup here


I thought I would take the 50mm out tonight. I change my shooting location idea at the last moment, and I found this truck in a parking lot to bounce my flash off of. I am hoping to start shooting people for my photos, but I have yet to get any volunteers.

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 169 - Vans

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ISO 200 f/22 1/200s 1 SB-800 @ 17mm 1/4th power with mini-soft box camera left 6 inches with white foam core camera right for fill triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs.

View On Black


Recently replaced my old worn out shoes and thought I should take a picture of my new shoes before they got too dirty. It is almost midnight now, so I will present you with my setup shots and call it a night.

Here is a shot form the front @ 1/200s (sync speed)


from the back


In both shoot the light where on in my garage, but they don't contribute to my final exposure.

Here is the front again @ 0.8s exposure


and from the back @ 2s exposure


It is amazing to me how much control you have over ambient light with adjustments to shutter speed.

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 168 - Receiving

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ISO 200 f/2.8 1/200s 1 SB-26 @ 50mm 1/8th power shoot through umbrella camera right lighting Ginger, and 1 SB-26 very far camera left bare @ 70mm 1/4th power feathered towards the wall.

View On Black


The flowers are drying up and it's time to move on. Ginger and I went out tonight to explore the city streets to find shooting locations in the dark alleys of downtown Huntsville. It was nice shooting in downtown on a Sunday night, I didn't see another car or person the entire time we were shooting. It haven't posted any dog photos recently, and I really wanted to shoot with my Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens tonight. I first tried this shot with my D70s because it already had the lens mounted, but it didn't focus as well in low light as my D90. Looking at this shot now, I wish I had underexposed the wall by one stop. I metered everything @ f/2.8; and even thought the exposure is correct, this image is not contrasty enough for my taste. Yes I could have brought the exposure down in Lightroom or Photoshop, but I am trying to avoid post production by getting my light spot on in camera.

Finally here is the setup


The setup is from a different angle to get both lights in the frame, Ginger was cooperative enough to maintain her location while I took the setup shot.
until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 167 - Old School

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View On Black


ISO 100 f/9 1/8s 1 SB-26 @50mm full power shoot through umbrella camera left and 1 SB-26 @ 50mm full power into a reflective umbrella a camera right triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs.

This months North Alabama Photographer's Guild photo contest theme is "OLD." I thought I would shoot my Schwinn Hollywood for the photo contest. This bike dates back to the early 60s or late 50s. I am not sure the exact age of this bike, but it has a bike registration sticker from 1964. Tonight I decided to slow the shutter speed down from my sync speed and let a little ambient light in. I tried to spot meter the building @ 105mm with my Nikon Kit lens, but the camera seemed confused about the situation; I pulled 1/8th of a second out of my head and liked what I got.

Here is what the shot would look like with ambient only.


Add in my lights and we get.


I hope you enjoy this photo as much as I enjoyed taking it. until tomorrow,
keep on shooting

Day 166 - Short on Ideas

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ISO 100 f/45 1/200s 1 SB-800 camera left set to TTL triggered with Nikon CLS



Wasn't feeling creative today and I am late to post this. I will hopefully come up with a show stopper tonight.

Day 164 - Bare Knuckle

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I got my Bare Knuckle up and running again after 1 year of being in parts. I will hopefully have a matching rear wheel soon. I really wanted to do a 3 light setup tonight, and here is tonights process.

I started with 1 SB-26 @ 50mm full power into a reflective umbrella camera right triggered with a pocket wizard plus II.


Looking good! Now a little fill from the left with 1 SB-800 @ 50mm 1/4th power with a shoot through umbrella.


I am starting to like this shot! I have pretty even light from left to right across the bike, but the shot was looking a little soft and needed a punch. I then added in 1 more SB-26 @ 85 mm full power down the hill from the bike to get a nice clean hard shadow. The soft light from my umbrella gave enough fill to not had a mug shoot hard black shadow on the wall.


The third flash is in the very left of the frame. I used only one pair of radio triggers for this setup on the 1st light. The other 2 flashes were triggered with the built-in optical slaves. I am really impressed that my 3rd light fired from this distance.

And here is the final image

ISO 200 f/5 1/200s


until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 163 - Gone to Seed

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ISO 100 f/32 1/160s 1 SB-800 Camera Left 2 inches from subject @ 105mm set TTL triggered with Nikon CLS.

View On Black


One day of rain and the grasses in my flower beds are out of control again. I can't understand how I have so much trouble competing with grass when other people spend hundreds of dollars a year to maintain golf course green lawns. All I really want is a grass free yard with nice flowers and vegetables.

Nikon CLS performed better tonight than I expected. Sometimes I am impressed with how well it works, but always frustrated when it does not. It is a good thing I shoot full manual flash everyday for those days it doesn't work

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 162 - Reflection

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ISO 200 f/10 1/200s 1 SB-800 @ 24mm 1/32nd power camera left and above subject with mini-softbox on flash, triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs.

View On Black


I wanted to try this for some time. I knew from logic and my understanding of light; that I would get these results without much headache, but it is still hard to wrap you head around the fact I can shot objects on a mirror and not see all the other things in the room. I included a setup shot to show exactly how I did this. If you try this the one thing to keep in my mind, without going into the family-of-angles, frame your shot so that you don't see any of the ambients lights in the room. Also, don't forget to spend a little time cleaning anytime you shoot glass. I hope you enjoy this photo and check out my very simple setup.

setup here shot at ISO 200 f/10 1/6s to let the ambient light from the room in.


until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 161 - On White

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ISO 100 f/32 1/200s 1 SB-800 @ 24mm 1/32nd power inside a mini-softbox behind subject 1 bare SB-26 @ 85mm 1/64th power camera left, and for the setup shot I used an additional SB-26 handheld @ 70mm 1/4th power to light the equipment.



Picked up this mini-softbox at the the other day, and thought I would try a flower photo on white. I am not sure if I picked the best subject, and I can't decide if the bare flash illuminating the front side of the flower is overexposed. I would love some feedback on this shot. Should I try more shots on white? If not, I'll stick with shooting on black.

setup shot


until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 160 - Purple and Gold

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ISO 160 f/32 1/250s (I screwed up and changed the shutter speed cutting off the bottom of the frame) 1 SB-26 @ 85mm 1/32 camera left 6 inches trigger with pocket wizard plus IIs

View On Black


setup shot