Day 212 - Spiders

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View On Black


Strobist info:

Top spider
1 SB-26 @24mm 1/32nd power camera left and below.

Bottom spider
1 SB-26 @ 85mm 1/32nd power below and camera right.

I didn't plan this for today's photo when I took a picture of the 1st spider this morning, but when I saw a 2nd spider this evening, both on the side of my house and only a few feet from each other; I had to make it my photo.  I never see spiders around the house and to see two in one day was very exciting.

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 211 - CLOROX

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ISO 200 f/13 1/200s. 1 SB-26 @ 24mm 1/8th and background and 1 SB-26 @ 24mm 1/8th power fired in to white foam board left and right of the subject.

View On White


I found this old brown glass Clorox bottle while setting up a different shot and had to try it.  I can't believe I have had this bottle tucked away for so long; I should really clean it and put it on a shelf somehere.

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 210 - Rip Curl

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ISO 100 f/9 1/200s 1 SB-26 @ 24mm 1/16 power inside pocket softbox camera left 3 inches from subject triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs.

View On Black


Wanted to try shooting on glass versus a mirror for small product photography.  I still get the dreaded double reflection created by the two side of glass, and I broke the glass trying to get it clean.  I have decided from this little experiment that it is time to a both a white and black sheet of acrylic to take these photos properly.  I goofed and forgot the setup shot tonight; I will try to get back on track tomorrow.

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 209 - Problems

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ISO 100 f/4.5 1s (left @ 1s because I tried light painting that didn't work) 1 SB-26 @ 24mm 1/32 power high camera right  flagged to prevent spill on black background 4 feet behind subject with a white reflector underneath, and 1 SB-26 @ 24mm 1/16 power snooted with 2 green gels handheld high camera left behind subject triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs.

I think I have either a bad capacitor or burnt flash tube in my SB-800, just before it died I had a few underexposed flashes of my daughter and then it failed to flash at all.  All function appear to work on the flash and the zoom head moves in and out as expected.  All of my research leads to a bad flashtube, but I find it funny that I don't hear the capacitor charging on start up.  I am on a tight budget so I will most likely start with replacing the flash tube myself and then go from there.  If I am going to invest the money to replace this SB-800, I will just get an Alien Bee's B800 instead.  I'll keep every updated on this issue.

So frustrated that I forgot to include a setup shot, SORRY!!!

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 208 - Drowning

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Better On Black


ISO 100 f/13 1/200s 1 SB-26 Subject right @ 50mm 1/32nd power and 1 SB-26 subject left @ 24mm 1/32nd power triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs

I am sure I'm not the first to post a shot like this to flickr, but I had this idea in my head and wanted to try it.  I thought I could make the bubbles with my own breath, but no good.  I then grabbed an almost empty SCUBA tank to add a little extra to the shot.  I know have dry eyes and a very sore throat after this shot, but it was well worth it to get the shot.


setup shot



until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 206 - Wind and Water

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ISO 100 f/9 1/200s 1 SB-26 @ 50mm 1/16th power from underneath the hand triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs.  Setup shot wouldn't help you on this one.

View On Black



This was a really simple setup.  For this shot I used a small tripod to frame my shot on a table, with my camera on the other tripod.  I then locked my focus in removed the small tripod set my flash camera left on the table pointing up at the hand, and then set my camera to self timer and I began pouring the water into my had from a water pitcher.

This shot is probably the 3rd of about 6 shots I took.  I was very happy with my result and had fun seeing this shot come together as I had planned in my head earlier that day.

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 205 - SB-26

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ISO 400 f/10 1/200s 1 SB-26 @24mm 1/4th power above in and right inside of a shot through umbrella.  Triggered with on-camera SB-800 @ 1/128th power.

I haven't felt very creative the last few days, and was already shooting some photos for eBay listing and thought I would share my setup. 2 White Foam boards and a white poster board with a simple umbrella and an off-camera flash is all you need for for almost shadowless product photography.

No I am not selling the SB-26, I love these things and hope I can find more of them to add to my arsenal of lights.


setup shot





until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 204 - Sekonic

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My Sekonic 758-DR is the most useful tool in my bag.  I can't begin to tell you how much it speeds up my work flow, and how nice it is to have the right exposure on the first shot every time.

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 203 - Cherry Martini

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ISO 100 f/11 1/200s 1 SB-26@ 35mm 1/4th power underneath fired at white foam board and 1 SB-800 @ 24mm 1/16th power inside of pocket softbox handheld above cherries.

View On White





setup shot




Dark Field Version




setup shot

Day 202 - Color

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ISO 100 f/11 1/200s SB-26s right and left with shoot through umbrella triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs.




setup shot




until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 201 - Trio [Explored]

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ISO 100 f/16 1/200s 1 sb-26 @ 50mm 1/32nd power handheld camera left 6 inches from subject triggered with on camera flash @1/128th



This was a backup shot after my attempt at light painting failed tonight.

Until tomorrow,
Enjoy

Day 200 - H2O

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ISO 125 f/14 1/200s SB-26s left and right @ 50mm 1/16th power fired at white foam board.

View On White


I was expecting a little more out of this shot, and I now want to go back and read up on bright field lighting again in Light, Science, and Magic.  Maybe I had unrealistic expectations for this shot, but I will definitely try to improve on it in the future.


setup shot



until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 199 - Dark Field Lighting

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ISO 100 f/11 1/200s 1 SB-800 @ 24mm 1/64th power inside of pocket softbox with black construction paper flagging the middle.

View On Black


Nothing exciting here, typical dark field lighting of a piece of glassware.  I set this shot up because I don't see setup shots for these very often.  Some people might include a sketch of the setup which is not always easy to understand.  I tried this shot back in January in my dinning room, but I was not happy with the result that I got.  The two large pieces of foam board on the side of the glass are used to prevent the glass from picking up any reflections from anything else in the room.  This shot was the first one I took.  I tried stepping up the power, but I preferred this shot at 1/64th.


setup shot



until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 197 - Tomato Splash

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ISO 320 f/11 1/200s

See Setup shot for strobist info tiggered with pocket wizard plus IIs.

View On White


More fun with dropping things into water.  First time doing this on white.  Either I got the water very clean or the white hides the floating dust and dirt in the water.  I didn't have to clone out and particles in post.


setup shot


The 2 flags on the side are used to prevent the flashes lighting the background from lighting the subject from the side.  The 3rd flash is camera left and below lighting the tomato from the front.


until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 196 - Tiny Tomato

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ISO 100 f/2 1/200s 1 SB-800 @ 17mm 1/64th power with 2 tough green gels fired at background made from wrinkled aluminum foil, and 1 SB-26 @ 20mm 1/64 power snooted fired at the tomato.



For anyone trying to reproduce this shot.  I did turn the lights off in the garage to keep from competing with the ambient light.  I feel stupid after doing so, because I own 4 Stops worth of Neutral Density filters I could have used to out compete the ambient light in the garage.  I also struggled to not over expose the tomato, and almost made this photo a silhouette.  I was smart enough to tape over part of the flash head on the SB-26 to nock the power down about another 2 stops.  This problem would have also been corrected with the ND filters.

The heat has not been good for gardening, and this is one of two very small tomatoes we pulled from the vine today.


setup shot



until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 195 - Ghost Rider

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ISO 400 f/8 1/200s



See setup shot for strobist info.

I am not one to use Photoshop much, but I have seen lots of interesting levitation and invisible man photos and decided it was  a skill I needed to have.  This really simple stuff.  The first shot was shot with the bike in pace and me hold just as you see in the setup only with my 50mm lens instead of the wide angle.  Once I had the shot i liked, I moved everything out of the frame and took a second exposure.  I then stacked the photo in post and used layer mask remove me and the stool.  I noticed a spot I goofed on, but I will let you see if you can spot my mistake.


setup shot



until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 194 - Seamless (cheap)

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View On White

ISO 100 f/13 1/200s. 1 SB-800 @ 50mm  1/8th power on axis above subject though white umbrella. 1  SB-26 @ 20mm 1/2 power inside of Pocket Softbox. 1 SB-26 @ 20mm 1/4th power fired at white foam board directly behind subject.

This was probably the cheapest most improvised way I could do a seamless shot on white.  I tried to make a C-stand using 2 stands and a Bogan Super Clamp, but I couldn't make it work.  To improvised I  used the Bogan Super Clamp to attach and umbrella bracket above my head in my garage. I will definitely get a sheet of white seamless and attached to the ceiling of my garage in the near future and post results here.


setup shot


until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 193 - Rotation

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ISO 400 f/2.8 36s 1 SB-800 @ 17m 1/32nd power in a Pocket Softbox pointed at wheel triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs.  Glow stick tied to spokes with string.



When I started setting this shot up, I thought I could shoot this at ISO 100 f/9 and about 2-6s.  I quickly found out that I had to increase the ISO to 400 f/2.8 and 6s only gave me a faint glow from the glow stick.  From my test before adding in the flash I found 30s gave me a nice glow.  I did doctor this photo up a little in post; at 30s the street lights coming in the garage windows began to bleed into the top of my exposure above the wheel.  When I took this shot, I set my shutter to blub and timed my exposure using my phone and then released the shutter when the glow stick was out of the frame.


setup shot



until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 192 - Think outside of the Green Box

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ISO 100 f/16 6.5s.  1 SB-800 @ 17mm 1/16th power inside of Pocket Softbox aimed at command dial triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs.  Green light painted in using the LED flash from my iPhone with 2 Rosco Tough Green Gels doubled over.



For non camera people, Canon camera's have a green box where Nikon has the Green Auto Camera icon.  I got this idea after a conversation with a friend (Canon Shooter) who told me he had recently started to venture outside of "The Green Box".  Anyone who looks at my EXIF data will see I almost exclusively shoot in Manual Mode, the exception is available light photos I might shoot in Aperture-priority; even with available light I shoot in manual if I don't need to shoot photos back to back quickly.  From whitebalace to ISO I like to dial everything in manually.  On this shot, I even dialed the focus in on the command dial manually by zooming in on the live view to get a precise focus.

setup shot


until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 191 - Keep on Running

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ISO 100 f/11 1/200s 1 SB-800 in mini-softbox @ 17mm 1/8th power witha CTO (Color Temperature Orange) Gel with 2 SB-26s @ 50mm 1/64th power fired at a white foam board.



We are getting some much needed rain tonight so I setup this product shot in the garage.  I have used this technique with a CTO gel during daylight hours to turn the daylight blue, but this was the first time attempting this with flashes.  Because the camera whitebalance was adjusted to tungsten the flashes fired at the foam board appeared blue.  The SB-800 with orange gel became white with simple adjustment of white balance in the camera.

You might think why not shoot it all this on white and adjust the color in post.  I tired this for fun and it never locked natural.  Maybe I could get these results in post if my Photoshop skill were better, but I prefer to get my look in camera and make only minor adjustments in post.  It was very rewarding to see this shot on the back of the LCD appear almost identical to what you are seeing.


setup shot



until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 190 - Paparazzi

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ISO 200 f/16 1/200s 1 SB-800 on lens axis held with ball bungey @ 50mm 1/16th power and 2 SB-26s @ 85mm 1/64th power far behind faced at camera.  Extra flash exposures cloned in post.



Sorry for no setup shot it was too dark outside to to get my equipment in the setup.

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 189 - Tokina 11-16

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ISO 400 f/7.1 1/200s (See setup shot for Strobist info)

View On White


I really wanted to try shooting on white with the option of reflective surface.  I knew the easiest way to do to so would be to light my subject on the a reflective surface from the back with a large softbox and fill in from the front.  I didn't have a softbox, so I improvised with a piece of white foamboard found at any office supply place and few $1 spring clamps.  I am not planning to sell the amazing Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens, but if I do sell it or any other gear I will seriously consider using this setup.


setup shot



until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 188 - Stunned

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ISO 500 f/9 1s 1 SB-800 @ 50mm 1/1 power with shoot through umbrella camera left triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs.

The spinning wool was taken in a separate exposure and then blended together in post.

View On Black



I had been wanting to try this and finally got a chance.  I wish I could have found a darker place in my suburban neighborhood.  It was also and extremely hot night to be burning steel wool and spinning it in a circle.  Next time I try this shot, it will be nice if I can get an assistant and a model so I can do this in a single exposure.

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 187 - The Cog

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ISO 100 f/22 1/200s 1 SB-26 in mini-softbox directly behind and above subject to create a direct reflection.  Triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs.



Still not feeling 100% lately and I was short on ideas.  Someone might try to tell me this shot is underexposed, and I will agree with them that this exposure might be a stop under.  From the exposures that I bracketed I like this one best, because it showed the texture of the metal and was not bright enough to show the dirty spots on the glass.  I like that I didn't have to use a the clone tool or healing bush to mask out the dirty spots  of glass, so I think this exposure is the correct one.


setup shot



until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 186 - The Camera

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ISO 200 f/16 1/200s 1 SB-26 with mini softbox high camera right @ 20mm 1/4th power triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs




setup shot

Day 185 - No Fireworks for me

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No Feeling well see setup shot for strobist info


setup shot here

Day 184 - Voodoo Lounge

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view the set here

ISO 200 f/2.8 1/15s 1 SB-26 @ 1/4 power shoot through umbrella camera right.



I am sorry I forgot to include a setup shot with this set, but my umbrella was sitting on top of the bar elbow to elbow between 2 customers so I had to work quickly.

This is actually part of a sub-project called "People at Work"

Today is officially the half way point of this 366 project. From the 365 projects I have followed in the past this is the point when people start quitting or complaining how hard it is to get out everyday and take a photo. For me, it has gotten easier each day to go out and shoot to see if I can take a better photo today than yesterday.

This picture was taken at local bar called Voodoo Lounge in Downtown Huntsville. Nick left, is a newly acquired friend who is extremely supportive of my photos and tells everyone at the bar about my work. If you are in Downtown Huntsville; stop by and visit Nick and Lindsey, camera right, to cool off and grab a beer or cocktail. The Voodoo Lounge is basement level shotgun bar on the square of Downtown Huntsville with inexpensive beer and a lively scene.

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 183 - Sunset

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ISO 200 f/2.8 1/500s Basic Clamshell lighting 1 SB-26 above @ 50mm 1/10th power through white umbrella and 1 SB-26 below through a white umbrella @ 50mm 1/20/th power triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs.



I thought I was going to get kicked out of the 2nd place in a week, but the security guard was nice enough to let me stay long enough to get this shot. I used to 2 tough green gels on the flashes and then shifted the whitebalance in post to get this magenta biased sunset. I am not the best looking person in front of the camera and often pose very awkwardly, but hopefully I will get some willing participants to stand in front of the camera soon.

until tomorrow,
enjoy

setup shot

Day 182 - Fit

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ISO 200 f/2.8 1/1000s 1 SB-26 on each side of me @ 24mm 1/2th power fired at wall. Triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs

setup shot


I want to start by giving my sincerest thanks to everyone on Flickr, Facebook, twitter, instagram, and of course all of my friends and family who have given me such great positive feedback. You have no idea how much it motivates when I have people tell me how much they enjoy my photos.

For today's photo I decided to photograph my car as practice for a future shoot. The problem with lighting cars is that I don't own any large softboxes. I Improvised by bouncing 2 flashes off of a white wall behind me. I am not sure why I chose to shoot a profile shot of the car and wish I had picked a sexier angle, but the point was to learn and get better.

until tomorrow,
enjoy