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.

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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 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.

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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.

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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

Day 159 - Macro is Back

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ISO 100 f/32 1/200s 1 SB-800 @ 105mm 1/32nd power camera right 6 inches from subject triggered with on camera pop-up flash (setup shot was shoot @ ISO 200 f/22).

I am borrowing my friends macro lens again so you can expect to see more macro shots in the next few days. I apologize for the setup shot being on-black, I couldn't get setup before the sun went to low and I had dark exposure all the way down to a full second. I want to start including setup shots for even the simplest lighting setups. I know people really enjoy the setup shots and they are fun to include.

setup here


until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 158 - Nature > Man

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ISO 200 f/9 1/500s Shot with my D70s 1 SB-26 @ 35mm full power on a plastic foot at ground level triggered with an SB-26 in the hotshot @ 1/64th power.

I meant to include a setup shot tonight, but forgot after having two beers at dinner

Let me start by saying this photo has very special significance to me. Yesterday I received a notice from the city about my yard being unsightly. I have an almost identical flower to this one in my own yard and many others that have been photographed and posted on flickr. One of my neighbors, decided to complain to the city about my yard instead of talking to me as a person. I had the same situation last year with our yard when Leela was 8 months pregnant with our daughter. I haven't knocked down the entire yard as I did last year, but I have spent most of the last two nights trying to clean up anything that me might be in violation of our stupid city ordinances.

When I saw this flower tonight on my dog walk growing between two seams of concrete in the curb, I felt an overwhelming since of happiness to know that nature is greater than man's design. No matter how hard we try to manipulate the curves of nature into straight lines it will always come back stronger. I hope you enjoy this amazing flower as much as I do.

Until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day - 157 Eviction

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ISO 800 f/11 1/200s 1 SB-26 with reflective umbrella @ 35mm 1/2th power camera right and above and 1 SB-26 with shoot throught @ 35mm 1/8th

more shots from tonights shot taken with the ultrawide coming soon!

Sorry for not getting the write up posted at the time of the photo! I was running down to the last minute on this one and did not have much free time last night! I really had fun setting this shot up, but it was a creepy place to shoot and I thought someone might see me and call the police. I kept my flash light in my pocket not to loose it and setup most of the shot in complete darkness to not attract any attention before the flashes started firing off. I don't know what the story is with this abandoned house, but it has been this way for at least 5 years that I know of. I recently found another abandoned house which I hope to setup a shot in-front-of in the near future.

setup here


until tonights post,
enjoy

Day 156 - The Blueberry Bush

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ISO 100 f/22 1/200s 1 SB-800 Handheld camera Left @ 24mm 1/128th power 2 1/2 inches from subject triggered with on-camera pop-up flash.

Leela requested I photograph her great looking Blueberry Bush tonight. I hope you enjoy and I heard the blueberries where great.

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 155 - Ultra-wide Macro

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ISO 400 f/13 100s 1 SB-800 @ 105mm 1/8th power 3 feet camera right.

I recommend viewing on black


Late to post this one tonight and originally went out with intention of a quick shot with a my kit lens @ 105mm and a handheld flash somewhere in the neighborhood when I saw this half opened sunflower and decided to switch to my ultra wide lens and see how close I could get to the flower and maintain a sharp image.

For this photo I was so close that the lens hood was touching the pedals of the flower and I had to remove it to get this shot.

I really enjoy the distortion created by this lens at this distance and I hope to post more photos with this lens in the near future.

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 154 - A Closer Look

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ISO 200 f/22 1/1000s 1 SB-26 @ 85mm 1/32nd power 12 inches from subject triggered with on camera SB-26 @ 85mm 1/64th power.

Sorry to post another photo of the dead sunflower, but I really wanted another shot of this dead flower with a longer lens. I actually think I will make this image my wallpaper.

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 152 - Life is Short

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ISO 100 f/32 1/200s 1 SB-800 handheld camera left set to TTL triggered with Nikon CLS



Right up coming soon! to Beautiful outside to sit in front of computer

Day 151 - Out with the Old

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ISO 400 f/20 1 reflective umbrella camera right and and 1 shoot through umbrella camera left for fill. triggered with pocket wizard plus IIs.

Setup here


New shoes are in the mail and I think I am over due.

until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 150 - The Stoop

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ISO 640 1/200s f/13 1 SB-800 @ 24mm 1/2 power very high camera right triggered with on camera pop-up (I forgot my other radio trigger and I had 2 dead flashes in the bag).


I had a different shot planned tonight at the sprinkler park in downtown, but right as I got my lights setup and metered the sprinklers cut off. What luck! I went to my back up photo in the sketchy parking lot where I shoot The Santa Cruz to find 2 of my 3 flashes now had dead batteries and the battery in my D90 was about to die (luckily it uses the same battery as my D70s which I also had with me).

I didn't want to take another self-portrait and most 365 project are day after day of self-portraits. I have been told by Leela that I make unnatural looks when a camera is pointed at me, and I need to practice my looks in the mirror. Staring in the mirror seems vain, but I might start posting self-portraits as practice. Planning this shot did give me another idea for a photo in this dilapidated parking lot.

setup here


until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day - 148 Orange and Black

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 ISO 200 f/29 1/2000s 1 SB-26 on a stand above and left @ 24mm 1/32nd power triggered by an SB-26 @ 85mm 1/64th power in the hot shoe.

Today was a busy day because of the holiday and didn't get much time to shoot, but I did take this photo from my yard using my D70S. I can' t say enough about the ability to shoot flash at speeds faster than 1/200s and kill the sun even as late as 10 AM. I only wish I had thought and taken this same a shot at 1/200s to see how much ambient would have made it into the exposure.

Until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 147 - Taming the Sun

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See photo for Strobist Info:

Yesterday I got a Nikon D70s in the mail from eBay. Before you think I stepped back from my D90, take a look what can be done with this camera.

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The D40, D50, D70, and D70s have a hybrid Mechanical-Electrical Shutter which normally allows for 1/500s flash sync; a full-stop faster than the 1/250s sync found on $6000 flagship Nikon and Canon cameras. With a Pocket Wizard Radio triggers you can expand this sync to 1/1000s, and when used with cables or optically triggering the remote flash with a hotshoe flash; unlimited sync is possible. When the shutter speed begins to exceed the flash duration, the full power of the flash will not reach the sensor; but with digital cameras you get instant feedback and can make adjustments as needed.

The only complaints I have found so far about the D70s are: The minimum ISO is 200 ( I would love to drop down another stop to 100, but no big deal), and the inability to set my white balance in Kelvin (this is a real annoyance for me because I always dial my white balance in this way on my D90). Even though the D70s has a few short comings and lower resolution, the ability to shoot off-camera flash outside during bright conditions allows for more opportunities. I can guarantee you will see more photos taken with this camera.

Until tomorrow,
enjoy

Day 146 - Hey there Little Lilly

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ISO 100 1/200s f/32. 1 SB-800 behind and left of the flower 2 feet set to TTL triggered with Nikon CLS.



Setup here


From this evenings dog walk. I like this flower so much I decided to shoot it at several different focal lengths and from a few different angles. You can view the whole set here

Standing Tall

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You can purchase this print on etsy

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Flash camera left set to TTL triggered with Nikon CLS

Day 144 - Looking Up

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ISO 100 @ 50mm f/16 1/200s 1 SB-800 set to TTL camera left triggered with Nikon CLS.

Did not bring the camera on the Thursday Night ride ai this is my photo for day 144

Until tomorrow,
Enjoy