Thar be danger – Photo of the Day #70
March 24th, 2010 • photography • 1 comment
This is a table one of our neighbors gave us earlier this week and I absolutely love it. It’s got this nice bubbled texture and a pretty wicked green background, DANGER in bold red text and that giant offset skull. Since it was glass, I knew it’d make a nice shoot-thru so I gelled my SB-600 to 1/1 CTB and this is how it turned out. I like it a lot.
NOTE: The right side is not warped due to distortion or bent, it’s how the light looked since I wasn’t exactly centered.
Nikon D90
Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX @ f/11
ISO640 @ 1/100s
Spot metering
Flash WB B1
Strobist:
Nikon SB-600 @ 1/64 approx 1.5 feet from glass top, 0deg
Rosco 1/1 “Full Blue” CTB gel
I seem to be perpetually tired
March 21st, 2010 • chatter • No comments
These last few weeks have been non-stop go-go-go for us. Add to that I’m not sleeping like I should be. Between work, school, photography, and life, it’s almost as if there’s no “me” time. Sure, I’ve got a few hours every night to myself but then, I don’t really have them because I always have to do something. Most readers will notice both the lack of general updates and the lack of pictures these last few weeks. I started shooting a roll of film and have not yet developed it and the camera’s been off for repairs. Got some sand on the sensor and that took a few days. But it’s back and I’ve got some new lighting set ups I want to try, along with some lights and wireless triggers coming. Now I just have to scout out things around here to shoot. There were two discarded bicycles outside my apartment complex but someone came and got them this week and I so badly wanted to shoot them with a grid or snoot for ambiance.
School’s getting a little confusing. I don’t have a discussion tomorrow but I do have a lecture but next week, we’re supposed to have an exam and lecture, I wonder which will get pushed back or moved. Classes are going alright though, I’ve been slacking a lot more than I should and with an exam coming up, I can’t afford another low grade. However, the geography class is going well, it’s just so easy. I don’t get how some people are failing that class, it’s so simple.
Speaking of school, my girlfriend is now entering her fourth week of internship as a student teacher and she’s enjoying it. There’s been some issues with red tape and how the mentoring teacher teaches but that’s probably to be expected — I have no idea, I don’t plan on teaching 7 year olds to find out. I think next week she starts her second internship that is required for her coursework. I don’t envy her at all. She’ll be essentially working three jobs plus trying to get a business off the ground, which doesn’t really leave a lot of time for much of anything else. I guess I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth sometimes.
I’ve got to get to bed. My neighbor’s computer is almost done with its virus scans and I’m trying to think of something to photograph tomorrow, perhaps I’ll finally make my way over to the mosque beside school.
Sucker punched – Photo of the Day #69
March 15th, 2010 • photography • No comments
This was a test shot from earlier today. We had set up a pop-up canopy for an upcoming shoot and I was working out lighting when along came our friends Kelly and Chris. Instantly becoming my models, they were hamming it up big time. Until Kelly totally sucker punched Chris. This was one of about 300 hits he took today, just because she could…and it because it makes for a lot of hilarious pictures. Don’t worry, he’s okay but he got her back eventually.
Nikon D90
Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX @ f/8
ISO400 @ 1/15s
Matrix metering
Flash WB A1
Strobist
2 LumoPro LP604 stands, one camera left and the other camera right
2 Nikon Sb-600s at 1/8 power, angled 30deg towards ground
2 Westcott 43" satin white umbrellas
One of the few things that frighten me – Photo of the Day #68
March 13th, 2010 • photography • No comments
This is a storm drain right outside my apartment and it gives me the creeps. Even in the daylight, it creeps me out. I don’t know why, it must be a hold-over from childhood of the uhknown because, frankly, I have zero clue what is living inside this thing. We think there might be racoons in there right now but I’m thinking scarier things like gigantic spiders or that crocdile Leatherhead from TMNT. He was a mean ol’ croc and I certainly don’t want him living 100 feet from me. Although he was Cajun so maybe we could cook together.
Nikon D90
Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX @ f/3.5
ISO800 @ 1/15s
Flash WB set to A2
Spot metering
Strobist:
LumoPro LP604 camera left, 2 feet from/above drain, angled 45deg downward
Nikon SB-600 @ 1/16
Westcott 451 43″ umbrella
A failed experiment – Photo of the Day #67
March 12th, 2010 • photography • No comments
I say failed because I just got a new Westcott 43″ collapsible umbrella today around 5PM from MPEX. Tonight, I go shoot around midnight and guess what happens? The slightest of breezes comes by right as I’m taking this shot and blows the stand over. Now I’ve got a busted umbrella and a haunting shot. This is almost what I was going for visually, minus a broken umbrella.
Nikon D90
Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX @ f/5.6
ISO400 @ 1/15s
Spot metering
Strobist info:
LumoPro LP604 approximately 7 feet from base of tree, aimed up around 25deg, with me around 10 feet away at a 60deg angle to stand
Nikon SB-600 in commander mode @ 1/8 into umbrella
(Broken) Westcott 2011 43″ collapsible umbrella
Self portrait – Photo of the Day #66
March 11th, 2010 • photography • 1 comment
Tonight I decided to put one of my new LumoPro light stands to work. This was taken on the old golf course by our apartment right before some rain started rolling in. How is it that I always catcha good night shot when it’s getting ready to rain?!
By the way, Nikon’s CLS works like absolute crap in the dark. I had the camera approximately 17 feet away and the speedlight wouldn’t fire with a 100% completely clear line-of-sight to the camera. I thought these things had a range of at least 20 to 25 feet?!!?! I had to move the camera in about 10 feet and adjust the focus to ~7ft on the focus ring.
Nikon D90
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D @ f/4
ISO800 @ 1/15s
Spot metering
Flash WB
Strobist info:
LumoPro LP604 approximately 2 feet behind me
Nikon SB-600 in commander mode, aimed at 90 degrees directly at me
Sto-fen diffuser
An American Icon – Photo of the Day #65
March 10th, 2010 • photography • No comments
This is the Ford emblem on my neighbor’s truck. Between the near pitch black and the sole street light as a light source, this really struck me as somber and iconic at the same time. Very pleased with this shot.
Nikon D90
Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX @ f/2.2
ISO800 @ 1/6s
Spot metering
Flourescent WB @ “Cool white flourescent #4″
That was a very long weekend!
March 2nd, 2010 • chatter • No comments
We spent all of last week attempting to track down a dog’s owner. Well, we never did but there’s good news to the story. Bubba got a new home on Saturday with our friend Chris. He came over and brought his own pitbull so they could meet each other and socialize together. Turns out, both pitbulls just loved being around each other and played all day. Now Bubba has a nice new home that is HUGE and a new friend to play with! We’re so happy that Bubba has a stable and permanent home.
Sorry there were no new posts last week, we had devoted all of our energies to finding Bubba’s owner or a new home. Luckily we actually found both. His previous owner’s landlord called us yesterday and told us he skipped town. Turned out to be a good thing for Bubba. I also didn’t take any pictures last week because I felt that finding him a home was more important than lugging my camera around. I can always take more pictures, I can’t always help an animal out.
We went to the Florida Ren Fest on Sunday and I’ve got a bunch of pics from that I’ve got to sort through and edit so I’ll be back to taking pictures this week, no worries!
Behold…Bubba Sparxxx – Photo of the day #64
February 25th, 2010 • photography • No comments
This was a quick snap of my girlfriend’s Samsung Behold II after Shazam had tagged a song that was playing. I love the color detail from a bright neon OPEN sign on the face of the phone, creates a kind of lucid effect. I thought this was going to turn out poorly based on the on-camera review but at full size, there’s a lot of detail that was captured at ISO800 without a lot of grain, very surprising.
Nikon D90
Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX @ f/2.2
ISO800 @ 1/15s
Matrix metering
Tungsten WB
Man, I’m exhausted
February 23rd, 2010 • chatter • 1 comment
Sorry for only a few photos this week, I haven’t had any time to take any. We’re still working on reuniting our rescued pitbull with his owner, Sam. However, it’s now been 48 hours and no word from any of our contacts from Sam’s side of town. We’ve spent those 48 hours tracking down stuff like his favorite hang outs, where he lives, phone number, anything we can get and we are still coming up blank. We’ve done as much as we can, monetarily, at this point and are looking into getting the dog kenneled for a few days. Luckily, we have some AWESOME neighbors who are helping us find prospective adoptive homes for the big guy if the owner never turns up.
I’m freaking exhausted and have had practically no sleep the last few days with trying to find the owner and keep this massive dog calmed down. Tomorrow, we’re going to see the Dalai Lama at FAU and that is going to be AMAZING. Right now, I’ve got to go to sleep.
