Simple Mistakes

Saturday was Easter Egg coloring day which means we go over to Gustavo's Godmother's house to color eggs.  Keep in mind that this entails 8 dozen eggs and more colors than most monitors can display.  Yep, its a good time for all.  By the end of the day all eggs were colored, colors were mixed and designs applied.  Most importantly I want to thank Gustavo's Godmother who we call Madrina for her hosting us, making her how and love open to us.

Since Madrina is such an important part of our lives and as she is so loved by Gustavo I wanted to do a quick portrait.  So I quickly pulled out a light stand, reflective umbrella and a 580 EXII to light them.  It was supposed to be quick and dirty since everyone was a bit tired, but that is no excuse for what I did.  :-)

Now to the point, take a look at the above, it isn't a portrait that will be published, nor was it ever intended to be.  But it is one Madrina can have in her wallet to show off to her friends.  The problem I created was the umbrella placement.  Look at the window, yep there it is, my 42" Westcott collapsable umbrella, nice isn't it?

I'm so disappointed in myself, I know better, it was such a rookie mistake.  Sure I can Photoshop this out, but I don't want to miss the growth opportunity the brings to me.  It reminds me no matter how rushed things are that I must pay attention to what is going on around me and pay attention to all detail.

That is the purpose of this post, a reminder to pay attention to details and not rush through a shoot just to get it done.  I'm sure everyone has experienced a similar situation.  If you care to share I would be very interested in hearing about your experience.

52 Variations - Variation Eight

Light Art

It has been a busy weekend so I thought we would have a little fun today. I've seen many photographs where the subject uses a flashlight to write or draw in the shot. Telling my son about it, he was excited by the idea so I figured why not, lets have some fun.

Of course the idea was simple. Light him with strobes at the beginning of a long exposure and let him draw for the remainder. The above was a 6 second exposure lit by two flashes at full power. A 580 EXII camera right shooting through an umbrella as the main light and a 430 EX camera left shooting into a reflective umbrella. Worked well I think. Exposed him just enough that he could move after the flash and draw what ever he wanted without losing any sharpness. I would like to note that the exposure of the background came as a result of the 6 second exposure. Had there been a somewhat normal shutter speed the background would have been black as in some of my previous posts. Thats what ya get when using F22.

Of the more than 100 shots we did the above was my favorite as it captures his personality the most. Yes, he was pretending that he was waving a sword. Boys will be boys after all. The light pattern is nothing but squiggles but I love it just the same. It is a aspect of his personality, that is all I need. :-)

I mentioned the lighting above but do want to make one comment about the flashlight. To do this you need nothing special, we did ours with a $2 LED light from Home Depot. The only modification to it was to toss some green gel on the end so as to get the green color to light, nothing special. Below is a quick setup pic. As always, please excuse my messy basement.

Oh, and yes, that thing in the foreground is my tripod. There is no way I could have held the camera still for 6 seconds otherwise.

A bit of a diversion is in order. We were having such a good time that we dragged my wife over and started playing around with her and the light as well. She drew on Gustavo and he did the same to her. Lets just let it be said that clown hats were in order. In tribute to her participation below is one her contributions where she drew my son's nickname with light. Very fun in my opinion. In case you have trouble reading it, the word is "Nene". It is a Spanish language slang for little boy. Something we have called my son since was born.

So what does everyone think?

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As always go to the Flickr set for all project pictures by Clicking Here. You can also find a full explanation of the project along with an index of the shots by Clicking Here.

Gel Holder

With 3 speedlights and several gels for each I needed to come up with a way to carry them around. Something simple yet effective. So here is what I came up with...

Lets start off by talking about what I have to carry. I carry the following which you can multiply by 3 for a total of 24 gels. (You can pick all of the below cut for your speedlights from PhotoGels.com.)

• Full CTO
  
• 1/2 CTO
  
• 1/4 CTO
  
• Full CTB
  
• 1/2 CTB
  
• 1/4 CTB
  
• Full Plusgreen
  
• 1/2 Plusgreen
  
• 1/4 Plusgreen
  

So how could I carry it? First a discussion of the mechanics of attaching the gels to the speedlight. Actually, this is easy enough, I put velcro on the gel and use a speedstrap to attach it to the speedlight. Why is the important you ask, because in my DIY gel holder that velcro will also keep the gel in place there. Again, simple enough, no rocket science.

With the above, lets get on to the actual holder. The concept is to use a day planner and use adhesive velcro to attach the gels, one gel type per open page set. Very simple but very effective. Below are a few shots of the planner with different gels so you can see how it all comes together.

1/4 CTO:

Full Plusgreen:

1/2 CTB:

As you can see, it makes identifying the gels to use nice and easy and with the velcro in place I am able to transfer them in and out as needed without fuss. There is only one challenge I have faced with this system. The planner gets very thick due to the added bulk of the gels and velcro. It could be easily overcome by using a bigger planner but I wanted to go no bigger than what would fit in the end pocket of Domke bag. Hence, my setup looks bulky, but it is light and plyable, easily used and carried. However, in the spirit of full disclosure below is a picture of the holder on its side so you can see the thickness.

Anyway, take a look and give it a try, I think you'll find it usable. More importantly, if you have any gel holder ideas let me know about them. I'm always looking to improve my systems.

Night During the Day

I was board today. Then I found a large icicle hanging outside my dining room window. So I pulled out my 5DII and start to take some shots as I’ve always found the textures of ice interesting. Using the ambient light I got board quick. Then I remembered and article I read on Pixsylated (click here) about using high speed sync (HSS) to turn day into night. So I figured, why not lets give it a try.

Below is what I came up with. I cranked up my shutter speed, closed down the aperture and lowered the ISO to get everything as dark as possible. The only post processing was to boost the blacks a bit and add some sharpening.

I have to say I’m happy with the results for a first attempt. Let me know what you think. After each picture is a shot of how the light was setup. I used my 430EX off camera using my homemade clamp (click here) and triggered it with my 580EX II as a master.

One thing this exercise proved to me was how diminished power is in HSS. Not something I couldn’t work with, but it is much the reason the flash is so close to the ice. I eventually knocked the icicle down by bumping it with the flash, or I would have gotten more shots. ooops!!!

You can find the images at my Flickr site if you want to look at larger versions and see the EXIF (click here)

An Affordable Clamp

So I'm working on developing my strobist kit. One of the things I need to do is get my lights off camera and be able to trigger more then one at a time. Of course I will need a trigger for the flashes but most importantly I need a way to mount them to things. I wasn't too hot on buying a $25 super clamp (Click Here) as I am saving for more strobes and remote triggers. Two clamps would cost me almost as much as a Sunpak 383 flash. So after hanging out on my favorite Photography Forum I was inspired by the do-it-yourself ingenuity of many of its members. This inspired me to make my own clamps. Following is the process I followed and the outcome. Hope you find this useful.

Here are the parts you'll need and the steps necessary to make your own clamps.

1. Get a spring clamp from Home Depot. I went with the Babco generic brand and I figured why spend more on a Pony clamp which is twice the price and has no benefits that I can discern. You can find the clamp at Home Depot for 99 cents (Click Here).

2. You will need to cut a hole in the back handle where there is a pre-drilled hole ready for you to use. As the handle cover is soft I was able to do this with a sharp knife with ease.

3. Know you'll need a few more parts which will allow your flash to attach to the clamp.

• 5/8" bolt...about 40 cents
• 5/8" locking washer...about 15 cents
• 5/8" nut (Click Here)...23 cents
• Umbrella adapter which hot shoe mount (Click Here)...$16.99. I got mine at Calumet Photo but I'm sure you can find this even cheaper at B&H. I think their Impact brand is $13.99.

4. Now assemble mount for the flash bracket by pushing the bolt through the bottom then placing the locking washer and nut on the other side, tightening everything up nice and tight.

5. Now just screw on the umbrella mount to the bolt. It will tighten up nice and tight for you. Providing the perfect place to put your flash.

6. Finally just put your flash on and hook up your other items like remote triggers and you are ready to go. Below is my 580EX II attached. The bracket holding on to my desk nice and tight.

While this might not be the answer for all situations will provide me a nice sturdy clamp for all my needs for an great price. Only $18.76 compared to $44.94 when using the Bogen super clamp.

(Note: I included the umbrella bracket in my pricing. Taking out the umbrella bracket--which I like to use as it gives me adjustability for the flash--the DIY clamp is $1.77 versus the Bogen clamp at $27.95.)

Regardless of how you choose to ultimately go I would recommend giving this a try. Not only is it affordable but most importantly it is effective. Feel free to let me know if there are any questions.

Tutorials

This will be an ongoing process/task, but I thought it might be useful to create a list of tutorials which I have found useful. Right now there isn't too much here but I plan to flesh this out with everyone's help

Lighting:

Flash Photography 101 - From Photography-on-the-net

• Chapter 1: Beginners Guide (Click Here)
• Chapter 2: (Why) Should I Get a Flash Unit For My Camera (Click Here)
• Chapter 3: A Systematic Approach to Bounced Flash (Click Here)
• Chapter 4: Guide Numbers and High Speed Sync (Click Here)

ETTL Wireless Config - From Photography-on-the-net

• Part I: Working with a single remote flash (Click Here)
• Part II: Working with multiple remote flashes (Click Here)
• Part III: Working with remote flashes in Manual Mode (Click Here)

Strobist Tutorials

• Lighting 101 (Click Here)
• Lighting 102 (Click Here)

Scott Kelby Lighting and Gear Week

• Day 1 (Click Here)
• Day 2 (Click Here)
• Day 3 (Click Here)
• Day 4 (Click Here)
• Day 5 (Click Here)

Misc Tutorials:

• Shooting Large Groups - From Chuck Gardner at Super Nova (Click Here)
• Evaluative vs. Average flash metering (Click Here)

Post Processing:

• Aircraft Post Processing - From Photography-on-the-net (Click Here)
• Black & White Conversion with Layer Blend Modes - From Photoshop Essentials (Click Here)
• Brightening Eyes - From Photography-on-the-net (Click Here)
• Skin Smoothing - From Ferradas Photography (Click Here)
• Using the Unsharpen Mask - From Photography-on-the-net (Click Here)
• Getting That Cool Gritty Look Right in Camera Raw and Photoshop or Lightroom - Scott Kelby (Click Here)
• How to perform soft proofing - From TechTutorials (Click Here)

Note: Should you have any you would like to share feel free to post a comment.

A Plug for Natural Light

Take a look at the picture below. I would like to use to make a plug for natural light. This was taken in a hotel room in Guatemala during the afternoon sun which was shinning through some white curtains which covered the windows.


This was a pure opportunist shot, taken while my wife was playing with my 4-month old daughter. Granted I got lucky, granted, but I wanted to share as it acts as a means to illustrate to not miss the moment and work with the envionment you are given. Everything came together true, but hey, if I hadn't ignored the urge to take out my flash I would have missed this.




Hope you enjoyed the shot, it brings me joy each time I look at it.

Update: The light was coming in camera left going through some soft white curtains which gave it a great feel.