Showing posts with label strobist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label strobist. Show all posts
P52W18 - 40+30
Sunday, May 09, 2010 | | Labels: canon, project 52, sigma, still life, strobist
Canon 40D with Sigma 30mm F1.4. This is my walk-around DLSR combo. I use it 80% of the time. And I even brought it to work almost every day before the LX3 came along.
Speaking of the LX3, this is my second Project 52 entry using the little guy. I'm definitely loving it's strobist potential!
P52W17 - Avatar
Sunday, May 02, 2010 | | Labels: arland, portrait, strobist
I've wanted to update my avatar pic for quite some time. I shot the original back in 2007, so it is definitely outdated. I still had the kit lens, which I've sold a year ago, in that pic!
The concept is the same. I wanted a shot of just my hand holding the camera at my side. I didn't want a pic of me holding the camera to my face like everyone else. And I wanted to overpowered the ambient to keep the focus on my hand so I used a couple of snooted flashes as main and edge lights. I think it turned out nicely. :)
P52W15 - Yosi
Sunday, April 18, 2010 | | Labels: black and white, project 52, strobist
Met up with a bunch of photographers from around Rizal at the Cainta church earlier this morning. We had a little strobist tutorial session where I introduced them to the basics.
This here is Carlo, the street shooter of the gang. The photo was his idea--I just shot it. He had to puff three cigs because the wind was blowing all over the place and we couldn't get the smoke to go where we want it. Next time I'm bringing one of those little hand-held electric fans.
P52W11 - The Bar!
Sunday, March 21, 2010 | | Labels: project 52, still life, strobist, vodka
It was already half-empty when I found it, I swear!
The bottle was on top of an inverted plastic bowl that contained the 430EX (full power). There was also a snooted 285HV (full power) camera right, to light up the label.
Blooper: So I was using an aerosol spray to get the mist around the bottle... I had shot several frames before I realized that I was also spraying water on the flash! Thank God I didn't try water splashes!
-arland-
P52W09 - Just Tired
Monday, March 08, 2010 | | Labels: arland, portrait, project 52, strobist
Got home late. Almost forgot to shoot one for this week. Notes to follow. Tired.
-arland-
P52W08 - Football!
Sunday, February 28, 2010 | | Labels: football, project 52, still life, strobist
Shot this while watching the CNN live stream on the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile, and the tsunami that's rushing across the Pacific. My prayers go out to all the people affected.
I have a small Nerf football in the office which I occasionally throw around to help me think and de-stress. Back in December I thought I'd graduate to a full-size football and got this as a Christmas gift for myself. :)
P52W06 - Summer Starts!
Sunday, February 14, 2010 | | Labels: beach, camara island, janet, portrait, project 52, strobist, zambales
My first beach outing for 2010. We went to San Antonio, Zambales for a little island-hopping, swimming and shooting. Our first stop, Camara Island was striking. There were huge round rocks embedded onto the amazing cliff face. Wild birds were circling their nests on trees at the edge. A path to a smaller, 'sister' island appears at low tide, allowing people to cross. One would have to try very hard to take a bad picture of the place.
Me, I was immediately drawn to this 'cave' formed by giant boulders that were once part of the cliff. The shade allowed me greater control of the light. I exposed for the morning sunlight outside, and adjusted my flash to match. A shoot-through umbrella softened the light a bit.
All I needed then was a model. Luckily, I was with the best.
The rest of the pics from the trip are already up on my Multiply site (Sorry, contacts only), but I will upload them to Flickr soon.
P52W05 - Popcorn!
Sunday, February 07, 2010 | | Labels: night, portrait, project 52, strobist
Shot this after watching 'Dear John' with Belle, Weng and Janet at MoA last night. We talked about how far we've come since those days when we only had a point-&-shoot top play with, when night shots meant holding still for a second or more so as not to be blurry, when the only flash was the one built into the camera.
Now we have this. One flash on a Gorillapod at camera left slightly behind Belle, and another flash also at camera left being held by model/lighstand Janet. :)
P52W04: I Shot Them All
Sunday, January 31, 2010 | | Labels: arland, portrait, project 52, self-portrait, strobist
Brought these prints home from the office. They used to hang in my cubicle 'gallery' before we moved to another area of the floor. And that reminds me, I've got a ton of pics to sort and print.
I started with the concept of an interrogation-room-type shot, but I didn't have the rig to light it properly. I decided to zoom in, focus on the table with the pics. It looks simple, but I actually had my three flashguns lighting this scene: one at camera right, and two at camera left. All three were snooted to keep spill in control.
P52W03: Back to Back
Sunday, January 24, 2010 | | Labels: arland, black and white, close-up, portrait, self-portrait, strobist
This was a quick and dirty setup. A composite of two portraits, with the strobe in a shoot-through umbrella slightly to the side and behind me. (I didn't have time to shoot yesterday because I was up late editing pics from my Tiyo and Tiya's 50th wedding anniversary.)
I was going for a bit of contrast. One side was supposed to be a little casual, fun, and the other a little serious.
Barely made week three, with 10 minutes to go. :p
P52W02: Photo Break
Sunday, January 17, 2010 | | Labels: kai, office, portrait, project 52, strobist
Some people have their cigarette breaks, and coffee breaks. I have my photo breaks. Nothing relaxes and de-stresses me like the click of the shutter.
I brought my 40D to the office intending to shoot a Project 52 entry, but not expecting anything to come out of it, what with the dim lights and the drab office furniture. Fortunately, a model was sitting a few rows in front of me! Kai = greyness-be-gone!
We decided to keep it simple and inconspicuous, so no light stands and umbrellas lest they kick us out. Set up at her cube beside a yellow rectangular column. Bounced the single flash off the window blinds to mimic light coming in through the window--soft and directional. Thirty minutes and we were done.
Just another day in the office. :)
P52W01: All Set
Sunday, January 10, 2010 | | Labels: arland, portrait, project 52, self-portrait, strobist
The Goal: 52 Weeks. 52 Photos. Not just snapshots. These have to be images that I would gladly display in my portfolio, or include in a photo book.
Up to the last minute I didn't know what I was going to shoot as the first entry of the project. I mulled over several ideas this past week, and as the batteries finished charging last night I picked one. This was not it.
I knew it wasn't going to be easy. But I didn't think it was going to be this hard.
In the original concept I wanted to include my shadow as a background element, but I just couldn't make it work. The walls, the shadow, the lighting--all wrong. After 30 minutes of test shots, and relocating twice, I admitted defeat. Plan B.
Side lighting then. I read about this from Scott Kelby and Joe McNally. They used it on portraits of male athletes. (I'm not an athlete, but I thought I can make it work a bit.) I had a couple of costume changes, but then decided to keep it simple. White shirt, tripod/lightstand bags, and camera strap. (Strap only because I was shooting with my only DSLR.)
Set timer. Walk to postion. Emote a bit. Click. (Repeat until satisfied and/or close to fainting due to blood loss from a million mosquitoes feasting on me.)
I picked this photo because I look like I'm all set and about to go out on a shoot, because that's what this project really is. It's a 52-week-long shoot. :)
Maquinit
Sunday, October 25, 2009 | | Labels: coron, flash, maquinit, palawan, portrait, strobist
Third part of the 'Coron' series. Pics are from our hour at the Maquinit Hot Spring, which was right by a mangrove swamp. We spent as much time in the mangrove as in the hot spring itself.
-arland-
Flash Play
Saturday, October 24, 2009 | | Labels: aiza, belle, coron, flash, palawan, strobist
Here's another set of pics from our Coron trip. We didn't fancy sleeping early on our first night in Coron so I brought out the flashes and gels, and we had an impromptu photo shoot in the room.
Not shown: Rey sleeping soundly (even with all the ruckus) in the middle bed.
-arland-
Nick Turpin Street Portraits
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 | | Labels: inspiration, photographer, strobist, video
Here's another photographer that just inspires me. Look at the simplicity of his set-up in this shoot: a couple of snooted flashes on voice-activated carbon-based lightstands. And that's it! I have those, too! I have a flash, and I can borrow another; and I have access to carbon-based lightstands friends! I've no excuse not to shoot portraits like this!
The Strobist post on Nick.
Nick's site.
-arland-
Off-camera Flash with Kai
Wednesday, April 01, 2009 | | Labels: off-camera flash, strobist
We had our company outing in Bataan last Monday. Instead of swimming, Kai and I decided to play with off-camera flash. Here are my favorites:
1/2 CTO gel on flash camera left. Tungsten-white-balanced to turn the background blue, and contrast it with Kai and her shirt.
Up five flights of stairs for a really nice view of the resort. Still 1/2 CTO'd flash, plus extra saturation for that, I don't know, retro-ish look.
Loved how the flash looked so natural. No post-processing. I wish more of my pics didn't need post-processing. Stofen diffuser on flash. White balance set to 'cloudy' for that warm look.
I liked all the lines in this one. Flash on the stairs camera left. I think this is seconds before Kai screamed because she thought the wind was going to blow the flash off the steps. :p
I'll post a few more pics from the outing tomorrow.
-arland-
Trigger Happy
Tuesday, December 30, 2008 | | Labels: strobist
I almost put the remote trigger back in the bag. I didn't know whether to hold it or put it down, nor how to aim it or where to place it. I couldn't get it to trigger consistently. If I put it on the ground just by my feet, it refused to trigger. And when it did trigger, I kept getting harsh shadows and highlights in my shots--worse than if I just used the camera's built-in flash. I was frustrated. I almost gave up.
I gave it another shot. We tried a different spot. And that's when these happened:
kai 1, originally uploaded by arland.
Canon EOS 40D with Sigma 30mm. 430EX flash at the right just outside the frame bouncing light off one of the posts.
kai 2, originally uploaded by arland.
Canon EOS 40D with Sigma 30mm. 430EX on a Gorillapod attached to a beam upper right.
kai 3, originally uploaded by arland.
Canon EOS 40D with Sigma 30mm. 430EX wrapped around a beam upper right.
I'm glad I stuck with it. (Too bad I lost the receiver a couple of days after. Clumsy, clumsy me. :|)
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