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The Missus!

I saw the late afternoon light coming in through the bedroom window, so I asked The Missus to pose in the sunbeam.



Of course, immediately after I dropped the shutter on the last frame on the roll, I realized I should have turned her more towards the window, and, with the way the weather has been lately, I have no idea when we'll see the sun again.

Hopefully, I remember this for the next time it doesn't rain.

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The Missus...requested...my presence at the Luzerne County Historical Society annual diner this evening.



Not much to say about the picture - I centered the AF point, adjusted the zoom on the lens, and handed it to a friend of ours to make the shot.

POTD 118 of 365

Took a few shots of a bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds this evening with the 620. They were shot on Tri-X 400, through a red filter, spot-metered on a cloud and bumped to +2 EV (to move the clouds into Zone 3), and, just for fun, I held a circular polarizer in front of the lens (because it's too big to thread on) to have a darkening effect on the sky.

I have four more shots left on the roll - I can't wait to see what these new ones look like.



Very little done in post to this shot - a quick, very minimal curves adjustment (after converting to RGB) and a light output sharpening was all it took.

I may have to get a CPL that fits my nifty fifty.

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Want to see a happy sight?



That's 27 rolls of film, 11 cans of cheap beer, and 7 more cans of beer (not shown) on the door.

Is it any wonder why I like it down here in my office?

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Shot some textures today while I was stuck in traffic. The 620, loaded with Tri-X and the the nifty fifty.

The sun was poking up over a big rig on my right, and hitting the rocks on my left, looked OK.

Wrapped up on as-yet-undeveloped roll. Once it's developed, I'll scan it and post it. You know the drill.

Ah, the hell with that noise - how about a picture of some cloud-to-cloud lighting, instead?



Storm's rollin' in.

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Shot an abandoned gas station today - finishing up my roll of Ilford Delta 400.

If the 400 base is anything like the 3200 base, I don't think I'm going back to Tri-X. Compared to Tri-X, the Iford film dries flat, rather than curling along the short axis, and, consequently, is a joy to scan and store.

Also, call me crazy, but the base isn't purple, like Tri-X, it's grey. Even though I'm scanning in B+W, I'm a little more confident that the tones are going to be more accurate coming from a grey negative.

So, yeah, gas station. I'll be developing the roll tomorrow, which means a scan in the near future.



And, I believe I'm a convert to Ilford. The base is purple, but, it dried flat. Now, before I do anything rash, like tossing out the last few rolls of Tri-X I have, I also realized that I've been running my Hypoclear at 400% strength, which may account for the flatness. I've got a roll of Tri-X in the camera now - once it's done, I'll process it using the too-strong Hypoclear and see if it dries flat, too.

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Easter - a time to reflect, be close to your family, and participate in chocolate bunny genocide.



You may recognise The Missus - surrounding her is a goodly chunk of her awesome family.

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Following this tutorial on StudioLighting.net, I built myself a C-Stand today.



Total cost for the stand, pre-tax, from Home Depot, is under $60. To put that number into perspective, the big two camera stores in New York are selling mini Century Stands for around $100 each.

I did modify it a bit, by adding pipe insulation around the base, and ditching the casters. I also dropped two compression springs into the base to cushion the landing a bit if the top tube lets go.

I'm working on adapting a paint brush holder into a boom arm, because this is heavy enough to support a boom with very little counter-weight.

I'm also planning on building a second one of these in a very near future. Light stands are good.

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I think the noise of the nifty-fifty racking back and forth hunting for focus woke him up:



Immediately after taking the shot, he got up, hit me in the head, and ate my camera.

Developing this roll was a bit of a challenge after that.

Kidding.

Seriously.

Kidding. No cats, cameras, or photographers were harmed in the making of this shot.

POTD 111 of 365

Tonight was a rough night in the studio - frankly, it seems like I'm in a bit of a photographic rut these days.

I'm not one to bare it all in a public venue, but, a combination of factors have produced in me a certain ennui, and I need to do something to snap that.

I made several images of Pumbaa, lit different ways, this evening, was happy with exactly none of them.

I also shot a mediocre selfie, so, that's what ya'll get:



Lighting is the 580EX II at 1/32, through a barndoor to restrict the light onto the background.

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Nasty wreck on I-81 this morning - had traffic tied up for about an hour.

Apparently, a UPS tandem overturned in the median, and crane(s) had to be brought in to get it back up.

I've been unable to dig up any news stories as to whether or not everyone was OK, although, for what it's worth, I didn't see any ambulances.

This shot is pretty terrible, kind of a "run and gun" - I had the camera pointed over my left shoulder, out the window, set to f/11 to try to maximize my DoF, and when I got close the scene, I listened for the lens to stop hunting and took the shot. Say what you will, but, I was more concerned with keeping my own vehicle between the buoys.

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I picked up a few new lighting modifiers at KMart over the weekend. Specifically, some cheap frosted shower curtains. One is just plain frosted. The other, seen in the background of this shot, has vertical lines in it.



Setup on this has Pumbaa facing the big strobe on camera left, through a softbox, at around 1/4 power. The strobe is "flagged" as best as I could with black construction paper and gaffers tape to prevent spill onto the backdrop.

To camera right, above the pig, angled down, is a small reflector, gold side out, to provide a little fill.

Behind the backdrop is the 580EX II, at 1/8, through a blue gel, and then the LTP. I should have dropped it down a bit, or, raised my camera a bit.



The other nifty bit of this setup is the rig I cobbled together to hold the lightstand. It's a 1/4" wooden dowel, fit in an umbrella mount, with binder clips and rubber bands to hold the reflector:



If I was a little more patient, this should would have been better, because some of the wrinkles may have come out of the plastic backdrop, but, it's a start.

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Today is my sister's birthday.



We had some friends, and my sister, over for tacos. It was a good night.

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The lilies are getting taller - taken with a green filter, and a fairish bit of post done in Photoshop:

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Tax time again.



Taken with the 50mm at f/1.8 (to dramatically reduce my depth of field, thereby obscuring any important details) and the 580EX II through the LTP in E-TTL mode.

I tried something new, and applied some corrections and a JPG conversion in-camera. Sadly, that's much faster at processing these large RAW files than my PC. It might be time to upgrade ye old compy soon.

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Behind "The Standing Fire" lies the remains of an old house. The house is by no means ancient, but, it is abandoned, and looks pretty interesting:



Today, I took a short trip through the woods to check it out.

The house is in pretty rough shape, and smells of home heating oil. There's also a ton of debris visible without going into the house:





However, I wasn't really content to just stand at the door and peer inside, so, I let myself in:



The inside is really bad - there's a gaping hole in the floor, and the structure isn't exactly what you'd call "sound":



Now, I weigh an eighth of a ton, and was alone, so I didn't want to risk going through the floor, but, I shot what I safely could:





I'd like to go back with a second person, a length of rope, and a good flashlight.

If you're interested, there's a total of 28 photos of this short trek here on my Flickr set.

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Long day, longer night, and another shot of a stuffed pig.

Last night's shot of Pumbaa (I've been spelling the poor pig's name wrong since January 2nd) was a somewhat standard headshot type portrait, except I used a stuffed pig.

Tonight's shot is a little different. It's still a headshot, in the most technical sense, but conveys a completely different mood due to lighting and shooting angle.



This is a pretty big set up to light a stuffed pig.



Ambient is cut down to zero.

Fill is the 160WS strobe, through the big softbox, on-axis and down into the pig. It's set at a little over 1/8 (we'll get to that)

Key are two bare 430EZs, from the sides, at 35mm and 1/8 (again, pretty high power for a small studio).

Accent is the 580EX II at 1/4 through the built-in diffuser and a dark blue gel (once more, lots of sauce).

The flashes were set to retina-searing intensities because I had my lens stopped down to f/5.6. I knew when I was making this shot that I was going to take it into Photoshop for some high-pass action, and to get the most benefit from the high-pass filter, I wanted as much detail as possible, hence the smaller aperture.

Because aperture controls flash intensity, each stop smaller on the lens required me to set my flashes one stop higher in the power department to keep the correct lighting amounts and ratios. I normally shoot Pumbaa at f/2.8, so, stopping down to f/5.6 required two additional stops of power out of the flashes. Easy, right?

So, we've got a stuffed pig looking as menacing as a stuffed pig can look. I thought the bugs were a nice touch.

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I got a few softboxes today. One is the Lumiquest LTP, and it's designed to mount to a hot shoe flash. The other is a Flashpoint 20" x 28" for mounting on a bigger strobe.

With these two in my lighting arsenal, I'm now setup to do justice to head-n-shoulders type of portraits. I'm especially interested in headshots, and will be offering free headshots to anyone interested in the very near future.

Tonight's shot should have been The Missus, however, I wasn't terribly happy with the reflection on her glasses, which is something I need to fix. I suspect you'll be seeing Poomba wearing glasses in the not-too-distant future...

In any event, here's tonight's headshot:



Yep - Poomba. I used him to nail down the lighting ratios.

Setup looks like this:



I dialed down the ambient by shooting at 1/200. That pretty much rendered a black frame.

I added the fill light on camera-right by setting the 580EX II to 1/128 and firing through the LTP.

Key was the 160WS at a little over 1/8, through the big softbox.

Finally, accent was one of the 430EZs (behind the stool) through a lime green gel onto the backdrop. All of them triggered with the Cactii.

That's some pig!

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Shooting a new (to me) film this evening. PPS (remember them?) had some Ilford Delta 3200 in stock, and I wanted to see what a real high-speed film can do.

So far I've popped a few shots with the new film, and, even overexposing by a stop and a half with the 50 at f/1.8 reads as hand-holdable even under weak lighting. Removing the exposure compensation and I'm shooting at 1/250 under my relatively low-powered kitchen lights. Spicy!

The urge to tear through this roll is very high, but, I'm going to try to pace myself a bit. This film, unlike Tri-X, ain't cheap, at around $10 for 36 exposures.

For this evening's shot, expect either a cat, a water bowl, or The Missus.

It's a cat!

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I've been shooting a homemade test grid tonight on the Yashica. The more I shoot and measure, the more I believe that the focus may be off on this particular camera.

I've burnt the first half of the roll by focusing the camera through the viewfinder. I'm going to shoot the second half by measuring the distance from the film to the focus target and setting the focus distance on the lens accordingly.

We'll see where it goes, and you'll be right along with me as we get there.

Edit - no results tonight, because I forget to mix some developer yesterday, so, the new batch is mixed, but it's currently cooling down. Perhaps tomorrow.

So, the results are in, and they're not good.

I shot these two on a steady tripod, using the self-timer, under about as ideal conditions as my setup allows, and those conditions are relatively ideal.

This is one of the shots focused through the viewfinder:



Terrible, no? Blurry, out of focus, it's all bad.

This is a shot focused using the distance scale and a tape measure. Understand that this is somewhat non-scientific, as I was guesstimating the distance to the film in the camera. At the wider apertures I was shooting, an eight of an inch in either direction would certainly impact my focus. That said, it's not a perfect shot, and I don't mind admitting to being a little out of my league here when it comes to determining if the rangefinder is off, or, if the whole lens is pooched, too.



I've got a second one coming in the mail soon. I'll test that one, and see what happens.

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For the big one-oh-oh, I wanted to post something special, a shot that means something, and nothing in life means more to me than The Missus.

I realize it sounds a bit cheesy; that's fine, think what you will. She has the patience of a whole busload of saints, she puts up with my obsessive-compulsive tendencies, and she does it all without losing her cheerful, quirky nature.

Pooks, this one's for (and of) you.



BTW - I'm pretty sure she doesn't read my blog, so, if you see The Missus, maybe send her this way - it might get me out of the doghouse at least once. Just don't tell her I said that!

Gadgets, Gizmos, and Great Service

I've mentioned the Cactus V5 triggers, so, I won't go into any more detail there, except to say that they're going to make lighting my shots much easier, and much safer (for the flashes).

I also picked up two Yashica Electro35 GSN cameras. I bought two because, one, they're cheap, and two, they were made in 1973, so, it'll be nice to have a parts camera if needed. One of the came in the mail the other day, and I've already burned a roll of Tri-X playing with it. The negs look good, I don't see any evidence of light leaks, and it seems to be metering perfectly.

The Yashicas are coupled rangefinders, with a parallax adjustment, and have one of the finest-rated lenses on cameras in their class. They sport a fixed 45mm f/1.7 lens. They aperture-priority only, with a weird metering system that gives you a yellow or red arrow in the viewfinder indicating which way you should turn the aperture dial on the lens for a proper exposure. A left arrow means that you won't be able hand-hold at your current aperture, and a right arrow means you're exceeding the max shutter speed, so stop it down a bit.

Max shutter speed is 1/1000, which is a bit of a bummer, but, they also have a hot shoe AND a PC Sync Cable for flash triggering. How cool is that?

Unfortunately, since I don't have any way of setting the shutter speed, I don't see much studio use for the little buggers, but, they're pretty small and extraordinarily quiet. No mirror slap, no motor drive for the film, and, no auto-focus.

Readers of a my blog get a sneak peek at one of my Pics of the Day. The "real" shot is still rolled up in the 620, but this is the digital cheater shot I took to play with the lighting.



Cool, eh?

Oh - and about that "Great Service" in the title...

Do you live within spittin' distance of Wilkes-Barre?
Do you own a camera?
Do you make prints?
Do you shoot and/or develop film?

If you answered "yes" to at least three of those questions, go throw some business at Professional Photographic Services, on Scott Street, in Wilkes-Barre. Here's their website: www.wbpps.com.

Great folks, reasonable prices, and a local business that supports people in our field. I stopped down on Friday to take a look around (don't expect much looking - it's a counter) and left with some cool film, and some developing chemicals.

They do prints, scans, all sorts of film developing - you name it.

Go there. Do it now!

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Do I need to say it?



I'll just point out that, for the first time in my life, I wasn't able to lay my hands on a red Flair pen, which is why I went with the red Sharpie.

Setup is pretty basic:



The SunPak (I'm thrilled to be able to use these again - they didn't work on my old triggers) with the Fong Lightsphere to light up the pen, and one of the 430EZs with a barndoor to provide selective light on the sword.

There's another sword shot coming, but it's currently residing on a not-yet-finished roll of film in the 620.

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I made mention on my Facebook page that I tested the Cactus triggers, and found out that by mounting the transmitter to the CTR-301P triggers on the Cactus transmitter, I could pop both sets simultaneously.

This is the result:



Clockwise, starting at the bottom center, you have:

The Big Strobe, fired by a CTR-301P.
One of the SunPak PZ5000AFs, fired by a Cactus V5.
The Canon 580EX II, fired by a Cactus V5.
One of the Canon 430EZs, fired by a Cactus V5.
The other Canon 430EZ, fired by a CTR-301P.

I would have included the two other SunPaks, but, I ran out of batteries.

These triggers are fantastic. They were obviously designed with serious small-flash lighting in mind. They boast a hot shoe on top, to mount the flash, a cold shoe and a 1/4" socket on the bottom, to mount to a light stand, a 3.5mm jack to connect to either a PC socket of a 6.5mm jack on strobes, 16 channels of 2.4 gigahertzy goodness, group triggering, and common AAA batteries.

Score!

POTD 97 of 365

Tonight, I was at a bit of a loss as to what to post - but I recalled reading somewhere that laundry detergent glows under a blacklight.

I happen to have a CFL Blacklight bulb that I purchased specifically for photographic purposes, but, to date, I haven't put it to any use.

I'm not terribly pleased with this shot, but, it's something.

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Big day - hit up FlashBus tour in Philly, and, while the first rule of FlashBus is you don't talk about FlashBus, I'm going to have assume that only applies to techniques we learned, and not our overall impression of the event.

The morning kicked off with David "The Strobist" Hobby, discussing some shots he'd taken previously. A little light on technique, and not much new material. If you want to get a good feel what was covered, I'd suggest reading Mr. Hobby's blog: The Strobist. Lighting 101 goes quickly, and provides a great broad overview of off-camera flash lighting. Lighting 102 really digs in to more advanced techniques.

David uses manual control for his flashes, which is great for shot-to-shot consistency. Where he shines, however, is how he handles his clients. The man has a wonderful lens-side manner, and drove home how important that was in the portrait process. His clients feel at ease with him, which enables him to get some fantastic shots.

After a lunch break, the afternoon session hit the ground running with Joe McNally (I'd suggest checking out his blog, because Joe is a pretty amazing individual. He's shot for National Geographic for decades, had lit up subjects using 57 individual small flashes, and is the genius (and, to my way of thinking, hero) behind the "Faces of Ground Zero" project. Check it out here.

Joe's just a damn engaging guy - his whole segment was live shooting. He shot tethered, and the images ended up on the big screens for everyone to see. We saw the lighting evolve into his finished images, and the rationale behind his technique. He does shoot TTL, which I find expensive and inconsistent, but seeing how quickly he pulled shots together definitely illustrated one of the main advantages to TTL.

Another quick break, and the two guys took to the stage to answer questions, share a few stories, and give stuff away. The segment could have lasted another two hours, and I still would have wanted more - it was great.

I'd be remiss if I didn't include a picture:

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This is one of my new toys.



I've been looking at rangefinders because they're a little lighter, a little simpler, and they're something I have absolutely no experience with.

I researched them a bit. The crème de la crème of rangefinder cameras, Leica, is just a teensy bit out of my price range. The Yashica Electro35 GSN shown here is generally well-regarded, has good optics, and, most important, is cheap. I snagged two of them on eBay for well under $100, including shipping from two sellers.

Oddly enough, the GTN model, while functionally identical, goes for a ton more, because it's all-black and more "collectible". As Nero Wolfe would say, "Pfui". I use my damn gear, and regard anyone who collects the stuff just to have it as a step off.

I've already put a roll of Tri-X through the camera, and exposure and metering are great, but my focus is sorely lacking. I'm not going to blame the equipment yet, because I haven't shot it in a controlled environment, nor have I shot it with my contacts in (the RF diamond is a bit hard to see with glasses).

If I can resolve my focusing issues, this thing is going to be a joy to shoot. It's light, and quiet.

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This has been in my studio since before the studio was a studio. I'm surprised I haven't posted any pictures of it. Until now:



It's really folded (30 times, according to the maker), really clay-tempered, and really sharp.

It's also really hard to photograph without getting nasty reflections. I wimped out on this shot and shadowed the blade, rather than going for the specular highlights.

I will, undoubtedly, get this back up on the table for another shot or two.

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Film this evening - shooting an anachronistic subject on an anachronistic medium.

This is my "daily driver", so to speak, although, I don't generally make daily use of it.



Lined it up on the 60D, shot on the 620.

I'm a weird one, no doubt.

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First night at the Drive-In this season!



Woo!

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Tonight, a shot of one of the cats:



I'm afraid I copped out this evening and went for the easy shot. On-camera, TTL flash, through a Fong lightsphere.