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.

POTD 63 of 365

I went to a new barbershop today for a haircut and a hot lather shave. If you're a guy in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and you're not going to Big Daddy's Barbershop, you're doing it wrong.

Joey hooked me up with a great haircut that perfectly compliments the handlebar mustache I've been sporting, and the shave was a transcendental experience. My normal razor is a straight razor (and there's a picture there, believe me) so I thought I knew what I was in for. I was wrong.

But, I digress. The haircut and the mustache seemed to want a tie and some suspenders.

As much as I hate being on this side of the camera, I'm quite pleased with the look itself:



Setup is pretty basic. The big strobe into a reflective umbrella at about 1/4 power, and a 430EZ at 1/4 power and two Rosco Cerulean Blue gels (to avoid white bands) lighting the backdrop.



Mad Men it ain't, but, still pretty tight.

POTD 49 of 365

I was really hoping to post a scanned negative for tonight's shot. *Sigh* Thwarted by an apparent lack of memory. When I started in IT, having 2 gigs of RAM in your server was considered overkill. Nowadays, you can't scan picture with less than four, it seems.

In any event, I was moping around the house trying to come up with something that didn't entail whipping out my iPhone, and I saw a horrifying site in the dining room chandelier.



Out with the camera, couple of shots to get the exposure right, and some serious white-balancing in Post (the chandelier is brass-colored) and done.

POTD 31 of 365

I really don't care to be on this particular side of the camera - but, I made a deal with myself that I would take one self-portrait per month throughout the course of the 365 Project. That said...



Have I mentioned my fondness for hats, yet?

Lighting on my mug is the 160WS strobe fired into a reflective umbrella, at slightly less than 1/2 (to account for the small aperture). The umbrella helped to get some of the light up under my hat.

Lighting on the backdrop is the 580EX II at 1/16, through a blue cinema gel.

Setup looks a bit like this:



Ignore the reflector - I thought I would need it, but, I managed to adjust the umbrella to get the light where I wanted it.

For reference, I was standing around one foot from the tripod.

POTD 11 of 365

Eye Phone

OK, seriously, this one is corny. However, if you've known me for more than 10 minutes or so, you'll be well acquainted with my love of terrible puns.

That in mind, expect more along this line.



Setup shot? No steekin' setup shot. I took a picture of my peepers with the iPhone camera, popped the picture on the screen, and held it in front of the Canon.

Focused and composed in Live View with the screen rotated forward, put the shutter on a 2-second delay, pusha-the-button, and done.