 |
| Round Bales in the Field |
Pat bought some simple sunflowers for the table yesterday. As I was getting out of bed, and fumbling for my first coffee, I couldn't help but notice how beautifully the morning sun was coming in through the dining room window. So, after a quick caffeine break, I grabbed my camera.
The scene could be set in so many ways - I could've arranged the flowers & draped a sheet or towel to create a neutral background, so the flowers were the focal point. But I decided to do what I could in-camera. No tricks, just pure photography.
This is the first image I took. It is dark in all the wrong places, and it almost looks like the vase full of stems was the focal point. But this is how it looked when I noticed the warm vibrancy of the sunlight. And look at the shadows on the apples - I really love the sense of depth.
This is the same image, gently re-touched. I'm not a huge fan of overdoing post-processing. I believe that the best photos happen in the first 2" behind the camera - the photographer's eye.
The image I captured has been cropped to 16X9, because I love the feel of that aspect ratio. I brought the exposure up about 2/3 of a stop, and played a little with the blacks & whites.
Some may feel that the vase now looks blown out, and that is OK. I like how it looks. The apples still have a nice sense of depth, but more of their colours are showing.
I could have messed with the saturation of colours in the flowers & stems. I could have, but I didn't. They have wonderful tonality (really... I did just say that !) that also gives them depth.
Rule of thirds, golden ratio, bah ! A nice, simple capture of something that caught my eye first thing in the morning.
It truly was the "golden hour".
No, not the famous Canadian trio of Geddy Lee, Neil Peart & Alex Lifeson (although they are awesome !). Rushing is the bane of the amateur photographer ! In this day of digital photography, it is way too easy to hurry and not think about setting up your shot.
For example, look at these two photos:
This one has the white balance set for a sunny afternoon, about 5000 degrees Kelvin. See how yellow it looks ? I look like I have jaundice or something !
This photo has had the white balance corrected to indoor, flourescent lighting, about 3200 degrees Kelvin. Notice how it looks a quite a bit lighter, and more natural ?
In fact, both photos were taken with flash & a 1/2 Green gel to compensate for the lighting. But because I had the white balance set up wrong - because I was rushing - all the photos were like this. Thanks goodness it was an easy thing to correct in post-processing !
Note to self - Stop. Check EVERY setting before looking through the lens...
Sometimes I find myself feeling like I'm losing my creative mojo. I really caught the photography bug when I realized that it appealed to both the technical side of me as well as the "left brain" side. I follow a few photographers blogs and am slightly in awe of the many projects they undertake.
But lately, I seem to struggle with it. There is this whole notion of being able to "see the light" because after all, that's what photography really is, isn't it? I'm not sure what I can do about it. Most blogs remind me to shoot often, regardless of technique or style, just to keep the juices flowing.
So one of the things I have been doing is going through my photo catalog and comparing some of my older work to my more recent images. I definitely see a difference in the way I have approached post-processing, although I highly dislike the notion of "tweaking" my photographs. Sometimes it just can't be helped.
So I guess what I am trying to say here is that I am searching for my muse. As this blog progresses, you may see some odd photos, as I try to regain my Photo Mojo. Stay tuned...
Pat taught me how to make jam over the past few days. On the first evening, we made ten jars of strawberry jam. I thought it would make a colourful subject for this blog, so I documented the process. The second evening, we made bumbleberry jam. This time I slowed down & thought about what I was doing. I made two changes between the first & second nights.
The Setup
Day 1 - I shot handheld, with my Canon 60D. I wanted a fast lens, so I used my Canon 40mm f2.8 lens, and mounted my Canon 430 EX II flash in the hotshoe.
Day 2 - still handheld with the 60D, but with my Canon 24-105mm f/4 L lens instead. I mounted the flash in the hotshoe, but added a half-density orange gel to correct for the incandescent lighting.
Let's see how the pictures look !
The Photos
Day 1 - no gel:
Here is Pat, cooking the strawberry jam. It's bubbling away so hard, it looked molten ! Notice the yellowish tinge in the appliances & her shirt ! That's the incandescent lighting.
Here we see the yellow tinge, but more pronounced.
Day 2 - 1/2 CTO Gel on the flash
In this photo, the colours are correct. The whites are white - not cream, and the strawberry jam is a brilliant red.
Did I mention we made a dozen jars ? ;-)
Lessons Learned
Once again, I need to remember to slow down & plan my shoots. The photos turn out much better when I think through all the components - especially when I think about light temperature !
We have been busy with moving (hence so few posts lately - sorry !) and the new house has a beautiful backyard, with trees & shrubs. Further, it is secluded away from any high-traffic streets, making it calm & peaceful - a perfect venue for photographing birds !
I will readily admit - I cheated ! I hung a couple of bird-feeders to attract the local "cheep cheeps". It gave me the ability to get them relatively stationary, as well as attracting a variety of different kinds of birdies.
The Setup
I set my Canon 60D on top of my Manfrotto tripod. The feeder is at the back of the yard, so I wanted all the stability I could get - I even used the shutter-release cable ! Then, in order to get nice & tight, I mounted my Canon 70-200mm f/4 L series lens, but I fronted it with a Canon 1.4X TeleConverter. Some fast math makes it: 200mm X 1.4 (the TC) X 1.6 (the crop factor for the APS-C sensor). That comes out with an effective lens length of 448mm of telephoto goodness.
At that length, camera shake is a real concern. I had already physically stabilized the camera with the tripod, but just to be safe, I made sure to shoot at no less than 1/400 of a second. I didn't want to create any bokeh effects, or worry about Depth of Field issues, so I set up at f/11. In order to achieve decent exposures, I ran the ISO up to 2000 !
Finally, because it is getting chilly out, I elected to stay indoors. Shooting through a window means you have to be careful with reflections & dirty windows, but we made out OK. See for your self !
The Photos
I took about 30 exposures, and kept about half. Of those, there were really only half a dozen which caught my eye. Here they are, for your enjoyment:
I apologize, but I know almost nothing about birds. This fancy little red fellow caught my eye right away !
This handsome pair stayed for most of the 30 minute shoot. Perhaps they knew they were being photographed ?
The little red fellow took turns keeping watch as the other birds ate.
W.C. fields made a name for himself & referred to all women as "my little chickadee !" .
See what I mean ? That little fellow kept a silent vigil for the other birds...
Finally, he came and are himself, after all the other little birdies ate !
Lessons Learned
This was a straight-forward shoot. I would have liked to capture the birdies as they landed, perhaps if I drove up the shutter speed, I might capture some fantastic wing-action ! Next time... The feeders aren't going anywhere... ;-)
Why would you want to do that ? It allows the photographer to more selectively light the scene. Imagine a photo of a model in a dark room. Perhaps you want to expose the background to look like a black backdrop. That's easily achieved, but you still need to light up the model, to show off contrast and colour. The grid or snoot will help "aim" the light at the models face, while minimizing the spillover onto the background.
The Setup
These are some more "goofing around" shots. None of my available models were out of bed yet, and I was getting impatient. A very simple setup, with the Honl 1/8 grid attached to the Canon 430 EX II via the Honl speed strap. The whole shebang is mounted on the hotshoe of my Canon 60D, which has my general purpose 24-105mm f/4 L lens attached. I shot handheld for quick & dirty testing.
The Photos
A simple before and after shot. First without the grid, followed by a photo taken with the grid.
Note the even lighting. I used no other light modifier, like a gel, as there was no other ambient light - just the flash at 1/8 power.
For comparison, this photo is shot with the exact same settings, and the grid in place. Note how quickly the light falls off ! The grid directs the flash down a very narrow beam.
Lessons Learned
The use of a grid or snoot allows more creative use of light. It provides an easy way of selectively lighting a small portion of the frame, while quickly allowing the ambient light to light the rest. I see this as very useful for fill-flash and portraiture.
Seems that different lighting has different "temperatures" - you get a feel for it when you see pictures that appear to have a cool blue tinge, or ones that have a warm orange glow to them. Colour temperature is measured in terms of degrees Kelvin, and different lighting has different colours associated with them. Primarily, the objective is to get back to an "honest" white colour. Unless, of course, you WANT to create warmer or cooler tones in your photographs !
The Setup
It took me a bit of running around town, but I finally picked up the components I wanted. My preferred supplier, Saneal Cameras in Calgary, had the Honl speed strap at one store, and the gels at another. I bought a grid while I was at it, but we'll discuss that in a separate blog entry. I like the Honl system, because it makes quickly changing between gels and grids easy. The speed strap loops around the flash and then the components attach to the Velcro for a firm grip.
This isn't really a photo shoot, I was just messing around, attaching the gels & seeing what the effects are. I used my handy Canon 60D handheld, and affixed the 24-105mm f/4 L series lens. Around one of my Canon 430 EX II speed lights, I wrapped the Honl speed strap and started expeimenting. I have:
2X full Green gels (CTG ?)
1X full Blue gel (CTB)
1X half Blue gel (CTB)
2X full Orange gel (CTO)
2X half Orange gel (CTO)
2X quarter Orange gel (CTO)
The Photos
This photo was taken with a full green gel. If you compare to the other two pictures, everything has a sickly green colour. The kitchen was illuminated only by the light coming in the window. The green gels are to be used to colour-correct for fluorescent lighting.
This photo has the full blue gel applied to the flash. Can you see the difference ? I bet you can ! Note that the calendar (taking the top left corner) is white.
This photo was taken with the full orange gel applied to the flash. It's amazing the difference that the different gels make. Note that the wall beside/behind the refrigerator is a light beige colour.
So let's see the colour-correction in action. For the following two photos, I took shots of the window & door off of our dining area. The window and door are brilliant white, while the only light source is the tungsten (incandescent) chandelier overhead.
This photo was shot using the flash, but without any gel to modify the light source. See how there is an dingy yellow cast to it ?
Here is the same scene, only using the full orange gel. The whites look white again !
Lessons Learned
Photography is merely the task of capturing light. But when we need to add external light to a scene, such as a full-flash, we need to be careful to balance our flash against the ambient light in the scene. I will keep experimenting with flash photography, and use the gels accordingly. The aim is to improve the overall appearance of the photos.
The Setup
My thought was to set up for a black background, and then light the model from above and to her right. Then, I wanted to place another strobe below and behind her. I was hoping to create a sort of light halo effect. Unfortunately, I didn't get the halo as her hair was as dark as the background. Worse, I had remarkably dark shadows across her face.
I shot the Canon 60D handheld. In the hotshoe was one of the Cactus v5s. I was set for a black background - f/250, ISO 100 and an aperture of 16. One Canon 430EX II was mounted on a Cactus v5 atop a tripod to the kodel's right, while the other was mounted on the trigger and placed on the floor.
The Photos
I am still learning about portraiture. It's not really something I'm very good at, so I was fortunate that my daughter agreed to be my model. It is easy to have a good rapport...
In this first photo, the main light was too powerful. While I had a nice dark background, you couldn't really see any definition between the background and the kodel's hair. And the pose is funny - unnatural, even. It looks like her eyes are pointed in two different directions !
Here, the main light is better, but the secondary is still underpowered. There are very harsh shadows on the models face. Given how pale her skin is, I would've liked to have made her skin tones warmer with a bit of makeup.
This one is better. We see a nice cross-lit effect, haloing her cheek and chin. And there is even a hint of catch-lights in her eyes ! But her dark hair is lost in the black background, still.
This is a little bit tighter a shot. I like the effect of the cross-lighting, and the black background.
Lessons Learned
I still need to figure out how to create the halo effect around the model's hair. I suspect my life would be easier shooting at night, when the room is darker to begin with. I'd also like to try to use a reflector to cross-light the face, which would free up the flash for the halo effect !
It's truly a simple effect involving the use of flash (or sometimes called strobe) photography. Cameras have a maximum speed with which they can sync with the flash to achieve a nicely lit picture, it's usually around 1/250th of a second. Keeping that portion of the exposure triangle still, we next dial down the ISO (the sensitivity of the CCD) to 100. The only thing left that is adjustable is the aperture. All we do is close that down until a picture taken in the ambient light is completely black. Now, anything lit up by the flash will be nicely lit, while the background remains black.
The Setup
Nothing really complicated the Canon 60D, set at f/16, ISO 100, and a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second. The Cactus v5 was mounted in the hotshoe, so I could use the Canon 430EX II off-camera. I placed it on a basic tripod with the other Cactus v5, so I could move the light & the camera around freely.
The Photos
Believe it or not, this is a photo of Pat's flowers on the dining room table. I was setting the ISO, Aperture and shutter speed to get a black background. Got it !
Whoops ! The flash was spilling onto the background too much, so I elected to put a snoot on the flash, to more tightly focus the beam.
That's better ! Although you will notice the pen & paper on the tabletop still show up faintly. Now to play around a bit... ;-)
The first few pictures weren't as bright as I would have liked, so they came out a little dull. Time to up the power of the flash a notch, and move the light stand a little closer !
Much better ! I like the contrast created by the various petals on the flowers.
I think this is one of my favorite photographs of the shoot...
Lessons Learned
I thought I really understood this technique, but now with a little better tutorial, I think I know how to nail it whenever I need it. Certainly, implementing the snoot helped narrow the beam, and moving the light stand over to one side helped with not lighting the background. I really like this technique & see myself using it for portrait work.
So todays's project was to slice it up & repackage it, so that we could enjoy it over a longer time. Unfortunately, we are also getting ready to move, so our meat-slicer is packed, but I know not where !
The Setup
Product shoots require a little bit of planning. Usually, you use a light-box, which helps create evenly diffused light on all surfaces of the product. I didn't want to lose the feeling that we were in the kitchen, so I decided to just shoot handheld, right on the cutting board
I used my trusty Canon 60D, and mounted my 40mm "pancake" lens. While it is capable of a nice wide aperture, I wasn't interested in a really shallow depth of field, so I shot it at about f/8. I also mounted a single Canon 430EX II on a Cactus v5 trigger, so that I could simply wash the ceiling & create a more natural light.
The Photos
So let's see how we did:
The smoked meat had a beautiful "marbled" effect. Montréalers will tell you, it must be served fatty & hot, so the fat runs out, releasing the flavour !
When the meat is cured, it is first rubbed with a wonderful medley of cracked pepper, which you can see here. Obviously, this shot is taken before we began slicing the meat.
While I wasn't able to shave it as close as I could have with the slicer, I still got nice thin slices. We then arranged them in stacks, so that they could be repackaged.
Lessons Learned
I spent a lot of time working out the lighting. I took a number of shots that I immediately discarded, as they looked so unnatural. I tried bouncing the light, dialling it down & aiming it slightly away, and I still couldn't get the look I was looking for. Finally, I decided "back to basics !" and washed the ceiling with light at about half power. Finally, it looked natural to me.
Posted with Blogsy
