Balintore vs Brora Rangers
Fri Aug 3rd - 9:54pm
This week's football pics didn't turn out quite how I thought they would. The Balintore 2007/08 season team pic was in the North Star as expected, but for some reason the John O'Groat Journal didn't use the Brora Rangers team pic. And none of the action pics from the Balintore vs Brora pre-season friendly were in the Ross-shire Journal although they did use the Inver team pic from last week's Seaboard Cup final.
Wedding photos with off-camera lighting
Thu Aug 2nd - 10:17pm
Wes Craft shows us how it's done with this set of wedding photos using off-camera lighting set-ups. Not just the formals, though, as that's standard practice nowadays. (Even I light the formals!) Wes takes it to another level by lighting the reception too. I don't know what's more impressive about these shots: The speed that Wes must work at, or the way he makes his lighting look so natural. Seeing these shots is definitely pushing me towards doing this sort of lighting at my next wedding…
Student Andrew Worrall covers Minnesota bridge collapse
Thu Aug 2nd - 9:57pm
The NPAA has a story about student photojournalist Andrew Worrall who was one of the first on the scene of the Minnesota bridge collapse. Some of Andrew's images are in his SS.com gallery. And CNN has the first video showing the actual collapse which is leaked footage from a security camera. (Note that you might have to sit through an advert before the video starts.)
Update: Photo District News has an interview with Andrew.
Seagull and sail boat
Thu Aug 2nd - 6:13pm
Seems like I've been sat at this computer for weeks, doing prints and then re-doing them, over and over and over again. Upgrading to Vista and a backlit screen was a great move in some ways, but it also means I need to approach my workflow for prints very differently. I'm only just getting the hang of it.
So I'm sitting here this afternoon, bored and gazing out of the window, wondering how it would look if I went and took a picture of this big tuft of grass with a flash behind it. Then a seagull landed on the only rock that stays above the water at high tide, so I went and took a picture of him instead.
I wanted to get a shot of the gull as he flew off but he decided to turn around and fly away from me. But then a sail boat arrived, presumably the same one I saw at 4am this morning. If anyone knows who the owner is then drop me a line so I can send them a copy of the picture.
Both shots were done with a Canon 1D and 300mm lens with 1.4x extender. You can click either picture to view a larger version.
Key shifting explained
Thu Aug 2nd - 3:02am
If you're just starting to take an interest in lighting, or if you want to learn an easy trick to get more from your on-camera flash, then this is a must-see video:
Digital Photography One on One
by StudioLighting.net
In this first episode, Mark Wallace of SnapFactory.com explains so-called key shifting, which isn't a term I've heard before but basically it's the technique for controlling ambient light and flash light separately in the same image. This is arguably the most important thing you need to know about your camera as it is fundamental to so many other techniques, and as soon as you get the hang of it you can start making some cool dramatic portraits with exactly the same equipment that you're already using.
Update: If you've watched the first episode and you don't want to wait for the second then head over to Mark's blog as he has posted it there already. This one discusses light meters in the same ground-up super-informative style.
Penny softbox
Thu Aug 2nd - 2:12am
Trying something for Lighting 102 yesterday and I needed a way to point a softbox downwards. Gear freak that I am, one thing that I don't have is a boom so this is the cheap alternative I came up with.
Instructions:
- Trim a thin strip off the long edge of a piece of white copier paper.
- Tear about an inch off the end of that strip and stick the long and short pieces together so you can fold them out to produce a T shape.
- Tape the T shape to the middle of the copier paper.
- Tape the other end to the middle of your flash head.
- Set the flash zoom to the right amount to cover as much of the paper as possible without spilling over.
You could increase the stability by using two strips, taped to the paper a couple of inches apart and then taped to either side of the flash head. That would prevent the paper from twisting and keep it flatter.
Total cost: One pence (rounded up)
Here's a sample image. The penny softbox was the only lighting used to make this image, positioned about 6 inches above the grater.
I've done shots like this before with £1,500 worth of lights and modifiers and the results were no better than this shot made with one flash and a sheet of paper. Admittedly I still use the proper gear for paying jobs, so if you're a future customer then don't worry about me turning up with a load of makeshift DIY stuff. But this example is further proof that you can produce strong images without spending a fortune on all the over-priced light modifiers on the market today.
Final post for Mighty Fine
Wed Aug 1st - 10:25pm
Perth photographer Shaun Ward has a poignant image in his latest Sports Shooter gallery, showing the race horse Mighty Fine winning the John Smith's Handicap yesterday. Shaun's caption:
Mighty Fine riden by Paddy Brennan races home to win the John Smith's Handicap at Perth Races on Tuesday 31st July. This was the last minutes for the 13 year old grey as it collapsed and died of a heart attack shortly afterwards.
Click here to view Shaun's gallery and then click on the second image. SS.com galleries tend to get shuffled around a lot so if you can't find the pic there then there's a smaller version on Shaun's blog.
There's also a brief news item on the Sporting Life web site.
Blowing a raspberry at 1,000 frames per second
Wed Aug 1st - 9:08pm
This is a slow-motion video of a man blowing a raspberry, filmed at 1,000 frames per second with a Photon FASTCAM 1024 PCI.
Stats on that camera: At its highest resolution of 1024×1024 pixels the standard 2Gb of memory is only enough to record 1.54 seconds at 1,000fps. The maximum 24Gb can store 18.44 seconds. Lower resolutions can be recorded at 3,000fps, 27,000fps and over 100,000fps. Just out of interest I've been trying to get a price but the manufacturer and retailers are a little secretive. Considering that there are rebates in the $7000+ range I think we're talking megabucks.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWGn6_EH2gM&mode=related&search[/youtube]
This one's good too. Someone was slo-mo filming an object being dropped into a pile of salt, when a fly decided to have a look. Notice how controlled and graceful the fly is in the air, but when it tries to land it just sort of points itself in the right direction and crashes down.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96URtwjm2o4&mode=related&search=[/youtube]
Photography e-mail list closed after union intervention
Wed Aug 1st - 6:13pm
Editorial Photographers UK reports that the NUJPhoto e-mail discussion list has been closed following intervention from the National Union of Journalists.
A private photographers’ email discussion list has in the last few hours announced itself as having closed after it came under pressure from the NUJ hierarchy to accept a membership application from a high ranking union official.
[…]
NUJ Irish Secretary Seamus Dooley, who is currently embroiled in controversy over the proposed Drogheda Independent house agreement, applied last week to join the private email discussion list, open to photographers who are members of the journalism union.
His application was subsequently turned down.
[…]
Last week, NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear criticised the decision and ordered the union’s Freelance Industrial Council – which contributes a small amount of funding towards the running costs of NUJPhoto – to reverse the decision and admit Dooley.
Concert photography tips
Tue Jul 31st - 7:38pm
Cincinnati freelancer Ryan Dlugosz has written up some concert photography tips. I'd question the use of primes over zooms but then compare Ryan's work to mine and I think he's the guy to listen to!
I just can't imagine shooting that Elton John concert, for example, with primes. If I'd used primes then I'd have probably gone for a 135mm on one body and a 14mm on the other, but on the day I don't think I used anything close to those two focal lengths. Changing lenses would have been practically impossible with the time restriction and so many other photogs bustling around in a small area.
