***DSLR/Photography MegaThread***

Okay I just ordered the lens hood. $59 for a piece of plastic, yikes!

Thanks for the heads up, I noticed it but it didn't bother me till you mentioned it. ;)

I like to push the angles on the lights so I think it's the best way to go for sure. Just expensive. :(
 
Okay... is HDR no longer the rage/interest?

any luck getting it with people? I tried it.... but not sure what I think.

DSC_0133_Hdr.jpg
 
Sweet macro work Glenn, love the bee flying.

The reviews of the Canon EF 200 f/2.0 are finally in and holy crap, it might actually be worth the $5500, I think the 85 f/1.2 just lost its' distinction as the sharpest lens on the planet.

Canon might be lagging in the body department, but it is nice to know they still know how to make a lens. </Canon_Fanboy> (although Nikon has had some really nice lens offerings as of late as well)
 
ValleyFan said:
Sweet macro work Glenn, love the bee flying.

The reviews of the Canon EF 200 f/2.0 are finally in and holy crap, it might actually be worth the $5500, I think the 85 f/1.2 just lost its' distinction as the sharpest lens on the planet.

Canon might be lagging in the body department, but it is nice to know they still know how to make a lens. </Canon_Fanboy> (although Nikon has had some really nice lens offerings as of late as well)
Click to expand...

Awsome lens but it looks heavy. That seems to be a good focal length for choice primes. I remember one of my first was a Nikon 180 which always seemed sharp as tack. I've had a couple 105s that were very sharp too, with almost no distortion. I like that site too. The data they give you on lenses if very cool.

BTW VF did you ever shoot anyting down at the camp at TSC?

FBJ, nice work on the macros. I also like the flying bee with the blurred wings. Although the other bee is kind of cool too because of the detail--especially the wing--wouldn't expect the wing to look so tattered.
 
DeaderFan said:
BTW VF did you ever shoot anyting down at the camp at TSC?
Click to expand...

All the stuff from Friday is here. I have stuff from Saturday that I haven't posted yet, a lot of work came in and I personally didn't think they were as good as Friday, but maybe I'll look through them again and post a few.
 
Can't believe I missed the other thread. Those are some awsome shots! And so many! Very nice work. I wish I could come away from TSC with pictures looking that good.
 
Took a lighting class from Samy's this weekend, and now I know why it was so relatively inexpensive ($180 for a 10 hour day, instructor, his assistant, and two models), because it is about half class, half ad for equipment I can't begin to think about affording, although I did get to shoot for a bit on a PhaseOne P65, which is a 65mp back at 16 bits per channel, it is ridiculous how amazing images that come of it look. The 16 bits make for some amazing light / dark transitions.

Anyway, here are some shots from the 5D, kinda so so, but it was interesting working with a model, I have a lot to learn.
(I have promotional release for these, and I consider this promoting myself you guys ;) )

SamPage_20080719_0351.jpg


SamPage_20080719_0363.jpg


SamPage_20080719_0375.jpg
 
I love the use of flags or whatever they are called in the third one. I'll have to borrow that. Great stuff. It adds an angular arty edge. I'd like to see it with gelled strobes on the backdrop, that would be sweet. Maybe purple to match the flower and make her stand out and be more mysterious. Maybe have her in a Kings jersey to complete the fantasy.

I'd like to see a rim light along her on the first one that is like the second one, what the blue is doing. The black on black is tough. It's probably my monitor.



This is one of the areas I need to work on is the studio stuff. I'm using a kind of backwards learning curve, starting with the huge Doll Factory and working down to the living room. Thanks for some much-needed inspiration!

So did they teach enough about technique on how to use your strobes or was it all big league lighting?
 
With the flag on the third one, you are actually seeing the shadow of the flag which is almost right over her head. The black on black in the first one isn't just your monitor, it is tough. There is a hair light, which is a strip light, I think she is just a little too far forward and is not catching much of it at all, but I think it would have been better to do it with a grid instead of a strip light, as it probably would have helped to separate the dress.

While we were working with all their big league lights, I did learn a fair amount which I think you could apply it to any number and sized lights you might have. I think the one thing that I came out of there really wanting (besides grids) was a light meter, so super handy and easy, and every element of the exposure is nailed every time, right on.

When I get a second, I'll attach the lighting set up for these.
 
OK, here is the set up for the first one, pretty much straight forward butterfly lighting, with a reflector at her feet for fill. You can see a flag right up against the beauty dish, close so its' shadow would be soft, this cut down some of the light to keep the hair from getting so hot, and so the hair light would be more visible.

SamPage_20080719_0354.jpg


Second setup, beauty dish in the same location, but instead of the hair light, there are strip lights left and right behind the model, focused mostly behind the model so there is a nice feathered falloff from the light. There is also another head on the right side behind the strip light that is gelled blue, this was originally going to light the drop behind the model, but was giving some interesting spill. An interesting note, you can't add color effectively to a white background using a gelled lamp, you really want 50% gray or darker to get effective color.

SamPage_20080719_0356.jpg


And the last setup was just a (for the most part) bare strobe high front, fill from a strobe with a grid which is conveniently hiding behind the flag on the left side. The strip light you see on the right is not being used.

SamPage_20080719_0368.jpg
 
The Say Cheese Long Beach photo contest was this weekend in Long Beach.
Here are a couple of my entries, they only allow 5 per person and they had to
be taken between noon yesterday and noon today.
I entered were these four plus one of my dog smiling.

GalVanIZed wanted some pics for her blog so I killed two birds..

light.jpg



Zampelli.jpg


squat.jpg



plane_guy_2.jpg


Plane Guy


Contest results will be made announced Saturday the 2nd
 
Messing around in the backyard...

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More here.

This is the setup shot:

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Last edited:
RR - I really like #2, my only wish would be to power down the flash a bit so what looks like a sunset happening in the background would be more visible.

Glenn - those are some fantastic shots! The tin-foil reflector is really working some magic, that was a great idea to use. I agree that the nice saturated backgrounds really make the shot. Very nice work! Interesting idea pushing two stops to get your shutter speed, any noticeable loss in shadow detail on the full sizes?
 
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