Macro faux

Macro faux sounds like some sort of 70's craft project.  But it is actually a fake ladybug in a fake green lawn. Macro shooting with a VERY slow, cheapo lens is a bit insane.  The miniscule depth of field combined with the impossibly slow autofocus means I am doing more moving of myself than I am the lens.  I basically set up the subject, and leaned forward and backward until it was in focus, which I wouldn't advise doing with a killer ear infection.

TTL again, straight bounce off the ceiling.  The darkening around the edges of the photo are due to the effects of the macro lens, not any of my efforts, but I like it.

Canon 5D Mark II
Promaster 70-300mm f4-5.6
228mm - ISO 400
1/60s- f/5

 
Canon 580EXII
TTL - not sure what the settings were
Flash on camera, bounced straight up

Dear Teddy

I recently invested in some lighting modifiers, including the a 8x12 flash-mounted softbox used here, and wanted to give them a try.  Being stuck at home sick definitely limited my choices of subject, so an old friend was tapped for picture duty.  I set my ISO and aperture to block out most of the ambient light and held the softbox above and pointed down towards the bear. 

So why a softbox?  A bare flash pointed directly at the bear from the same distance would have blown it completely out.  I would have had to move it much further away to work.

Another option would have been to bounce the flash off the ceiling or a wall, but that wouldn't have given me the nice catch lights in the eye and would have required more power from the flash. 

The softbox allowed me to keep the flash close and on lower power, allowing for fast recycling (the time it takes for the flash to be ready to fire again).  While this subject wasn't going to get impatient, others have been known to.  Look for more fun with light mods in the posts to come.

Nikon D90
50mm - ISO 200
1/160s- f/4

Nikon SB900
1/128 power @ f4
17mm zoom
Approximately 3' away from subject 
Pointed down @ 45-degree angle

A light at the end of the tunnel?

I'm feeling a little better tonight - hopefully I'm getting over the worst of this flu thing.  For tonight's picture, I just set up a flashlight, cranked my ISO way down and shutter speed way up, thus blocking out most of the light from the flashlight and the room around it.

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 50mm 1.4
50mm - ISO 100
1/400s- f/1.4

Five tenths

Today was the first day so far that I seriously thought about not posting a picture.  I'm home sick, and feeling pretty awful.  The thermometer only reads 99.1, but it is pretty amazing how bad you can feel with just five tenths of a fever.

All settings on auto, even the flash is TTL (bounced off of a white fill card to camera left.

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105 f4 
90mm - ISO 400
1/60s- f/4

Canon 580EXII
TTL - not sure what the settings were
 Flash on camera, bounced straight out off of fill card

Road Warrior Princesses

I was in a small town today taking pictures of some local real estate, and a gym class happened by on their bikes (a VERY small town).  One of them said "Are you going to take our picture!?" and they all posed, so I said "Sure!" and a picture of the day was born.  I love smiley people who like getting their picture taken!

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105 f4
96mm - ISO 100
1/125s- f/5

Ka-ching!

Today's picture is of a beautiful antique cash register.  I love the color and the keys.  Please see the special extra bonus shot at the bottom - my first intentional macro shot.  I have had this cheap 70-300 lens for years now, and just figured out how to use the macro function this weekend courtesy of my friend Wyatt Johnston.


Canon 5D Mark II
Promaster 70-300 1:4-5.6
70mm - ISO 320
1/60s- f/4

Canon 580EXII
14mm zoom @ 1/16 power
Flash on camera, bounced straight up to ceiling


 

 Canon 5D Mark II
Promaster 70-300 1:4-5.6
180mm - ISO 320
1/200s- f/6.3

Easter style (?)

My husband has started (I fear) a new tradition of wearing an Easter "bonnet" on Easter Sunday.  This year's creation was a cheap black fedora with yellow Peeps glued to it.  It caused quite a stir at church this morning, I can assure you.

I had to take a picture of him wearing it, of course.  I am working on my portraiture lighting, so I lit him with two flashes.  The afternoon was actually totally overcast and cloudy, and a bit gloomy.  White balance set to Shade helped correct for that, warming up the scene.

I set one flash on the ground to his left and slightly behind him to get some separation between him and the tree.  It created something of a sun-lit look on the tree, which I hadn't planned on, but really liked.


I held the second flash in my left hand, as far away from the camera as I could reach, and had him rotate his head until the flash wasn't reflected in the sunglasses.

The dark shadow on his arm is caused by my fingers blocking the diffuser on the flash head.  That sucks, but it also shows you how dark he would be if that flash weren't there at all.

I wish I was good enough to create some separation between the black sunglasses and the black hat - but I'm not.

I could also wish for no shadow on the Peeps, but I didn't notice that until it was too late.


Canon 5D Mark II
Promaster 70-300 1:4-5.6
70mm - ISO 320
1/250s- f/7.1

Nikon SB900
14mm zoom @ 1/16 power
Fired at same height as subject approximately 6' away

 Canon 580EXII
14mm zoom @ 1/16 power
Fired approximately 6; below subject from 4' away

Flashes triggered with Pocket Wizard II's