Fussy (Bonus Pic)

I figured that I would post this one in order to move my corporate headshot down the blog a little bit. I took this shot when my daughter was a few weeks old. I've always liked it because it captured a moment that was very real, but also one that is not typically photographed. Luckily, we forget those crying newborn days very quickly and we remember all of the good times.

Corporate Headshot - Day 59 of 365

Today's picture is rather boring.  On Friday, I found out that I have to submit a headshot and bio for a meeting that I have coming up with the CEO of the parent company of the company that I work for (a multinational technology conglomerate).  I haven't had a headshot done in years, so I figured that this would be an opportunity to see if I could do my own headshot instead of going out to get one done (or, worse yet, having the company default to using my ID badge picture, which is really bad).  I haven't had a lot of practice doing people shots, so this was somewhat of a challenge for me -- it was definitely different than my "Rock & Roll" shot from the other night.

Because I'm new to doing portrait/headshot photography, I used the great info that I found over on Stefan Tell's photostream.  Stefan has generously provided some really great portrait/headshot setup info in his flickr photostream and in his blog.

In the end, I decided that, as a beginner at this, I should keep it simple.  I went for a one strobe (flash) setup.  I had an SB-600 placed camera left and high about 45 degrees in front of me, a reflector close in to me camera right (I used a reflective windshield cover taped to a mic stand).  I used another windshield cover to partially gobo the background to keep it from getting too dark (my room wasn't big enough to move far enough away from the background to get the color of gray that I wanted).  The background is just a white wall with the spill from the single strobe.  The strobe provided all of the light in the shot (without it on, the picture was pitch black).

It's not a masterpiece, but I'm happy with how it came out.  I think that it should do fine for its purpose.  I had fun doing it, but I missed the creativity element that I normally have fun with when I do my Project 365 shots.

A Little Bit of Sunshine - Day 58 of 365

I bought a couple of these on my way home from work the other night because it has been so cold outside and these really looked like warm weather to me. Tonight I was pretty beat, so, instead of setting up an intricate shot, I figured that I would test my hand at capturing this beautiful Mum (thanks ND2945 for letting me know what kind of flower it is :.).

Strobist: 24"x24" Softbox with an SB-600 in it camera right and above the flower. Bare SB-600 on a green wall about 10' behind the flower. BTW, the flower's stem fit perfectly in the umbrella mount on my light stand, so it was really easy to maneuver/place.

Rock & Roll - Day 57 of 365

When I was young, all I wanted to do was play guitar. From the minute that I got home from school until it was time to go to sleep, I was playing my guitar. As soon as I figured out the basics, I was playing in bands and having a great time with it. There are very few things in life that give you the rush that you get from standing in front of a crowd and playing loud, rock and roll music. Even though I've "grown up", my band days have past and I sit behind a desk all day, sometimes, when I close my eyes, this is still how I see myself.

Strobist Info: A single SB-600 on a stand at 1/2 power (it is pretty easy to figure that one out from looking at the shot). I was using an 85mm f/1.4 on my D90, so the camera was a ways back. The CLS system was out of range, so I broke out the RF-602s (they worked flawlessly). I used the same mister from last night to spray a mist of water in the air before I hit the remote (yes, it is still raining in my basement from last night's shot).

Bokeh Frog - Day 56 of 365

Bokeh Frog (56 of 365), originally uploaded by lighthack.

Bokeh Frog in the City. Well, actually, I was scrambling for something to shoot again tonight (that is getting to be a very familiar scene around my home) and I found this porcelain frog that my niece Summer made for us a few years ago. I've always liked it, so I decided to see what I could do with it. After trying a few things that didn't work out, I decided to do my whimsical take on a Dustin Diaz style 365 city scene (with a frog and no city). I didn't have a city (or Dustin's talent) to work with, so I went down to the basement, plugged in all the lights that I could find for a background and tweaked things until it kind of looked like the frog was hanging out in the city. He is sitting on a dark wood floor that the lights are reflecting off of. For a little city fog/rain, I used my trusty spray bottle to mist the air as I took the shot. In the end, I think it kind of looks like this frog is hanging out somewhere in a city (a little bit at least).

Focus (bonus pic)

Focus, originally uploaded by lighthack.

I took this of my cat, Ivan, last summer. It is a good example of what a 50mm f/1.4 lens can do to create a shallow depth-of-field (DOF). Basically, when you open the lens aperture all of the way up to f/1.4 (meaning that it allows the light in through it's largest "hole" size), the field of focus (depth of field) becomes very shallow -- as you get away from the field of focus, everything becomes blurry quickly. Portrait photographers use these lenses often to bring attention to the focal area of the picture (like the eyes in this photo).

Fast-Forward - Day 55 of 365

Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road. - Stewart Brand

I saw this tape sitting around in a drawer and I laughed a little bit because I realized that I disposed of the last of my tape players a few months ago when I moved. My how things change. I can remember when I had hundreds of tapes (and records).

This was a pretty straight-forward shot - an SB-600 through a 24" softbox camera left and high (you can see its reflection in the top of the iPod). Another SB-600 bounced off a white wall behind the scene. I had originally set up a bunch of iPods around the tape, but I ended up cropping them all out because the original shot wasn't very interesting.

Shopping Practice - Day 54 of 365

Shopping Practice (54 of 365), originally uploaded by lighthack.

Ava has been practicing her shopping skills lately. She is nearly ready to tackle the malls, but she is a bit frustrated that Jimmy Choo doesn't make shoes her size. Oh well, sometimes life's just not fair.

Tranquility - Day 53 of 365

Tranquility (53 of 365), originally uploaded by lighthack.

After many, many photos involving hot reds, intense whites and black blacks, I was looking for a little calmness today. Maybe it reflects my mood, but all day I was thinking about taking a picture involving some greens -- not intense greens, but calm greens. I figured that I couldn't just take a picture of a green wall with a flash on it, so I decided to rescue the Baby's Breath from the now dead dozen red roses from Valentine's day. Tonight, Baby's Breath -- the long time backup singer -- was going to take its place front and center (well a little off center) and be the star of the show.

A single bare SB-600 on the back wall (which is a dark, ugly green, but looks alright when blown out a bit) and another SB-600 through a softbox directly above the flowers. Both on manual and fired via CLS from the popup.

Dancing Water - Day 52 of 365

I wasn't all that inspired tonight (translation -- Ava, my sweet, but teething, 15 month old daughter wore me out today), so I decided to set up a water shot and let luck make something for me.  For a shot of color, I set up a glass dish with red water in it and then I used a ziplock bag with a hole in it to release yellow water drops into the red water.  Here is one of the results.  With these, you never quite know what you're going to get until you look through the 50 or so shots that you end up taking.  I also went for a high key,white background on this one to bring out the colors.  I shot two SB-600's against the back wall (white) to make the wall white and to light the water.