The Photophile

It's in the Details! 2

2012-02-04T08:33:00.002+02:00

It's in the Details!

2012-02-03T17:04:00.001+02:00

There is always something to photograph. Sometimes we just have to look a little closer.

Close Encounters of the Scary Kind!

2012-01-17T16:19:00.001+02:00

Coochy, coochy, coochy coo!

SNAP!

CAUTION!

2012-01-16T13:54:00.000+02:00

CAUTION!
Photographer at play! ...er, work. I meant to say work... Drat, caught out...

Looking down onto Paradise

2012-01-11T12:33:00.001+02:00

The previous photo was taken from the bend in the river that you can see on the left of this photograph of the Vaal river.

I had to wait for a while for a break in the clouds to let some sunlight through onto "Paradise".

This is Paradise!

2012-01-07T06:47:00.003+02:00

After working hard all of December at the mall taking photos of kids with Santa (and it really was tiring!) I finally had a break and went on holiday to the Vaal river here in South Africa. No internet or cell phone connection, sheer bliss, Paradise indeed!

My Santa Set-up

2011-12-14T22:10:00.001+02:00

Since the 5th of December I have been taking the typical Santa in the mall pics that we see every year! It's actually quite fun, but a lot of work as it has been crazy busy. While I have been there a lot of "pros" and amateurs alike have expressed an interest in my lighting set-up, how I do it, and why! It seems that the "strobist" concept hasn't caught on in South Africa the same way it has elsewhere in the world. So here is a short explanation and a few sample pics.

My basic setup is a couple of Nikon sb flashes, one sb700 and one sb600. I bounce both of these into umbrellas in order to diffuse the light and get a nice even lighting over the entire set. I use a shoot through umbrella and a black backed bounce umbrella, and the reason these two? Because it's what I have of course! If I used studio lights it would become much more complicated and require cables running electricity around for people to fall over, it wouldn't be as easy to unpack and pack, etc. Here is a pull back pic of the entire set-up:

There is a very large skylight directly above the area where we are located and the light coming in is constantly changing because of the sun moving, clouds, rain, etc. so in order to keep the light and colour consistant I totaly underexpose the scene by setting my camera to manual at 1/200s and f11. Without flash it looks like this:

My flashes are set to TTL and they automatically bring the exposure back up to normal. I fire them wirelessly via Nikons very cool CLS system. The final result looks like this:

Perfectly exposed, sharp, and with very consistant colour! I don't have time to download these to a computer, tweak them and then print them, so I shoot jpg and make sure that all my settings are correct in camera to achieve the fastest workflow and print them directly from my SD cards at the lab in the mall. The resultant prints are just great!

So if you want to put that nice shiny new dslr to good use and actually make some money to justify the expense then you now know how to do Santa pics for Christmas 2012! Whoohoo!

Todays Coffee!

2011-12-13T19:54:00.001+02:00

At the end of a long hot day shooting kids with Santa in Mall@Reds, it just makes the day a little better, one of lifes pleasures! A "Serious Cappucino" from Mugg and Bean.

Nikon D90, Aperture Priority, Nikon 40mm f2.8 Micro, 1/250s, f3.0, ISO200, hand held.

Toni

2011-12-08T19:58:00.001+02:00

For portraits black and white is just better! No?

Oooohhhh, FORK!

2011-12-06T21:01:00.001+02:00

Yeah, that's what I thought! Why? Dunno...

It's Christmas Season Again!

2011-12-05T22:29:00.001+02:00

Which means it's time for Christmas photos at the mall again!

This year my very talented wife painted some backdrops for me and I am taking photos at the Mall@Reds in Pretoria from the 5th until the 24th of December. She also sewed all the costumes for the kiddies to dress in that you can see on the table in the photo below.

Here is a basic setup shot:

And what the final result looks like:

There is also a "Fantasy Forest" backdrop and a typical Christmas Manger scene.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Simple Product Photography Set-Up.

2011-12-01T16:07:00.001+02:00

Simple is always good!

And the result:

A well used toy car from "Cars"

2011-11-30T22:29:00.001+02:00

Same setup as here: Seamless White Background - How To

Shades

2011-11-16T15:02:00.001+02:00

Another day another product shoot!

Nikon D90, manual mode, 200ISO, f11, 1/200s, Nikon 50mm f1.8D, Nikon sb700 and sb600 bounced in umbrellas left and right high. Set-up shot below.

Stock card seamless white background held up against the wall by duct tape. No photographer should ever be without duct tape!

This would have worked much better with a light tent... but I don't have one. Someone recently told me that photography is about problem solving, so sometimes you just gotta make a plan!
Note to self: get a light tent...

There's no BizNiz like ShowBizNiz!

2011-11-09T21:07:00.000+02:00

A step into the not so distant past...

2011-11-06T18:18:00.000+02:00

Who would have thought at the time that just a few years later Kodak would have abandoned slr's forever!

Check out this article about the then brand new and top of the line DSLR from Kodak: DCS 760 delivers crisp, clear photos.

Another "Portrait in a small place"

2011-11-02T15:23:00.000+02:00

Click HERE to see the set-up shot and more info for this photograph.

Portraits in small places

2011-11-01T08:33:00.002+02:00

So you don't have a studio, and the wife won't let you convert the spare room either, and the garage is full of junk, so what to do to be able to use that shiny dslr and the speedlights you got for Christmas last year and you've been itching to put to good use? Well you make some compromises and improvise. I have been living in a small apartment for the past year and don't have much space, but I can still setup my lights for a two light pic like the one below:

Here is how I set it up:

By using the curtains as a backdrop and squeezing the lights in between couches and side tables I managed to get a fairly good two light portrait set-up. Behind the model is my Strobist DIY Beauty Dish on a tripod. To the right and high is a shoot through umbrella on my junky tripod converted to super cool light stand. Nikon sb600 in the beauty dish and sb700 in the umbrella, both triggered via Nikons very cool CLS system. Easy peasy!

Studio session with a Famous Fashion Icon!

2011-10-20T11:21:00.000+02:00

Probably the most recognized face on the planet, and for all the wrong reasons. If you would like to practice portrait lighting setups on a small scale Barbie is your girl though! She doesn't charge much, she is very co-operative and always has a friendly smile. Oh, and she never complains about working long or odd hours.

Here is my small scale studio set-up:

The light on the left is my Strobist DIY Beauty Dish draped in a swathe of thin white material that basically turns it into a small softbox.

The Barbie doll was set into a cake and decorated for a 6 year olds birthday party.

I am in a TV ad for Census 2011

2011-10-11T00:22:00.001+02:00

I'm the grumpy farmer! Ha! :-)

Venetian Painted Mask

2011-10-05T14:37:00.001+02:00

Face painting is not just for children!

Portrait of a Man

2011-10-04T18:34:00.003+02:00

The eyes are the windows to the soul, and in photography we can capture that part of the reflection of the human soul for all the world to see. Isn't it all the more important then to make sure that all of our photographic skill is focused on capturing a persons eyes first and foremost and deal with the rest of the person as being only secondary to a successful portrait?

Bowl of Rice

2011-09-26T12:47:00.000+02:00

And below the set-up shot for "Bowl of Rice".

Normally I would try to get rid of the light spill from the flash shooting into the umbrella, but in this case it actually helped with the light I was trying to achieve by reflecting some light from slightly behind the subject.

Nikon D90, Nikkor 50mm f1.8D, f4.5, 1/200s, Nikon sb700 flash shot through a white umbrella with the wide angle flash diffuser out, hand held.

Assortment of E6 slide film for sale

2011-09-19T16:47:00.001+02:00

PLEASE NOTE - ALL SOLD OUT!
I recently sold off my beloved film cameras (except for the Olympus Trip 35) and so I am letting my film stock go as well. If you are in South Africa and interested in 35 rolls of expired but frozen for years film then drop me a note at thephotophile@gmail.com and we can make arrangements for delivery. There is Provia, Velvia 50, Kodak EPR 64, etc. The works for only R300!

The usual set-up shot follows:

Olympia Express

2011-09-04T15:22:00.001+02:00

Nikon D90, Aperture Priority, hand held with VR on, 0.25s, f8.0, 18-105mm kit lens at 18mm, Auto White Balance, edited in Corel Paint Shop Pro X3.

Swing and Puke

2011-09-04T14:24:00.001+02:00

Nikon D90, Shutter Priority, hand held with VR on, 0.5s, f5.6, 18-105mm kit lens at 18mm, Auto White Balance, edited in Corel Paint Shop Pro X3.

Snr. Puke Machine

2011-09-03T10:20:00.000+02:00

Nikon D90, Aperture Priority, hand held with VR on, 0.0769s, f8.0, 18-105mm kit lens at 18mm, Auto White Balance, edited in Corel Paint Shop Pro X3.

Jnr. Puke Machine

2011-09-02T21:41:00.001+02:00

Nikon D90, Aperture Priority, hand held with VR on, 0.25s, f8.0, 18-105mm kit lens at 18mm, Auto White Balance, edited in Corel Paint Shop Pro X3.

Two Speedlight Portrait

2011-08-31T21:40:00.000+02:00

So I have been trying to ~~lure another victim into my photographic snare~~ solicit another eager and willing volunteer to try out a slightly edgy looking two speedlight portrait when I spotted my son Ben in an ACDC t-shirt looking very much like an 18 year old and I ~~conned~~ asked him to pose for me. Of course he was ~~a little reluctant~~ very eager to please as always and jumped to the opportunity to be featured on my blog!

Nikon D90, manual mode, 18-105 kit lens, zoomed to 105mm, f22, 1/200s, ISO200, Nikon sb600 to camera left and behind Ben shot bare and sb700 camera right with shoot through umbrella with both fired wirelessly via Nikon's nifty CLS system. Edited in Corel Paint Shop Pro X3 (which is going for a bargain price right now btw!).

Toyota LandCruiser FJ62 4X4 Station Wagon

2011-08-31T15:33:00.001+02:00

I am selling my trusty Toyota LandCruiser FJ62 4X4 Station Wagon.

Well looked after. Motor professionally redone last year by Toyota SA. Comes with bull bar, roof carrier, high lift jack, 4x metal Jerry Cans, full alarm/immobilizer/anti-hijack system, Dobinsons shocks and springs all around, recovery strap, window tinting and cd/radio. The "real deal" for overland travel through Africa!

If you are in the market for a good used 4X4 (and you live somewhere in Southern Africa!), then send me an email at thephotophile@gmail.com

And just in case you are interested, here is the obligatory set-up shot, it is a photography blog after all!

Nikon D90, 18-105 kit lens, taken in the middle of the day but in shade, zoomed to 52mm, manual mode, f8.0, 1/200s, ISO200, Nikon sb600 camera right and sb700 camera left fired wirelessly via Nikon's uber cool CLS system. I underexposed the shot a slight bit and let the flashes sort out their own exposure themselves via iTTL, this had the effect of a darker background which made the vehicle stand out. Isn't technology wonderful!?

Used Cotton Thread Reels

2011-08-21T09:27:00.001+02:00

I photographed these with the same set-up shown here.

Still Life - Taken with a Nikon F801s

2011-08-16T22:00:00.000+02:00

An old photo taken with a Nikon F801s and a junky Quantaray 35-80 zoom, in the late afternoon sun. This was my first attempt at a still life just after I had bought my very first SLR. While not a great photo in technical and artistic terms, it still holds a special place for me.

Seamless White Background - How To

2011-08-13T21:55:00.002+02:00

Just in case anybody was wondering how complicated it is to do a seamless white background product photo shot like the one below, I have included a shot at the bottom of this post to show how simple it can be done.

...and the promised setup shot:

Really not complicated at all! The flash was triggered via Nikon's cool CLS system. The groovy light stand is explained at another post here.

Orange Stack

2011-08-12T08:18:00.002+02:00

Nikon D90, 18-105mm kit lens, manual settings, 1/60s, f16, ISO 200, SB600 flash bounced into an umbrella from camera left and a little high, white cardboard sheet against a wall to provide a seamless background, edited in Corel Paintshop Photo Pro X3.

Dining Room in Totius House, Potchefstroom, South Africa

2011-08-11T19:53:00.005+02:00

Taken with the amazing Olympus Trip 35 on Ilford XP2 Super 400 film, developed at local lab and scanned on my CanoScan 5600F. The camera wouldn't let me take the pic because the light was too low, so I took it off auto and set it to f2.8 and voila! Got the photo anyway! I think it looks moody.

Also featured on the Olympus Trip 35 Cult blog.

2011-08-04T09:47:00.003+02:00

“It is one thing to photograph people. It is another to make others care about them by revealing the core of their humanness.” - Paul Strand

A portrait is not a likeness. The moment an emotion or fact is transformed into a photograph it is no longer a fact but an opinion .... All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth. - Richard Avedon

Look of Love!

2011-07-24T21:36:00.001+02:00

Contemplation...

2011-07-19T19:11:00.001+02:00

Pentax Z-10

2011-07-16T12:54:00.001+02:00

New toy, YAY! I will post photos and a basic rundown of how I like, or don't, this Pentax Z-10. I can already see that the power zoom is going to be a PITA.

Philz

2011-07-12T11:00:00.000+02:00

Nikon D90, Nikkor 35mm f1.8, 1/100s, f2.0, ISO 200, hand held, giant lightbox in the sky (read cloudy).

Fordson Tractor

2011-07-02T22:02:00.000+02:00

Hi, my name is Lanthus and I'm addicted to coffee...

2011-06-30T23:13:00.000+02:00

...but it's a good addiction right? And besides I can give it up any time I like! I rule the coffee...
...wanna go for a cuppa?

Another from the same session:

2011-06-14T09:56:00.000+02:00

Not the 50mm f1.8!

2011-06-11T10:20:00.002+02:00

After all the trumpet blowing for the Nikon 50mm f1.8 I decided to shoot the following portrait with the 18-105mm cheap plastic mount kit lens that comes with a lot of Nikon crop sensor cameras as part of the bundle. It was shot as wide open as it could go at 105mm, which is f5.6, hand held in natural light with VR on. I think the results are very acceptable.

Post processing was done in Corel Paint Shop Pro X3.

Perspectives...

2011-06-03T18:34:00.000+02:00

Try looking at that boring building from a new perspective. This one also had the setting sun turning the top floors a lovely golden colour!

Break Those Damn Rules!

2011-05-31T10:10:00.000+02:00

Who made up the rules, and why do we have to follow them?

A friend, and long time pro photographer, looked at my portrait photography last year and the first thing that struck him was that I often didn't use the traditional method of framing single person portrait photographs and mostly used "landscape" instead. It got me to thinking about why we have rules at all in photography. Quite often in our attempts to follow these rules (rule of thirds etc.) we make dull, boring, yawn, the same as all the other, yuck, please shoot me now, looking photos and sometimes when we inadvertantly break the rules the result is quite pleasing, and a breath of fresh air to me.

Maybe we should discard the rules and strike out to make photographs that stir the human soul instead. Can emotion ever have a formula? Heck, I want a photo to move me in some way. It should either make me happy, or sad, or nostalgic, or angry, or any damn thing but impressed with how well the photographer has handled the technical aspect of his mundane subject so well.

I would feel a lot more righteous about all of this if I didn't fall into the same trap myself on such a regular basis... oh well, back to the drawing board.

Strobist DIY Beauty Dish Portrait

2011-05-28T22:53:00.003+02:00

Taken with my Strobist DIY Beauty Dish. I fire the Nikon SB600 wirelessly in the Strobist DIY Beauty Dish by raising the D90's onboard flash and using it as the commander. By setting the onboard flash at minimum power it has the added advantage of raising the light in the shadow side of the models face just a slight bit.

What's Your Poison?

2011-05-27T10:10:00.001+02:00

My Genuine German Beer Mug!

2011-05-25T11:28:00.000+02:00

My step daughter in London picked this up for me at a boot sale and sent it to me in South Africa. It's simply the best Christmas present ever! It still says W-Germany on the bottom so it must be fairly old, and although used it's still in great condition.

It might just be me, but a beer certainly seems to taste better when I drink it out of this classy mug!

Bite Me!

2011-05-23T15:28:00.006+02:00

...no really, bite me.

The lighting used is a DIY hack. 4 cfl's in a cheap black plastic bucket that has been sprayed white inside to reflect the light and the mouth of the bucket has some thin white material stretched over it to provide some diffusion. It is on an old converted tripod high and slightly to the cameras right. The background is an A5 sheet of thin white cardboard propped up against a wall, with a sheet of polystyrene to the left acting as a reflector to help fill in the shadow. I set my D90 to a custom white balance to match the cfl's.

I will post a pic of the cheap plastic bucket studio light soon, so stay tuned!

You can take my photo...

2011-05-18T18:57:00.000+02:00

...but I don't have to be happy about it!

Children are tough to photograph...

2011-05-17T10:41:00.001+02:00

I think it's easier to photograph an erupting volcano than to get a child to just sit still for a few minutes for a simple portrait. But at least kids have great character, as Anzelle amply demonstrates here:

One Blue Eye

2011-05-13T23:00:00.002+02:00

His Masters Voice

2011-05-10T21:39:00.000+02:00

Remember these?

Nikon D90, Nikon 35mm f1.8DX, 1/125s, f2.8, ISO 800, natural light, hand held.

Look For A Different View!

2011-05-06T20:39:00.000+02:00

So one thing I like to do is find a different way of looking at a scene that's been done a thousand times before. Reflections, unusual angles, or just the videographers LCD screen! Hope his work isn't copyrighted, or he may sue me for using his material, even if it is just a fraction of a fraction of a second...

Sometimes you have to get down and dirty!

2011-05-05T11:03:00.001+02:00

In this case it was down on my belly in the aisle of a packed church with people looking at me funny... but I got the shot I wanted!

Note to self: humility is good for me.

Cafe Riche at Night

2011-05-03T20:47:00.001+02:00

I took this a while back on a Canon 350D and the kit lens in crazy low light, hand held. It came out a lot sharper than I anticipated. It's a late night bar on the western side of Church Square in Pretoria, South Africa.

Ibanez Acoustic Bass Guitar - 3

2011-04-26T09:48:00.000+02:00

Ibanez Acoustic Bass Guitar - 2

2011-04-25T09:09:00.000+02:00

...the headstock of the Ibanez Acoustic Bass guitar.

Ibanez Acoustic Bass Guitar - 1

2011-04-24T18:12:00.000+02:00

After putting it off for the longest time I finally got to start regular practice with my bass and I suddenly realised why I wanted an acoustic bass instead of a regular electric bass. It's the sound you see, it's just more organic somehow, even when plugged in. Love it!

How to deal with heavy back-lighting.

2011-04-23T16:14:00.000+02:00

Leave the camera on auto and you will end up with an unattractive, boring, black silhouette every time. Take a test shot, check it out on the cameras LCD screen, adjust exposure compensation to overexpose, re-shoot, check LCD screen, readjust exposure compensation to taste, re-shoot and voila! Easy peasy!

Nikon D90, Nikon 35mm f1.8DX, 1/160s, f2.8, aperture priority, +4 exposure compensation, edited in Corel Paintshop Pro X3.

Mountain Road

2011-04-23T15:52:00.000+02:00

101

2011-04-10T22:28:00.000+02:00

Another from the inside of my Dead Mixer

2011-04-09T18:43:00.002+02:00

The Death of my Ibanez RM80 Mixer

2011-04-09T17:23:00.001+02:00

After many years of faithful service my ancient mixer accidently toppled off a table during a gig and landed on the floor with predictable results. Because it is so old nobody even wants to look at it for repairs so I had to go and get a new mixer... boohoo, and sob!

But the upside is that I could now use it for some photographic fun! Yay!

First the original pic:

Then I got to messing about with the Virtual Photographer plugin in Corel Paintshop Pro X3:

Groovy Baby, Yeah!

Pretoria Skyline

2011-04-01T21:26:00.000+02:00

After an absence of a few weeks I feel I need to post something quickly while I have a few minutes to spare. I have been on the road and generally just too busy to get to the blog and will probably be in the same state of being for a couple of weeks more. Please forgive me and enjoy this pic of my hometown of Pretoria.

Ciao, and see you soon!

Old Ford

2011-03-16T09:03:00.000+02:00

From a wedding I shot this last weekend:

I just love these vintage cars and I often wish someone would produce cars this shape today with a modern engine. But then it probably wouldn't have the same soul that these genuine oldies have.

Nikon D90, Nikon 35mm f1.8DX.

I know which one I like...

2011-03-08T19:52:00.000+02:00

...but which one do you prefer and why?

Maybe you could also share what you might have done differently.

Headstock

2011-03-07T07:32:00.000+02:00

Promotional Photo for a Cover Band

2011-03-01T22:54:00.000+02:00

As briefly mentioned in the comments here, yours truly can sometimes be found crooning cover versions of Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, etc. in restaurants, pubs and other shady joints. Above is a self portrait of myself and Ben trying to look "album coverish/promotional posterish" and failing miserably... oh well, at least we have fun!

Another from the archives!

2011-03-01T20:37:00.000+02:00

Another one from a few years back that I thought would be worth reposting. Anyone know what kind of bird this is? I used to know...

Nikon F801s, Tamron 100-300 zoom, Fuji Superia 200.

African Hornbill - A shot from the past!

2011-02-22T11:38:00.000+02:00

One from a few years back that I thought would be worth reposting.

Nikon F801s, Tamron 100-300 zoom, Fuji Superia 200.

Would this qualify as "Low Key"?

2011-02-21T22:32:00.001+02:00

Waterfall at the National Botanical Gardens - Pretoria, South Africa last pic... for now.

2011-02-19T21:13:00.000+02:00

The hardest part with long exposure waterfall shots like this is keeping the highlights from blowing out. It came out ok... ish.

Waterfall at the National Botanical Gardens - Pretoria, South Africa part two.

2011-02-16T20:17:00.000+02:00

Waterfall at the National Botanical Gardens - Pretoria, South Africa

2011-02-15T11:33:00.001+02:00

Every time I do a shoot here I give the falls another go in the hope that I get that elusive perfect photo. (Please note that perfection is unattainable) ;-)

Who couldn't love the Nikon 50mm f1.8D "Nifty Fifty"?

2011-02-13T22:32:00.003+02:00

For the price I don't think there is a lens to beat this one anywhere on the planet! (Canon's "nifty fifty" is a hair's breadth away from being it's equal with only it's plastic mount letting it down.)

Nikon D90, Nikon 50mm f1.8, natural light, f2.8, 1/320s.

U looking at ME?

2011-02-11T16:14:00.000+02:00

Ellie with attitude. Soft box someplace to camera left fitted with a 500w Elinchrom.

Death and Decay are part of the natural order of things.

2011-02-06T20:27:00.000+02:00

More on the junky tripod to super cool light stand conversion...

2011-02-02T21:27:00.001+02:00

Ok, so maybe the light stand from a tripod is not super cool, but it was fun and more importantly it worked! So maybe fairly cool then.

Basically I had an old cheapy tripod that came with my Nikon F65 when I bought it for next to nothing. During November I needed a light stand to get my flash and shoot-through umbrella higher than an average cheapy tripod can manage, so I looked to the tripod that was too light to hold an SLR camera steady.

First I detached the head from the aluminium pipe it was mounted to and got this:

The black and white bits top and middle of the pipe will be explained soon.

I then took a piece of chromed curtain rod of the right diameter to fit the head mount and stuck the business end of the head mount into the pipe, drilled a small hole and screwed it in both sides like so:

See the screw? Easy, with only basic DIY skills needed... and a drill... with a suitable sized drill bit. If you don't know what a drill bit is just ask your friends and the first one that knows has earned the privilege of assisting you with this little project! ;-)

Next up I had to drill a hole into the head somewhere, without destroying the heads usefulness, for the umbrella shaft to be pushed in to. Time to ask the DIY savvy friend for help again... Here is where I put my hole, yours may be in a different spot. (You will have to use some common sense on this step.)

I chose that particular position because the drill bit could go all the way through without damaging any important bits inside. Make sure you get this right otherwise you may render you old tripod head quite unable to mount the flash. Also make sure that the diameter of the drill bit is the same as the umbrella shaft, too small and it won't mount, too big and it will fall out.

While it looks oh so neat from the outside, I'm afraid the same cannot be said of the inside, but heck, nobody looks in there anyway... except all of the readers of this blog. Darn!

This is what it looks like with the umbrella inserted into the hole. NICE!

Finally, in order for the curtain rod to fit snugly over the original aluminium pipe that the head used to be mounted to I simply wrapped some electrical tape top and middle and by simple trial and error got it just right:

So that's what those black and white things were! I wanted it to be easily portable, so that's why I didn't screw the curtain rod to the tripod. Now it simply pulls off!

Here's the whole lot together:

The dangly bit hanging from the umbrella shaft is a long balloon that I tie onto the shaft to stop it from sliding in when it is pointed up to use as a bounce umbrella, or I tie it on the other side to stop it from falling out when I am shooting through and it is pointed down. Simple is good.

Here is a pic of the set-up using this rig while shooting Santa in December:

It worked flawlessly!

Here is another shot taken with the same:

This last one was bounced to cover more area while the Santa shots were all shot through the umbrella.

I should probably have just gone and bought a light stand but hey it would not have been half as much fun!
(This was also free since I had all the bits...) (No, not drill bits... ask your friend.)

The 35mm f1.8 as a portrait lens

2011-01-23T11:55:00.002+02:00

After my last post I decided to look through some previous work that I had done to see how the 35mm f1.8 performs as a portrait lens, and I have to say it's not too shabby at all! I would normally recommend a slightly longer focal length for closer portraits because of the problem with a "normal" prime to distort a little when closer in, however, as you can see from the pic below, it can do the job if needed!

The Nikon 35mm f1.8 is an el-cheapo wonder lens designed exclusively for Nikon's DX format cameras and has the same perspective as a non-existent 52mm prime on an FX camera. 52mm is close enough to qualify as a "standard" lens and has all the attributes one would expect from a good prime i.e. it's sharp and fast!

The photo below is the sort of small group or environmental portrait that I would normally recommend the 35mm focal length (on DX) be used for.

Both photos were taken with the excellent Nikon 35mm f1.8DX lens attached to a Nikon D90 and lighting was from a single Nikon SB600 flash shot through an umbrella.

The 50mm f1.8 as a portrait lens

2011-01-20T10:44:00.003+02:00

On a crop sensor camera a 50mm lens gives a focal length of about 75mm for Nikon and 80mm for Canon. This gives a greater distance between camera and subject, and crops out part of the image from the lens, and therefore two things happen:
1.) Distortion from being too close with a 50mm lens is eliminated because you have to stand further back to get the same framing. This pushes it a little closer to being a standard "portrait" lens, especially on a Canon.
2.) The weakest part of the 50mm lens are the edges where fringing, aberrations etc. occur. Because the sensor is smaller these are effectively cropped out all together and we are left with only the best part of the image! Oh yeah!

At the ridiculously low price of a standard 50mm f1.8 lens this means that it makes perfect sense to invest a small bit of cash to get near "pro" results! To get the same quality from a zoom you will be spending a LOT more money, and it will be larger and heavier to boot.

More "pros" than will care to admit it carry the nifty fifty in their bags, just ask them for a peek in their bags, it will be there somewhere. Ask Chase Jarvis, he has one in his bag too.

And if you like the 50mm focal length because that was your favourite back when you still used a film camera (remember film?) then consider the Nikkor 35mm f1.8 for Nikon, and I hear good things about the Sigma 30mm f1.4 for most brands of crop sensor cameras. These two are good for environmental portraits and small group shots, giving superb performance for a low cost, although I think the Sigma might not be as cheap as the Nikkor.

So if you have examples of portraits with the "nifty fifty" then please post a link to them below for the benefit of us all!

El Muerto Pare El Santo

2011-01-19T21:29:00.000+02:00

Got mine today! Look, see the ugly dude reading the photography book:

You can get your own copy if you go here: http://www.johnsevigny.com/ (Do it, you won't be sorry!)

Most people would give a book review at this point, but let me simply sum it up in these few words -
El Muerto Pare El Santo is all one would expect of John Sevigny, unconventional, a little dark, raw humanism mixed with a certain spirituality that pushes social norms into a corner while real life takes centre stage. I liked it!

If you haven't seen it yet, John's blog is here: Gone City
Tell him I say hi.

Fungus at F2.8

2011-01-19T11:59:00.000+02:00

So I posted this mushroom shot which was shot at F8 and a closer perspective and I think the result was quite pleasing with the fungus standing out from the background in sharp focus against the relatively out of focus background. Moving further away from the mushroom at the same f-stop would have caused the background to be less defocussed and the effect of highlighting the subject (mushroom) would have been lessened to a large degree. Here we have the power of a sharp prime coming to the fore because I dialled it open to f2.8 and instead increased the the out of focus character of the background and actually heightened the effect!

The Nikon f1.8 wins again! At R999 (directly converted to US $149 although they go for a mere $100 in reality) this is the bargain of a lifetime! If I had set it to f1.8 the result would have been an even thinner slice of focus but at the expense of a tiny bit of sharpness. The main problem is that very little of the subject (mushroom) would have been in focus and then the effect would have been ruined. So don't be afraid to experiment a bit until you find what works for you.

Traditional South African Farm House

2011-01-17T15:59:00.000+02:00

At the Rietvlei Nature Reserve.

Horses in Pyjamas!

2011-01-14T22:02:00.000+02:00

The Storm Cometh!

2011-01-13T14:33:00.000+02:00

A sunset giving some golden light and an approaching storm... what more could a photographer ask for!?!

Mushrooms are not plants: they are a fungus.

2011-01-11T20:49:00.000+02:00

Found this one behind our tent while taking a leak in the bushes last weekend when we were out camping at the Rietvlei Nature Reserve.

Shot details: Nikon D90, Nikon 50mm f1.8D, f8, 1/60s, ISO200, Aperture Priority, processed in Corel Paintshop Pro X3.

Death to the Trees

2011-01-10T16:28:00.000+02:00

At the Rietvlei Nature Reserve they are trying to eradicate the invasive alien trees that our ancestors planted all over the countryside out of blind ignorance. Good luck to them, these things are really tough to get rid of, especially the Black Wattle.

Isn't Nature Wonderful?

2011-01-10T07:28:00.000+02:00

I just love spending time outdoors, and this last weekend we went camping at a local nature reserve right next to a beautiful dam. When I say local I really mean local, it is about 4 minutes drive from our apartment! I highly recommend you visit it too if you are in the area, it's the Rietvlei Nature Reserve.

Shot details: Nikon D90, Nikon 50mm f1.8D, f2.8, 1/1250s, ISO200, Aperture Priority, processed in Corel Paintshop Pro X3.

Random Order In Nature

2011-01-09T21:47:00.000+02:00

Crazy is as crazy does!

2011-01-05T19:46:00.000+02:00

This guy would be shot or stabbed before his third photo in Johannesburg.

The Door

2011-01-05T07:46:00.000+02:00

Whazzat?!

2010-12-30T21:29:00.000+02:00

If only we could retain the joy, wonder and innocence we had as children... the world would be sooo much better!

Eliminate That Hotspot!

2010-12-29T08:46:00.000+02:00

While I was out shooting Santa last week I had some spare time to play with my flash and shoot through umbrella set-up and took the following shot:

As you can see there is a distinct hotspot in the umbrella. Not so great for even distribution of light, which is the point of the umbrella to start off with. Of course it does help to distribute light, but not as well as it could. The flash was set to about 50mm here, so I flipped out the built in diffuser and it automatically went to 14mm wide with the following result:

Beautiful even distribution of light resulting in a better wrap around effect for portraits!

The light stand used here is in fact a junky old cheap tripod with the head removed and refitted to an extension pole which I then mounted to the top of the junky old cheap tripod, I then drilled a hole through the plastic head (taking care to avoid anything important) and voila! Nice tall light stand for the man on a limited budget. Here is a close up of the head:

Some people say I'm tight, but I like to think of myself as frugal...
;-)

Shooting Santa...

2010-12-25T08:30:00.000+02:00

...a profitable low point in my artistic career! Lets face it there is no artistic value in doing the typical Santa in the mall shots, but it does provide the bread and milk money.

I decided to go for the less is more philosophy and had a single shoot through umbrella with a Nikon SB600 flash, camera set to manual, 1/80s, f5.6, customised portrait mode, jpg only (to save time). The results were quite adequate for the task at hand:

The setup

Santa with baby

Santa with another kid

Santa and Helper

Everybody loves Christmas! Except the Grinch I suppose, but he wasn't there.

Blue flowers in black and white...

2010-12-22T07:10:00.000+02:00

If you are on a very tight budget and don't want to spend a whole lot of money (or any at all), Picasa by Google is a simple but fairly effective editing tool. It doesn't have the options of Photoshop, Paintshop Pro or the GIMP, but it is fast and very easy to use. It has all that the amateur home photographer/happy snapper needs, so don't buy into the "I must have Photoshop" line, you can great results without blowing the bank or needing a three month course in how to use the program first! (Photoshop will not make you a better photographer either btw.)

Picasa also has a few extra little bits that make it easy to publish to Picasa's on-line web-album, resize for email, and even watermark, if you feel the need. Download it here: Picasa

Taken with a Nikon D90 and Nikon 35 f1.8DX, edited in Picasa.

So there I was photographing garbage bins, again...

2010-12-16T23:35:00.000+02:00

...and a little birdie turned up!

The Power of a Fast Prime Lens!

2010-12-13T20:22:00.000+02:00

Grand kids eating junk that will probably stunt their growth and hinder the development of their brains...

Nikon D90, Nikon 35 f1.8DX, hand held in crummy light inside a well known and popular (not sure why) fast food joint, no flash.

Another cute pic!

2010-12-07T23:47:00.000+02:00

Little Jurgie trying to figure out Grandpas DIY Beauty Dish.