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!
9 Apr 2011
The Death of my Ibanez RM80 Mixer
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!
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!
1 Apr 2011
Pretoria Skyline
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!
Ciao, and see you soon!
16 Mar 2011
Old Ford
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 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.
8 Mar 2011
I know which one I like...
...but which one do you prefer and why?
Maybe you could also share what you might have done differently.
Maybe you could also share what you might have done differently.
7 Mar 2011
1 Mar 2011
Promotional Photo for a Cover Band
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!
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.
22 Feb 2011
African Hornbill - A shot from the past!
One from a few years back that I thought would be worth reposting.
Nikon F801s, Tamron 100-300 zoom, Fuji Superia 200.
21 Feb 2011
19 Feb 2011
Waterfall at the National Botanical Gardens - Pretoria, South Africa last pic... for now.
The hardest part with long exposure waterfall shots like this is keeping the highlights from blowing out. It came out ok... ish.
16 Feb 2011
13 Feb 2011
Who couldn't love the Nikon 50mm f1.8D "Nifty Fifty"?
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.
11 Feb 2011
U looking at ME?
Ellie with attitude. Soft box someplace to camera left fitted with a 500w Elinchrom.
2 Feb 2011
More on the junky tripod to super cool light stand conversion...
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.)
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.)
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