DIY Beauty Dish
It’s been a while since I tackled a DIY project, so I figured I was coming due. For a while now I’ve had my eye on a beauty dish, with just the $100 price tag holding me back. In all honesty, that’s pretty good, as photography gear goes. But each time I went to add [...]
Alli in Duotone
Went back and reprocessed on of the shots of Alli from the other night. I keep reminding myself to try some new things, one of which is duotones. This shot wasn’t really working for me in color, but I didn’t want it in B&W either. So I converted it to duotone, using one of the [...]
A few more portraits
Mandy’s graduation is this weekend, so we headed out to get a start on the senior portraits Wednesday evening. The mixed pleasure of working with your girlfriend is that the shoot ends up more relaxed and informal than it is with a client. On the other hand, she was feeling tired tonight, so it was [...]
New Portraits with a New Look
I got out last night with my friend and sometimes-model Alli for some late afternoon portraits. There are a couple of techniques that I’ve been wanting to try – both to finess them and to build up some more portfolio material. This was also my first chance to use my DIY multi-speedlite bracket monstrosity, which [...]
Canon EF 70-210mm f/4 – Review
The lens bug is still with me, and the latest acquisition is another golden oldie, the Canon 70-210mm f/4 telephoto. This was one of the first EF fast telephotos, originally introduced in 1987. My copy is from 1987, purchased in like-new condition from KEH.com. It was my first time buying from KEH and I’m pleased [...]
How to practice lighting without models
I’m sure I’m not the only photog out there who gets the urge to setup the strobes and play with light now and then. Maybe you saw a photo in a magazine or online that you want to try and imitate, or you read about a new technique, or you’re just bored and want to [...]
Family Xmas Portraits, Take 2 – Reality
A couple of these gig-overview posts back, I switched to using the terms “theory” and “reality” for the pre and post gig discussions. In the past I’d used terms like “pregame,” “review,” and “preview,” but I never felt that any of those were really the right description – they are all open to too many [...]
Family Christmas Photos – Reality
I’m left few Hershey Kisses and a pot of hot chocolate, but the Family Christmas Photos I talked about in this previous post are done – or at least the shooting is done, and now I’m left with about 15 shots to edit and submit to the printers by Friday, to try and ensure that [...]
Family Christmas Portraits, Take 2
‘Tis the season and demand is high, so I’ll be back at it again following my engagement with a local school. This time the stakes are closer to home, which makes the stress level both better and worse. The gig? Shooting family portraits for my girlfriend’s very large extended family. Oh yeah. Oh my. The [...]
