Category Archives: Strobist
Film Still self assignment – Norman Bates
I like films, and I like photography. During one of my classes, I saw a still that I recognized from Hitchcock’s Psycho. It occurred to me that it would be a relatively simple photo to reproduce with a single light, so I gave myself an assignment to go and actually do it.
Here is the original I was working from:
I can’t say that I’m 100% happy with it, but the only way I was going to reach absolute satisfaction is if I was actually Norman Bates, and that’s not good for business.
So I hung a black sheet behind because the walls are white, and light is sure to bounce around. In addition, the back of the board was painted white, so bounce was inevitable. Norman is hiding in a dark room, so light spill is a no no. Held the piece of wood with a hole in it on a music stand from the by-gone-era (see t-bone in back). Fired a Canon 430EX II into a Lumiquest SBIII to give more of a wrap around light source (the light is supposed to be coming from another room, so just a single little strobe head might not give that effect. when placed this close, the light source appears big. Focused as close as possible, then cropped it way down.
triggered with remote switch.
Strobe: 1/64, 24mm, triggered by Cybersync
Happy Feeling about 24-105L
(This photo was very sharp before iweb put it’s grubby hands on it, and now it’s back to being sharp with wordpress)
So as I mentioned last time, I picked up a canon EF 24-105mm F/4 L IS USM lens for my photo jobs with TIFF this year. My specific role was to be at the dinner and receptions, and as you might expect, this is in rather low light environments. You want the photos to be sharp, but you don’t want extremely shallow DOF, especially for candid group shots.
It really came down to this lens or the EF 24-70mm F/2.8 L USM, without IS. I must say that especially for these sorts of jobs, I’ve been making full use of the 24-105mm range, and I don’t know if I would have been as happy with only having 24-70mm. And while the 24-70 gives you an additional stop aperture wise, the 24-105 gives you up to three stops of shutter speed stabilization. For most of the evenings I could shoot at 1/30s @ f/5.6 for razor sharp shots, and as low as 1/8th handheld, no flash for acceptable sharpness. I won’t get into a real in depth review, because this lens has been out for a really long time, and there are numerous far better sources already. Needless to say, this is quickly becoming my favorite lens.
Silent Bob in da club
Playing a bit with lighting again, this time on a macro level. Two strobes, one lit under the table pointing up, with a full cut blue gel, and a gobo to reduce flare. On the right is another strobe, gelled 1/2 cut CTO, behind a small soft box. Changes the hue of the blue strobe to taste in Aperture
Although I wanted the shallow DOF of a f/1.4 aperture, it simply was not sharp enough to be pleasing. This was shot at f/3.2, 1/250s, ISO 100. Triggered with Cybersyncs. Just learning and talking out loud I guess.
Lighting a Room
This is my first attempt at lighting a room, like you would see on the cover of some Bed&Bath magazine. My mom just finished renovating her bathroom, and wanted to show it off a bit. It was quite challenging over all, and it took numerous attempts and setups to get it just right, but in the end I think I’m pretty pleased with the results. See the bottom for the available light version before adding strobes.
Here’s how it went:
I set up a Canon 580EXII on a Bogen Super clamp over the door high camera right, and pointed it at the ceiling to give some natural looking fill for the front of the photo. I placed another Canon 430EXII on a light stand behind the tub on the right, with a shoot through umbrella attached (Stock shortened, and very close to the flash to keep it out of the frame) for fill on the back of the photo. All strobes triggered with Paul C. Buff Cybersyncs.
Some things I learned:
Set your white balance WITH the strobes you are using, not just the ambient (duh!)
Cover harsh light sources with a sheet, like the skylight that causes the harsh burn out on the left wall.
Check your histogram for exposure, don’t depend on the thumbnail (again, duh!)
Cybersync Update!
I’ve probably shot over 500 photos with the Cybersyncs, and have had only 1 misfire, and even then, it appears to have been an interference fire during setup, and not a no-go. This is pretty impressive, seeing that it has a 99.8% fire rate so far. I’m sold!
Another from a new set
The first attempt at the hoop series went ok, but after reviewing the photos more closely I realized that the sharpness was sub par on 90% of the photos, plus I was not happy with the contrast between subject and background. Allison humored me once more for a re-do on campus. Better background, better lighting, and more sharp.
P.S. Happy Pride! (rainbow hoop)