Behind The Scenes

BTS photo shoot Behind The Scenes

Behind the scenes at a shoot in my studio, … eh… I mean, spare bedroom.  This shoot was for an upcoming blog post which should be posted in the next few days.

This is the first time I shot tethered to my laptop using Lightroom 3′s built in tethering feature. It was useful to see a large image on screen but it takes a while to download the files. But another advantage is that the images are already on the computer and it was very fast to import the temporary catalog I was using for the shoot into my main catalog.  Way quicker than uploading via USB anyway.

Posted on October 2nd, 2010 tagged with , , ,
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FinePix X100 Video


Via Engadget

Looks kind of like my Olympus 35 RC

dave dunne 20100731 IMG 57571 FinePix X100 Video

Posted on September 20th, 2010 tagged with , , , ,
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Kodak No.2 Folding Cartridge Hawk-Eye – Model B

dave dunne 20100828 IMG 5918 Kodak No.2 Folding Cartridge Hawk Eye   Model B

I need to dust my cameras.

Posted on August 28th, 2010 tagged with , ,
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Photo Shoot Practice – Olympus 35 RC

dave dunne 20100731 IMG 5757 Photo Shoot Practice   Olympus 35 RC

Today I decided to take some shots of my Olympus 35 RC, a compact fixed lens rangefinder from the 1970s.

To take these shots, I was using a very basic “Strobist” set up with a Canon Speedlite 430 EX flash mounted on a stand firing through an umbrella camera left. I also used some white foam core on the right to reflect back some fill. The flash was fired remotely using an Elinchrom EL Skyport Universal radio trigger.

The camera I used was my trusty Canon 40D with a 24 to 70mm L f/2.8 lens. I metered using a Sekonic L-308s Flashmate meter.

dave dunne 20100731 IMG 5970 Photo Shoot Practice   Olympus 35 RC

I am still learning flash photography so came upon a few problems. One of those can be seen in this following shot.

dave dunne 20100731 IMG 5751 Photo Shoot Practice   Olympus 35 RC

Reflected in the lens is the clear outline of the umbrella. I would have preferred for this to not be so obvious. I tried playing with angles and also with the set up you see below but I wasn’t happy with the results. In this set up I am firing the flash through the diffuser part of a Photoflex multi-disk but the reflection was still too noticeable.  Still a lot for me to learn for sure.

dave dunne 20100731 IMG 5972 Photo Shoot Practice   Olympus 35 RC

dave dunne 20100731 IMG 5767 Photo Shoot Practice   Olympus 35 RC

For all of the shots I set the camera on manual mode with the shutter speed set at 1/60.  There was daylight coming in from an open door camera right and also through a window behind the subject so I wanted to use some of the ambient light.

Most of the shots were shot using an aperture of either f/8 or f/11 except the photograph above which was shot at f/5.6. I found with apertures less than that the depth of field wasn’t as pleasing to me.  The flash was used in manual mode and the power was set from 1/2 to 1/8 depending on what aperture I was using or the distance of the flash from the subject.

dave dunne 20100731 IMG 5977 Photo Shoot Practice   Olympus 35 RC

The photograph above shows most of the gear I used today. At the top is an Interfit light stand and Wescott shoot through umbrella. On the next row is a Manfrotto 498RC2 ball head. Next to that is my Canon Speedlite 430 EX flash with a hot shoe to PC adapter connected to the Elinchrom El-Skyport receiver below. Next to the flash is the Canon 40D with the 24 to 70mm L f/2.8 lens and next to that is the flash meter, a Sekonic L-308s.

Below the 40D, is the matching Elinchom trasmitter and some no-name light stand adapter. At the bottom is a Manfrotto 190XPROB Pro Aluminum Tripod.

As I said I am still learning this type of photography so there is a long way to go before I will be truly happy with my images. But it is always a good idea to shoot as often as possible and learn from the experience each time.

Below are the rest of the “keepers” from today.

dave dunne 20100731 IMG 5772 Photo Shoot Practice   Olympus 35 RC

dave dunne 20100731 IMG 5761 Photo Shoot Practice   Olympus 35 RC

dave dunne 20100731 IMG 5788 Photo Shoot Practice   Olympus 35 RC

Posted on July 31st, 2010 tagged with , , , , , ,
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