19/325 - Has the old girl still got it?

It’s a public holiday tomorrow here in Perth, so I thought I’d take some time out on a Sunday night and I went for a little drive to a town about 25 minutes away, Jarrahdale. There’s not a lot there, a couple of pubs, I think there is a mine down the road, and also Serpentine Dam is nearby (I think I might go there next). Oh yeah, they have a public phone booth in Jarrahdale too.

Anyway, I was tidying up a few things this afternoon. I went looking for something (for which I have no idea what it was!) because along the way I got distracted by my old Fujifilm S3 Pro DSLR body. In its day, this thing was in a league of it’s own. DP Review, Thom Hogan, they all had positive things (mostly) to say about the camera. At the time, no other digital SLR could produce the low noise, high dynamic range and that gorgeous signature Fujifilm color saturated shots like this camera.

This particular reviewer hits the nail on the head…

“The S3 has its limitations in the speed department, but for certain specialized tasks, particularly low-light photograpy and portraits, it really delivers. I love the rendition of skin tones and the ability to shoot at higher ISOs is a huge plus. I like the handling and overall the camera "feels" nice in hand and the different modes encourage me to experiment and pushes my creative impulses. I also like the neutrality of not having to deal with the Nikon vs Canon debate, as Fuji have their own approach, allowing me to avoid the religious wars that go on between users of these other brands. But the S3 is not a camera for amateurs, impatient people, or those who want something simple to use. It's best suited to experienced photographers who are willing to spend the time to get to know the camera and coax magic out of its complex sensor and shooting modes. As a second body that's dedicated to portraits or studio work, it will deliver and this is probably its best niche. As an only camera for inexperienced photographers, it might be frustratingly inconsistent - sometimes you'll get great results and sometimes not. Are you patient and willing to learn, to experiment, to push the envelope?? Ask yourself this before going down the S3 route.

In closing, I would say that the S3 is a rather unique photographic tool that requires patience and commitment to master. It is not a particularly good "general use camera" for amateurs or novices, but rather a specialized tool that fills a particular niche inside of the working photographer's roster of equipment. If you're willing to work with it and learn its unique traits, it will reward you with superb results. What is the S3 best suited for? Weddings, portraits, studio work, concert photography, abstract and artistic photography. Worst? Sports, landscapes (arguable), general travel.

Pros: Image quality, Fuji 35mm film simulation modes, extended dynamic range, low noise at high ISO, body ergonomics, image quality, image quality.

Cons: Slow performance, some handling issues, some colors don't look natural, takes time and patience to figure out and master different modes and settings, not a beginner's camera”

So off I went. Just the S3 Pro and my Nikon 50mm f/1.8 and Sigma 24mm f/2.8 prime lenses. No zooms. No filters, polarizer’s or flashes. I did pack my tripod too though. The phone box shot was taken with the 24mm prime at f/8, 3 seconds @ ISO100. The shot of the old mill was also f/8 but with the 50mm prime, 1/6^th second (handheld) @ ISO100.

The only post production applied was to crop the mill photo to a pano format, but that’s all. Sure, the quality of shots being delivered by today’s current crop of SLR cameras is outstanding – no denying that. But this camera body is now 5 years old. Who out there is using a 5 year old PC? Not many of you I bet. More to the point, try comparing the performance of a 5 year old PC to a current one. I am not trying to say that the Fuji S3 is still a groundbreaker in today’s market – that would be insane. But, if I had to I recon I could get away with using it on a client or two and no one would tell the difference. Just sayin’, that’s all…

In hindsight the phone box image is a little soft, for which I can only account that I must have bumped the tripod during the exposure; which is pretty likely as I was not using a remote shutter release. I’m gonna keep the S3 out of mothballs for the rest of the week I think and take some more images with it. I must admit that when I first loaded some batteries into it this afternoon for the first time in a year or so, when I tried to take a shot the shutter froze open and could only be released by turning the camera off and immediately back on again. But to be fair, it had not been used for some time and after this little mishap it was off and running.

I do like this camera, despite its age. It’s a gem and while I would not put it back into my fulltime workflow I will not be getting rid of it anytime soon; of that you can be sure. Stay tuned for more images by this little ripper… I think the old girl still has some life in her yet...

11/325 - Not quite the portrait I had in mind... but...

Hi folks

Another quick update here for the purpose of sharing a Project 325 image. Today sees a shot of my little radio controlled nitro buggy. That’s it really. There’s no ulterior motive behind the subject – it was simply a case of it was close to hand as I was walking out the door and I needed something different to photograph.

So I threw it in the back of the car and headed down to Champion Lakes housing estate with the Nikon D700, Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 lens and a couple of SB-900 flashes with accompanying Pixel triggers. Those triggers are about to find themselves on eBay I think. Whilst they are a great idea and the first on the market place, the word ‘pre-mature’ (and all its connotations!) spring to mind. I think the best thing to say about them is that they are not quite finished yet. Another couple of firmware upgrades and they might be better; but that doesn’t help me or anyone else that has them currently as we cannot upgrade the firmware ourselves. I really should have waited until PocketWizard FINALLY come out with their Flex and Mini Nikon compatible TTL triggers. Come on PocketWizard – how long does it take – really!!

Anyway, the image was actually taken using one SB-900 on camera as a master unit (that did not actually contribute to the exposure) and another SB-900 in remote mode was positioned on a high stand to shorten the length of the shadows it would cast and placed about 4 feet away. The D700 was in Aperture Priority mode, ISO 100. Exposure compensation was set to -2 stops to really darken the sky and the flash output was set to -0.7 of a stop to balance the overall exposure. That’s it. EXIF data tells me the camera was at 1/400^th second shutter speed @ f/4.

Catch ya later!

Greetings from the edge of... something...

Hi everyone. Well I had hoped to be much more productive this last week but I have been unwell and away from work and generally not doing too much at all, including all things photography related. It’s been a bit of a bummer but what can you do…

Anyway, tonight’s blog post is a continuation on the theme of studio test shots and the resulting images that I have posted on my Project 325 Album on our Facebook Page.

As you can see from the image, this time I was going for something very low-key as far as the lighting was concerned; but I still wanted to be able to clearly see the black object against the black background (even though the backdrop is actually a white paper seamless roll) with plenty of definition and edge detail.

Those of you with a keen eye will notice that the lighting diagram is almost identical as the last one I posted with one very important exception. With the last example we had a very high key backdrop by filling it with reflected light created by placing a strobe with a bounce umbrella on each corner of the backdrop and bouncing off it; this time those two backdrop lights have been turned around and have gridded reflectors on them to basically eliminate any spill whatsoever. Those lights are aimed directly at the back of the subject. The key light (beauty dish, also with a grid attachment on it) is metered for ISO100 @ f/8, with the accent or ‘rim lights’ metered at f/5.6.

So, even though I was shooting with a white backdrop, because there is no light spilling onto it we have achieved the effect of turning it black. Cool. Just be careful of lens flare in this set-up though. You can see a little bit of it in this image, but in this instance I don't think it is too obtrusive. If it gets too bad or you wish to eliminate it altogether from your shots you will need to flag off the rim lights from hitting your lens - more on this soon.

Of course you will not quite get the same effect when shooting a model because (in a full length shot) you will see some light hitting the floor and therefore lighting the backdrop around their feet. But for anything less than full length; i.e. do not get the floor into the shot, for all intents and purposes the backdrop is totally black.

Ok, starting to feel dodgy again (too much information?!) so I’ll stop there. See you all soon.

Peeking over the back fence...

These quick blog posts are becoming a regular occurrence around here!

Tonight’s Project 325 image comes to you courtesy of the sunset as seen by poking my D700 over the back fence just before the sun completely set this evening.

I will be posting something a little more substantial in the next few days...

PS – don’t you hate it when you look back through the images you took on your cell phone over the last few days, and one of them is in a really nice restaurant that you have never been to and have no idea where it is – has that happened to you before – or is it just me… ? it’s kinda freaking me out a little… just thought I’d close with that…

Info update and a lighting diagram...

Hi everyone

Just a quick update to let you know that I have created an online album for my Project 325 images on our Facebook Fan Page. You can view the album here.

Today’s image is a result of a little bit of experimentation in the studio. The backdrop is set up for a high-key effect which is achieved by placing a strobe with a bounce umbrella at either end of the backdrop. The umbrellas ensure a nice wide spread of light on the backdrop. These lights are metered so that f/11 is achieved when a reading is taken from the middle of the backdrop. Please refer to my video blog regarding light meters to get a refresher on how to do this.

The main light is the beauty dish and grid attachment, mounted high on a boom stand and almost directly overhead of the subject, as shown in the lighting diagram. This light is metered at f/8. The image was shot with one of my Fujifilm S5 Pro's; 1/125th shutter speed, f/7.1 @ISO100.

With this set-up you can get a bright white background with a bit of edge light spilling from the backdrop onto the subject. The grid on the beauty dish ensures plenty of contrast and shadows on the subject; which is really the opposite to what the backdrop is doing. It works well I think.

Ok, it’s late and this is a quick update. See ya!

I think I can I think I can...

Well here I am again! This is becoming a habit…

But then that was the whole idea behind the Project 325 thing huh.

Tonight’s images are of Katelyn, another model from Xtreem Agency here in Perth. The lighting set-up is the same as last evenings post. Xtreem Agency have been sending a lot of their models my way lately to have updated portfolio shots taken; to which they have requested this standardized lighting set-up.

This is good and bad. Good because I know it really well, I can set it up in 10 minutes and it works every time, no fail! Bad though because it doesn’t really give me the opportunity to try new, more creative stuff. But hey, the client gets what the client wants… and who am I to argue with that.

So, this makes it 3/325. Only 322 days to go. Bring it on… although alas not every day is going to be filled with shooting models like this… nonetheless I think I am going to make it all the way to the end of this challenge - no worries at all!

See ya soon.

Keeping up with the Jones'....

Hi folks.

A really quick blog post tonight to show you all that I am progressing with the Project 325 thing that I was blogging about last night.

These are a few images that I took this evening of Laura, a model with Xtreem Agency here in Perth.

And to show you that I am far from perfect - these are the images as they were taken, just stitched together in Photoshop CS4.

Lighting is provided by my favorite single overhead beauty dish with a grid attachment, supplemented by a another flash head to camera right also fitted with a grid attachment. Main light metered @ f8, edge light metered @ f/5.6, both for ISO100. Fujifilm S5 Pro set to 1/125th second shutter speed, f/7.1 (trust me, with digital it really helps to over-expose by 1/3 of a f-stop) @ ISO100.

See ya soon!

Project 325?

Hi everyone.

Just a quick blog post today to share an image. It's nothing special that’s for sure, as you can see for yourself!

Rather, it’s the idea behind it. As I tweeted earlier today I was listening to a podcast today from the guys at LightSource. This is a great resource if; like me, you spend a fair amount of your day at work with headphones in your ears – listening to these podcasts is a great way to keep your mind ticking over about all things photography related.

Anyway, I was listening to an old episode today wherein they were interviewing a guy called Tim Tadder. He is a great sports/action photographer, which isn’t really a genre of photography that interests me. But this guy certainly had some words of wisdom to share. The interview ended with the hosts asking “what would be the ‘one-liner’ that you would give to someone that was wanting to get started in the industry?” to which Tim simply replied “take better pictures…” and to summarize he went on to say that you just have to get out there and take some pictures, and do it often.

This is something that I have heard quite a lot lately but the penny didn’t drop until today – go figure! A few of my mentors have been doing what they call “Project 365” wherein they are going to take at least one image every single day for an entire year. Well, as of today, this is my goal too. I will try to post a few images a week on here, but probably not one a day for the rest of the year – although I will be taking them. But I will be putting them on my Facebook Page in a gallery which will go online in a few days.

These images are not meant to be works of art – although some might be. They are not supposed to be wonderfully inspiring images, although some may be inspired. They are just for me, and a reminder for me to actually make the effort to get out there and start taking better pictures…

PS - todays image is called "Portrait of a Clothes Peg"! For those who care it was taken with my Fujifilm S5 Pro and my Nikon 85mm f/1.8 lens, ISO100, 1/2000th second shutter at f/1.8.

A trio of triggers... an update...

Hey everybody. Well, things have been ticking along nicely. I looked at the calendar and could not believe it is February already. Well, that’s not entirely true; I knew darn well it was February already because I have been filling up every day in January with clients, post processing or other equally as exciting stuff.

Anyway I thought I’d give you a quick update on the Pixel i-TTL remotes that I have been using for a little while now. I blogged about them late last year when I first got them but had not really had a chance to test them.

Well, several weddings and modeling shoots later – I have mixed feelings about these little puppies. On the whole, they work pretty well. They are marketed as being able to work with Nikon’s i-TTL metering system as well as the Nikon CLS “Creative Lighting System” wherein it is possible to have an off camera flash set-up with multiple flash units, all being controlled by a master unit, either using the camera bodies pop-up flash or a speedlight like a SB-800 or SB-900.

So, as for the triggers, i-TTL works like a charm. Nikon CLS – not so much, in fact not at all! This is a little disappointing but not a total loss.

The main reason I got these triggers was to use them at weddings, when it is all happening very quickly and you don’t really have the time to set up everything on manual and meter everything yourself. You need to be able to arrive on location, arrange the bride and groom in the shot, take a few frames – bam bam bam – and jump back into the car to head for the next location. I have also been having; um… difficulties in some scenarios getting enough power output just from one SB-900.

A little while ago whilst on a training day hosted by the amazing Louis Pang I was taken aback on how well Nikon CLS would work when combined with a Lastolite Tri-flash holder and three speedlights. Why have one flash trying to output at 100% when you can have three flashes achieving the same output only at 50ish% and over a much broader area. Louis was using Radio Poppers which he personally had purchased whilst in the USA. Unfortunately Radio Poppers are not available outside the US at the moment, so I had to look elsewhere. Are you still with me? I’ll get to the point soon!

So I had to keep looking around for suitable triggers, and in the absence of the PocketWizard Flex and Mini TTL triggers still I chose to get the Pixel triggers. As you can see by the image, this is what the whole set-up looks like. I was initially a little worried about how sturdy the whole arrangement would be, but so far so good. The Lastolite Tri-Flash holder is cast alloy and tough as nails, so no worries there. The Pixel Triggers however, I am a little more concerned about, especially for the two horizontally mounted SB-900’s. everything is holding together just fine so far, and I am especially careful (some may say anal) with my gear but time will tell how they will handle a few weddings.

This image was taken this afternoon whilst my son was playing under the back porch. I used just a single SB-900 and a Pixel trigger firing through a Lastolite EzyBox Hotshoe 60cm softbox. I also had a second SB-900 with a Pixel trigger placed behind my son and set to -1 stop output to provide a subtle rim light on his left side. The point of this was to try out the Pixel triggers in a rapid-fire situation. My Nikon D700 was set to [C^h] shooting mode (i.e., 5 fps) and I had the camera set to manual mode, f/2.8 @ 1/320^th Second shutter, ISO200. I was aware that the flash batteries would struggle a little bit to keep up so I was limiting the bursts to five frames. Predictably the last one or two frames were in the burst were a little weaker as far as the flash output was concerned but overall the flash output was fairly consistent. Cool.

The last image shows a recent wedding I shot using the Pixel Triggers and a homemade tri-flash holder thanks to my good mate @JBcamera, as whilst I had ordered the Lastolite Tri-Flash holder it had not arrived in time for the wedding shoot. Anyways, the set-up was essentially the same; 3x Pixel Triggers, 2x SB-900’s and 1x SB-800 all mounted on a monopod and carefully held upright and in place by my awesome assistant. Those keen followers out there of my work (yeah, both of you!) will recognize this image as one that I posted on our Facebook Page the other week.

So, as you can see, the trio of flashes has enough output to balance the bright afternoon sun. Interestingly, the overheat warning came on the SB-900’s after about 15 minutes of shooting various poses and scenes on the beach. This did surprise me, as I was thinking that the higher number of flashes meant that each one had to work a little less. In hindsight, they probably were, and I was probably shooting a lot of frames in quick succession. But I do know that if the flashes had been set to manual mode, ½ output power I could shoot “pop pop pop” all afternoon without them overheating. I put this overheating down the fact that because I was in i-TTL mode the flashes were all pre-flashing for each shot in order to achieve correct exposure and therefore they had to work five times harder than if they were not pre-flashing in [M] Manual mode.

Ok, to wrap this up for now; I’ll try to get a few more examples of the Pixel Triggers in the next blog post or two. Oh yeah, keep an eye out for our new look Video Blogs – coming soon to a computer near you!