Another beautiful day coming to a close. We’ve now had about 9 days of unbroken sunshine which is more typical than what we have been having of late.
15th May
13th May
12th May
Dimi was one of the models at the Joe McNally Through the Lens workshop at the Surfers Paradise Marriott hotel today. It was a workshop about lighting, especially using small flashes, though this one included a studio strobe on battery lighting the subject and a Speedlight fired through a metal gridded gate to create the shadow pattern on a plain wall in the background.
Joe saw what we were trying to do and decided to do his last full group demo at the same location, with a variation on the lighting that we had employed.
Our morning model, Khadi, with Chris from Kayell holding the tri-grip diffuser and speedlite gelled with 1/2 CTO and camera on Tungsten white balance.
11th May
Another chance to quickly test the new 1.4 extender. Again impressed with the responsiveness and sharpness on a beautiful morning looking South West from my back deck towards Springbrook National Park
I’m off to the Marriott Hotel this morning for the beginning of the Joe McNally Through the Lens Tour visit to the Gold Coast. This is great to have one of the world’s leading lighting experts on our doorstep. I am really looking forward to it and hopefully will post an image tomorrow from the full day workshop that I am attending.
10th May
9th May
This bird and its partner have claimed our back deck and its furniture as their toilet. We are at our wits end trying to get rid of them and have resorted to calling in the experts to hopefully capture them and take them to the back of beyond.
It was however an excuse to try out the Canon EF 1.4 Extender III which I have just received. Attached to my 70-200L f2.8 IS Mk II on the 1DMkIV gives me 364mm. I have deliberately shot wide open at f4.0 to do some pixel peeping. It is sharp as recommended to me. I have the original extender with my older 70-200L. It worked but was slower to focus and performed better at f4.5 or better still, f5.0 than wide open.
Apparently the new MkIII version has a microprocessor built in to help with the focussing and exposure calculations. So far, I’m impressed. It also sports extra weather and dust sealing which is a good thing. It maintains the IS when attached to 2.8′s too.












