22nd Feb

Posted on February 22, 2012 by admin

Nikon SB80DX for sale

I have three of these flash units which I have linked to my Canon cameras via radio transmitters. They are a great flash for off-camera small light “strobist” work like lighting interiors or multi-light portraiture. They aren’t made anymore and seem to be in great demand following recommendations by Scott Hargis, a famed San Fransisco real estate photographer. They come up regularly on EBay with the auction value seemingly on the rise. I purchased these in the last 12 months on Ebay, paying 30% more for each successive item. I am going to sell one and maybe more of these units as a result of my Einstein and Mini Vagabond purchase. If interest is high I might also sell one or both of the others.

21st Feb

Posted on February 21, 2012 by admin

A result from a productive morning

Angie, Andrew and I had a productive morning shooting with Frida, Caroline and Rachel. Many thanks to the girls for their help and input and to Samantha Kurst, the very helpful makeup artist. Very happy with the Einstein too.

20th Feb

Posted on February 20, 2012 by admin

Einstein 640 and Octabox

I have a new studio and on location light,a Paul C Buff Einstein 640Ws and a 5 foot Octabox. I will be getting a Mini Vagabond battery pack when it arrives in a couple of weeks, This will allow me to take this kit outdoors without access to a power supply.

I am looking forward to putting it through it’s paces tomorrow for our planned model shoot. More then.

19th Feb

Posted on February 19, 2012 by admin

Rachel, one of three beautiful models at today's workshop

My fellow 366er, Dawn, tells me that this is day 50 of our quest. A small milestone but we are still going so that is good.

We had a portraiture workshop at the local camera club today and the above image is of local model, Rachel. Allow the workshop was organised by John Lomas from Brisbane, I discovered that she lives only a couple of blocks away. She was one of three being photographed by the 25 or more keen photographers this afternoon. Rachel has agreed to also pose for us on Tuesday, more about that on the 21st Post. Hey Rachel, I hope you like this one. I had heaps of nice ones to choose from.

Not to forget the others girls, here is one each

18th Feb

Posted on February 18, 2012 by admin

Oh no!

It was fun in my Uncle’s pool until the bag burst. It bled small polystyrene balls all over the pool. They then stuck to you when you tried to collect them and it was almost impossible to shake them off. Most of them we cleared and left the filter to catch the remainder.

17th Feb

Posted on February 17, 2012 by admin

Almost complete, the castle centrepiece

I did get to revisit the sand castle building at Surfers Paradise this morning. The major sculpture is almost complete and looking very impressive indeed. Image background manipulated with Focal Point 2.

16th Feb

Posted on February 16, 2012 by admin

Finally we are connected to the grid

This afternoon 5 months after our solar panels were installed, we finally got connected to the electricity grid. Now we will become like all others I know who have installed solar: meter watchers. These are individuals and small groups who can be seen lurking around metal boxes hung on an outside wall of a house. I am sure Ben Elton could wax lyrical about these people. The paranoia of calculating the pluses and minuses on a daily basis. When the weatherman says it is going to be a good day today, it takes on a whole new dimension of pleasure and glee. So finally we are LinkedIn!!

15th Feb

Posted on February 15, 2012 by admin

Dale

Meet Dale as Portrait Professional believes he should be, using their exhaustive research into the anthropological features of a sample of over 7000 males and females of various ethnicities. It’s a bit like the current advert for BUPA where the unhealthy YOU meets the very healthy YOU face to face.

Below is a side by side comparison which sort of illustrates the differences, though the before and after in the actual software is better because the faces are perfectly super-imposed.

Left is the exported file from Lightroom

And the lighting setup, if this interests you, is a single softbox at camera left and placed very close to the subject and his face level with the centre of the box, A white unlit seamless background was about 2.5 metres behind.

14th Feb

Posted on February 14, 2012 by admin

Female's turn today

Continuing on with the staff portraits today.

13th Feb

Posted on February 13, 2012 by admin

Business Portraits Day 1

I am shooting business portraits for different companies over the next three days. This one is a national company with a specific look that I was briefed on, particularly the blue gelled background of mottled blue and brown. I have shot staff from this company last FY, and bought a specific background for that shoot. Good to get the opportunity to use it again for some new staff members and this one of a partner who wasn’t included the last time.

I was assisted by Paul Chapman who is having an early mid-life crisis (LOL), deciding to have a sea change to the photography world from many years of designing houses. Paul is doing a photography course and asked for some on the job insight.

I think he learned that sometimes we take a lot of kit (heavy too) with us to shoot on location at the client’s office.

366 and all that

A pic a day for 2012, and some good thinking too