Day 87 - Gold Coast in 120

Stay tuned for this entry... I have to shoot 9 more images on the Mamiya before I can get the film processed.  It will be the first image I have taken on the medium format camera over looking the beach from our 33rd floor of the hotel.

Well the day is finally here.  This has been a pretty epic journey to get to this stage.  Working out how to use the camera, using 120 film for the first time, sending film off to be processed in the mail, and now working out how to scan it and present in digital format. I've still got a lot to learn with this camera.  Getting the exposures just right for the film I'm using and focusing correctly with the depth of field guide.  Lots of fun to come...

Technical:
Mamiya RB67 Pro
Ilford PanF+ ISO 50

Day 86 - Whee

Here is young Willsy and all of her excitement before riding the Wheel of Excellence (see yesterdays picture).  Wendy and Rubby were very displeased with the whole experience but Willsy and I made the most of it.

Technical:
Canon 7D camera
ISO 200
EF50mm
f/1.4
1/80sec

Strobist:
Light camera left, flash powered by "Wheel of Excellence"

Day 85 - Wheel of Excellence

Awesome name for a ride... which kind of sucked.  We were walking around Surfers Paradise and I caught this reflection of the ride in the building windows.  I thought it was very cool.  I also took the Nikon F4 and Mamiya medium format camera with me on the trip but we'll have to wait until I get them developed before we can enjoy that magic.

Technical:
Canon 7D
ISO 200
EF50mm
f/1.4
1/500sec

Day 84 - Sunset at Surfers Paradise

Set off today for a four day holiday at the coast with some friends.  Wendy and I went for a stroll down on the beach and we were not disappointed with what we saw. 

Technical:
Canon 7D camera
ISO 200
EF17-40 @ 40mm
f/22
1/6sec (handheld!!!)

Day 83 - Look Up!

The moon has been awesome the last couple of nights so I thought I might get the big lens out once more.  I added the 2x magnifier to it for 1600mm of moon zooming goodness and I had to keep the whole thing steady on the tripod with a remote shutter button.  If I knew something interesting about the moon, I would insert it here... but I don't.

Technical:
Canon 7D Camera
ISO 200
EF500 with 2x tele convertor
f/16
1/6 sec
Tripod & Remote Shutter

Day 82 - Attack My Pretties

The boys were going crazy over a moth in the bathroom.  I quickly raced for the camera and managed to fire off a few shots in really low light.

Technical:
Canon 7d
EF50mm
ISO 200
f/1.4
1/80sec

Strobist:
1 x 15W Energy Saver bulb in bathroom above subjects

Day 81 - Stampede

Out with Jen today on a run and I couldn't go past this image.  Really not impressed with the digital noise in this picture but some might say it adds to the shot... I don't.

Technical:
iPhone camera

Day 80 - InterWebs

Only had the iPhone on me today and on the way to work I noticed a spider web with dew across it.  It contrasted nicely against the hedge behind it.  After seeing the picture on the computer, the background is very busy and I would have used a wide aperture to blur it out with the good camera, but hey, didn't have it on me.  I only just noticed as I uploaded the picture but spot the insect caught in the web.  Amazing when you actually look into a picture and find little details.

Technical:
iPhone

Day 79 - Powers Out

What do you do when the power goes out?  Grab the camera.  He's what I did with some candles, reflections and a steady hand.

Technical:
Canon 7D Camera
ISO 200
EF50mm
f/1.4
1/5sec handheld

Photoshop:
Get out of town, none here

Strobist:
2 x candles @ full power

Day 78 - Iris & Winder's Wedding

To cut a long story short, saw blog of Toowoomba flood photos, called blog owner, talked on Facebook, meet up for coffee, talked cameras, tag along for wedding shoot.... sure thing, meet up at wedding, have awesome time, story done.  Jiaren is the blog owner in question and was a major influence on me getting the Nikon F4 going.  When we meet up for coffee, he brought along his Nikon FM2 film camera which he loves to use for his own personal work.  I took the Canon and Nikon along for the wedding and although there was some nerves prior to the wedding (I think more than when I got married), once we started shooting, they were long gone.  The weather wasn't the best but I think Jiaren and I used it to our advantage.  A huge thank you goes out to Jiaren for getting me involved and also a big thank you to Winder and Iris for letting me into their lives for a very special day.  I got some great images which I know you will love.  Here's my favourite shot.  I've also included one of Winder and Iris together, shot on the Nikon.

Technical:
1st picture shot on Canon 7D (digital)
2nd picture shot on Nikon F4 (film)

No Photoshop. straight out of cameras

Strobist:
All natural

 

Day 77 - F 4 Fun

Here's the camera I've gotten excited about over the last couple of weeks.  There's dials all over this sucker.  Took me about a day to workout how to turn it on.  I'm such a photography noob.  I'm really starting to understand what Joe McNally talks about with photography... it's a game of inches.  Move a light over by an inch or two and the shot is completely different.  Light can tell a wonderful story, if you know how to use it.  I'm getting there slowly.

Technical:
Canon 7D camera
ISO 200
EF50mm
f/11
1/80sec

Photoshop:
Still going strong this month, no Photoshop in this one.

Strobist:
Sunpak fired into umbrella, camera left at 1m distance, 1m height @ 1/8th power
Nissin di622 MKII fired off my knees camera right with white diffuser, 0.5m distance, 0.5m height @ -2EV

Day 76 - Darkroom

After chatting with Ken Ball about his darkroom equipment at the photography meeting a couple of weeks ago, I gave him a call and went for a look.  I'm jumping in the deep end but I'm having a ball doing it.  I bought his enlarger and developing equipment in the hope that I can setup a small darkroom and see some of my own images come to life.  Here's a picture of a darkroom timer.  They are used to time how long you need to keep the exposure in various chemicals.  You have to be able to operate it in the dark so it has glow in the dark strips on the clock hands and numbers.  Old school but it still works.  Same can't be said for most products built these days.

Technical:
Canon 7D Camera
ISO 200
EF50mm
f/16
1/200sec

Photoshop:
All in camera, no need for "the shop"

Strobist:
Nissin di622 MKII camera left and 1m behind subject @-1EV with white diffuser
Sunpak camera right and fired into white umbrella @ 1/8 power, 1m distance to subject, 1.5m height

Day 75 - Tara

I needed to use up the last few shots on the camera so I could get the film developed and see if the camera was going to be any good.  After finishing some sushi, I sat on a park bench near the art gallery and waited.  That's when Tara came walking by.  I asked if it would be OK to take her picture and she was really cool with that.  In fact, she told me she has done some modeling work.  Once I started taking pictures, I could tell she was a model.  She instantly had the look and made it virtually impossible for me to take a bad shot.  Tara, if you drop by the website, please give me a call.  Would love to catch up again some time and do some more photos.  Also, let me know about the Nikon gear you have!!!

Camera:
Nikon F4 with 70-210mm f4-5.6 Tokina lens

Film:
Kodak BW400CN ISO 400

Day 74 - Double Trouble

I was reading the Nikon manual today and found that you can take multiple exposure images (meaning you can stop the film from advancing so you can take more shots on the same piece of film).  After a quick search on the net, I came across an article which mentioned you should under expose your image by 1 stop if you want to do 2 exposures.  I pulled the lever which stops the film advancing after the exposure and lined up a shot of tree leaves against the sky.  I did this intentionally because I needed a contrasty base image which has a large light and dark area.  The leaves which will remain black in the exposure will then become the mask for the image in the next exposure.  I've probably just lost everyone at this point.  You can simulate this effect in Photoshop with blending layers but it was really cool to be able to do this in camera.  Check out the man's shirt, it looks like it's on fire.  For a first go, I'm pretty impressed.  Thanks to Mr Carter who just happened to be walking by and willing to be photographed.

Camera:
Nikon F4 with 70-210mm f4-5.6 Tokina lens
Dual Exposure image

Film:
Kodak BW400CN ISO 400

Day 73 - Building Photography

My mate Michael asked if I would be interested in photographing his units which are about to go on the market.  Guess what.... I jumped at the opportunity.  I went over wanting to scope out the units and see what would work and what wouldn't.  I got some nice shots of the outside but my 17-40mm lens with the 1.6x crop factor was not doing the interior shots justice.  Good enough reason for me to get a wide angle lens, hope you're reading this wife!  Birthdays coming up soon.  Love you.

Camera:
Canon 7D (Digital)

Technical:

HDR Image comprising of -2, 0, +2 exposures using Photomatix Pro (not Photoshop)
ISO 200
EF17-40 @ 17mm
f/11
1/500sec

Day 72 - Hot Rods

I saw a sign mentioning a Hot Rod show on Sunday.  Wendy and I decided to go for a walk and check it out.  I was loaded up with the digital and film camera, I had pro written all over me.  When we got there, I handed over the digital to Wendy and I was going to get a little more intimate with the Nikon.  Straight up I was a lot more careful composing my shots but that didn't stop me from continually looking for a preview image displayed on the rear screen after taking each shot.  Ummm, it's a film camera Matt, no images until their developed.  Wenz and I had a ball walking around shooting cars, chatting to people and taking their picture.  Wendy came up with some amazing shots.  I'm so proud.

Camera:
Nikon F4 with 70-210mm f4-5.6 Tokina lens

Film:
Kodak BW400CN ISO 400

Day 71 - Painting Friend

Helping out a mate today with painting his house.  Their daughter Chloe (featured in January) was helping us paint as well.  She managed to get blue paint over her face and I couldn't resist taking a snap.

Technical:
iPhone
Natural Light

Day 70 - Old School

Apologies to all my fans, I've been off the air for a while but for a very good reason.  I've been shoot film... FILM!  I got curious about an old camera I received of my father-in-law and wanted to know if it would still take good pictures.  Well it's taken me about a week to get through 36 exposures (which would normally take me around two minutes on the digital).  I had no idea if I actually loaded the film correctly, exposed images correctly, if the mechanical components still work, the lens is clear and if I can control the ten thousand dials and buttons on the Nikon F4.  Even if any of the aforementioned issues arose, I have still gained huge amounts of knowledge to make me a better photographer.  Now I have scanned these images off my $100 special multi-function device so they do not do these images justice.  I will go back and get the images professionally scanned for the true conversion. 

Nothing to special with this first image, it was done at night with only the room light.  One of the cats was sleeping on my wife's bra.  Good cat.

Enjoy...

Camera:
Nikon F4 with 70-210mm f4-5.6 Tokina lens

Film:
Kodak BW400CN ISO 400

Day 69 - Night Light

For the last few nights, I have been really trying to get some star shots.  It's just not working so I was panning around the neighborhood and saw the street light.  I really liked the colours and the composition.

Technical:
ISO 100
500mm
f/8
1sec

Strobist:
1 street light at 50m distance and 4m height.

Day 68 - Serious Business

I meet up with a previous employee at work who I regard as a mentor, and has changed my life (for the better).  I told Darryl about what I had been doing with the camera and he then asked if I would be interested in doing a business profile shot for him.  I jumped at the opportunity of course.  Thank you Darryl for the advice, knowledge and photo shoot.  You are a very inspiring man.

Technical:
ISO 200
EF50mm
f/3.2
1/100sec

Strobist:
Flash right and rear of subject at 1m distance, ground level @ 1/8 power
Flash camera left and behind into umbrella at 1.5m distance, 1.5m height @ 1/2 power
Flashes trigger wirelessly

Day 67 - Real 3D

Today was just a fun shot while sitting in the lounge.  Wendy was posing for me while I was playing around with light sources and then she put on some of the 3D glasses you get from the movies.  It changed the whole look of the shot.  Lesson, play with props and have an awesome wife.

Technical:
ISO 100
EF17-40 @ 39mm
f/10
1/80sec

Strobist:
Flash camera left at 1m distance, 1m high @ 1/4 power
Flash camera right and rear at 2.5m distance. 1m high @ 1/2 power

Day 66 - Bad Hair Day

Everyone should have a camera on them.  Why, because if you took off to work and forgot to do your hair, you can take a photo and check.  Thought this was good enough to make it to the blog.  Hope you have a laugh...

Technical:
Shot on iPhone

Day 65 - Something Isn't Right

I was keen to get the glass out again and play with some food colouring.  The food colour pattern was interesting, but I wanted to give the image something else.  I decided to put the glass on a lean.  This could have been disaster because in a test run with water, the glass fell over and went all over the carpet.  With some more blue tack, I was good to go.

Technical:
ISO 200
EF17-40 @ 33mm
f/10
1/125sec

Photoshop:
Removed unwanted water splashes on glass.

Strobist:
Nissin Di MKII camera left, 0.5m distance, 1m height, @ 1/2 power
Sunpak behind camera into umbrella, 2m distance, 1.5m height @ 1/8 power
Black reflector to add defining edge to glass

Day 64 - Renovation Games

Got stuck into the renovations while my wife was away.  I was playing with the snoot again.  I wanted to somehow capture in image showing what I did from 6am to 11pm.  For your information, I finished the built-ins and painted them.  It's a bit cheesy but hey...

Technical:
ISO 200
EF17-40 @ 21mm
f/10
1/125sec

Strobist:
Nissin Di622 MkII with beer snoot for hand/paint brush shadow.  Camera right at 2m distance, 1m height @ 1/2 power
Sunpak flash into umbrella, rear left of camera, 2m distance, 1.5m height @ 1/8 power

Day 63 - Golf Day

One of the perks with our business is that we put on a golf day for all the vendors and parties we deal with on a daily basis.  Our communications manager asked me to play on his team and I gladly accepted, although I was quite concerned about my golf ability because I haven't touched the club since last years golf day.  Although it rain on and off all day, I managed to get a couple of nice shots.  Even took the remote flash out on course but didn't really have enough time to get decent results from it.

Technical:
ISO 250
EF17-40 @ 40mm
f/4
1/640

Strobist:
Sun defused by clouds
Wireless triggers not required for sun

Day 62 - Snoot Action

Well I have been a little slack folks.  I've had the pictures but just didn't get around to uploading them.  In my quest to tame light, I came across an article on snoots (a device to direct light down to a narrow beam).  These things can be expensive but I saw one guy who used a stubby cooler over his flash.  I rummaged around and found some and this is the result.  I used the snoot on the background to give an interesting light fall-off.

Technical:
ISO 200
EF17-40 @ 33mm
f/10
1/125

Photoshop:
I may have used the patch tool to clean up the glass and done a B/W conversion but don't tell anyone.

Strobist:
Nissin Di 622 MkII with custom snoot (beer cooler) camera left @ 1m distance, 1m height shooting background
Sunpak shooting into umbrella @ 1/8 power, behind camera @ 2m distance, 1.5m height
Black reflector left of subject providing definition on glass edge.

Day 61 - Sophie & Christine "The Coffee Shop Girls"

Meet Sophie & Christine.  They are the girls from Bon Amici.  They were fantastic allowing me to run around with my camera and flash, snapping away while they did their thing.  I was in the coffee shop earlier that day and noticed the tattoo on Sophie's arm.  I immediately knew that would be a cool shot.  After chatting with Sophie, she informed me of the relevance 32 Flavours.  It's a song by Ani DiFranco on her 1995 album Not a Pretty Girl.  The title of the song is a pun on Baskin-Robbins and its well-known "31 flavours" slogan.  I used the light in the shop with a small amount of fill flash to get the first image.  The fiery red hair contrasts well against the blue top which then leads into the tattoo.  Going well for my second shot of the month without Photoshop and relying on my camera skills for light and colour.

Technical:
ISO 3200
EF17-40 @ 31mm
f/4
1/60sec

Photoshop:
Sharpen

Strobist:
Wireless Flash behind camera @ 3m, -2EV, ground height

Day 60 - Say NO to Photoshop

I am relying to much on Photoshop and post editing to turn my images into something.  I've decided to take a stand and go a month... maybe a week... who am I kidding, till the end of this conversation without photoshop.  I am going to focus on camera techniques and good image composition to get me through this next chapter in my photography.  God help me.

Technical:
ISO 100
EF500mm
f/16
1sec

Photoshop:
NO... apart from sharpen, you have to, its digital.

Day 59 - Ping Pong

The gals at work organised a game of Ping Pong during lunch so I jumped at the opportunity to take some photos.  I was really trying to think of a different perspective to drive some interest.  This shot was quite funny, Richard smashed the ball as I hit the shutter and caught a good action shot before the ping pong ball hit the lens.

Technical:
ISO 125
EF17-40 @ 24mm
f/4
1/10sec

Photoshop:
Sharpen, Vignette, Desaturate

Strobist:
Fluro room lights, nothing fancy.