First trial with the Gary Fong Lightsphere II. I will post comparison shots with and without the flash attachment later to explain the advantages of using it.
It creates a lovely 'natural light' look that I haven't been able to create with Flash to date.
Early days, but looking good so far.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
It's Cold!
This was taken on Megan's 2nd Birthday (15/12/08).
Rather than use the high ISO capability of the D300, I used the SB-800 flash instead (ISO 400).
The flash helped to pick Megan out from the background - I set the flash to -2/3 as I was outside and had nothing to bounce the flash from. On full power it made the image too hot.
I am looking at a Gary Fong Lightshere II to soften the light in instances like this.
Something else for the Focus on Imaging 2009 shopping list!
Rather than use the high ISO capability of the D300, I used the SB-800 flash instead (ISO 400).
The flash helped to pick Megan out from the background - I set the flash to -2/3 as I was outside and had nothing to bounce the flash from. On full power it made the image too hot.
I am looking at a Gary Fong Lightshere II to soften the light in instances like this.
Something else for the Focus on Imaging 2009 shopping list!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Off to the Farm
Taken with the D300 + 85 combo (again!) - This was using natural light, at about 10:30 in the morning.
Again, an overcast day led to lovely diffused light.
The brown coat and red hair really set-off Megan's blue eyes here.
A slight vignette added in CS4, and resized for the web, but very little else.
Again, an overcast day led to lovely diffused light.
The brown coat and red hair really set-off Megan's blue eyes here.
A slight vignette added in CS4, and resized for the web, but very little else.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
It's all in the detail (D3x)
My favorite shot from the set yesterday with the D3x.
The best thing about these images for me was that they were all taken using two Speedlights (1 x SB-900, 1 x SB-800), fired through Lastolite Ezybox soft boxes.
Both were controlled by an on-camera SU-800 commander unit, but could just as easily be triggered by the built in flash on a D300.
No light meter to hand either, so just went for ISO 100, Manual exposure 1/200 @ f5... Checked the histogram, slight adjustment and shot.
Just goes to show that it is NOT the equipment that makes the image.
The best thing about these images for me was that they were all taken using two Speedlights (1 x SB-900, 1 x SB-800), fired through Lastolite Ezybox soft boxes.
Both were controlled by an on-camera SU-800 commander unit, but could just as easily be triggered by the built in flash on a D300.
No light meter to hand either, so just went for ISO 100, Manual exposure 1/200 @ f5... Checked the histogram, slight adjustment and shot.
Just goes to show that it is NOT the equipment that makes the image.
D3x Studio - Landscape + snoot
Another Image from the D3x trial yesterday.
Not only does this level of camera raise the bar in terms of Quality, Contrast and Colour depth, it will also mean the increase in new PCs and Macs!
45 meg RAW files... My poor iMac is struggling to handle them... I think a Mac update will be coming my way in Feb.
D3 + new iMac; We can all dream!
Not only does this level of camera raise the bar in terms of Quality, Contrast and Colour depth, it will also mean the increase in new PCs and Macs!
45 meg RAW files... My poor iMac is struggling to handle them... I think a Mac update will be coming my way in Feb.
D3 + new iMac; We can all dream!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
D3x Studio Trial; 100% Crop
This is the same image from the previous post, cropped to 100% so that you can see exactly how much detail the D3x records...
Just amazing!
You could easily shot a portrait with a 30mm lens from 10 feet away - You would have enough detail in the image to then crop to a head and shoulders shot.
Mind blowing (as it SHOULD be for £5499!)
Just amazing!
You could easily shot a portrait with a 30mm lens from 10 feet away - You would have enough detail in the image to then crop to a head and shoulders shot.
Mind blowing (as it SHOULD be for £5499!)
D3x Studio Trial
Just back from the Nikon Solutions Expo in London.
I was lucky enough to be one of the select few to get hands on with a D3x... The level of detail in the images is just amazing!
This was taken using 2 SB-900s, and my 85 1.4... I have converted to JPEG for posting, and that is it... (Was pleasently suprised to see that Aperture is more than happy to read and process D3x files - Even though Nikon said they doubted it would!)
As you can see, the images will need softening... It shows almost TOO much detail!
I was lucky enough to be one of the select few to get hands on with a D3x... The level of detail in the images is just amazing!
This was taken using 2 SB-900s, and my 85 1.4... I have converted to JPEG for posting, and that is it... (Was pleasently suprised to see that Aperture is more than happy to read and process D3x files - Even though Nikon said they doubted it would!)
As you can see, the images will need softening... It shows almost TOO much detail!
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Megan - Winter (B&W)
Megan, again with the D300 + 85mm combo, but this time taken in the conservatory.
Due to the brighter light I was able to shot at ISO 400 - In some ways this made the image too sharp; I had to soften the skin back a little!
I converted to B&W using the excellent NIK Silver Efex Pro plug-in for Aperture.
I also added a Pan X film effect, which again slightly softened the skin.
Really pleased with this one.
Due to the brighter light I was able to shot at ISO 400 - In some ways this made the image too sharp; I had to soften the skin back a little!
I converted to B&W using the excellent NIK Silver Efex Pro plug-in for Aperture.
I also added a Pan X film effect, which again slightly softened the skin.
Really pleased with this one.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Megan - Cap
Once again this was at ISO 640 (!) 1/125 @ f2.8 with the 85mm.
I can see that this lens will be staying on the D300 for a long time!
Can't wait to give it a run at a wedding - The low light capabilities of the fast 1.4 and the D300's outstanding high ISO performance open up so many opportunities.
This is the lighting
set-up that I used for this image... The Window replaced the Soft Box in this case (but did the same job!).
A white reflector was used to cut down some of the shadow on the left of Megan's face (as the camera looks)
Morning Megan!
Natural light portrait of Megan taken on Sunday.
Very overcast grey day which lead to great diffused light coming in the window.
This was taken with the 85mm 1.4 prime on the D300.
The DOF at 1.4 is tiny (you can easily get the tip of the nose in focus, and the eyes blurred!)
I stopped down to 2.8 for this shot, focusing on the eyes. Even at this aperture the hair and chin are starting to go soft - Leaving a lovely 'popping' effect to the face.
I added a slight sharpening effect on the eyes in CS4, using my eye pop technique.
Really pleased with the results.
Very overcast grey day which lead to great diffused light coming in the window.
This was taken with the 85mm 1.4 prime on the D300.
The DOF at 1.4 is tiny (you can easily get the tip of the nose in focus, and the eyes blurred!)
I stopped down to 2.8 for this shot, focusing on the eyes. Even at this aperture the hair and chin are starting to go soft - Leaving a lovely 'popping' effect to the face.
I added a slight sharpening effect on the eyes in CS4, using my eye pop technique.
Really pleased with the results.
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