I proudly present the latest member of our family- Julia. She just turned one month! I don't have to say we are more than happy to have her. A note of sanity- this post is not about how Julia was made, it is more about the photo... ;)
Showing posts with label Light. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Light. Show all posts
Softer light with Elinchrom Rotalux 90x110
Finally the time has come to soften the light from my Elinchrom 500BX Ri kit! For that I decided to go with the Rotalux 90x110cm softbox. Here is a picture of contents of the box as it arrived in the mail:
Why I got this, other available options and initial thoughts are all listed down below, so read on!
GED Dancers
One of not-so-usual jobs from last year- photo shoot for GED, a dance studio in Göteborg. Talent was their top-rated couple Dawid and Frida- Swedish champions on multiple occasions etc etc. These two can seriously dance! I had a chance to observe them training and it was hard to keep up with all the moves, not to mention that inner feeling of being a tree stump or a rock or whatever heavy bulky and lifeless thing when it comes to dancing.
Definitely worth going to see some dance competition when one comes to your town! And if it is Göteborg, you might even see photos made by me on GED's posters. That was the main intended use for the photos, thus all was shot on white seamless background.
Read more for the tech details and findings...
A bit of summer romance
What is a summer without a wedding?! Here are a couple of candid shots from a recent wedding in Sweden. Congrats to the newly weds one more time!
A few more weddings left this year. Hope I will be able to post those here!
Emmet
Meet Emmet- the drooling, chewing happy five-month-old. A great kid and such an ease to work with! Was smiling for the whole hour while I was there.
As usual in the full post you will find some more details on the techie side of the pictures.
New members of the family- Emilia and A Nikon 50mm 1.4
So it finally happened and maternity that I took pictures of materialized into a lovely daughter Emilia :) Now you know why I was gone for a month... So without further delays- here she is.
As this is a photo blog I will not go into details how cool this is- too hard to explain anyway. Let me just summarize briefly:
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As this is a photo blog I will not go into details how cool this is- too hard to explain anyway. Let me just summarize briefly:
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy holidays!
This year was 3 times more productive than the previous ones (hooray for statistics, sounds cool but this is post number 30 this year:) ). That is if we measure by amount of posts I have written (the only directly measurable thing, I guess :) ). As for myself - it has been the most educational year EVER in all available senses.
Looking forward to next year and hoping to have more time for sharing what I've learned with you all!
Thanks for sticking around another year! Hope you have a ton of fun and great pictures and a very educational 2011 ;)
Cheers!
//M.
P.S. just to stick to it- one 60x60 softbox (from Elinchrom BX 500 Ri kit) straight in front of the teddies. 4 sec exposure to catch the candle light. Complete darkness besides that.
Now it is time for xmas :)
Acid morning rising over Göteborg (or my batch output settings for Bibble 5)
Some shots from an early freezing morning walk. These were actually aimed to the west- the sun was rising behind my back. It was amazing to watch the purple glowing haze come down all over the city and then just disappear over the horizon... Not always the best action is with the sun :)
Jump into full post if you care about batch processing settings I have for Bibble 5. Some thoughts about Bibbles sharpening in there too. Otherwise, enjoy the view. I had great two hours on that hill with -10° C and Terra to keep me company (some running around with a dog is a good way to warm up :)).
Jump into full post if you care about batch processing settings I have for Bibble 5. Some thoughts about Bibbles sharpening in there too. Otherwise, enjoy the view. I had great two hours on that hill with -10° C and Terra to keep me company (some running around with a dog is a good way to warm up :)).
Maternity shoot
A bit different maternity photo session - for the first time it is of my girlfriend Dalia! We are expecting a very unusual Christmas present this year!
After all the talks about photography at home (nagging out new gear) I could not afford not taking pictures of her, so here are some shots from the latest session we had.
The idea was to have 'white and light' maternity pictures and I think it worked out pretty well!
If you are interested in details on lighting setup and diagram, click the Read More link.
After all the talks about photography at home (nagging out new gear) I could not afford not taking pictures of her, so here are some shots from the latest session we had.
The idea was to have 'white and light' maternity pictures and I think it worked out pretty well!
We could not miss the 'belly holding' shot too, with yours trully in there as well :)
Realy excited about our first addition to the family! I don't think I fully understand what's coming my way, but I am definitely getting a lot of practice with baby photography quite soon!
If you are interested in details on lighting setup and diagram, click the Read More link.
Simple lighting setup with Elinchrom Bx 500 Ri
Some weeks ago a good friend came visiting and one of the evenings we spent making a couple of portraits of her. She is a happy camper as you might notice :)
Half way into the photo session Terra felt she needed to investigate things
Terra is one curious dog. Nothing goes unnoticed at home...
For those curious how the pictures were taken- a chart of lighting setup and some more details on how the pictures happened inside the post.
Half way into the photo session Terra felt she needed to investigate things
Terra is one curious dog. Nothing goes unnoticed at home...
For those curious how the pictures were taken- a chart of lighting setup and some more details on how the pictures happened inside the post.
When you screw that pooch...
Dorit Chrysler was not the only concert I visited last week. Youngfuck and Leidi Misterie had a performance at Cafe Berlin on Thursday. The day I have learned that NOT always can you pull it off with just a kit lens and ambient light.
There were just a couple of small bulbs and a visual installation through out that dark cellar... So I ended up with some seriously "artistic" (read that how you wish...) pictures.
Youngfuck- shot over 40 frames from the same position before someone stepped in front of me:
And then my blurrastrophy with Leidi Misterie:
You know that feeling when you look at the pictures on a big monitor for the first time and start feeling your guts turn inside-out? That was exactly this time. Well, the bad result was visible even on the small LCD really, but I had to make sure...
Anyhow- lesson learned:
1. No more 'traveling light' to new places. Carry the flashes, be there early to have setup time;
2. Every f stop counts. The f3.5 to f4.5 of my kit lens is just not going to work (some times), no matter how many frames I shoot... Even setting sensitivity to ISO 1600 on a D70s (jep, I humiliated myself that much) will not save my ar**. Maybe a Nikkor 50mm f1.4? Or maybe I'm old enough for a D700 with 24-70 f2.8 on it?..
A talk related to messy pics is going on Zack Arias blog. Check out the comments of Blowing it on purpose post :) I do find it strange that he used those pics made by Paolo Roversi to ilustrate 'technically imperfect'... I guess there is some hard to explain fine line between a really cool and failed... I do think that some of my shots like the trumpet player from Bobastian or bass player from Kapten hurricane are artsy fartsy and not perfect in a perfect way :)
I don't get the same feel from the pics from this session at Cafe Berlin though...
Well, already had a better event with Leidi Misterie this Monday at Oceanen. Now just need to catch Youngfuck playing somewhere (where there is light maybe:) ).
Cheers,
//M.
There were just a couple of small bulbs and a visual installation through out that dark cellar... So I ended up with some seriously "artistic" (read that how you wish...) pictures.
Youngfuck- shot over 40 frames from the same position before someone stepped in front of me:
And then my blurrastrophy with Leidi Misterie:
You know that feeling when you look at the pictures on a big monitor for the first time and start feeling your guts turn inside-out? That was exactly this time. Well, the bad result was visible even on the small LCD really, but I had to make sure...
Anyhow- lesson learned:
1. No more 'traveling light' to new places. Carry the flashes, be there early to have setup time;
2. Every f stop counts. The f3.5 to f4.5 of my kit lens is just not going to work (some times), no matter how many frames I shoot... Even setting sensitivity to ISO 1600 on a D70s (jep, I humiliated myself that much) will not save my ar**. Maybe a Nikkor 50mm f1.4? Or maybe I'm old enough for a D700 with 24-70 f2.8 on it?..
A talk related to messy pics is going on Zack Arias blog. Check out the comments of Blowing it on purpose post :) I do find it strange that he used those pics made by Paolo Roversi to ilustrate 'technically imperfect'... I guess there is some hard to explain fine line between a really cool and failed... I do think that some of my shots like the trumpet player from Bobastian or bass player from Kapten hurricane are artsy fartsy and not perfect in a perfect way :)
 |  |
I don't get the same feel from the pics from this session at Cafe Berlin though...
Well, already had a better event with Leidi Misterie this Monday at Oceanen. Now just need to catch Youngfuck playing somewhere (where there is light maybe:) ).
Cheers,
//M.
ÄNTLIGEN MÅNDAG at Oceanen with Leidi Misterie and Goodland Trio
Finished working on pics from yesterdays concert at Oceanen, Göteborg, where Leidi Misterie and Goodland Trio played some nice music.
Click here for remaining pictures from the evening on my homepage.
Phew, this time there was enough light! One huge stage light. And it was sort of neutral-yellowish color too. Much easier to work with, I must say.
Night ya all ;)
//M.
Click here for remaining pictures from the evening on my homepage.
Phew, this time there was enough light! One huge stage light. And it was sort of neutral-yellowish color too. Much easier to work with, I must say.
Night ya all ;)
//M.
Dorit Chrysler in Göteborg
Last friday Dorit Chrysler visited Göteborg. Folks got warmed up with some beer
and music by Johanna Nordström
Then with Dorit Chrysler on stage I got to see how a theremin works in real life. Now that is one funky contraption! And a funky and visual performance too! A couple of hundred years ago you could get burned for such moves ;-)
Another good night out!
As for the picture taking bit, this place was one of the more challenging... Two harsh beams of light- one blue the other red... Camera meter gone wild... At least the light was stable and was there. Pulled it off with the usual 18-70mm and D70s kit...
Cheers,
//M.
and music by Johanna Nordström
Then with Dorit Chrysler on stage I got to see how a theremin works in real life. Now that is one funky contraption! And a funky and visual performance too! A couple of hundred years ago you could get burned for such moves ;-)
Another good night out!
As for the picture taking bit, this place was one of the more challenging... Two harsh beams of light- one blue the other red... Camera meter gone wild... At least the light was stable and was there. Pulled it off with the usual 18-70mm and D70s kit...
Cheers,
//M.
Photoshoot of Désirée Hermann
Last weekend took pictures of an aspiring singer/songwriter Désirée Hermann. Check out her music on myspace. In the mean time here are my two favorites from the shoot:
Both shot with Elinchrom BX 500 Ri kit. The first picture was lit with one softbox in front of her and lighting the background (a white bed sheet...) with the second Rotalux. Two takeaways: make sure the background is realy smooth; has no wrinkles and is not wavy... Otherwise you'll waste too much time cleaning it up in full lenght shots. Second- one light for background is ok, but just a little not enough to make it eavenly lit. Tried to fill in with SB-800 from the other side, but that flash is so weak compared to Elinchroms! You get used to a lot of power too quick :)
Second picture is just one softbox directly above her. To get more controll over light would be just great. A normal softbox spills light too much and I did have to do some make up work on the background to get it completely black. No big deal though, but obviously a gridded softbox goes on the ever growing wishlist.
Ah yes, shot with Nikon D70s and 70-300 VR (first pic) and 18-70 (second pic).
Have fun ;)
M.
Both shot with Elinchrom BX 500 Ri kit. The first picture was lit with one softbox in front of her and lighting the background (a white bed sheet...) with the second Rotalux. Two takeaways: make sure the background is realy smooth; has no wrinkles and is not wavy... Otherwise you'll waste too much time cleaning it up in full lenght shots. Second- one light for background is ok, but just a little not enough to make it eavenly lit. Tried to fill in with SB-800 from the other side, but that flash is so weak compared to Elinchroms! You get used to a lot of power too quick :)
Second picture is just one softbox directly above her. To get more controll over light would be just great. A normal softbox spills light too much and I did have to do some make up work on the background to get it completely black. No big deal though, but obviously a gridded softbox goes on the ever growing wishlist.
Ah yes, shot with Nikon D70s and 70-300 VR (first pic) and 18-70 (second pic).
Have fun ;)
M.
New EL Skyport Speed!
Just a couple of weeks since I got my new BX 500 Ri kit and Elinchrom release new version of their Skyports - the EL Skyport Speed.
Main advantages according to Elinchrom are:
- Improved housing, battery drawer and switches;
- Improved integrated Hot-shoe with screw lock;
- 1/250 sync speed.
The first two should fix the main whining about these transmitters/receivers. If the buttons/switches are working as they should, I don't see a single problem with them any more. Even though my copies of transmitters and receiver I have for the SB-800 hot shoe flash are working totaly fine, there are people complaining about the buttons not functioning as they should. From my part, the only issue I have is the receivers on/off switch sensitivity... Might not even notice how you switch it off... Seems to be solved in the new version by putting the button lower then the rest of surface:
These seem also to be backwards compatible with BX 500 Ri that I already have and other current Elinchrom heads, so if I ever get arround to upgrading to these transmitters, there should be no problems with current equipment.
The reason I'm not jumping in my seat regarding the high speed sync is that I have no issues with it even today with my D70s... But folks with other cameras sure should appreciate this feature.
Check out the remaining details at Elinchrom product page.
Have fun ;)
M.
NOTE: images in this post are from Elinchrom page, not my photographs.
Main advantages according to Elinchrom are:
- Improved housing, battery drawer and switches;
- Improved integrated Hot-shoe with screw lock;
- 1/250 sync speed.
The first two should fix the main whining about these transmitters/receivers. If the buttons/switches are working as they should, I don't see a single problem with them any more. Even though my copies of transmitters and receiver I have for the SB-800 hot shoe flash are working totaly fine, there are people complaining about the buttons not functioning as they should. From my part, the only issue I have is the receivers on/off switch sensitivity... Might not even notice how you switch it off... Seems to be solved in the new version by putting the button lower then the rest of surface:
These seem also to be backwards compatible with BX 500 Ri that I already have and other current Elinchrom heads, so if I ever get arround to upgrading to these transmitters, there should be no problems with current equipment.
The reason I'm not jumping in my seat regarding the high speed sync is that I have no issues with it even today with my D70s... But folks with other cameras sure should appreciate this feature.
Check out the remaining details at Elinchrom product page.
Have fun ;)
M.
NOTE: images in this post are from Elinchrom page, not my photographs.
True Or Not
Pictures from Johanna Nordströms 'True Or Not' album release concert now available. Great bunch of people, great music, good times! Thanks for all the fun!
Mostly used available light- two insanely powerfull stage lights that were there, crosslighting the whole place with harsh unbarable light. Sometimes added a bit of bounced fill with SB-800 (had a low white ceiling at my disposal). The usual D70s with 18-70 kit lens. The event took place on a boat, so it was seriously tight there. Lesson learned- 18mm is not enough in places like these!
//M.
Mostly used available light- two insanely powerfull stage lights that were there, crosslighting the whole place with harsh unbarable light. Sometimes added a bit of bounced fill with SB-800 (had a low white ceiling at my disposal). The usual D70s with 18-70 kit lens. The event took place on a boat, so it was seriously tight there. Lesson learned- 18mm is not enough in places like these!
//M.
Old 50mm f/1.8 manual Nikkor on my D70s
During the years of marriage to D70s I've completely forgotten my old 50mm 1.8 Nikkor lens that is gathering dust together with Nikon FM2.
Figured I might as well try it on the digital camera. Here is the result:
So, yes, it is possible to use an old Nikkor lens on a new(er) digital camera. There are a few buts though.
First- manual focus is a killer. Very hard to get it right wiht small and dark D70s viewfinder. I even started thinking I might need glasses... Well, anyway, manual focus while taking pictures of moving subjects is nothing I miss.
Second- no metering. You have to bother and play setting up the exposure manualy.
Have to be fair- once you do get the borring manual stuff right the picture is great!
BTW, the light is just dinner table lamp. It created quite deep shadows so I put a Lastolite TriFlip silver reflector to bounce some light back into eye sockets.
Feel like putting the new Nikon AF-S 50/1,4 G on my xmas wish list :)
Cheers,
M.
Figured I might as well try it on the digital camera. Here is the result:
So, yes, it is possible to use an old Nikkor lens on a new(er) digital camera. There are a few buts though.
First- manual focus is a killer. Very hard to get it right wiht small and dark D70s viewfinder. I even started thinking I might need glasses... Well, anyway, manual focus while taking pictures of moving subjects is nothing I miss.
Second- no metering. You have to bother and play setting up the exposure manualy.
Have to be fair- once you do get the borring manual stuff right the picture is great!
BTW, the light is just dinner table lamp. It created quite deep shadows so I put a Lastolite TriFlip silver reflector to bounce some light back into eye sockets.
Feel like putting the new Nikon AF-S 50/1,4 G on my xmas wish list :)
Cheers,
M.
Heavy artillery - Elinchrom BX 500 Ri
It's almost a week since my first ever propper studio lights have arived and now when the initial excitement is over, it's about time to write about the Elinchrom EL 20751KIT Style 500/500 BXRi To Go Kit
.
It is amazing how much difference working with these lights makes! Knowing that I'm coming from one Nikon SB-800 background, you should not be surprized these Elinchroms made a whole world of difference for me.
Jump inside the post for first samples.
Obviously, first to suffer were my closest ones- girlfriend and dog... :)
The dog got borred in just about no time:
This picture is cross-lit by both Portalite 60x60 softboxes that came with the kit- one camera right at about 45 degree angle, the other one facing the first, so they are firing into each other.
The dog is gone. Time to bother girlfriend!
Tried to light her in a high-key fashion... Lights are at 45 degrees both sides of the camera. White bed cover, white wall in the background. The background did not get completely white so I used the SB-800 with Skyport trigger to do the dirty work. That wasn't realy enough; in the far left top corner there still was a bit of shadow, but total time of post processing was less than two minutes- completely acceptable if you ask me.
A few dozens of shots later I started feeling boredom coming through the lens... The shoot was over :)
The only one left to bother- yours truly! Made a dark and groosome self portrait. One of the Elinchroms with softbox above my head, pointing downwords. Here I'm sitting on a chair in the middle of living room. There was some light spill on to the wall behind me, but it was very minor and, again, a couple of clicks in PP fixed it in no time (just levels, no cloning).
Hope these samples illustrate correctly why I am so happy with this purchase :)
Update with more samples:
- A portrait of a friend I made with this kit;
- Maternity photo session lit with BX 500 Ri kit;
- Added a Rotalux 90x110cm softbox to the kit;
Cheers
M.
. It is amazing how much difference working with these lights makes! Knowing that I'm coming from one Nikon SB-800 background, you should not be surprized these Elinchroms made a whole world of difference for me.
Jump inside the post for first samples.
Obviously, first to suffer were my closest ones- girlfriend and dog... :)
The dog got borred in just about no time:
The dog is gone. Time to bother girlfriend!
A few dozens of shots later I started feeling boredom coming through the lens... The shoot was over :)
The only one left to bother- yours truly! Made a dark and groosome self portrait. One of the Elinchroms with softbox above my head, pointing downwords. Here I'm sitting on a chair in the middle of living room. There was some light spill on to the wall behind me, but it was very minor and, again, a couple of clicks in PP fixed it in no time (just levels, no cloning).
Hope these samples illustrate correctly why I am so happy with this purchase :)
Update with more samples:
- A portrait of a friend I made with this kit;
- Maternity photo session lit with BX 500 Ri kit;
- Added a Rotalux 90x110cm softbox to the kit;
Cheers
M.
Textures
Any weather is good weather; any light is good light, apparently. Today the sky was all muddy and overcast, creating perfect light to look for details.
A couple of shots from an open air museum (Forngården) in Trollhättan, exploring old wood and brick textures.
I hear clever people say "Go out and take lots of pictures"...
A couple of shots from an open air museum (Forngården) in Trollhättan, exploring old wood and brick textures.
I hear clever people say "Go out and take lots of pictures"...
Crashing Icicles
Upcoming spring is a good time for icicles to grow. And take pictures of them.
This one is shot with the SB-800 + Full CTO gell fired directly into the ice from above.
Also learned a valuable lesson today- never put stuff in you pockets! Before prepparing the next shot I've put my flash together with the remote trigger into my lower pocket. Then kneeled down to the cammera and heard something sliding down the icy slope... Jep- my SB-800 was on it's way to a 3 meter cliff, pulling EL-Skyport receiver with it... I was so afraid to go and fetch it after the crash, that just tried firing the flash with the test button from the transmitter. And it worked! Beleive it or not- it still works! Hail Nikons hardcore build quality! ;)
This one is shot with the SB-800 + Full CTO gell fired directly into the ice from above.
Also learned a valuable lesson today- never put stuff in you pockets! Before prepparing the next shot I've put my flash together with the remote trigger into my lower pocket. Then kneeled down to the cammera and heard something sliding down the icy slope... Jep- my SB-800 was on it's way to a 3 meter cliff, pulling EL-Skyport receiver with it... I was so afraid to go and fetch it after the crash, that just tried firing the flash with the test button from the transmitter. And it worked! Beleive it or not- it still works! Hail Nikons hardcore build quality! ;)
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