More f/2.2 – In color this time

I mentioned yesterday that I would post more photos from my f/2.2 experiment on Friday. Here they are. The only adjustments I made were to correct the white balance as there seems to be a bit of a disconnect between my camera and Adobe Bridge, and I bumped the exposure on a couple of them to brighten the photos a bit. Lighting for all: Diffused daylight through my office window and white fluorescent lights above (set to low). No reflectors. (I’m still trying to talk Sweetie into letting me shoot him today. In the meantime, he’s off flying his radio-controlled plane with his pals.)

Day 106 – Serendipity

Sometimes you just get a lucky shot.

A friend of mine posted a link to this Virtual Lighting Studio (be patient…it takes a while to load). Of course, I had to play with it. What’s really cool about it is that once you find a look you like, you can save it as a jpeg. When you open said jpeg, you see not only your image, but a diagram on where to place the lights to get the same effect. Pretty nifty, huh?

And so you know, I felt the call to try it out. I clamped a dark blanket to our living room windows to block out the bits of sunlight that leaked through the wooden blinds. I shoved the hutch away from the tall wall and pushed the sofa and love seat to each side of the room. I grabbed my studio lights and set them up, along with my camera.

“NO!” I told myself. “Get your taxes done. THEN you can play. And while you’re at it, start some laundry.”

Sigh. Okay…

I quickly worked through our taxes (and lo and behold, we’re getting a bit back – taking a couple of photography classes at the university does have other benefits!)

I finally was able to get going, and just had some fun for a bit. But the best moment was when Maya jumped up onto the chair I’d been posing in. She’s a bit shorter than I am.

As for what I was trying to accomplish in session today…highlights in my hair and a defined jawline. It’s all about seeing the light.

Main light (soft box) was in front of me to camera left and high, angled down. Second light (soft box as well) was behind me and to camera right. Slightly lower than the main light. This light got moved quite a bit during the session to try to give me what I was going for. I moved it closer, raised it, brightened and dimmed it.

I know I'm not smiling, but look at the highlight on my cheek, and my jaw looks great!

I really like the highlight along the right side of my face. Nicely lit hair too.

I'm liking the hair and the cheekbones.

Day 103 – Meeting

There was a meeting tonight for some of the volunteers who will be doing intake at tomorrow’s event.

Whew!

Thank goodness for Gordon’s Photo! I’ve got my back-up battery! (And as a member, I get 20% off!)

Panic!

I bought a new camera bag and as I was transferring my gear I noticed that my back-up battery was nowhere to be seen. Every place I’ve looked online can’t get me a replacement until well after my shoot this weekend. I’ll be heading to Gordon’s today with my fingers crossed.

Day 102 – A little bit of this, a little bit of that

I tried to find some interesting things around the grounds this afternoon. Someone neatly arranged these rocks atop the storm drain.

And I can’t seem to get enough of these dried flowers.

I’ve been wanting to play with HDR some more, so I shot this looking across the lot that is kitty-cornered to our property.

And before I processed these, I had to do my homework: finishing up the models’ photos and getting them emailed off to them. Here is a sampling.

Day 101 – Under the wire

Apologies. Nothing to write home about here. It’s been a busy day and I spent the hours after class tonight processing photos I shot in Jeff’s studio last week. Our class shot three models and we are required to provide some shots to each of them for their portfolios. The hour was getting late so I quickly set up my studio lights and shot a few self-portraits to try out some lighting effects.

I shot these with the light above my head to camera left and a fill card at camera right. Shot at f/1.8, just for fun. I have to apologize…not my best work.

Light a Structure at Dusk – Assignment Re-Do

Our 10th assignment for our lighting class was to photograph a building at dusk with multiple flashes, taking care to show the texture and dimensions of the building. Once we’ve gone through critique night, we have the opportunity to re-shoot the assignment, if we wish.

My original shot. Really, I only was able to get off two flashes before the timer on the camera clicked off. Further, it was freezing when we were out shooting and I thought I’d done okay. The sun had been down for at least a half hour, but the clear sky stayed brighter than I would have liked. Exposure time: 20 seconds.

My instructor said he would have liked to see more detail on the right and in the area to far left, so I went out last night to re-shoot. Here is the result. The sky was overcast, I was dealing with a street lamp to camera left and I used a longer exposure time (about 45 seconds). In this shot I got six flashes off.