2 Softboxes
07/13/2008 @ 12:00 AM Filed in:
News | Photography
A couple of weeks ago I sold my Canon
100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L lens on eBay. I believe I got around $1100 for
it which was what I was hoping I’d get for it. When I decided
to sell the lens I thought I could use the money to buy the Canon
180mm macro lens, a lens I’ve been wanting for a while now,
or buy some lighting gear and other miscellaneous things. In the
end I decided to buy some lighting gear.
Last week I received a couple of collpsable softboxes from Alien Bees. They are 24x36” which should be plenty for portraits and still lifes. I also bought another Dell LCD display as my 21” Apple monitor saw its last days a few months ago. And I’ve grown accustomed to using two monitors.
At the moment I’m not sure what to do with the remaining money. I’m thinking of getting two pocket wizards so I can control my Alien Bees strobes and get rid of the 20 or 30 foot sync cord. I have 2 already but I ‘d like to have one for each Alien Bee and one for my Canon speedlight in case I want to use all 3 together.
Anyway, here is a few photos I took with the new softboxes.
I wanted to two highlights on the apple with the smaller being narrow and next to a spot of black. I used a sheet of black foam core to block one of the softboxes, which gives the small band highlight in the upper right hand side of the apple, and provides the dark shadow next to the small highlight. The background is a sheet of diffusion plastic from a lighting tent. The sheet and apple are on top of a cheap tv stand. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the table’s fake wood grain is seen through the diffusion sheet. Something I didn’t want but later thought it added some color and mood to the background (bright shiney apple on top of a white-brown background).
Self portrait. Taking self portraits is interesting as it requires some luck in compenstion but it allows me to keep trying depending if I feel up to it. But I don’t have to deal with others being impatient or losing interest.
Close up of my hollow body Ibanez electric guitar.
Another close up of my hollow body Ibanez electric guitar.
Last week I received a couple of collpsable softboxes from Alien Bees. They are 24x36” which should be plenty for portraits and still lifes. I also bought another Dell LCD display as my 21” Apple monitor saw its last days a few months ago. And I’ve grown accustomed to using two monitors.
At the moment I’m not sure what to do with the remaining money. I’m thinking of getting two pocket wizards so I can control my Alien Bees strobes and get rid of the 20 or 30 foot sync cord. I have 2 already but I ‘d like to have one for each Alien Bee and one for my Canon speedlight in case I want to use all 3 together.
Anyway, here is a few photos I took with the new softboxes.
I wanted to two highlights on the apple with the smaller being narrow and next to a spot of black. I used a sheet of black foam core to block one of the softboxes, which gives the small band highlight in the upper right hand side of the apple, and provides the dark shadow next to the small highlight. The background is a sheet of diffusion plastic from a lighting tent. The sheet and apple are on top of a cheap tv stand. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the table’s fake wood grain is seen through the diffusion sheet. Something I didn’t want but later thought it added some color and mood to the background (bright shiney apple on top of a white-brown background).
Self portrait. Taking self portraits is interesting as it requires some luck in compenstion but it allows me to keep trying depending if I feel up to it. But I don’t have to deal with others being impatient or losing interest.
Close up of my hollow body Ibanez electric guitar.
Another close up of my hollow body Ibanez electric guitar.
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180mm f/3.5L Macro lens
09/29/2007 @ 05:55 PM Filed in:
Photography
I'm trying to sell my Canon EF 100-400
F/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens. I told a guy at work about it just to see
if he was interested. He's not but he thinks maybe someone else he
knows might be interested in buying it. Its in very good condition.
I believe I have owned it for about year and half but have only
used it 2-3 times and it has always had a UV filter on the front.
Hopefully I can find a buyer for it soon.
Why am I selling it? In a year and half I have used it 2 times, 3 times max. Obviously I don't have a need for it. So I'd to sell it and buy Canon's 180mm f/3.5L Macro lens. It should give me a different perspective than the 100mm Macro as well as increase my focusing distance which would be nice if I ever get back into shooting splashes. So the guy at work is up for selling his to me and he let me borrow it in order to check it out over the weekend.
This afternoon I decided to give it a quick try with the flowers I shot 2 nights ago. My initial impression is I like it but man is it heavy compared to the other macro lens. Hand holding it isn't much fun. Tomorrow I hope to take it outside to try out the autofocus as well as smaller apertures. I'm already sold on getting it, its just a matter of selling my lens first so I can in turn use the money to buy this lens.
Here's some of the photos I took earlier today:
Why am I selling it? In a year and half I have used it 2 times, 3 times max. Obviously I don't have a need for it. So I'd to sell it and buy Canon's 180mm f/3.5L Macro lens. It should give me a different perspective than the 100mm Macro as well as increase my focusing distance which would be nice if I ever get back into shooting splashes. So the guy at work is up for selling his to me and he let me borrow it in order to check it out over the weekend.
This afternoon I decided to give it a quick try with the flowers I shot 2 nights ago. My initial impression is I like it but man is it heavy compared to the other macro lens. Hand holding it isn't much fun. Tomorrow I hope to take it outside to try out the autofocus as well as smaller apertures. I'm already sold on getting it, its just a matter of selling my lens first so I can in turn use the money to buy this lens.
Here's some of the photos I took earlier today:
Lighting stuff
09/09/2007 @ 03:51 PM Filed in:
Photography
Coming up with good blog entry titles
is tough. As you can see I'm very creative with words ;)
Recently I have acquired a Vivitar 285HV and bought a Canon 430EX speedlight. I want to use more flash in my photography from shooting flowers to people.
Every once in a while I'll also check out the Strobist website which if anyone is interested in a cheap way to learn lighting, check it out. The Strobist web site recommended Light: Science and Magic as THE lighting book to read and learn from so I recently bought it and started to read it. After about 30 pages in I realized I need to start taking notes and keeping a lighting notebook. I'm sure it'll help considerably in learning lighting theory.
The reason I want to use these particular strobes versus my two monolights from Alien Bees is because it takes much less time to set up a shot using the speedlights than it does the monolights & much less room.
I also recently bought an umbrella bracket made by Manfrotto which will help me put a speedlight on a light stand that I already own instead of awkwardly hand holding it and allow me to use the flash with an umbrella which is pretty cool. Two complaints about this particular bracket: 1. no usage instructions (also my No. 1 complaint on every photo bag. Great all these cool features, now how do I use them?) and 2. the locking mechanism to keep the flash in a particular position seems weak. I'm sure it'll hold a flash and umbrella, but I'd prefer to have something much tighter and thereby making me a bit more confident in my setup. Also, I bought a screw on flash shoe that screws onto the bracket makes the flash point in a particular direction and not in 360 degrees. If I want the flash to be pointed 90 degrees I have to loosen something and again I don't like that as the flash may not stay exactly where I want it and makes me wary of the setup crashing down on me.
Speaking of no instructions, I also bought a Wein Peanut Slave that I want to use with the Vivitar (thought I could use the Canon as the master). I plug the thing into the Vivitar but I can seem to figure out how to trigger the damn thing. Arghhh!!!
Recently I have acquired a Vivitar 285HV and bought a Canon 430EX speedlight. I want to use more flash in my photography from shooting flowers to people.
Every once in a while I'll also check out the Strobist website which if anyone is interested in a cheap way to learn lighting, check it out. The Strobist web site recommended Light: Science and Magic as THE lighting book to read and learn from so I recently bought it and started to read it. After about 30 pages in I realized I need to start taking notes and keeping a lighting notebook. I'm sure it'll help considerably in learning lighting theory.
The reason I want to use these particular strobes versus my two monolights from Alien Bees is because it takes much less time to set up a shot using the speedlights than it does the monolights & much less room.
I also recently bought an umbrella bracket made by Manfrotto which will help me put a speedlight on a light stand that I already own instead of awkwardly hand holding it and allow me to use the flash with an umbrella which is pretty cool. Two complaints about this particular bracket: 1. no usage instructions (also my No. 1 complaint on every photo bag. Great all these cool features, now how do I use them?) and 2. the locking mechanism to keep the flash in a particular position seems weak. I'm sure it'll hold a flash and umbrella, but I'd prefer to have something much tighter and thereby making me a bit more confident in my setup. Also, I bought a screw on flash shoe that screws onto the bracket makes the flash point in a particular direction and not in 360 degrees. If I want the flash to be pointed 90 degrees I have to loosen something and again I don't like that as the flash may not stay exactly where I want it and makes me wary of the setup crashing down on me.
Speaking of no instructions, I also bought a Wein Peanut Slave that I want to use with the Vivitar (thought I could use the Canon as the master). I plug the thing into the Vivitar but I can seem to figure out how to trigger the damn thing. Arghhh!!!