Nikon D300 w/ 24-70 f/2.8 and SB-900 triggered by CLS. Exposed 1/250 sec. @ f/14, ISO 250

For the past few days I’ve been peering over at the other side of the fence to see what Nikon has to offer with regard to off-camera lighting. I had heard about CLS–the Creative Lighting System–for some time, but few here at Mizzou seem to be using it. Finally, I just decided to check it out for myself, so I borrowed a D300 and an SB900 Speedlight and discovered how ridiculously easy it is to control the flash unit from the camera in either fully-manual or ETTL modes. From the perspective of a Canon user, it’s just sick.

More after the jump…
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Tags: architecture, CLS, Creative Lighting System, light, lighting, lit, Nikon, strobe, Strobist, wireless flash
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Diane Dorter inspects a Meadow Lark with an injured foot on Sunday, March 15, 2009 at Wild Bird Rehabilitation in St. Louis, Mo. Dorter, one of three paid staff at the non-profit organization, was training Lizzie Vreeland, a volunteer from Washington University, how to care for birds at WBR’s “emergency room.” Many of the birds require medication and are “tubed” via syringes, a procedure that requires great care.

While in Saint Louis last weekend, I dropped in on the site of my final project from Fundamentals of Photojournalism (from last semester), Wild Bird Rehabilitation.  Unlike most of the (few) bird rehabilitation centers in Missouri, WBR focuses on songbirds.  The birds that they work with are brought to WBR by concerned citizens, often people who have birds crash into the windows of their houses, or mauled by their pets in their yard, who want to do all that they can for our avian friends.  This time of year, March through June, lots of migratory birds come through the area along the Mississippi Flyway.

When I came in last week, Diane Dorter, one of three paid staff at WBR, was teaching volunteer Lizzie Vreeland how to care for birds at WBR’s “emergency room.”  Vreeland has been a volunteer at WBR for close to one year, but recently became interested in working with the most critical avian patients at the facility.

I brought along my small light stand and wireless trigger to set up the flash in the corner of the room to bounce off of the ceiling for some fill.  The florescents in the room have a color temperature between tungsten and florescent.  To try to match my flash to the light in the room, I attached window green theatrical gel over the flash head.  However, I was not happy with the results, so I replaced the green for the color temperature orange (CTO) gel.  This was better–much better–but still not perfect.  I realized later that stacking the gels would have been the solution to my problems.  Next time!  More after the jump…
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Tags: Advanced Techniques, color correction, flash, gels, light, lighting, lit, strobe
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Kenny Townsend, named "best bartender of the year" by Inside Columbia Magazine this month, watches for a patron's order on Monday, Mar. 9. at McNally's Irish Pub at 7 N. Sixth Street, Columbia, Mo.

This week I went downtown to McNally’s Irish Pub to photograph Kenny Townsend, the bartender that Inside Columbia magazine just rated as the best in Columbia, Mo. I started off using direct flash (it’s for class, and I had to use both direct and bounce). Naturally, I used my new Panera-straw grid for the direct flash.

I used the grid to make him stand out from the dark bar, but without lighting up the entire place in a way that would be unnatural, especially for a tight shot. For a wider composition, I felt I had to bounce the flash off of the ceiling (below). But this gridded spotlight also made clear that the focus wasn’t just the bar, but the bartender himself.

Kenny Townsend, named "best bartender of the year" by Inside Columbia Magazine this month, pours a gin and tonic on Monday, Mar. 9. at McNally's Irish Pub at 7 N. Sixth Street, Columbia, Mo.

Of course, the composition also leaves something to be desired. So I switched to a broader view, and was much happier with the result.

Here, he’s pouring a gin and tonic for a customer. (More after the jump…)
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Tags: Advanced Techniques, bounce, grids, light, lighting, lit, strobe
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My Panera-Straw Grid on 550EX

I’m at the point in a lighting class at MU, Advanced Techniques in Photojournalism, where it is time to leave the studio and venture forth into the world with one (or two, if Canon ever repairs my other 550EX), small speedlight.  I have become enamored with hard light sources in the studio; softboxes have their place, but I thought that grids, snoots, and barndoors were my favorite to work with.  I remembered reading at Strobist a couple of years ago about making a grid out of black straws (easily sourced from your local Panera…).

Mine is not pretty: in fact, I’m already planning on making a second one with a more refined technique of stacking and gluing rather than lining up in a row and sandwiching with gaffer’s tape.  For now I’m attaching it with gaff tape, but will make a little cardboard housing for it soon so that it can be slid into place on the head of the strobe.

But what its present incarnation lacks in aesthetics, it makes up for in performance.  I will admit that I have not perfected the art of aiming the speedlight with this grid, but I love the effect.  It makes for a very circular, “spotlight” effect, and the light fall-off is rapid and dramatic.

Portrait of Meg Wiegand, Heidelberg Restaurant, Columbia, Mo.

How dramatic?  I took the flash with me to a get-together of friends at a bar last week and did some experiments with it.  I only brought my TTL cord; next time I’ll just take the wireless transmitter, as its far less cumbersome.  (Nothing scares your friends more than a zipline of TTL cord randomly roaming a table with the potential to knock over their beer.) More after the jump…
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Tags: DIY, grids, light, light modifiers, lighting, lit
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Patron Tequila - Bright Field Lighting - "Plan B"

Last weekend I went into the studio with a bottle of Patrón tequila and one clear idea of how to light it, only to scrap it and move on to plan b.  But then I decided that plan c–one that I had not even considered–was really going to be the best route.

My idea was to have the lime resting against the bottle on a sheet of glass with a dark background.  On another day, with different materials (like a giant sheet of black, glossy acrylic), it could be a piece of cake.  Instead, I ran into problems from the start: the dark cloth I had taped to the softbox kept falling off (Light, Science and Magic suggest making the dark background the size of the frame, and then butting that right up against the light source).

I threw out that idea and switched to bright field illumination (giving the glass black lines for definition).  It’s easier, but it doesn’t have the same oomph as something lit via dark field patterns.  I could have quit with this image, because it’s passable, but it’s also incredibly dull.  I don’t think even Crate and Barrel would want to use an image like this one in their catalogs.

My bank of ideas was dry, but a good friend of mine, Mito Habe-Evans, suggested making a “beach” for the tequila and lime out of some sand made for models and dioramas that was in the studio.  Combined with some blue gel, the result was actually pretty good. More after the jump…
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Tags: Advanced Techniques, alcohol, glass, light, lighting, lit, Patron, studio, tequila
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So, this is not a great, in-depth interview, but it is rather a practice run at setting up constant light sources, positioning the interview subject, and finally recording, capturing, and editing the result.

I asked Jarrad Henderson, the subject of my earlier portrait studio work, what constitutes the most exotic food he’s had in his lifetime.

Shot on a Canon HV20 with a Sennheiser wireless microphone running through a BeachTek mini to XLR box. Lit with LitePanels LED floods.

Tags: Advanced Techniques, Canon, interview, light, lighting, lit, video
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This past weekend I photographed Jarrad Henderson, a fellow photojournalism masters student at MU. It was a class assignment to make a portrait first with a single strobe, and then with multiple lights. That’s where the fun really began. The only problem is that I have two images that I like, so it’s hard to choose!
Ultimately, I believe this first image is the more successful of the two:

Canon 5D Mark II and 24-70mm f/2.8L Lens @ 70mm. Exposed 1/125 sec. @ f/16, ISO 100

More after the jump.
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Tags: Advanced Techniques, light, lighting, lit, portraits, strobes, studio
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In my Advanced Techniques class, I was asked to find two images where either the use of light enhanced the mood of the image, or where I couldn’t deconstruct how the studio lighting was achieved.  Note that I made copies of these two photographs on a copy stand.  I didn’t notice all of the dust on the glass cover until I was back home in front of my computer.  C’est la vie. More after the jump…

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Tags: light, lighting, lit, photographs, studio
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