Archive for March, 2009
End Of An Era
Sony Ericsson
It was my last day at Sony Ericsson today. The site in Warrington is closing soon so the contractors and the majority of the permanent staff have finished today. I was there as a contractor for about two and a half years, working on localising the company’s symbian based smartphones.
I enjoyed the work there for the most part and met some decent people, so it is a shame that it had to come to an end. I am now ready for the next challenge and I am on the lookout for another job.
Another Week Of Project 365
Yes, it’s another Project 365 roundup…
16th Mar 09
We got this interesting looking glass vase at Christmas. I knew that I would use it for one of my Project 365 images at some point, but wasn’t sure how I would shoot it. It was when I was reading an article on light graffiti that I made a connection between the light trails and the pattern on the vase. I thought it would look cool if I could get some light trails to mimic the pattern on the vase, so decided to give it a go.
The light trails were provided by a keyring LED torch and it took many attempts to get right. Firstly, I tried just holding the torch in my hand and moving it round the vase. I found that I kept hitting the vase with my arm and it was difficult to get smooth light trails. Next up, I tried hanging the torch from a piece of thread and swinging it around the vase, like a pendulum. This got me some smooth trails but it was difficult to control the speed and direction. In the end, I fastened the torch to the end of a long pencil. This gave me enough reach to avoid hitting the vase and a bit more control over the path of the torch. I tried a few different lengths of exposure until I found one that gave me bright trails but was quick enough to allow me to keep the torch moving smoothly.
17th Mar 09
It had been quite mild over the past few days and I noticed that the daffodils were starting to appear. The weather forcast for Tuesday was good, so I thought it would be an opportunity to get a good shot of them.
After work, I took advantage of some low sunlight to get some back-lit shots of a patch of daffodils, near the car park. As I was shooting, I noticed this arrangement of three daffodils. They reminded me of a cow’s face for some reason, a bit like Ermintrude from The Magic Roundabout. This promoted them to top spot for Tuesday’s image.
The Moment It Clicks (Joe McNally)
The Moment It Clicks (Joe McNally)
Joe McNally is a very experienced and internationally acclaimed American photographer who has shot covers for National Geographic and Sports Illustrated, as well being a staff photographer for Life magazine. He is also known for his photography workshops and a number of tutorial videos for Nikon and the Scott Kelby’s Training site.
The Moment It Clicks is born from Joe’s photography workshops and aims to present some his knowledge, images and informal style in the form of a book. This is not a photography how-to book, you won’t find detailed shot settings or lighting diagrams, but you will gain inspiration and a number of new tips and techniques to try out. Some knowledge of photography or lighting will definitely help you to get the most from the information in the book. There is a lot of jargon and photography slang used by Joe, but there are plenty of footnotes to help explain it, as well as a glossary at the back of the book.
The book is presented in three sections, the first one covering the opening four chapters. On each pair of pages, one will contain a full page image of Joe’s and the other will contain the story behind the shooting of that image. For most images there will also be a box containing some technical tips on how to shoot that sort of image. The stories in this section vary between amusing, inspiring, heartfelt and touching but are often a combination of these.
The second section, covering the next three chapters, goes into some detail about the vast array of items that make up Joe McNally’s photographic arsenal. From cameras and lenses to booms and reflectors, it is an amazing collection of gear. Also in this section are a number of general lighting tips that Joe has learned from his experience in the field, all of which are worth committing to memory for your own use.
The final section and chapter is the Bar Room, containing a number of stories and anecdotes from Joe’s assignments through the years. Each of these are illustrated with relevant photographs. As a bonus, if you register the book with the publisher’s website, you can download another whole chapter of these stories in PDF format.
The entire of the book is presented in Joe’s informal and irreverent style, making it an enjoyable and engrossing read. If you are after an inspiring photography book, some professional photography and lighting tips or just a glimpse into the world of one of the top magazine shooters then The Moment It Clicks comes highly recommended.
You can read a sample chapter of the book on the publisher’s website here.
Joe McNally also has a blog that is similar in style to the book, containing plenty of images with background stories and lighting information. Visit the blog here.
A Week In Project 365
Time for another round up of the most recent Project 365 images…
9th Mar 09
I started the week off with this abstract shot, which is actually part of the ceiling outside of the office where I work. The have recently refurbished the area outside of the office with new decor and a new raised section to the ceiling.
The raised section contains a number of concealed lights and is viewed through a curved aperture in the original ceiling. I thought that the curves and lighting would make an interesting abstract image. The lights give the image some depth and also a nice range of tones. The ceiling is actually white, but I selected a white balance and exposure to give it a darker, warmer look.
10th Mar 09
On Tuesday, I shot these boxes that Becky got at Christmas. They were originally full of various sweets and cakes, but those were soon eaten! I liked the contrasting colours of the black and cyan and thought it would look good on a black background.
I’m using a roll of black paper for the background, which isn’t really dark enough to get a nice deep black without the aid of some photoshop. To help this, I had to try and keep as much light off the background as possible. Lighting from the side, as in this shot, helps keep the background dark. I positioned the boxes to take advantage of the single side light, giving them some depth in the final image. In processing, I had to be careful that I didn’t lose the ribbon against the black background. Making sure some light hit the bow at the top of the boxes helped to keep it visible.
Lumiquest Promax System Review
A while back, I was asked to shoot a friend’s birthday party that was being held in a function room near where he lived. I shot events with my on camera flash, bounced off the ceiling, and with a small Joe Demb flip-it on the flash to add some front fill.This worked fairly well, except in this case when I arrive at the venue to see the ceilings are really high. I mean really high - way higher than the ceilings in our victorian terraced house. Ceiling bounce was a total no go and there were mirrors at head height around most of the walls - a nightmare room for flash shooting. I ended up with decent shots but the lighting was pretty much straight camera flash with only slight diffusion from my flip-it. My friend loved the pictures though, which is the main thing.
After this, I had a look round for a modifier I could use on the flash that would cope with situations like this. In the end, I decided to get the Lumiquest Promax system as it seemed to offer the flexibility that I’m after. In the box you get:
- A folding A5 sized plastic wallet to store everything in. It all folds flat, so it’s easy to transport, and there is room in the wallet for my flash gels.
- A Lumiquest 80-20.
- A diffuser that fits to the front of the 80-20.
- White, silver and gold inserts for the top of the 80-20 in case you have no ceiling to bounce off.
- Some velcro to stick to your flash so you can attach the 80-20 to it.
I didn’t really fancy sticking velcro to my flash, so I picked up one of the excellent HonlPhoto Speed Straps to attach everything to. Lumiquest also do their own Cinch Strap, which is essentially the same thing.
Lumiquest 80-20 attached to flash with HonlPhoto Speed Strap
 Lumiquest 80-20 with gold insert |
 Lumiquest 80-20 with diffuser |
