My attempt to try and recreate this shot by Pixel Addict....
www.flickr.com/photos/pixel_addict/2301302732/
Rather than increase the ISO (as he did) to get a fast shutter speed I opted for strobist off camera flash to freeze the sparks and provide some fill light to the sparkler shaft.
Strobist info : 580EXII with stofen diffuser camera left @ 1/4 power fired with Cactus V4 wireless triggers.
Pretty much SOOC apart from a tight crop and minor adjustments, including sharpening in lightroom as part of the raw conversion.
Exported to flickr using Jeffrey Friedl's excellent plug in and also the "mogrify" plug in to add a graphical watermark (signature) which lightroom can't do on it's own.
This was taken with the recent addition to my lens armoury, the Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro. I'm really liking hte stuff it can do !! Lots of fun.
A little part of the web for me to talk about Photography, what I'm up to, share experiments, recent shots, hints and tips. To share my (limited) experience with others and to gain further skills myself.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
King Gardens "Planet Panorama"
My photography is in a somewhat experimental phase at the moment, trying out lots of new things and generally playing about.. Recently I've been macro'ing with my new lens, light painting, and now creating "planets" from panoramas converted into polar coordinates. This "planet" is of the lovely "KING GARDENS" where I work. It was created using the following tutorial and using photoshop. I was surprised at how easy it was....
http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/create-your-own-panorama-planets/
http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/create-your-own-panorama-planets/
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Shrek the Pumpkin Goes Strobist for Halloween
Halloween fun with a pumpkin made using a carving template from http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/
Equipment used.....
Canon EOS40D
EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS USM lens
Hahnel Battery Grip and IR remote
Manfrotto 190XDB tripod and 390RC2 head
Cateye LED bike light
Canon 580EXII Strobe on lightstand
Cactus V4 wireless triggers
Sainsbury's carrier bag to gel flash orange.
Tea light inside shrek's head.
8 second exposure @ f6.3 (ISO 100) with 1/4 power flash camera left
about 2ft from the pumpkin. Flash head had the orange plastic bag wrapped around it a afew times. After the flash had fired I used the bike light to light paint in the background. Shutter triggered remotely by IR remore for battery grip. Flash triggered by Cactus V4'swireless triggers.
Equipment used.....
Canon EOS40D
EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS USM lens
Hahnel Battery Grip and IR remote
Manfrotto 190XDB tripod and 390RC2 head
Cateye LED bike light
Canon 580EXII Strobe on lightstand
Cactus V4 wireless triggers
Sainsbury's carrier bag to gel flash orange.
Tea light inside shrek's head.
8 second exposure @ f6.3 (ISO 100) with 1/4 power flash camera left
about 2ft from the pumpkin. Flash head had the orange plastic bag wrapped around it a afew times. After the flash had fired I used the bike light to light paint in the background. Shutter triggered remotely by IR remore for battery grip. Flash triggered by Cactus V4'swireless triggers.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Dublin Marathon 2009 HR and Pace Plot
This is the plot of HR (Heart rate) in BPM and pace (mph) from my Polar S625x watch from the Dublin Marathon on Monday 26th October 2009. HR zones are shown as the coloured horizontal bands. The HR curve is the black line, the pace curve is the blue line and the altitude (relative not absoloute) is the grey solid background.
As you can clearly see the HR for the opening 9 miles was unsustainable and then a run walk strategy was adopted with increasing amounts of walking vs. running until the final few miels when I managed to pick myself up. I didn't hit the wall, I didn't struggle, I just couldn't run any further, faster without walking as a result of 5 weeks of inactivity froma virus. (and putting 7lbs on) 5 weeks ago training was going great and I was hopeful of a time around 3 hours 20... but on the day I was pleased to finish in a somewhat dissapointing 4:35:38. Still, it was an enjoyable expereince and I now know I can still "finish" even off a less than ideal build up.
As you can clearly see the HR for the opening 9 miles was unsustainable and then a run walk strategy was adopted with increasing amounts of walking vs. running until the final few miels when I managed to pick myself up. I didn't hit the wall, I didn't struggle, I just couldn't run any further, faster without walking as a result of 5 weeks of inactivity froma virus. (and putting 7lbs on) 5 weeks ago training was going great and I was hopeful of a time around 3 hours 20... but on the day I was pleased to finish in a somewhat dissapointing 4:35:38. Still, it was an enjoyable expereince and I now know I can still "finish" even off a less than ideal build up.
Friday, October 9, 2009
A Lens' Eye View
Messing about with my new toy... and some older borrowed bits of gear. The new toy is a Canon EF 100mm f2.8 Macro lens and a Hahnel battery grip with IR remote.
A bit about this shot. manual mode at highest flash sync speed of 1/250sec @ f8. The MR14-EX macro ring flash was ETTL metered off of these exposure readings with an A/B ratio of 1:4.
The lens had a 250D close up lena screwed in too. Gettign the framing was hit and miss and I had to take a bout 20 shots ebfore I got one nicely framed.
Processed in lightroom with a bit of clarity adjustment, sharpening and then a nudge up on the blacks slider to increase the colour.
I like the reflection of the macro ring light and you can clearly see the A/B ratio setting inth e left and right hand side of the flash tube.
A bit about this shot. manual mode at highest flash sync speed of 1/250sec @ f8. The MR14-EX macro ring flash was ETTL metered off of these exposure readings with an A/B ratio of 1:4.
The lens had a 250D close up lena screwed in too. Gettign the framing was hit and miss and I had to take a bout 20 shots ebfore I got one nicely framed.
Processed in lightroom with a bit of clarity adjustment, sharpening and then a nudge up on the blacks slider to increase the colour.
I like the reflection of the macro ring light and you can clearly see the A/B ratio setting inth e left and right hand side of the flash tube.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Autumnal Macro Triptych
description says it all really.... but I really like this composition... even if I do say so myself
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Lightning
Not posted anything for ages... bit of a backlog of stuff to wade through. This is from my last business trip tot he US when I got strended in Atlanta airport due to a massive electrical storm. The shot was one of 50 or so long exposures from 6-30 seconds. This was the only one that actually captured any lightning. They were all hand held with the camera lens flat against the window to avoid flare and braced aagsint the frame to avoid shake during the long exposure. I think it worked out quite well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)