Day 215 - Christmas Theme (Pt. 4)

Just a continuation of the Christmas theme I'd started way back in October.  The first one was a quick shot while I was playing with the flash and got bored from not getting what I wanted.  

I also took the opportunity to get a little bit more comfortable using the monopod.  Although I found a couple more ways to be more effective and efficient with the tool, I'm absolutely convinced that you can't use it for anything slower than 1/8s shutter speeds if you want to get any sharpness out of your shots.   In fact, I think I'm steadier when hand holding my shots at 0.5 secs, than I am with the monopod at 1/8s!  Now, that's something!

154 mm, 1/10s, f/5.6, ISO 400, Shutter Priority, AWB

I had to use Shutter Priority because I wanted to fix the minimum shutter speed to avoid camera shake.

154 mm, 1/100s, f/6.3, ISO 400, WB set to Flash, but later adjusted in Lightroom, Manual Mode, Flash fired at -2 stops, external flash fired powered down to 1/8, placed 6 inches to right of subject and bounced off ceiling.  Phewww!  That was a long description! 

I'm not very happy with the second image.  The background is quite cluttered in this one, and could definitely have been better composed.  But as far as light is concerned, I think it's a slight improvement over previous tries.  I'm yet to figure out the power levels on my external flash - maybe I'm reading the levels all wrong as there are no markings on the bars to show the different levels and the one page user guide that came with it was mostly written in Chinese (at the expense of sounding ignorant, I wouldn't know if it was Mandarin or Cantonese).  Maybe the mystery will one day be solved?  Maybe I'll break down and Google it one day!

But meanwhile I'm definitely considering a light kit.  But the dilemma is always which one to get first - camera body, lens or light?  

Any suggestions?

Day 208 - Unintentional

This was taken yesterday, although I didn't get a chance to post it until now.

I was chilling after a day's fun and laughter with some good friends over pretty good food (although I say so even though I was the cook), and had no intention of doing any photography.  But the camera was lying right there on the ottoman, under my nose, and I decided to pick it up and play with it.  I took 3 shots of this piece of the wreath illuminated by a burning candle.

This shot was taken with the camera resting on the couch, and is straight out of the camera except for a crop and watermark added in post.  If you're wondering why I even bothered to post such a careless shot, it's because I didn't want to miss another day.  I am now over the 200 mark, and want to see this project through with as little disruptions as possible.

But come to think of it, the light isn't bad, although the image could have definitely been better composed.  Ah, well!  Not everything that comes out of the cameras of the masters is a masterpiece, so I can't expect that to happen to me either (although I would really love it to be that way!) and I keep telling myself that so I don't lose heart.

250 mm, f/5.6, 10s, ISO 100, Manual Mode, AWB

Day 188 - White (dis)Balance

When I don't get a chance to do photography during the day, I obviously have to think of indoor subjects in artificial light as I'm not in a position to buy a flash right now.  I have come to a decision that I will just continue to use the lamps I have and find suitable subjects to photograph in that - something that's in keeping with the theme of artificial light.

I used a C-PL for these shots as I was getting a lot of reflections from the serving platter.

This evening's other challenge was the WB and despite using a custom WB, I didn't quite get what I was after.   You will notice the difference in the colour cast in each of the images.  I will have to spend some time figuring out what happened.  For now, I didn't change the WB in post as I wanted to keep a record of what went on with it this evening.

Day 181 - Christmas theme (pt. 3)

I spent a lot of time in setting up this shot, because I needed all these props to make the images I had in mind.  I am not even halfway through trying all the shots I have in mind.  Who knows, but it might take me right until Christmas to get them all done! ;)

For this evening's shoot, I set up my table lamps on either side.  I tried using fill-flash for some which worked well.  However, I liked the warmer light of the lamps.  I will need to gel my flash before I can use it to complement the light from the lamps.

Day 180 - Christmas theme (contd.)

I finally managed the flash with some success.  However, I still fail to understand why it doesn't work on full power, even when the batteries are freshly charged.  I tried different set-ups, but found that holding the flash right over the camera worked best.

Today's experiment was more on the light, rather than on the composition; I somehow threw a few things together and focussed more on the lighting.  Had a long day at work, visiting with a friend, and then another couple of hours of work for my project submission tomorrow.  I will have to compose myself first, before I can compose a shot.  :(

This one had the overhead light on, and I flashed the white background.

This one is with only the flash held above camera.

Day 179 - Baubles and candlelight

Trying these shots in candlelight, with a table lamp placed about 10 - 12 feet away.  I need to do something about the reflections on the glass.  A C-PL would be the best answer for that, but it would cut out a lot of light.  I will have to figure something out for this.  Maybe use two table lamps on either side?  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!