i am sam...: April 2009

white white white

I've been in love with the white background lately. That pure white brings out the subject quite good. so this is how i shot this one. Beleive it or not, this was taken inside her laundry room. here's how it looks like

What attracted me to this room was its white walls that could bounce light in every direction. Placed the speedlight at her back then dialed it at 1/8th giving me a good reading at the back of my cam. Without post processing this is what i got:

The only thing i needed was to make that background pure white with the dodge tool, delete the door lock and add a little contrast and VOILA! Got myself a white seamless. (^_^)

p6000

YIpee got my P6000 today! I promised myself to press that shutter a gazillion times to master fstops and shutter speed combinations.

will explore more later. looking at the lens, it says 6-24 mm 1:2.7-7.2. hmmm at 6mm? again.. hmmm..

will give feedback in a few days.

will squeeze some shutter.

*MONKEY PRESSING BUTTON* activated!

light wraps

Time to master my one light. Let's setup my speedlight, camera on a tripod with 70-200 (it looks like BUTT! leaving a green spot in the center of the frame. damn... need to buy a new lens when shooting in a white background) because i needed to compress the background and a remote shutter. If i've used my wide angle, you could have seen the fridge and dining table because it was just an arms reach to where i was standing.

What really made the shot was the diffused light from the four WHITE walls that surrounded our dining area. When i bounced my flash to the ceiling it bounced light all over the place leaving the subject wrapped in a cloud of light giving that diffused soft light. If you think of it, it's like a BIG SOFT BOX. i only made use of PP to to alter the composition and add a little contrast.

When there's no one to shoot, do some self portraits. Who knows, you might like what you see.

These shots were lit with one light @ 8pm...INDOOR.

Things to tickle your mind:

no ambient at 1/200th.

used bare flash.

then where is the light coming from? That's easy... from 4 AA batteries of my speedlight. hehehe

growing into a studio..

This is the last day for GPP and i have attended GROWING INTO A STUDIO by Zack Arias. The event was sponsored by PROFOTO (man i wish i had this gear because with the basic 3 light setup it amounts to 55 thousand dirhams x 12 into pesos, you do the math). Anyway, i have the first photo as shown how to use the white seamless with the basic 3 light setup. i wanted a full body shot but my lens wont permit me. I'm using a 50 mm 1.8 and it looks like a BUTT on a white seamless. i have to buy a sharp lens for this kind of setting.

Next step.... triggers, modifiers, softboxes, lightstand home studio....

Chase Jarvis' iphone

Chase Jarvis took a quick snap at GPP using his Iphone

I'm at the left side raising my right hand. hahaha!

here's the link: http://twitpic.com/2rbuk

The Masters...

It's now Photofriday here at GPP (gulf photoplus). Starting my day with a lecture from Joe Mcnally, "The Moment It Clicks." Followed by The Business of Photography by Drew Gardner, Chris Hurtt, Zack Arias with the head of GPP MOhammed Somji. Then to "Making the web work for you" by David Hobby, Chase Jarvis and David Nightingale. Ending the day with EDITING YOUR WORK by Zack Arias.

Photos aren't that clear because i was not using an external flash thinking it might distract the lecturers/masters. So I've pumped up the ISO to 800 so shots are a little grainy. i can't go into a closer view too because attendees might be annoyed by my presence so im stuck to where i was sitting.

After the lecture of Joe McNally, i got to squeeze in the big crowd to get my copy of THE MOMENT IT CLICKS and HOT SHOE DIARIES signed by the NIKON AMBASSADOR as what they call him.

After that, i needed a shot with JOE McNally so i handed my Camera to the nearest person and asked him to shoot a frame of us....SAD to say that guy has shaky hands so here's what he got....grrrr