Today I had the pleassure to spend a few hours with Lauren and her beautiful family. Thank you very much for trusting me with those pictures I trully enjoyed it.
Best wishes with the new boy coming soon. I guess will be doing this again soon.
alex elias
Photo of the day. Still life photography
Here is a container that caught my attention at a friend’s house; I asked his to lend it to me and here it is. I like to play with it a bit more since I’m not quite sure what to group it with to make the image.
The lighting on this one is just one side (left) main light Canon 580EX trigered with a Canon 580EXII as a master. On the right side I placed a silver reflector to fill in the shadows just a bit.
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Photo of the day. Dice roll
I just found this set of dice that belong to my grandma. I can’t tell how old they are but I know I used to play with them as a kid (just a few years ago 😉
Pretty simple set up. Two umbrellas, one on each side Canon 430EXII on the left and Canon EX 580EX on the right the master was a Canon 580EXII and the ratio was set 3:1 and I shot them on ETTLII The lens was a Canon EFS 10-22 F3.5 4.5 USM set at 20mm f7.1 ISO 200 Speed at 250th .
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Photo of the day. Black and white drawing
Although this might not be a whole lot about photography. I did this drawing and I thought I share it here. The only thing that this had to do with photography is about the way you like to photograph a plain pice of paper, or curling in this case.
I laid the paper under a piece of acrylic since it was curling a bit. I made sure to position my self in a way that I’m not reflected on the acrylic and used a silk to minimise other reflections; the rest of them were eliminated with the use of a polarizing filter. I did not use a flash on this one. The other part to this was to position the camera to it was as parallel as possible to the paper and the hardest part of all. Press the shutter button.
The rest is history.
This is what was in my mind… I wish I knew how to upload the image to look larger than this or click on it to enlarge since there is a lot to see here. If anyone know how to do that feel free to let me know.
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Close up of flowers.
The other day my wife got this flowers and the moment I saw them I thought, picture time. I took a whole bunch of pictures and although I liked them I was looking for something different with more punch, so I decided to change the back ground from solid to a white silk and light it from behind with a Canon 580 EX and Canon 430EXII flashes with a Canon 580EXII as the master. I went really close and shot some pictures with a Canon EF 50mm 1.4 at F5.6 ISO 200 Speed 100th . The flash mounted on the camera pointed to my back (reversed the head) and put a reflective surface behind me to bounce some of the light as a fill for the flowers. And this is the result.
Thanks for looking
Alex Elias
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Macro Photo of the day. Feathers
Lately I started to look at common items around the house and get up close; really really close. This is what some feathers look like with a macro lens Canon EF 100 mm 2.8. I guess aside from having the lens and something to photograph what is paramount for this king of images it’s the lighting. Here I used only one light Canon 580 EXII flash directly to the right of the image, diffused with silk, on the left side I placed a reflective surface to bounce some of the light back into the left side of the image as a fill light. This lighting shows the texture of the feather and makes it for an interesting image.
Pretty cool what a simple feather can look like up close. Lots of common items can become a topic of abstract photography when we get close enough. Play with shapes, textures and shadows, and take lots of pictures until you are happy with the results. Besides it’s free. Unless you are shooting with film.
Some tips for this kind of images.
- A tripod it’s helpful. (very helpful )
- If the camera has mirror lock up function make sure you use it. It helps reduce vibrations.
- A cable release it’s also a good way to help reduce movements. Otherwise you can used the self time on the camera along with the mirror lock up feature.
- A small F stop. Since the working distance it’s not much at all so it’s the depth of field (DOF) very narrow, you’ll be surprised how little it’s in focus when working like this. F8 or smaller F11 depending on the subject it’s not a bad stating point (play arround and see what suits your subject) if the camera has DOP preview that will give you a good indication.
- Set the lens to manual and use the live mode to aid focusing.
- Make sure you have enough light ( you’ll have to play with it) if you have a flash do not use it directly on the subject, otherwise you are most likely burn it (over expose) or have unattractive results. Try detaching the flash from the camera (if your are using one) with a cable or wireless. Use something to diffuse the flash like silk, fabric or something like it will do.
- Have lots of fun
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Still Life Photography.
This is the same set up as the last two images I showed.
Again thank you all for looking and as usual. Fell free to add to this blog wuth your own image or request a new topic.
Alex Elias
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Leo Carrillo beach picuters with a tad of color
Keeping with the same subject but with a touch of color now.
This trip did not yield many seascape images with dramatic clouds and colors, since they weren’t there. The sky was pretty open; extremely open, I must say, giving that unflattering lighting. I have checked the tides chart the day before and one of the low tides for the day was going to be a few hours prior to sunset and right into it.
Since I did not find my inspiration up in the sky, I turned my attention to the rocks, sea stars, and things around me. Interestingly enough there was a whole lot more in there than I have imagined.
For this location, I would say that a macro lens would be a good candidate since there are all kinds of elements filled with texture, colors and interesting patterns; there are so many things begging to be photographed up close. Also a wide angle can prove itself invaluable in places like this offering very dramatic views. After the day was over I thought that a small reflector would have helped a bit in certain places where shadows were pretty dense and these handy collapsible disc can do wonders opening up shadows and also they can be use as a diffuser when the sun it’s hitting the subject too hard. Another item to seriously consider is a tripod since it can turn this session into a very rewarding day. More on this tomorrow
As I was walking about the tide pools, I saw this nice looking fellow waiting for a photo session. I didn’t need a whole lot to get excited over this colorful sea star; so I grabbed my macro lens Canon Ef 100 mm 2.8 screwed a circular polarizing filter to it and the session begun.
The camera settings ( should anyone care to know ) were as follows. Camera is always in raw . Manual mode, Iso was at 200 F 8 speed 1/125. I dialed the exposure down by 1/3rd to keep the details within the histogram and to saturate the orange a bit more. After the capture Photoshop cs3 assisted with the final touches here and there.
Here are a few more shots of these friendly but very quite little creature.
Not to far from my new colorful companion I saw another potential super star, so we invited him or her to join the party. Moved the rock where it ws glued to and arranged it next to Mr Orange seat star. Settings were roughly the same, just closed down the lens a bit to F11 speed 100 and no EV (exposure value) compensation.
Came on and joint the sea star party…
After several shots with the 100mm lens; guess what? one more star joined in. Then I decided it was time to add a bit of salt and pepper to this. It was time for the fun lens; yes, the fun lens. The one that can fit all kinds of things inside the little rectangle (that is the sensor I’m talking about) Canon EFS 10-22mm. This is one of those lens that can make the magic happen, turning a boring image into something pretty interesting. This will fit all 3 stars and put a different flavor to them making them, for lack of better word the stars of the picture.
After a while of mingling with the stars, my interest shifted to an old, rather plain looking sea weed.When I got closer, I guess what saved this ragged looking fellow, was the fact that the sun was setting and hitting it low and backlighting it creating nice shadows and reflections, thus revealing great texture.
There we go again to Mr back pack to change lenses. This time Canon Ef 70-200 2.8 IS. stretched the lens to 200mm F 4.5 speed at 1/25 ISO 100 and be stealth holding that beast. I set the DOF (depth of field) rather shallow directing the attention where the texture is.
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California beach picture of the day.
Here is the picture of the day. Since I got a beach picture of my daughter as the introdution let’s make it the topic of the week. Summer it’s gone, but for those of you hard core beach lovers you still have a good few weeks (maybe more) of nice beach weather.
The shots here are from Leo Carrillo, which is located in Malibu California. The place is fantastic. Someone like me, who’s not much of a water creature and rather enjoy taking pictures more than getting in the water will love this place. It has a lot to offer for the family activities and for me… the photographer. When the tide is low, there are a number of water pools and even a few caves making it ideal for picture taking. There is a lot of marine life and interesting topicts to spend more time than my wife and kids we confortable with, the real truth though… I run out of available light.
I would like to make a second trip before the climate does not help any more.
If you, yes you reading this blog have any beach pictures that like to share, please do.
This was a shot of my daer family. I did not think color added much value over here so I decided to shot these images and turn them to black and white. Some thimes I like to put a mid to long tele on the camera and shoot from far. Here I used my Canon 40D with a Canon ef 70-200 F2.8 IS
The use of a wide angle in this case a Canon efs 10-22 mm also makes for an intersting view
This is another shot done with the ef 70-200mm . It gives the subject more room to breath and not feel bother by me.
Here is the last one for today. I’ll post some color for tomorrow.
Alex's pictures and Photo tips 