wireless flash

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Photo of the day. Portraits inside of a picture frame.

Nothing new that hasn’t been done before but always fun to try. In a effort to organize my garage I stumbled into this frame and decided to use it for some fun portrait session.

The set up was not complicate it at all just a backdrop and a picture frame that I hung with a wire to the necessary eight. The light source was a Travelite 750 with a Photoflex 36″x48″  softbox place to camera left and a White reflector to the right to fill in the shadows. The Camera was a Canon 7D and the lens a Canon EfS 10-22 set a the 10mm end (to make it more cartoon looking, since I wasn’t going for the glamour look) set the lens at f 5.6. Iso was 100  speed 250 and custom white balance. The flash was triggered with a Pocket Wizard Mini TT1 and a Flex TT5.

The one thing I would recommend to make the post work simpler is to try to keep the frame as square as possible to the camera’s sensor plane to avoid to much distortions, specially working with such wide angle lens. Once in Photoshop I corrected the perspective to make the frame square before I did anything else. once the frame was square enough I made a selection of the subject put it on it’s on layer, created a new background  and added a drop shadow the the bottom right side of the frame.

Thanks for looking and as always do not hesitate to comment or ask any questions, I do appreciate both.

Regards

Alex

 

Click on image to see larger.

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Photo of the day. Carved pumpkin picture.

Tonight when I walked into the house I noticed the carved pumpkin glowing on the table. I like the low light mood and decided to grave the camera and try to capture the scene the way I was looking at it. After trying a few different approaches, this is how I ended up doing it.

Canon 7D and Canon Ef 24-70 F2.8L on tripod. ISO 100 F5.6 and 1 second of exposure, and the color balance was set to tungsten.  To camera left I used a Canon 580EX with a full cut of CTO with a Pocket Wizard Flex TT5 on a 2’x2′ Lastolite Ezy box, that was triggered with a Pocket Wizard Mini TT1 and a an AC3 Pocket wizard module in manual mode dialed down to minus 3. The idea was to capture the overall scene with the ambient light and use the flash to show a bit around it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Alex Elias.

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Picture of the day. Close up and still Photography.

My dear friend Jeff got my this fabulous flower arrangement. When I first saw it I got amazed by the looks and attention to details not to mention the fragrance was just incredible as well. Since flower look great for so long I decided I wanted to make them the subject of a photo shoot. My first thought was to take a few pictures of it but the few pictures turn out to be over 100 pictures and a bit over 3 hours. I started shooting the base only and then I got inspired and started to shoot individual flowers, different lenses angles and lighting scenarios.

Equipment used

The pictures were taken with a Canon 7D set at ISO  160 speed at 250 F8 and white balance fixed at 5800K for most images. Later during the shot I started using F16 for the close ups so I switched to ISO 200 and 250. I mostly used a Canon EF 24-70 2.8L and Canon EF 100Macro 2.8 also some pictures were done using a Canon EF-S 10-22 to get some different perspectives. As far as lighting this time I did not use strobes. I took all the pictures with a Canon 580EXII and a Lastolite easy box 2×2 and a white reflector to bounce some fill light on the opposite side. Later during the shoot I added a Canon 430EXII with an umbrella. I controlled the lights with a Pocket wizard mini TT1 and the AC3 controller (both lights were in manual mode on independent groups)

Thanks for looking and don’t hesitate to ask should you have any questions.

Regards,

Alex Elias

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Outdoor Family portraits

I haven’t posted for a while. Life has kept me busy with good things plus I was practicing a bit on my procrastination.

Here are some pictures I just I took at the park. I could not have asked for a better day and and nicer family to work with, the kids were awesome and everything went just right.

The equipment I used:

Camera was a  Canon 7D. The main lens was a Canon EF 24-70 2.8L  follow by Canon EF 70-200 2.8  IS L  and I took a few using a Canon EF-S 10-22 . As far as lighting I took two Canon Speedlite a 580EX II and 430 EXII with 1/4 CTO on each one 1 2×2 loastolite Easybox  and a 5’x3′ reflector/difuser. The flashes were triggered with one Pocket Wizard Mini TT1 and an AC3 controller and 2 Flex TT5. Using the AC3 controller is nothing short of great, I had one light in group A the other one in group B and controlled each one at will from power up and down to turning on and off or go from E-TTl to manual. They are pricey but they are great.

 

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Kids playing with leafs.

The other day I was about to mow the lawn and noticed all the beautiful leafs laying arround. The light was awesome it was hitting pretty low and it had a nice warmth to it making those leafs glow.  That was a great excuse to postpone my duties and pick up the camera and have some fun.

I use the Canon 7D along with the Canon EF 24-70 L 2.8 here I also use a Canon 580EX II with a 1/2 CTO gell and triggered it using the Pocket Wizard Flex TT5 and a Mini TT1. I was going to use my Lastolite 2×2 but the wind did not agree with my idea and I had to take it down so I use the bare flash on the stand.

As usual my son does not make taking nice, cute pictures easy; he makes me work for the pictures. like most 2 yrs old I have to chase him all over and every time he sees me pointing the lens at hims he stops doing what he is doing or turns arround.

Here are a few pictures of that afternoon.

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Photo of the day. Portraits with Canon 7D

Yesterday I took some pictures of my little one and I ended up including my self for a few as well. I used a Canon 7D mounted on a tripod and a remote release to shoot it. The lens was a Canon 50 mm f1.4 I set the lens to manual and to aid me with the focusing I placed a stand where I was going to be sitting. The camera setting where at ISO 200 f7.1 (to allow some depth of field since I was not behind the camera to focus) and speed at 250th to keep the background black.

The lighting was done primarily with one flash and later I added a second one. The main light was a Lastolite Eazy Box 24″x24″ with a Canon 580EXII set at half Power. The soft box was on a boom hanging right above my forehead pointing down at 45 Deg and when added the second light this one was on an umbrella (reflecting) right in front of me. It was set low to the ground pointing up 45deg to my face. The second light was a Canon 580EX set at 1/8th power. The light were triggered with Pocket Wizards Mini TT1 and Flex TT5.

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Photo of the day. Macro photography flowers part 2

I wrote something about macro and close up photography a while ago here https://alexephotos.wordpress.com/2009/10/25/macro-photo-of-the-day-feathers/  this talks about the set up I used to take pictures of feathers. The ABC’s are the same.

Tripod is almost a must first for the obvious reason of steadiness and second to find the composition that better suits your eye and third so every thing remains the same if you like to play with the lights to get different effects, so a tripod is paramount for this kind of images.

Use the mirror lock up function if your camera has one (it helps reduce or eliminate vibrations created by the mirror when it flips up)  If you don’t know if your camera has that feature or not this would be a good time to get something call owners manual, it’s a little book that came inside the box and most likely was tossed aside 🙂 if the camera does not have a mirror lock up feature use a self timer.

Cable release or wireless trigger also helpful to reduce vibrations.

I used a Macro lens Canon EF 100mm 2.8 but it is not a must if you don’t own one work as close as the lens will let you. There are some accessories one can use as well such as close up filters, or extension tubes to increase the magnification.  Now that we are mentioning the lens it is best to focus manually to get the best possible focus and use a small appeture with ironically is the larger number this images were taken at  f20 although this will add to the Depth of filed it might not be the best f stop due to something call diffraction, f11 to f16 depending on the camera and lens could be safe.

As far as lighting  I used mainly one Canon 580EXII on a stand with a 24″x24″ lastolite soft box. The flash was trigger via  Pocket Wizard Mini TT1 on the camera and a Pocket Wizard Flex TT5 on the flash. The flash was set to manual (find your own exposure and flash distance to subject) and shoot away.

On some of the pictures of the Poppies you’ll noticed I used 2 Flashes, the main one and on the center post of the tripod I attached at second unit (Canon 430EXII) also in manual mode connected with a Pocket Wizard FlexTT5. Since the poppies are rather thin I wanted to see how it would look like with some light coming from behind the petals.

Reflectors could be helpful to fill in shadow areas on the opposite side of the main light, depending on the look that you are after and the lights available to you, a reflector allows you to shoot with only one light. Even if you don’t have any lights available, place your subject next to a window with diffused light coming through and use the reflector on the other side.

I shoot this pictures with a Canon 7D set to manual mode. the speed was set at 50th of a second (although I’d recommend 250th) I guess I was not paying enough attention when I did my set up shame on me 🙂  ISO for most pictures was set between 100 and 200 and for a few where I needed more light instead of cranking up the flash too much I gave the camera a way to go with a 400 ISO (that is one way to conserve a bit of batteries and get faster recycle times) not that is so important for still photography to have a fast recycle time anyway.

Here it are some of the pictures along with pictures of the set up.

Thanks for reading this and don’t hesitate to comment, ask questions of post your own experiences.

Regards,

Alex ELias

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Picture of the day. Pocket Wizard Mini TT1 and Flex

Back in December 2009 Pocket Wizard run a US meet up tour hosted by Mark Wallace. First of all, thanks to Pocket Wizard for showing firsthand how capable this devises are; it was great being able to use them in real life scenarios. As expected this little creatures did not disappoint anyone within the over 100 photographers that were there.

Mark Wallace is a top-notch instructor. His demonstration was outstanding, with plenty of information and knowledge not only about the use of Pocket Wizards but lighting and other techniques in general. The 6 or so hours of the class went by really fast shooting live models in a great studio location. The lay out was nothing but perfect, there were 5 stations with models and different lighting and backgrounds.

Pocket Wizards are not Pocket Change, but are worth the investment. I just got one Mini TT1 and two Flex’s and I’m looking to buy a third Flex as soon as budget allows it to end up with a 3 light set up. It is great being able to set  stands with light modifiers in a matter of minutes without the need of plugs or wires, indoor or outdoor and maintain E-TTL, the freedom and features that this system allows keeps on going on and on.

Here is a link to some highlight from the class http://www.youtube.com/snapfactory#p/a/u/1/Ea2PLp74b6E

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Self portrait Canon 7D Remote shooting

Last night when I came home from work I thought of taking some self portraits from a different angle and this is what I came up with.

I mounted a Canon EFS 10-22 f 3.5-4.5 set the camera to master to trigger the Canon 430EX II flash and the flash was set to manual power and adjusted the power to suit the image at about 1/16th. To trigger the camera I used a remote control Canon RC1.

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Canon 7D self portrait

I just got a Canon 7D and put the 40D to rest as a back up body. My first impression of the camera is that it’s worth every dime. It truly is an improvement over the 40D, needless to say I think it was worth waiting for it as supposed of going with the 50D  when it first came out. 

One aspect the I really like about the new body is that I can use the flash detached from the body allowing me a lot of freedom. I have not tried it outdoor jet but indoor is doing a pretty good job so far. The other thing that is a big leap forward is the focusing system, it is faster and more accurate so far and it has a lot more choices (which I’m learning still) and although it has tons of extra features those 2 are the ones that caught my attention the most so far.

This few pictures I took are with the wireless flash function. @ canon 580 EX as main and fill one to the left and one to the right and a Canon 430EXII on the back top left all worked just fine.

The last picture of my daughter was done with available light  at a higher ISO Canon 7D and Canon EF 24-70  2.8L