Monthly Archives: September 2011

The Diffused Flash

Posted by on September 29, 2011 No comments

 

I learned a few important lessons at DragonCon. First and foremost, never let James talk you into laying down with a Jägermeister bottle if you really like your pants, but most of the lessons revolved around using my flash on my camera.  (the Jägermeister story will have to be asked of me in person if you really want to know.)
 
I had planned to take a lot of pictures at DragonCon (DC) of the various costumes and such, and I like to think I did a fair job, but there were some much more serious photographers there with much better gear.  I know I know, it’s not the gear, it’s the eye that goes with it, and there were some folks that had great gear but the shots I saw them make made me kind of weep.  But I digress, my biggest failing as far as gear went was my flash use.  

I’ll be honest, I am a little scared of my flash.  At least I used to be.  I have gotten pretty good at adjusting ISO, Aperture, and Speed, to get the right light and clarity, but when you throw a flash into the mix there is a whole new dynamic.  Nothing over 180 speed, F-stop is more for DOF than it is for light, and then there is the whole calculating how much flash for the distance to subject…..UGH!  Sometimes I felt like I was back in math class!  See, I have a SB-600 speed-light to use for Off camera shots and bounce shots, but I ate how harsh the light from it is.  Bouncing isn’t as bad, but at when the ceilings are too high and the walls are few….needless to say, I only use it for special occasions.

While at DC my biggest problem when taking shots of folks was lighting.  I was using both my 50mm and my 35mm f1.8 and they just weren’t giving me enough light without bumping to ISO 6400 (I had more grain than a 1930’s film!)  So I talked with a few of the other Photogs and got some tips on flash use.  Derek helped out a Ton with some of these tips.  The biggest one being DIFFUSE!!!!  I noticed a lot of guys using covers on their flashes, anything that would soften the harshness of the flash.  Some went all out with the Gary Fong stuff, while others just had basic caps.  There were a few that went simple with a bounce card.  Another huge tip was (and I feel kind of silly for not knowing this) Change the White balance to “Flash”.  Yeah yeah, say what you like, but when you don’t use a flash that much, this doesn’t occur to you!


No Flash = Lots of NR and Bright Background:

Camera Nikon D5100
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/1.8
Focal Length 35 mm
ISO Speed 6400
Flash No Flash
Exposure Program Manual
Subject Distance 2.51 m
Metering Mode Spot

_____________________

Bounce Card = Color, Clarity, Separation!


Camera Nikon D5100
Exposure 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture f/3.5
Focal Length 18 mm
ISO Speed 1600
Flash On, Return detected
Exposure Program Manual
Subject Distance 0.94 m
Metering Mode Spot
Light Source Flash
White Balance Manual

_______________________


My Macgyver gene kicked in and I set about rigging up a simple white bounce card out of some tape and cardboard bits we had in the room.  I dropped my ISO to 100-200, Speed to 160, flash down to -1.8, and Aperture to 1.8.  Boom! Shots were clear, not too harsh, and great color.  I was amazed.  For the rest of the night I only had to adjust the strength of the flash to compensate for the distance to subject.  I even busted out the 18-270mm to get some wider angle shots.  (Although the D5100, with the SB-600, and the 18-270mm meant Zomg Heavy!)

What I found was that I had to do less noise reduction, I got a MUCH better seperation of subject and background, and the details of the subject came out much better.  Not to mention after having a few drinks my steady hand wasn’t so steady!  That cinched it!  When I got home I started looking up some different diffusers.  A lot of the guys at the con were using the Gary Fong Lightsphere but I couldn’t really justify $60 for something that did what a 20 cent piece of cardboard did.  Instead I found the Prolight Dome.  It was exactly the same as the Gary Fong, but only $13!  Sold!

A few days later it arrived and I have to say that most of my shots now are taken using this setup.  (indoors of course).  I tried a few using off camera, and then a few portrait shots.  Thankfully my pets are always willing subjects!  (well, almost always.)  Given this new found love for the flash, I think I may look at doing a few more Portrait type projects.  

So the important take away’s here are:
Diffuse that sucka!
Check your white balance!
Adjust for distance!
Profit!

Ok maybe not profit.

Husker Noir

Posted by on September 16, 2011 No comments

Now that I am done with the convention Pictures I can get back into some more artistic shots.

Strobist info: Nikon SB-600 set 4 feet to the right of subject using a funnel diffuser aimed at subject. Triggered using wireless trigger.

Husker Noir

The Un-Official DragonCon Post.

Posted by on September 9, 2011 1 comment

Why is this an Un-official post?  Because I am still processing the whole con. Literally. I am working through all the photos I took processing them to improve the shots, doing laundry from the con, cleaning up the house and also taking care of the new Kitties we adopted the day after!
 
So why post? Well, there are a few things I want to touch on because they were So Awesome! (well, one not so awesome)
 

I MET WIL WHEATON!  
No really, this was the highlight of the Con for me!  Anyone who knows me knows that I kind of have a man-crush (Platonic) for Mr. Wheaton.  I made the attempt to meet him at PAX east but apparently, his meemaw died/He was washing his hair/he was dead at the time, and he couldn’t attend.  So when I heard he was going to be at DragonCon I was super excited!  I was dressed in one of the two costumes I brought, Matty Roth from the comic DMZ.  I figured that maybe only 2 people would get the costume but I was not prepared for what happened next.  As I stepped up in line and greeted Wil with the Iron Guard Salute, this happened:
 
Wil: Are you fucking Cosplaying as DMZ??  THAT’S Awesome!
Me: YES!!
Wil: Hey Felicia!  Check out this DMZ Cosplay!  Hold on, I have to get a picture of this and send it to Brian Wood.
Me: That’s AWESOME!

I then handed him two 6-sided dice that I made telling him that I “Got exited and made something” which spawned another round of “That’s Awesome!”  I also got the chance to tell him that during his Father Son bonding over brewing beer, I was doing the same while building a Tardis. (That’s Awesome, round 4)  He signed a picture of himself collating paper and we went on our way.  I was giggling for the rest of the day.

Now, the worst experience of the con, sadly, was my one with William Shatner.  On my way through the Walk of Fame area, I stopped at the booth for WS and they had mentioned that he would be back in 30 min.  There was no line so I figured “I can wait 30 min!”  I Happily bought my photo ticket ($75!!!!), picked out my photo (Only Kirk photos, no S My dad says or Denny Crane), and got in line.  30 min turned into 45, then an hour, then longer and longer.  The folks at the booth were trying to assure us that he was on his way down.  It was nearing 5pm and we knew he had a panel at 5:30pm.  (I got in line at 3:30pm).  When he finally showed up, the line herders asked if I would let a woman in a wheelchair in front of me, which I had no problem with. (navigating the con in a wheel chair is tough, trust me on this.)  She got her autograph and was working on backing out of the area, the handler reached out for my photo and handed it to WS as I got out of the way.  When I got back up to the counter, the Photo was signed and I was being shuttled away without barely a glance from WS.  I did manage to eek out a “It was very…er..honor” and got a half hearted fist bump before they moved on to the next guy.

Never in all of my conventions and Autograph collecting have I ever been treated like a sheep.  It has always been my experience that I am paying the $20+ not for the autograph or the photo, but for the experience of getting 1-2 minutes of time with an actor/author/artist that I genuinely admire enough that I want to Pay for that moment.  I don’t do this to collect signatures.  I do this because I LIKE these people and want to express how much I appreciate and support their work.  If I wanted just a photo with a signature on it, I could have bought one in the dealers room! (and probably paid less.)  I have heard that WS is kind of a dick when it comes to conventions, but I really want to believe that maybe he was just being rushed by con handlers, or was having a bad day and doesn’t normally treat fans this way.  I can hope right?

The rest of the con was outstanding.  Pictures will be coming along soon as well as maybe a real after action report.  I <3 everyone I hung out with there!!