Daily photo project 22 of 50

Simple yet complex that is the world of Kimchi.

Lighting for this was simple as well. A 580EX II in a shoot through umbrella was used for key lighting while a 430EX was used to give a bit of a kick to the right side.

I wanted to give it a balance between those high/low key food photos I've seen and decided on a comfort food look because Kimchi, after all, is comfort food.

Honestly, just give me a big fat bowl of Kimchi and some rice and I'll be set.

For those that want to see exactly how the lights were set up, click here!

Daily photo project 21 of 50

A picture of a mini van. How compelling is this? Honestly, not much. But the point wasn't the picture but the technique of how the picture came to be. I didn't use multiple speedlites off camera, just 1... hand held.

I learned this technique from a very good friend. The basics are that you set the shutter on your camera for around ~30 seconds, adjust the aperture (in my case f/16), lock focus then let it rip. Next you run around with your speedlite popping it off every so often on areas you want lit. As long as you keep on moving the camera won't pick you up. Oh and don't stand in front of the flash unless you want to be in the shot.

It's a really great way to keep in shape I'll tell you that much. I did take a setup shot but it was more for goofs than anything. But for those that want to check it out, here ya go!

Daily photo project 20 of 50

Twenty? ZOMG!!! I'm at 20!!! 5 more and I'll be half way there. Today I decided to dust off the good 'ol ring flash and place it off camera instead of on axis, because well that would be to obvious to do.

The whole feel for this photo was something along the lines of "Hey you owe me some money!"

If you're interested to see the lights in action and how this was shot click here!

See ya tomorrow!

Daily photo project 19 of 50

Continuing with the theme from the other day I bust out the moves in my version of break dancing.

I even added the handkerchief around my ankle for that oh I'm so def look. Honestly, all I can do is the butt spin.

Setting this up took a little longer than normal as I was flying solo here. I brought out a water bucket to mark where I would be so that I could lock focus on that spot and pointing a 580 in that direction to provide illumination for my feet. From there it was placing the speakers towards the rear and lighting those with a 430.

Lot's of trial an error but eventually I got it.

As always you can check out the water bucket and all here.

Daily photo project 18 of 50

See I told you I was early! This is Monday's daily photo here on Sunday. Inspired by my love of turntablism I pay respects to the one gear that does it all... the mixer.

Back out in the streets of Las Vegas I place a 430EX to the front and to the left of the camera to highlight the right side of the model and mixer. Then by placing a 580EX on a light stand up high left in a shoot through umbrella I'm able to light the subject the way I wanted.

Hope you enjoy and if you want to check out how the whole thing went down, you know what to do.

Daily photo project 17 of 50

Yeah I know I'm a few hours too early for my daily. If you've been actually reading the EXIF you would have picked up that I've been taking these shots the day before. Hey, I plan ahead! That means tomorrow night I'll be taking number 18 to post on Monday. I just posted early today :)

This is my daughter's newest addition to her princess collection. I waited for her to sleep before "borrowing" them. If you couldn't tell by the yellow lane divider yes I am in the middle of the street.

Giving off that spot light look is one Canon 430EX up high camera left set to 1/64 power with a 1/4 CTO in a snoot/grid.

Hope you enjoy and if you want to see how this shot was set up click here.

Daily photo project 16 of 50

Newegg had a special on this refurb wifi router, $24.99 with free shipping coupon. I just couldn't say no to it, even though I really don't like Netgear stuff and this will probably disappoint.

I used 2 speedlites for this setup. 1 550EX on 1/2 power pointed directly to the white background to really blow it out and a 580EX II 1/8 power on a light stand to the right of the camera shooting through a white umbrella.

For those wanting to know how It set up a shot like thist, click here.

Daily photo project 15 of 50

I was at an event last night and really wanted to get a shot for my daily today. I used the end of the counter as a make shift studio to frame, light and shoot the dessert you see from Steakhouse 46 in Las Vegas.

Of course I took a few steps back to take the setup!

Another photographer converted!

Got a mention on a fellow twitter's blog about flash photography. Honestly, it's just a tool to get the job done. You may think that I light everything I shoot but I don't. Learn to use the tools in your bag to create your images just don't discount a tool because you don't know how to use it though.

Daily photo project 14 of 50

Would this qualify as an amuse bouche?

And for those that like to get down to the nitty gritty click here for the setup shot.

Daily photo project 13 of 50

I actually took one of my home theater receivers for a ride with me today. We ended up at a parking garage to take this photo. Of course I had my share of stares from people driving by.

And for those that want to see, the setup shot can be found here.

Daily photo project 12 of 50

Cereal is great isn't it. You can have it for breakfast, lunch, dinner or any other time of the day/night. I'm personally one of those cereal milk junkies. I purposely put more milk in my bowl so that I can have that oh so sweet milk at the end.

As always if you're interested in how I took this photo just click here for the setup.

Daily photo project 11 of 50

I made it to number 11. I made it to number 11!

Daily photo project 10 of 50

10! I made it to 10 and to tell you the truth I'm ready to put that 50mm back in the bag. Ugg so frustrating because you choose a focal length to give a certain look/compression and man sometimes the 50 isn't what I'm looking for.

Should I cheat tomorrow and take the next shot at 200 f/2.8 I'm so thinking I will. I should try to stick with the rules though. Ugg!

Setup shot as always

Daily photo project 9 of 50

On today's photo walk I met a man by the name of Lynn. A really nice person that actually knew a thing or two about photography. He was more than willing to let me pose him as I took photos.

He did ask me what lens I was using and I told him a 50mm and he said "Dang that's big" (ok stop with the dirty jokes).

No setup shot this time but why not click here to get a nice look at Lynn.

5 of 50 on Gizmodo

First my 6 of 50 was used as the lead photo now my 5 of 50 shot is now part of their audio gallery. Talk about cool!

Daily photo project 8 of 50

A full 7 days of taking photos. Man am I running out of ideas or what. Taking pictures of parking reminders on the garage floor?

Setup can be found here.

6 of 50 used for Gizmodo article

Daily photo project 6 of 50 ended up being used for a Gizmodo article today. Looks like they are looking for more audio submissions so I'll be taking some photos of my 1bit gear to submit.

Daily photo project 7 of 50

What a windy day to take a photo walk. I was ending my walk and waiting for the light to change when I looked to my left and thought that this cross walk sign would make an interesting photo for today.

Don't ask me what that tag says though.

Setup shot can be found here.

Daily photo project 6 of 50

Don't you just love bi-amped near field monitors? I know I do! As you can see I'm now 6 days into this photo a day thing and honestly I'm running out of ideas. I just may have to bring the camera outside unless you want to see pictures of the wall outlet.

As always you can check out the set up shot here.

Daily photo project 5 of 50

My good 'ol Fender Rhodes Seventy Three. No matter what type of piano/organ/electronic keyboard I play nothing gives me that wonderful feeling than playing on my Seventy Three.

Setup info can be found here.

Daily photo project 4 of 50

It's day 4 and I break the rules! 1 light really makes you think but for my Star Wars Clone Wars space shot I really needed multiple lights.

I received these Lego pieces from the Easter Bunny and my daughter helped me assemble them earlier today. Afterwards I hung them with thread and proceeded to light them to give them that space look.

If you're interested, setup shot can be found here.

Yeah I broke the rules... what of it.

When your setup shots gets more view

I don't know how to take this. Is it a good thing or a bad thing when your setup photos generate more interest than the actual photos.

Bah, it's a good thing because that means people are interested in how you created something. I'd say it has inspired them!

Honorable mention from twittographers.com

I was reading a post over at twittographers regarding this 50mm Daily photo that I am participating in and who would have thunk.. they gave me a mention as I added a strobist flare to it.

Pretty neat if I say so myself. So if you're interested click here to read up on the 50mm DailyPhoto over at twittographers.

Yes that's my 50mm lens over to the right that I use.

Daily photo project 3 of 50

Ah sunsets are nice aren't they. They give everything a warm fuzzy feeling. Too bad there was no sun when I took this photo this evening.

The flower is fabric and is over 4 years old that my daughter uses to play with. In order to give the flower some life I gaffer taped the petals from behind.

To simulate the sunset required that I gel the flash and presto instant sunset on a flower.

If you want to see how I did the shot you can check it out here.

Daily photo project 2 of 50

Ah number 2 in a series of 50. What did I choose? Well my favorite goto bag. My Domke F6. It's advertised as a little bit smaller and you know they're right.
Big enough to carry a few lens, flash and a body. Great for a quick trip to the park with the kids or a light photo walk around town.
On to the nitty gritty:
1 Canon 580EX II 1/8 power snooted on light stand camera right
In the bag:
1 Canon 580EX II 1/1 power
1 Canon 550EX 1/1 power
Setup up shot can be found here if you're interested.
While I did use a total of 3 lights for this photo only 1 actually illuminated the bag. The other 2 where inside the bag for ambiance :)

Local DJ

Recently I was asked to help take some promo pictures for a local DJ. We met up on a rainy morning outside an industrial area and began shooting. After a while the the owners of the building we were shooting next to invited us in to continue our shoot there.

This was one major glass factory with some hard core gear inside. After quickly scouting the place out I found this large blue machine that I thought would be cool for a backdrop. What I did was place a Canon 580EX II up on a light stand 7' off the ground in a shoot thru umbrella camera left and a Canon 430EX bare on a light stand right behind the DJ with a blue gel over the flash head to give it that industrial look. You can see it give a blue tint to the headphones around his neck.

As an added bonus, I shot this with a Canon 5D MkII.

Daily photo project 1 of 50

There is this daily photo project going around Twitter right now. I can't say that I fully understand it but from what I gather you take a photo once per day using a 50mm lens for 50 days. I'm not sure if you're suppose to stick to a certain theme or not so I'll give myself some ground rules: 1) 50mm prime lens 2) use a flash (key, fill, background, off camera or on. Don't matter just use one). So onto my first photo of the project:

It's Easter time and my eldest daughter being the biggest High School Musical fan evar made a special Zac Efron Easter egg for me. Wanting to isolate the egg from everything else in the room I adjusted the camera to kill all ambient light and according to my rules lit the egg with one Canon 430EX on 1/16 power. To keep the light focus on the egg I shot the flash thru a snoot/grid.

If you're a visual person and what to see how the whole thing was setup you can check it out here.

My first of 50 photos.

Books

Even though everyone seems to want digital versions of their photos, there are some that appreciate having the photos printed into a nice hardcover book. I for one am glad for that as there is something about seeing your photo on quality paper v. on screen. It just feels more real.

1 light portrait

I like to play with lighting and generally I don't experiment during actual events (generally) and I usually leave all the "I wonder if I do this" type of shooting at home. In this case I wanted to play with taking portraits with only 1 light but give the illusion that a second light was used for the background.

Given the relative distance the subject is to the light source and the reflective nature of the background use, you can simulate 2 lights from 1. In my testing, my lovely daughter Natalie stood as still as she could in front of a coffee cable that had been turned on it's side. A Nikon SB-24 in a shoot thru umbrella was inches from her camera left.

After playing with the distance of all of them I was able to get the light to not only illuminate Natalie but also the table behind her. So if I'm shooting your next portrait and you wonder why I put you in front of a coffee table, now you know why.

Simple 2 light sports photo

Since receiving his token watch of appreciation and leaving corporate world behind him, my dad, has taken up golf. Being that he doesn't have to do the 9 to 5 his entire day is filled with golf. One day while visiting him after a gig I had asked to take his picture with him and his golf club.

After some words of encouragement he agreed. I asked him to show me a couple of swings while I set up for the shot. Lighting here was a simple 2 light setup. The sun behind my dad and a bare Nikon SB-24 on a light stand camera left fired at full power.

I metered the camera to underexpose the sky by 2 stops from there it was just positioning the flash at the correct angle and took the picture.

Home recording studio

At a recent gig the owner of the venue invited me to check out his completed home recording studio. Being that I am fully trained in audio production and have worked at a few radio stations WAY back when I was interested to check it out.

The main room had all the standard amenities of a recording studio: console, computer, ADAT, 2" multi track, near fields, well you get the picture. Everything that you needed was there.

He had asked if I could take a photo of the setup. Being that I was there for another event I had to work fast so I quickly eyeballed the exposure in the room then noticed that the LCD monitor about the console was on. If anything I didn't want that to be blown out so I metered 1 stop under for the LCD and bounced the flash up and behind my left shoulder to light the rest of the room up.

I ended up converting the photo to black & white as I felt it gave the photo a more behind the scene rock n roll look to it.

Lighting the Mac mini server

Recently I upgraded the server on the network. I wanted something small and sleek and came up with designing a server around Apple's Mac mini and a few Newer Tech external drives. After installing and setting up the system I took a step back and thought how I would go about lighting this.

I knew I wanted to highlight the Apple logo so I placed a Canon 430EX camera left on a light stand with a snoot/grid to really restrict the light to only the top portion of the mini. To give the rest of the mini some shape I placed a Canon 580EX II on the floor camera left. At that point I knew I needed to light the right side of the mini but I wanted to match the light coming from the external drives.

I placed a Canon 550EX on a light stand to camera right with a double stack of blue gels in a snoot pointed at the right edge of the mini. All this was triggered via a second Canon 580EX II acting as the master flash on camera.

Each flash was set in ETTL mode with the 580EX II in Group A, 430EX in Group B and the 550EX in Group C. Lighting ratio entered 1:2 C -2EV FEC -1.

The end result turned out great. The subtle lighting of the top gave the logo a nice glow and the blue outline to the right matches nicely with the Newer Tech drives yet gives the right side of the mini some definition.