This type of shots is not what I usually do, but when my friends asked if I can do their seniors promo shoot (never heard of such type before:-) my answer was: yes!
I always glad to host any of my good friends in the studio: I can always test new gear or learn some new technique while working with them. This time I eventually got an opportunity to test my DIY battery power pack (aka Vagabond II I’ve assembled recently) in real life situation, as we planed to do several informal shot outside of the studio.
After we were done with formal (most boring for me, not much formality left in my brain part of the shot in a studio, I took 3 Paul. C Buff monolights outside, on our backyard. It was close enough to use an extension cord to power them up, but the idea was to test my DYI Vagabond.
Two WL X1600 units and one AB400 were used. The power settings was close to a maximum: I was shooting at 1/250 sec F8, ISO100. At such exposure ambient light did not play any significant role in that shade under the trees.
The lighting setup for the outside shoot :
on location lighting setup DIY vagabond II alienbees pack
This week I’ve got 2 additions to my studio gear I was waiting for a long time: heavy, solid and huge Fatif studio stand and amazingly fast workstation laptop, Lenovo W700ds. Both of them are really monstrous creatures:
Fatif studio stand:
Old, by still strong as my red pepper Ukrainian vodka I brought 8 years ago and still haven’t tried: about 180 lb heavy, 8 feet tall, it feels like an WWII cannon:-)
I was using various softboxes for most of our product photography, but about a half a year ago I discovered a perfect use of translucent diffuser panels in product photography. I am talking about usually small product with glossy reflective surface with inevitable reflection form the lights on it.
The main difference between softbox and diffuser panel is how the light is spread on the “working” surface: good softbox is suppose to produce even flat light on its front screen while diffuser may have very different pattern, depending on how we highlight it. What does it mean for me when I shoot some glossy, especially dark glossy object? The reflection from that light.
Reflection will be very different: softbox always gives sharp-edged square while diffuser panel can produce very uneven, gradient filling. Gradient is the key: it can be round, square or linear, whatever I need to show on the object.
Below is the example images I’ve got while shooting line of cosmetic brushes for Anisa International. Managed by Anisa Tewlar, company makes high-quality cosmetic brushes and accessories, I am really glad to work with them.
Top-down shot of the black glossy brush, done with two softboxes on each side of the brush:
I rarely shoot on locations, always feel more comfortable working in the studio. In most cases there is a power outlets on location, I had only a few where it was too far from the lights (warehouse freezer, for example). With no external power I’ve used 4 Canon speedlites, but they too weak to be used with serious light modifiers or on a large objects.
It makes me feel very uncomfortable when I do not have enough power:-)
So, I was looking at Vagabond II or similar portable power solutions, but did not find the one I like: it should be powerful enough to run 3-5 strobes equal to X1600 (1600 effective/ 660 true WS) for at least 300 pops and to be not expensive, as I won’t be using the system often, therefore do not want to invest lot of money in it.
DIY portable power battery pack for Paul C. Buff monolights
Do you know what surgical forcep is? According to Wikipedia: “Forceps are used when fingers are too large to grasp small objects or when many objects need to be held at one time while the hands are used to perform a task.” In case if the object is a tiny piece of human body needed for biopsy, something very internal, surgeons pin a hole in human’s body and use 1.5 mm in diameter micro jaws to bite a piece of the liver, for example…
macro photography in your hand
Scary enough? Do not worry, I won’t go further:-)
I was lucky to feel these things in my hands, not inside of me. One of our good long-term customers, medical supplier EndoChoice sells such devices and my duty is to produce outstanding images of these little gremlins.
I was asked many times what camera and/or lens I would recommend to buy in given price range, so I’ve decided to answer this question on my blog, next time I can direct people to this article.
For today this is a longest epic in my life I wrote in English and I really hope you’ll understand what i was trying to tell you:-)
My photography style is clear, crisp, precise and vivid; being a product photographer I can’t (nor I like) produce blurry, out of focus and noisy images and call them “my unique vision”. I do not understand black and white modern photography, see it more like “sorry, can’t get it done with color” thing.
Keep this in mind, as everything I would tell you here is driven by things I value most in my photo gear: Ability to produce sharp, full of details images, and to do it fast and most effortless way. All these special features like scene modes, digital filters, face recognition, email-to-your-grandma senders or whatever manufacturer will include in your camera to attract buyers has absolute NO VALUE to me. If you read my blog, I assume you are interested in photography, therefore the simpler camera you will operate the better you’ll understand photography process. 99% people with entry-level DSLR I know has no idea about most of these fancy features. Think twice, do you really need it? Continue reading »
Pentax? I almost forgot that they are exists, was never looking at their 35mm DSLR cameras, knowing that there was nothing for me as a professional shooter. On other hand, my older friends in photography were talking about medium format film Pentax cameras with every respect possible. Continue reading »
I had an opportunity ( many thanks to John Williams from Hotwire Digital) to play with this beast, Hasselblad H3D -31 few month ago, eventually got time to write this short review.
I continue to use my tilt-shift adapter for DSLR, and now I explore the limits of the system. Below is the watch, at a very narrow angle, shoot by using Rodenstock Rodagon APO 80mm F4 lens at aperture setto F16.
Watch photography using tilt-shift DSLR
The lighting schema is simple: two narrow soft boxes on top, each highlighted top and the bottom part of the watch. There should not be direct reflection form a watch’s glass, as it immediately become dull and low contrast. Continue reading »
Well, I did not have flash meter back 10 years ago, while was shooting on film. But I was not a professional photographer that time, and camera exposure meter plus my prediction along with experience was working well for me.
When I start asking money for my photography, I start feeling that I really need to have a flash meter! Every pro has it, so how could I be a pro without it? Continue reading »
August 22nd, 2010 | 
part of the shot in a studio, I took 3 Paul. C Buff monolights outside, on our backyard. It was close enough to use an extension cord to power them up, but the idea was to test my DYI Vagabond.
