Shooting the dogs

Shooting the dogs, originally uploaded by photogeek21.

A couple firsts for me on this recent family portrait shoot with the Green Family. It was my first time setting up remotely. Which is pretty nerve racking because I didn't know how much room I had to work with and the time pressure is there - I didn't want to spend all day setting up and taking test exposures while everybody's waiting. So I kept the lighting pretty simple and adjusted on the fly which did two things - It got the family a bit more comfortable in front of the camera and it gave the impression I knew what I was doing. By the time my exposure was dialed in everybody shook their shyness and we started having fun.
And speaking of fun, after getting a couple shots of this family of 5, they brought in their dogs for some shots - All 5 of them!. Now this was first for me as well - I though getting 5 people comfortable in front of a camera was tough - adding 5 dogs certainly up'ed the excitement...and the difficultly. Needless to say it was a shoot early and shoot often session with the dogs as they don't stay still for very long.

Just one take, CSLR Challenge 143

2009095_Spring Studio_141, originally uploaded by photogeek21.

Sometimes you only get one chance to get the shot. This was a fun shot I did just before packing up the 'studio'. It took a bit of planning - and an assistant. Lighting was provided with a single off camera strobe fired into a styro-foam igloo soft box. I bumped the iso up a bit to lower the strobe power down to 1/32. At this power I the strobe could cycle fast enough to keep up with the frame rate of my camera.
So once it was all set up, prefocused, and pre exposed, I shook the bottle really hard and started the cork, as soon as I saw it start to move, I put it down on the table and had my assistant hold the shutter down to fire off a series of shots. This was my favorite. I like the shot just hated the clean up afterwards.... BTW the shot took third in the CSLR challenge #43

CSLR Challenge 139: Results

Head n Hands, originally uploaded by photogeek21.

Well 'Shadow Detail' came in 10th. But the follow up shots I took for the challenge where I was just playing around with my fisheye lens did much better. 'Head n Hands' placed 3rd and got some traction on flickr as well. Surprising since it had my ugly mug in the shot...

Technology is awsome.

Still getting to know my 5DMkii, took a couple of shots around the house. Here's a shot of Matthew shot at night in the bedroom with a single light on in the other corner of the room at ISO3200. Man, this just blows my mind. With my 10D I wouldn't think of going over ISO800, My 1DMkii, I'd go ISO1600 if I had to but this shot blows those out of the water.
Like I said, I'm still getting to know this camera, but the more I shoot with it, the more I love it.

Flash+Fisheye+Full Frame = Fun

Playing with this combination for a recent CSLR challenge and got some cool results. Going full frame was like getting a whole new bag of lenses! Never realized how wide 17mm was and now my fisheye properly covers 180 degrees!
Never thought of using a fisheye for a portrait but I figured since I was shooting a picture of me, I might as well make it as distorted as possible to distract from subject :)
Stopping down the 15mm fisheye really creates some extreme DOF - from my toes which are just inches from the lens to the clouds behind me - cool.

CSLR Challenge 139: Making of a Creative Self Portrait

2008 was a great year for my photography, I learned alot off the web and really tried to be consistent in getting out and shooting and doing the CSLR challenges - Even won a few. But starting a new job at the end of the year really put my camera back in the bag - Even a new 5Dmkii wasn't enough to get me going - man work sucks!
After a long hiatus, I finally get my first CSLR entry of 2009 with a composite black and white image, which, after finishing and posting it, I admit seems to rip off of the Debeer's Commercial. Oh well, it was fun getting back into the creative process. And just in case anyone is curious as how this shot is done...

First Video

First Video
Originally uploaded by photogeek21

New toy in the house. Yep my 5d mkII came this week and I've been too busy to really put it to the test (what? how could I possibly be too busy to play with a new toy?)
Anyway, I am totally blown away with its low light performance and the amazing detail a 21megapixel image can contain. So far, none of the issues of the black spots that's all over the message boards have been seen. Then again, I'm not going to go looking for either.
Can't wait to get shooting with this thing.