Some photo technique demo's

[Don Kondra]

Greetings,

Made some time the other day to do a quick and dirty comparison of lighting modifiers using continuous lights.

The object is a hollow turned maple burl bowl by Michael Hosaluk, circa 1985.

Background is a graduated gray varitone (40x60 inches) purchased from DMK Photographic Accessories on ebay. $30 plus shipping. I feel a seamless paper and/or graduated background can make the biggest improvement in photo's.

The lights are 85w CF bulbs in ten inch reflectors, the bulbs were ~ $20 @ from Alzo Digital. Umbrellas are ~ $15 @ from B&H.

The main object of this exercise was to show the variation in shadows and highlights using different light modifiers, there is very minimal processing from the raw file.

First shot is bare bulbs.

Notice I need to lower the backdrop to take advantage of the darker graduant and I didn't turn off the shop lights, duh..

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/Barebulbs.jpg

Next is bounced umbrellas...

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/Bdstepback.jpg

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/Reflectedumbrella.jpg

Shoot through umbrellas, backdrop lowered and shop lights off :)

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/Shootthroughumbrellasetup.jpg


Pretty sure I changed the color on this shot while playing around in Elements....

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/Shootthroughumbrella.jpg

Next up is a light tent. Solid light gray seamless paper backdrop.

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/Lighttent.jpg

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/Lighttentshot.jpg

And for some drama, single strobe/softbox with styrofoam reflectors

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/Softboxsetup.jpg

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/donkondra/Strobeandreflectors.jpg

Cheers, Don

[Ed Morgano]

Don,
Great tutorial. I know I need to improve my photos. Been working on it lately but knowledge really beats trial and error. Thanks for sharing.

[John Spitters]

Don
Can you explain what settings you are using on the camera

John

[Don Kondra]

Ah, good question John...

I was shooting with an Olympus E-3 and 12-60mm lens on a tripod tethered to a laptop so no need for delayed shutter release.

Aperture priority, f 9, iso 100. Metering tied to center focus point. On this setting the camera will determin the shutter speed based on the available light.

On the last strobe shot I was in manual, 1/250, f 14, iso 100, same metering setting.

The exif data is intact, I use Kuso Exif Viewer on Windows 7 64 bit.

Cheers, Don

[Eric Gourieux]

Is there a program required to immediately view the pics on your laptop? When I connect my Nicon D70 or small point-and-shoot camera,the computer defaults to upload pics. Maybe it's a setting.

[Don Kondra]

Hi Eric,

This link should answer your questions :)

http://thephotogeek.com/choosing-nikon-dslr-camera-tethered-shooting-software/

Cheers, Don

[Dan Hintz]

Anyone used one of those Eye-Fi chips with a BT connection direct from the memory card?

[John Keeton]

Great info, Don! Someday, I would like to become more sophisticated with my photography, but it has its own vortex I am afraid. I like the last shot the best, but what do I know!

[Don Kondra]

Thanks John,

You can get carried away with gadgets but a simple seamless paper backdrop and some inexpensive lights can make a huge difference :)

Dan > all I can tell you is the 8 GB Eye-Fi Pro X2 SDHC memory card is required to transfer raw files and is on sale at B&H for $75...

Cheers, Don