Before I rant to nobody in particular about the joys of flat-pack Swedish furniture, I'm proud to announce that this is the first post of my second month of Photo Of The Day. Here's to keeping a goal! [Hoists a beer from Trader Joe's $8.99 +CRV "Mystery Beer Bag"]
So in prep for the offspring's birthday, momma and poppa are observing the time-honored tradition of assembling the gifts. This is our first exposure to IKEA, and we've been pleasantly surprised by the ease of assembly and fairly sturdy design. I was less enthusiastic about the maze of a store I navigated to pick this up, but I'm probably just jealous that I don't get to shop there more often. I'm a total sucker for clean, modern design. And I'm also a sucker for cheap.
But you read this blog to hear about photography, not about my skillz with a 10 cent hex wrench.
Strobist setup: Easy cheesy setup with two 285's bounced off the ceiling to give me a hugeungous soft light source with minimal setup time. Both were aimed slightly to the camera rear because I wanted to make sure the chair bottom (yellow, top of frame) wasn't shadowed too much. I notice now the darkening at the bottom of the frame, probably because I forgot my Cactus flash triggers on over a week or so, and the batteries are low. I was shooting at 1/200th, which is pretty much the limit for this setup when batteries are fresh.
I love how this soft light shows off the self-centering hex bolts.
The instruction manual made a nice imprompteau white balance reference, though the daylight reference has nearly always been accurate enough. [Says the color blind guy....]
I used the 17-40 to have some flexibility with the composition, and shot at around f8 and middle of the zoom range to improve sharpness. I feel like I'm getting a solid feel for manual flash, as in this case I chose the aperture I wanted, and then guessed at the flash power I needed. (I guessed 1/2 power on both flash heads, and was SPOT ON). Not that I always get that lucky, but I'm starting to get a ballpark feel for these settings, and that's a real confidence boost.
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Don’t Wait for Inspiration
1 week ago
Great Composition. The instruction sheet makes an oddly nice focal subject and the lines of the work materials frame and accent the sheet well. It tells the story without being overly instructive. You can just tell some parent is putting this together as a surprise for their child. The soft light is just beautiful on these colors.
ReplyDeleteI'm still following! This is a great shot, and your lighting is pleasing as always.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to raise a glass to you as well, and promise I'm DYING to get back in my routine. But sadly the house of our dreams is starting to seem like it's slipping from our fingertips, as the negotiations are not going easily. We're swamped. But I check your blog daily and take my camera along most days. I plan to be back in action consistently and celebrate two months with you!
By the way, I've had to send my Metz flash in for a fix -- grrrr -- so that sushi pic was supposed to be lit by my old Vivitar which I don't trust to put on my camera. There are lots of warnings about how old flashes can fry your camera. So I had to count on my triggers, and the receiver battery was drained. (It has a button that is too easily tripped in the bag, and though it recharges like a cell phone, it's no fun when you're caught with a drained battery.)
ReplyDeleteNice pic dude...love the bolts, very sharp.
ReplyDelete