Day 17: July 2010 Photo-a-Day Thread

[Colin Southern]

Being winter here in Nelson NZ, we took the kids + a friend ice skating today. First time ice skating for Kelsey, so I just had to take my camera along to capture the "inevitable moment" She actually did pretty well ... but when "the moment arrived" I was there waiting!





And 4 more uncropped snaps straight from the camera just to round out the day (I think my PAD is done for the day!)

[revi]

Nice hit Pity we can't see her expression on the series...

Was the ice a bit rough, perhaps even with bits of plants embedded (and showing...)?
Reminds me of my younger years (a while ago).

Remco

[Colin Southern]

Nice hit Pity we can't see her expression on the series...

Was the ice a bit rough, perhaps even with bits of plants embedded (and showing...)?
Reminds me of my younger years (a while ago).

Remco

Thanks Remco,

The ice comes in the form of a small pond that freezes over during some winters. I didn't take too close a look, but I'm told there was even a frozen fish embedded in the surface! ... so I imagine there will be a few other things as well.

[Klickit]

Blah sort of day here with heavy rain, lots to do and no chance to go out with Mr. Nikon. Found a couple of things but they're a bit blah too.

Colour You Car



These are some of the many spray-guns waiting for clumsy customers who crash their cars, or unfortunate ones who get in the clumsy persons way.

Abandonment

[carregwen]

Headline: Local girl sees Colin Southern with a Nikon!

Good shot Colin. Well captured.

[rick55]

Colin, the Kelsey "expression" shot is wonderful: great capture.

Kit, I like the second shot, getting the labels on the glass, and the grit and fungus.

Cheers,
Rick

[rick55]

Canon 500D, EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, f/8, 1/90s, ISO 200, 3 images stacked with Helicon Focus. Four flashes, two bounced off the ceiling, two nearly behind the camera. PAD slideshow.

This was my backup shot that I've been keeping for when I didn't have a good shot for the day. Unfortunately, I left it pretty late, and I wasn't able to get the shot I'd like. I didn't plan to have a gap in the flowers: it isn't really an attempt to find a better image, it's that I ran out of time, and tried to salvage something from what I had.

Cheers,
Rick

[triggerhappy]

my share..



Taken at 12 noon.

Mark

[carregwen]

Got up at some stupid time this morning to drive down to Tenby to get the early morning light.

PAD gallery

EXIF

[James G]

Great day, woke up to find that Goldtrain has gone into administration so no visiting Turkey in two weeks. Still, good news is it was only the flight and we will eventually get the money back, maybe in 2 years!

General depression all round, so of to Ashby de la Zouche for some retail therapy for Janet and the castle for me.

I actually have some good shots taken in the market where she found a nice ring, but decided today to play around with stitched panoramas of the ruins. I also found some high quality graffiti in the tower. I noticed that the older it was the better the execution...nothing like the good old days for setting a standard!

Its off to the bucket shops tomorrow !

James

[arith]

Great day, woke up to find that Goldtrain has gone into administration so no visiting Turkey in two weeks. Still, good news is it was only the flight and we will eventually get the money back, maybe in 2 years!

General depression all round, so of to Ashby de la Zouche for some retail therapy for Janet and the castle for me.

I actually have some good shots taken in the market where she found a nice ring, but decided today to play around with stitched panoramas of the ruins. I also found some high quality graffiti in the tower. I noticed that the older it was the better the execution...nothing like the good old days for setting a standard!

Its off to the bucket shops tomorrow !

James

I wrote some of that graffiti at the top, but I think it has fallen down now. I went to the grammar school further up and tunnels are reputed to go there in fact one under my desk.

Well you did better than me cos I thought it was a tad close to the private school and too much of a wreck to be any interest.

[Antonio Correia]

...

...

Colin, I admire your work. It's very very nice and well done.

Is it possible that you are working better than say, a year ago ?

Sure is. People who wish always have something to learn.

[Alis]

Being winter here in Nelson NZ, we took the kids + a friend ice skating today. First time ice skating for Kelsey, so I just had to take my camera along to capture the "inevitable moment" She actually did pretty well ... but when "the moment arrived" I was there waiting!

Fantastic shots, Colin! What is the lighting set up on the portraits? I am dying to know the details. Jessica's portrait is so sharp and well exposed. Tell us more please

[Colin Southern]

Colin, I admire your work. It's very very nice and well done.

Is it possible that you are working better than say, a year ago ?

Sure is. People who wish always have something to learn.

Hi Antonio,

Thanks for the very kind words

I like to think that I'm always improving (I'm sure that everyone is always learning when it comes to photography). My philosophy has always been to review what I'm doing - figure out a way it could have been improved - try the "improvements" next time - and "repeat as required" .

Oh - and not using a Mac helps a lot too! (just kidding!)

[Colin Southern]

Fantastic shots, Colin! What is the lighting set up on the portraits? I am dying to know the details. Jessica's portrait is so sharp and well exposed. Tell us more please

Hi Ali,

Would you believe no less than 3 studio lights complete with softboxes driven by three portable (petrol driven) generators?

Gotcha

Nah - it was just plain on-camera flash, in ETTL mode. I did have the camera in manual mode though (off memory 1/1000th @ F5.6 @ ISO 1600) (to freeze the action and reduce the background by a stop or two to make the foreground pop). Probably the other thing that people sometimes under-state the value of is shooting with a very long lens - in this case I had my EF 70-200 F2.8L IS USM II with an EF1.4TC mounted (and zoomed in); so it gives a very pleasing compression. It really was "straight out of the camera" too (I think I just applied capture sharpening / content sharpening / down-sampled - applied border & title and "job done").

[Alis]

Nah - it was just plain on-camera flash, in ETTL mode..

It turned out great my friend.

One question: You mean on camera flash pointed forward at the subject with no diffuser, or there is more detail you are not telling me?

[Dave Humphries]

A portrait today, strictly 'amateur hour'** though;



Nikon D5000 + Nikkor 105mm VR2 Macro: 1/30s f/3 at iso1600 handheld, with mixed available light.

** I individually shot four people around the table at a family meal in a restaurant and this is the 'least worst lit' result

[Colin Southern]

It turned out great my friend.

One question: You mean on camera flash pointed forward at the subject with no diffuser, or there is more detail you are not telling me?

Hi Ali,

No diffuser. An on-flash diffuser wouldn't really do anything other than attenuate the light by a couple of stops in this situation, and the flash was working at full output most of the time anyway (I had it connected to a high-voltage accelerator and it still took over 1 second to recycle). From a lighting point of view without the diffuser you have about a 2 square inch light source; with it about a 9 square inch one ... but from that distance it's about the same as throwing either a small rock in the ocean or a bigger one ... and measuring how much it rises; the net result is still about zero.

Diffusion is great, but it has to be close to the subject (or equivalent, eg lightsphere where it lights up the entire room, turning it onto a big softbox) - quality of light is primarily "how big is it" and "how far away from the subject is it" - so if I had to do a semi-pro job in those circumstances I'd fire a remote flash through a 100cm diffuser held just out of the frame.

Does that help?

[Alis]

Hi Ali,

No diffuser. An on-flash diffuser wouldn't really do anything other than attenuate the light by a couple of stops in this situation, and the flash was working at full output most of the time anyway (I had it connected to a high-voltage accelerator and it still took over 1 second to recycle).

Thanks, Colin! The distance and the fact that there is nothing behind them to give them an ugly shadow makes it possible to use just a flash with no diffuser. Just wanted to make sure. I have always wondered how these photojournalists take pictures, sometimes very nice looking, with on camera flash pointed forward directly at the subject. The thing is that they as far as I know usually use manual flash and not ETTL to have more control over the flash and to use it as a touch of "fill flash". You said you used flash as ETTL here but whenever I use it, it just messes up the whole image. Not sure what I am doing wrong.

Your pictures are actually like you used a large softbox or I thought maybe you had someone hold the flash just outside the frame or close to the subjects and then triggered it with the PW. But apparently that is not the case.

[Crovean]

We pass through this old bridge on our way home.