First "studio" ghetto setup shot

Well there ya have it, my first ghetto studio esque shot with my single Vivitar flash and some creativity. Had the single strobe under the table with a CTB gel on it and faced it against the wall, got some good timing and bam, little post work in Photoshop and I'm set! Seriously stoked to go shoot some outdoor model photography now, or experiment with another strobe if I buy another in the near future. Those who wanna see my ghetto setup for this shot can click here.

On another note, I might be buying a near mint condition, barely used 20D off a friend since he doesn't really use it at all. I'll be trading my 350D + cash for his camera and hopefully it won't be too much. Just what I need for now; better viewfinder, better autofocus, higher ISO settings, and a bigger, sturdier body. Too bad I just bought a remote shutter release for my 350D a few weeks ago. Ah well, they're cheap on Ebay.

My lighting arrived!

Woo after it was delayed a week due to Midwest Photo Exchange not having the household cord (they sent me a pc to hh cord in its place), I finally got my gear tonight! Its like Christmas tonight! Shot a short shoot of a friends brand new 07 RX8 with the Mazdaspeed package (wheels, rotor accents on the bumpers, intake) tonight. I seem to be having a little problem when shooting HDRs...that being that I get a lil too much grain in some areas of the photo. No biggie, like I said before, I'm probably not gonna shoot many HDRs, but theres one of the images to the left if anyone is interested in the shoot. You can see the other couple pictures on my Flickr. Now to go to play with my new gear, stay tuned for updates.

HDR Testing

Ahh, I've finally fallen into the trend! After reading about HDR imaging a lot lately over on Photography On The Net, I decided to go out tonight and try my hand at a couple. For these two, I think I had 5 RAW images, all spaced 0.5 to 1.5 f/stops between each. I used Photomatix to turn them into the HDR file and tone mapped them in Photomatix as well. Tried to stay away from that uber hard edged, halo'd and incredibly contrasty look that everyone seems to either love or hate about HDR images. You can definitely get some cool results with this technique but it takes a bit longer than just firing off one shot (for obvious reasons), but it was a cool thing to learn. I probably won't use it much, but who knows, another tool to use.

Lighting Equipment On The Way

Well I just spent the last day reading Strobist, and I've got to say, wow. I've learned so much in the last 6-12 hours about lighting and all sorts of methods and techniques than I've ever known. Purchased a "starter" setup for myself from Midwest Photo Exchange which includes the stuff listed below:s

1 - Vivitar 285HV Shoe Mount Flash
1 - 8ft. Air Cushioned Light Stand
1 - Paramount 15ft. Hot Shoe to household Male cord.
1 - Wein HSH Hotshoe to household adapter
1 - Westcott 43” Compact Umbrella - Silver
1 - Rosco Pro Color Correction Gel Pack
1 - DIY Grid, Barndoor, Snoot kit (not pictured below)
1 - CTA Ni-MH AA 4-pack Battery w/Rapid Charger
1 - Bongo Elastic Ties (10 pack)
1 - Umbrella Swivel


All for a relatively decent price as well! Now to go read some more and wait for my new stuff to arrive.