Dr. Sketchy's...

A few weeks ago my girlfriend Shannon asked me if I would go with her to Dr. Sketchy's anti-Art School at Birdy's Bar here in Indianapolis. If you aren't familiar with Dr. Sketchy's, it's a Burlesque show where the models take poses and everyone takes a few minutes to try to sketch them out. In my case, and in the case of a select few others they allowed us to photograph the event.

Nikon D3s, 2500ISO, Nikon 50mmF1.4G, 1/60th@F1.8

Not to say that I didn't sketch a few things out with Shannon as well as photograph the event, after all we went to spend some time together on top of doing an art related activity; but my sketches were so EPIC that I was asked not to post them here for fear that I would give the troop a bad image devalue the sketches.

There were a few other shooters there, Ryan Baxter whom I met at the Warehouse Photo workshop last year, as well as a guy named Don, whose business card I can't find at the moment but will try to remember to update with a last name later. It was a neat experience as I'd never actually seen a Burlesque show before, but the thing that really excited me was the fact that I was there under no deadlines, instructions, limitations (other than no flash) or any pressure to post the images anywhere. Very un-normal for me.

Nikon D3s, 2000ISO, Nikon 70-200F2.8VR2@185mm, 1/60th@F2.8

As it also turns out Shannon and my friend Nikki is joining the troop as well, so it looks like we'll be going back to see her perform. That night she was doing the job known as being the 'Stage Kitten', meaning she got to collect the things that the Burlesque Dancers dropped while they were on stage. Unfortunately due to different distractions, as well as a lack of spotlights while she was doing this I was unable to get a photo of her doing her job. Next time Nikki, Next time.

Nikon D3s, 4500ISO(EEK!), Nikon 70-200F2.8VR2@200mm, 1/60th@F2.8

That's Violet Phoenix from the Bloomington Burlesque Brigade. She was the special guest/model for the evening and she really genuinely seemed to enjoy what she did. Holding poses for anywhere between 1 and 15 minutes at a time is tough! If you don't believe me, you should try it out and see for yourself. I digress, though. It was quite the event, and it definitely helped me out with working on shooting things just for myself as I wanted to do in 2011. It's not something I concepted out, or had any control of; but whether I took the photos or not didn't matter. I was doing it because I wanted to just like this guy here using crayola crayons to sketch miss Violet.

Nikon D3s, 12,800ISO (hOly cOw!) Nikon 70-200F2.8VR@180mm, 1/60th@F2.8

Last night I gave the opening class lecture for the Advanced Portrait class at the Art Institute of Indianapolis. One of the things that I pushed to them was that their personal work would get them more gigs shooting than anything they shoot with a big name attached. I'm not sure that my night shooting at Dr. Sketchy's really qualifies as 'personal' work for me as it was just kind of an event coverage, but the fact that I was there shooting just to shoot under no real pressure from anyone or anything is a good start. I even broke the ISO barrier in as I very rarely take my camera above 800 normally... Welcome to 2011. More Soon.

Pocket Wizard Flex TT5/TT1 for Nikon Review...

If you're a Nikon shooter I know you've been jealous of the fact that the Canon shooters out there have had the Pocket Wizard Flex TT5 and TT1 now for a long time.  Long time did I say?  Almost two years in fact.  Now while I knew for a fact that before going into the beta test of these devices I could do a lot of what I already do using my SU-800 Speedlight commander, the allure of a RF High Speed Shutter Sync at up to 1/8000th of a second at up to 1,000 feet?  Yea, pretty awesome.  But that's not all that I was concerned with when I was able to test these Nikon Flex Beta Units.  I was not only worried about how they performed under extreme conditions, but I was worried about how they would perform in every day conditions as well.

First off I'd like to mention that I was not paid for this review, and am not going to say 100% positive things about these units, however I know that the units that I tested were in the beta stages and most of the very few problems that I encountered have been solved in the final hardware that is shipping over seas even while I write this.  So for you tech nerds out there, are you ready for the nitty gritty?  Hope so, because there's a lot of it.  For you photo nerds out there, I hope the pictures are just as interesting...

 

Anyone who shoots with Nikons CLS system knows how hard it can be to shoot TTL in the snow.  Luckily the day that I received my beta units was the largest snowstorm we have received here in Indianapolis all season.  Not only that, but my friend David VanDeman had also invited me to tag along for his photoshoot with the Fashion Wrap up.  Needless to say with all the snow, and the capabilities of these Flex units plus the style of Kaitlin Elyse, (That's Kaitlin above trying not to freeze while I do a light test), the look of Chelsea, hair and makeup by Allure Salon and the accessories of Apricot Lane.......we had an exciting afternoon in front of us. 

Nikon D3s, 100ISO, Nikon AFS50mmF1.4, 1/1600th@F2.  Single Nikon SB-900 Speedlight set to iTTL zoomed in to 85mm shot through a 32" translucent umbrella attached to a Pocket Wizard TT5 Transceiver on the end of a paint pole and Kasey Pole softbox attachment adapter Speedlight fired by Pocket Wizard TT1 attached to the camera. 

That's Chelsea there.  Very pretty girl, very good at the modeling gig.  She did an absolutely outstanding job in such a terribly cold environment.  She struck the poses, and made the shots very instinctively and very smoothly.  It went especially well since we stopped about every other minute to put a jacket on her.  Despite how cold it was though, and despite every bit of white that was out there, this shot was done shooting nothing but TTL and the Pocket Wizard FLEX units.  A single Flex TT5, and the TT1 on my D3s as the shooting info suggests.  In just a few frames I had this shot, and it was just like I wanted.  The units performed just as flawlessly as Chelsea.  The FLEX Units performed so flawlessly in fact, that during the course of the shoot I fired only 50 frames, including test shots, and shots of David scraping the windows of his car...

Nikon D3s, 160ISO, Nikon AFS28-70F2.8@70mm.  1/200th@F13.  Single Nikon SB900 zoomed to 200mm with a 1/4CTO fired by a Pocket Wizard Flex TT5 attached to a SC-28 off camera cable on a pole to camera right set to iTTL. (SC-28 Off camera cable was used to attach the TT5 because the TT5 was too large to fit into the hot shoe mount of the Softbox stand adapter I was using).  Second SB-900 Speedlight zoomed to 200mm about 30' to camera left with a 1/2 CTB, set to iTTL -3.0.  The camera was also set to -.3EV to account that the light on the left wasn't dark enough.) 

That there is another Canon shooter that if you've read the you'll recognize as Michael Guio.  Mike was gracious to donate an evening of his to help me as a model while I evaluated the units in several ways.  The first thing we did though, was test the units in my every day shooting style.  I easily could have that the image above with the SU-800 (and some shots that evening were actually shot with it, instead of the Flex Units), but what I wanted to know was how the Flex Units did in terms of predictability.  Here's what his basement looked like without the lights...
 

Ambient Light in Mike's basement.  Nikon D3s, 1600ISO, 1/40th@F2.8

This is where I had some of the very few issues that I had with the Pocket Wizard Flex TT5 and TT1 units.  When it came to TTL and 1 light, they were flawless.  When it came to TTL and 2 lights, they seemed to be cancelling each other out in cross lighting situations.  This was easily remedied by changing the lights to Manual, and probably could have been remedied by attaching the SU-800 to a TT5 unit or with an AC3 command unit.  I was not supplied with an AC3 unit, and was also unable to get my SU-800 to function with my Beta units, but I have been assured the issue is corrected in the final hardware revision.  I know that all sounds horribly technical, and for that I apologize, but either way the punchline should reach home for everyone.  I got the shot.  It just wasn't like I thought getting the shot would be (which it often isn't anyway, which the previous blog talks about more).  In the card Shark shoot, I was using two hard lights because I wanted to simulate a hard puddle lit back room in a club; where this guy could be dangerous. I did attempt several shots using a softbox on one light, but it just didn't provide me the shot I was looking for. 

Nikon D3s, 200ISO, Nikon AFS28-70mmF2.8@50mm, 1/200th@F13.  Single Nikon SB900 zoomed to 200mm with a 1/4CTO fired by a Pocket Wizard Flex TT5 attached to a SC-28 off camera cable on a pole to camera right set to iTTL. (SC-28 Off camera cable was used to attach the TT5 because the TT5 was too large to fit into the hot shoe mount of the Softbox stand adapter I was using).  Second SB-900 Speedlight zoomed to 200mm about 30' to camera left with a 1/2 CTB, set to iTTL -2.0.  The camera was also set to +.3EV as I needed to make a small adjustment, but didn't want to go back to the left speedlight.) 

I definitely found that the TTL on the Flex TT1 and TT5 worked better on Spot metering, but in terms of actually firing the lights held up to the epic standard that pocket wizard is known for.  The units were very, VERY reliable.  My only concern is that they fell asleep a few times while I was shooting.  Playing around in the ControlTL software, I was unable to find a way to shut the sleep time off either, which annoyed me.  Either way if you are conscious, it's not a big deal.  Just burn an extra frame before you start going to wake them up, and you're in business.  Not that I want to miss a shot because my units were asleep though. I did make sure to mention it several times in my writeup to Pocket Wizard.

These New pocket wizards not only support High Speed Sync, but also support up to 8fps firing rate if your flash is set low enough that it can handle bursts at that speed.  Me, being the fool that I am made my first attempt using TTL at this speed, to which I was pleasantly surprised.  Again spot metering was king of this test, and from time to time the camera would slow down while in TTL, but it was still surprisingly snappy when used that way.

This string of shots were shot at 8fps, with a Nikon D3s.  While the added light of the Pocket Wizards made the 4000ISO very clean and usable in commercial print, I deemed that the frozen speed-bag action wasn't what I was looking for. 

In the end the high speed 8fps test wasn't what I had hoped even though I got  few shots that looked very nice; but it also begged me to realize something I myself in the past have preached.  Just because you can do something; doesn't mean you need to...

Nikon D3s, 400ISO, Nikon AFS28-70F2.8@45mm, 1/200th@F11.  Camera set to -2EV with the Pocket Wizard TT1 on the hot shoe.  Nikon SB900 Speedlight zoomed to 75mm set to iTTL with a light green Gel attached to a Pocket Wizard TT5 Transmitter.  Nikon SB900 Zoomed to 200mm above camera left with a Theatrical red Gel, set to TTL on a Pocket Wizard TT5 Transmitter as well.  Both Hard lights, no modifiers. 

So instead, I found a better way to test the 8fps High Speed Sync with the Flex units with my girlfriend Shannon.

Nikon D3s, 200ISO, Nikon AFS70-200F2.8N VR2@110mm, 1/1250th@F6.3.  Pocket Wizard Flex TT1 Unit on the Cameras Hot Shoe, Nikon SB-900 to Shannon's right about 15 feet in the air angled down attached to a Pocket Wizard TT5 Transceiver. 

Shannon loves the snow; especially playing in it.  She is also a Poi Dancer, which is something else I'd like to shoot her doing, but it seemed a bit too frigid to have her out swinging fire around in spandex.  Snowballs seemed appropriate.  It was easy for her to work up to throwing snowballs at me as relatively frequently I say or do something that gets her aggravated at me, but I think the snow playing got the best of her as every frame I have she's grinning like the happiest girl int he world.  Just the way I like her.  Again as mentioned before, the Pocket Wizard Flex TT5 and TT1 Units performed Flawlessly outside, even at a distance (albeit a small one as compared to the guys over at Fstoppers).

Some will notice my lack of light modifiers in these tests, and I noticed it too as I am mentioning it now.  The thing is that I did use soft-boxes and umbrellas for a few other things, but felt the shots that were without Created more desirable images.  Rare, I know, but true.  Plus I may or may not have a few other images I'm  holding back from these tests for the future, so keep your eyes peeled. 

Conclusion: (finally, I know right?)
Will I buy em?  Hell yea!  Will they be epic?  HELL Yea!  Do I still have some experimenting to do?  Hell yea! Wait what?  Like I said earlier, I couldn't get my SU-800 to work with my beta units.  I also was not given an AC3 unit to test with my TT1 and two TT5 units.  This leaves a window of testing that is very important to me untouched.  I LOVE the iTTL capabilities of my Nikon SU-800 and Accompanying strobes, and that's why a lot of people own Nikon Gear.  It's not the Resolution, Autofocus system, or the fact that the lenses are black.  It's the fact that they can light stuff very intuitively, and that is the part of this system I didn't get to play a whole lot with.  That seems like a BIG part though right?  yes and no.  Is having 1/8000th of a second shutter-speed  available in RF important, even if the strobes are on manual?  Hell yea it is!  That and shooting outside with these so I can use my 85 F1.4, or my 50F1.4, makes them totally worth the money (at least for me).  The other part is that these units are capable of syncing with the older Plus II Transcievers, which makes the 7 of those that I have even more valuable to me.  Now, I can't do a high speed sync, but I can set a light pretty far away, and just trigger it like normal; and there's nothing wrong with that.

The saavy shooters out there, are now saying that nothing I've done here is groundbreaking, and they are right.  Having only 48 Hours to evaluate the units, I wanted to test what was most important to me; and that was the functionality.  I had no time to get an 800mm Lens from Sigma like fstoppers.  I did find time to physically break one of the units, but that's part of the test right?  If they weren't meant to be used, why would you buy them?

Hopefully this quick review of the Beta units sheds some light on their operation to at least a few people.  I've got a set pre-ordered from Roberts here in Indianapolis, where I buy almost all of my equipment.   Get on the list, as the list is LONG.  These units are most certainly worth buying if you like using your speedlights to shoot everyday, or just from time to time.  For more information, check the following links:

Pocket Wizard Website (For more information)
Roberts Camera  (For pre-order)
The FStoppers Review, and their latest Photoshop Contest 
Another Reivew

More Soon.

Just one....

During this time of the year when things start to wind down, while taxes are being evaluated, while Christmas gifts are bought, while trying to put things on the calendar for next year; you always need to take a moment to see the actual holiday around you. Take a minute to Breathe.

I did the final critique of the Advanced Lighting class at Ivy Tech earlier this week, and after talk about Strip lights, and Gobo's, beauty dishes, and softboxes; I always go back to a quote by the Great Frank Espich.  "God started out with one light, the Sun.  Why not try starting from there?".  Although I heard this quote only recently I know exactly what he means, and even though I am no longer in front of that Advanced Lighting class looking at their portfolios (which were excellent for the record); I would still like to pass on the point that Frank once again reiterated to me.  Don't make things more complicated than you have to.  Sometimes one light is more than enough.  Don't overthink it, you might get stressed out.  The holiday's have enough stress not photography related, so take it easy.  Take a break.  Try it with just one light.

(Canon 5D Mark II, 160ISO, Canon EF100F2.8Macro, 1/160th@F13.  Single 580EX Speedlight set to 1/8th power shot through a 32" translucent umbrella from almost directly above the flower.  Light triggered by Pocketwizard Plus II Transciever)

On a side note I'm very disappointed and borderline stressed out at how unsharp that image actually is on blogger.  It's only about 70% as sharp as on my computer.  Fixed this, apparently I was uploading a file that was too high res.... Either way I'm  very much looking forward to the New Blog, and Website within the week..... More Soon.

Just one Light...

A lot of people ask me about my lighting techniques, and how I come up with some of the things that I do in order to light things effectively.  The last blog post was definitely one with a complicated light setup in it too.  This one is a little differently.  I believe it was Zack Arias that recommended originally that anyone learning to light should learn to do so with a Single 60" umbrella and that's it.  Mainly  because that's all you really need.  Not that hair lights, and fill lights, and background lights aren't necessary in some cases, but in most cases they totally aren't...

 

(CANON 5D Mark II, 250ISO, Canon 70-200F2.8IS@200mm, 1/40th@F10.  Single Canon 580EX Speedlight to below camera left at 1/4th power zoomed to 70mm shot through a 32" Translucent Umbrella fired by Pocket Wizard)

Nicole here is the Neice of the owner of Ceez Genesis Salon here in Indy.  Had two lights set up to start and totally according to plan one didn't fire giving me this.  The other one with both lights looks pretty solid too, but I love the way the light defines her face in this; and so does she.  Only one light thought, and it most definitely works.  It wasn't even a 60" Umbrella like I was pushing above the pic! 

The one light isn't just a fill light from on camera though and unless you have a ring-light, direct on camera flash as your only light source should be last resort.  Ring-light is a very style specific piece of equipment that can be used for either that style, or at a very low power as a fill light.  Personally I'm not much a fan of the ring-light, but that's another story for another day; back to the Umbrella.  Say you don't have an  umbrealla and can't afford one?  There are lots of things you can do with a single solitary light without an umbrella....

 

(Nikon D3s, 1600iso, Nikon 18-23F3.5-4.5@22mm.  1/40th@F5.6.  Single SB-900 Speedlight zoomed to 200mm on a light stand set to 1/16th power aimed directly down on the bride and groom fired by Pocket Wizard)

My Pal Scott at Roberts Distributors reminded me the other day that a little bit of hard light can go a long way sometimes.  The above photo was made using ambient light as a very little bit of fill light, with a single bare bulb strobe behind the Bride and Groom.  Yes it took several shots to get this one, in fact I'm pretty sure I have about 50 shots of the light blasting me in the eyes......but in the end this shot was worth the effort, and the bride and groom have something very unique to remember the moment with.  

Doesn't take much light sometimes.  Earlier this week I shot a semi commercial job using a single hard light actually.  It was kind of a last second job with no staff or budget, but we made it work.  Vincents Furs wanted some photos of their jackets, and the ads are going to look like a night out on the town.  Due to lack of any other preparation we went with the Single Speedlight approach.  Seemed to work ok.....

 

(Canon 5D Mark II, 320ISO, Canon 16-35F2.8L@18mm.  1/100th@F5.6.  Single Canon 580EX Speedlight set to 1/8th Zoomed out to 24mm held directly over the table from camera right attached to the end of a Home Depot Paint pole fired by pocket wizard held by one of the Male models waiting for their turn to be shot.)

That's an outtake from the shoot.  Not sure if its what they are looking for or not, but we'll find out.  Probably would have been nice to have had drinks or something on the table, but with a lack of budget we weren't going to buy 12 beers for the cast and crew and then either finish the shoot a little beer'd up or leave them there....  

Sometimes though, you just need to go all out, or maybe just observe things are they are.........behold the beauty of photography.  Had a lot of different experiences the last two weeks since I've blogged.  Roller Derby Nationals is coming up in Chicago next weekend.  I won't be attending as I've got a few gigs here in Indy that I booked prior, but I will be represented by photography up there in programs and as some trading cards.  Derby season has started up again too.........but this is all too much to go into now....More Soon.

Inspiration...

It's been quite a while since I've blogged, and if anybody still stumbles upon my blog, whether it be by accident or low percent chance of someone hoping to read more of my Epic Tales Ramblings; I'd just like to say that my hiatus from blogging was necessary as I was starting to burn myself out on all the little things. People really need to be careful when they get burnt out though, and I suppose without thinking about it I heeded that exact advice. The advice whom as even a kid I'd have given to the ultimate impression on me...


(Photo by Michael Guio)

I had a conversation with a good friend of mine yesterday about the process of learning photography and how appreciative he has been over the last few years of my allowing him to ask me questions, and I've always never had a problem with it because I feel as though he keeps me on my toes with my profession. I also told him that I'm honored he looks at me with photography because I look at photography that I want to emulate for instruction. The above photo Mike took at the very beginning of his photographic career, and it's one of my favorites of his. Really it goes to show that you never know where your inspiration will come from, or where it will take you.

When I was just starting out as a photographer (learning with the goal of being a professional), I only knew two photographers at the time personally, and they were both very inspirational to me. The first was my grandfather who was a recreational photographer and an Electrical Engineer for Inland Steel. He never thought he could make a living out of photography, and so he did a job that is a lot more complex than photography could ever be. The other ironically knew my grandfather in the steel mill. The only difference is that he was the Staff Photographer for the Mill.

(Photo courtesy of Chelsea Leininger)
I wish I had a photo of him, or a photo that he took, but I don't. That's him on the left at my friend Chelsea's senior review. Chelsea is also one of the fortunate souls to have studied under him, and is also incredibly grateful for it. It's unfortunate because he was killed in a head on collision with a Semi Tuesday morning of August 24th. He was the one that gave me my ridiculous quest of sharpness, color correctness, and doing it right the first time.


That photo was taken as part of my senior project while at Purdue under the supervision of Tim Fuller. I shot one of the first two senior projects to have ever been shot digitally. Really the first two projects shot digitally were shot that way without permission. We did it because professionals around the globe were adopting digital, and yet our professor Tim was adamant that film would prevail and would always be better. In the end, he was almost right according to this article.

He is most likely the reason I just short of idolize the work of people like Dave Black, and Joe McNally. The people that strive to make images of moments in real life, look like something you can only imagine.

He was a stick in the mud, hard headed, completely uncompromising when it came to his students quality of work, and I couldn't be where I am today without his inspiration. If I had a nickel for every time he told me to re-shoot something, or that something wasn't sharp enough; I'd easily have a thousand dollars. When I look at works that I don't like, I remember his criticisms towards me, and know that I need to be honest towards any works as that they may reap the benefits of said criticisms as well. Maybe I'm not always as brutally honest as he was, but more people should be. He believed that nothing was an accident, any light in any shot, of any video or still image were all planned. Because of him, I see light the way that I do and I aim for nothing but to shoot things accurately when I shoot them; like Joe McNally, or Dave Black. I am by far eternity not a perfect photographer, or even more so not a perfect person. In the end you never know who will influence you the most or where those influences will come from. Maybe someday I'll be able to influence someone the way that both my grandfather, and Tim influenced me. Someday maybe Michael will be able to influence someone, the way that he has thanked me for influencing him. I hope that there is a lot of photography left in this world even though photography is becoming much more point and shoot for the entire population no matter who you are. Maybe the world will recognize the skills that are actually involved in this profession and despite the increasing number of people that attempt to make a living at it. Even though everyone deserves a chance to live their dreams, and I welcome people to pursue the dream of being a professional Photographer as that is my dream. Zack Arias, whom I don't know personally but greatly respect said it best in his article here.

Inspiration can come from anywhere. It's the greatest honor of my life that I have been called inspirational by at least even 1 person. Tim Fuller was inspiration to hundreds. He was a Professor, a mentor, a teacher, and a friend. He will be sorely missed by more than a handful of people. May he rest in peace. More Soon.

Making yourself a change...

A lot of people in life talk about how hard some things are in their lives, and with all due respect those things are probably pretty difficult. Life is mostly a choice though, and to prove that today is Karl.

(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 160ISO, Canon EF24-70F2.8@42mm. 1/80th@F7.1. Canon 580EX Speedlight zoomed to 70mm behind the panel pointed into the wall set to 1/4 fired by pocket wizard. Canon 580EX Speedlight zoomed to 105mm to camera right about 10 feet, set to 1/32nd power to illuminate the controls on the front of the panel fired by pocket wizard)

Karl is 51 and has decided to go back to school to learn Aviation Technology. He found the program through Careerbuilder.com. Careerbuilder wanted to feature him in their print publication showing that anyone can make a change in their life, and they can help. It just goes to show that no matter where you are in life, you can always make a change to do what is right for yourself. If you want to learn a skill, take a class. If you've dreamed of doing something, try it. You never know what could happen.

(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 200ISO, Canon EF100F2.8Macro, 1/80th@F6.3. Single 580EX Speedlight set to 1/2 power fired by pocket wizard through a FotoRosa 16"Softbox above right of the camera. Canon 580EX Speedlight zoomed to 70mm set to 1/8th set on the table about 10 feet behind Karl fired by pocket wizard pointed into the wall for a little background fill.)

In these photos Karl is rebuilding the Fuel valve training console at the Aviation Institute of Maintenance here in Indianapolis. They had everything in this hangar for students to learn on. Engines, planes, cookies, gasoline..... lots of great stuff. Very similar to the Vincennes Aviation Technology Center at the Indianapolis Airport. Another great place to learn aviation. This is definitely a great story of chasing a dream though. No, it may not be chasing a girl across the world to fall in love, or winning the lottery, or even eating that 60oz steak in order to get it for free. But it's being proactive in one's life. There's not enough of that in the world these days. More Soon.

(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 200ISO, Canon EF100F2.8Macro, 1/80th@F6.3. Canon 580EX Speedlight shot into the wall behind the panel at 1/4th power zoomed to 70mm fired by pocket wizard. Canon 580EX Speedlight set to 1/8th power on the table about 6 feet to the left of Karl set to 1/16th power fired by pocket wizard to shed a little light on the control equipment.)

On a side note, I'd also like to wish all the dads out there a Happy Fathers day. I don't know where I'd be without my Dad.

Dancing with Wolves...

Really if I was let into the same shared space as the wolves I'd have been running from the wolves, but luckily they had enough foresight to not let me run around inside the wolf cage freely. I digress, and I never really got started how's that for a new record? Between 3 and 4pm yesterday I got a call from my friend Shannon whom I know through her husband and Roller Derby. She volunteers at Wolf Park in Lafayette Indiana and had spoken with me previously about possibly taking some time for some photo Tomfoolery. Who am I to say no to some Photo Tomfoolery? Unfortunately it wasn't enough time to run out and rent some long glass which I figured I'd need but either way I would consider this to be (as my friend Tom puts it), a "Target Rich Environment".

(Nikon D700, 4500ISO, Nikon 18-35mm@18mm, 1/40th@F3.5)

That is Wolf Park during mid swing on a wolf event. We went at dusk, and unfortunately it was super overcast that day, but the only thing that did was make it cold and rainy-ish. The videographer and Shannon were upset about the wicked orange argon, or sodium vapor lights that were illuminating the display but as I am out of my mind I got excited. Anybody who has read the blog knows how easily excited I am, but the photo above is my good reason for being excited. As I recently told an interview to be a Spotlight Photographer for Photo Potpourri I love playing with colors in my photography. This was just a case where the D3's Clean High ISO combined with the venue lighting choices gave me photos that I would of otherwise would have had to intentionally create. Not that you can't white balance for these lights either though.

(Nikon D3, 4000ISO, Nikon 70-200F2.8VR@140mm, 1/60th@F2.8)

The wolves were pretty cool, although like I said I wish I'd had some long glas, and I wish it had been a whole lot lighter out. 200mm wasn't really enough from where we were shooting, and when its getting dark the lower shutterspeeds have to be brought up with ISO making grainy pictures. Now I know the lay of the land a bit though, so I can rent something either from Roberts, or Borrow lenses before the next trip out, which I think is going to be a Bison demonstration where the wolves will take down a bison for us. (I think). I will probably try to rent the 200-400F4 for the next trip as that even though it's not a F2.8 all the way through, it'll have the range that I want in only one lens. Either way there were a few shots I was able to get that I liked, although nothing super tight on the wolves which is too bad. Next time though. Next time.

(Nikon D3, 2800ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-4.5@18mm. 1/80th@F3.5)

That is Shannon where we were shooting from. When we got there the wolves were across the park from us for which 200mm was most certainly not enough. I've also been hankerin to try out the 70-300VR that Nikon has. The nice part is that I'd probably be able to purchase that one, unlike the 200-400 which would take quite a bit of budgeting prowess inside of a profession that my accountant once again referred to as a Hobby. Either way, next time I'll be ready. I'll be ready to get a much closer photo of this guy here, who I'm pretty sure is thinking to himself while being scratched: "I want to eat you camera dude...you ate the last donut". More soon.

(Nikon D3, 3600ISO, Nikon 70-200mmF2.8VR@200mm, 1/100th@F2.8)

Megapixels in 2010.....

Just the same that I know people interested in Megapixels, I know several people that are somewhat large into the whole "New years Resolution" thingy. One person I know actually frames her resolutions and hangs them on her office wall. I give her a lot of credit because that's one heckuva way to keep these things on the front and center. She makes sure that she crosses them off. I think a whole bunch up, but don't always push all the way through them, which I suppose defeats the point completely. can you make a resolution to actually finish your resolutions? Things like aluminum foil balls, lost marbles, pretty ladies, and pretty much anything that flashes tend to get in the way with mine. This year though I've pretty much decided on a few that are a lot more professional related than personal, and considering I'm as nuts about photography as I am; I think that's for the better.


(Nikon D3, 200ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-4.5@18mm. 1/60th@F11. Single Nikon SB-900 to camera left inside of a 15" softbox set to TTL +/-0. Single Nikon SB-900 speedlight set on a table about 20 feet back inside the chamber cutting across Andy and the background. Both Speedlights were fired by an SU-800 Commander unit, attached to the camera using an SC-28 off camera cable.)

Speaking of things that flash, I was on vacation last week and where as most people try to get away from their jobs and do random vacation things I actually had a few shoots lined up. These shoots though were to go with part of a resolution for 2010 that I have. That resolution is to be much more proactive in my photography by shooting more challenging things for myself. That shot is of my buddy Andy, embodying an important part of his profession. Andy is a Radio Frequency Test engineer, and the cones behind him are Radio Wave Absorbing material. Cool place. I can't really say much more about it, but trust me. COOL.


(Nikon D3, 800ISO, Nikon 70-200F2.8VR@105mm. 1/2sec@F4. The camera was mounted to a Bogen Manfrotto Tripod with a Manfrotto 405 Geared Head. Single SB-900 Speedlight set to 1/16th power shot through a 42" umbrella fired by pocket wizard on the end of a 8 foot paint pole held by Andy the RF engineer.)

That's Mike, he's been wanting to be a cop since he we were knee nibblers. I'll never forget helping his neighbor who became part of the police force practicing his vehicle stops and home invasion stuff on us with other guys on the force. Some of those guys were nuts, and I don't want to relive some of the things I'd seen them try. Finally he did it though, and is now a lawman. He was kind enough to take 10 minutes out of his schedule so that I could snap a couple shots of him. Opted for the slightly more moody lighting because cops are tough. They can take it.


(Nikon D3, 400ISO, Nikon 18-35mmF3.5-4.5@18mm. 1/20th@F5. Single Snooted Nikon SB-900 zoomed to 200mm with the included Warming Gel set to TTL -2EV, fired by SU-800 Commander Unit attached to the camera hot shoe. Single SB-900 Speedlight set to 1/32nd power zoomed to 50mm fired by Pocket wiard into the back of the tanning bed to illuminate the Ultrasun in the top left of the frame. Camera white balance set to Custom 4000 Kelvin to accentuate the blue given off by the logo lights of the tanning beds giving the frame the Ultra blue background, while using the SB-900 to draw attention to Brad with the warming gel.)

Making people look their best though is Brad's Job. Brad is the General Manager for a company that I do work for regularly, and they manufacture tanning beds. They spend bunches of money every year towards making tanning safer, as well as for longer lasting effects. They are one of the top tanning bed companies in the world. Brad's normally not the person being photographed for me, he's usually the one holding a light, finding a vending machine, or carrying something heavy for me. This shoot was particularly important to me for that reason. He's always been a big help to me, and is always willing to help in anything. When I said I wanted to try a few things out, but I needed a subject, he was the first to volunteer.

As I said, for 2010 one of my resolutions is to be more proactive with my photography with more challenging self assigned shoots. These three buddies of mine were very gracious to lend me their time so that I could further myself photographically. I may continue this series as well, I haven't decided; but I like how it has started. As for other New Years Resolutions, there are plenty of things I'd like to accomplish this year. We'll see what happens. Maybe I should take a page out of my friend's book and hang the resolutions on the wall so they can haunt me until finished. Or maybe I should just stay close to her to see what else she can teach me. Either way, I look forward to what 2010 has to bring for all of us. More Soon.