I saw a lot of very cool cars and got a lot of very cool photos as well as the opportunity for a lot of artistic license and played around with multiple takes on several of the shots. To start this off, here’s a shot of what may be the coolest car I’ve ever seen, a 1935 Auburn Supercharged 851 named “Ruby”.

I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is but this car just spoke to me.

1912 Maxwell Mascotte, the oldest car I’ve ever seen in person.

1929 Packard Super 8

1959 Ferrari

1959 Chrysler New Yorker

Yeah, definitely some sweet rides. It was awesome getting to go through an abbreviated history of the American (and a little Italian, German, and British) auto industry. I wish I’d kept better track of what was what but at least I learned that lesson. The Flickr set is here.

“…a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminance between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than current standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. This wide dynamic range allows HDR images to more accurately represent the range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to faint starlight.”

Basically, take a bunch of exposures of the exact same scene with different levels OF exposure and layer them. It’s pretty easy to overdo but, when it’s done well, it’s almost impossible to tell. Here are my first attempts at HDR compositing.

These were built out of three and four exposures each, respectively. They were shot during sunset on August 20, 2011 from a footbridge over an inlet on Lake Bomoseen in Vermont. They’re not the most perfect examples but I think they’re pretty damn good for a first attempt. Definitely gives me some ideas to work toward!

While I was there, I took the opportunity to enjoy the Vermont scenery in addition to getting a well deserved 5 day vacation and a long overdue family reunion.

Sunset over Lake Bomoseen.

All the great grandkids. This picture sums up the chaos of the weekend pretty well.

An old car out in the woods on my uncle’s land.

Detail shot of the emblem.

My grandmother intently watching something with my mom and aunt Jill.

The whole set, including some more family candids, is on Flickr.

Right about a month ago, Gen Con 2011 hit Indianapolis and I went as a press rep for IndyMojo.com for the third year. As usual, it’s a great time and provides a window into a culture that everyone knows about but few really understand.

Wizards of the Coast’s Neverwinter booth, live monsters!

A 10 foot Warjack from Privateer Press‘ Warmachines.

Large scale destroyer-class ship from Leviathans by Catalyst Game Labs.

Just a few of the shots from the show. As usual, the set can be viewed on Flickr. My entire recap of Gen Con can be found on IndyMojo.com.

Shooting was fun and gave me a chance to try a lot of new things. I’m glad to have been a part of Keith and Minji’s wedding and that I didn’t screw things up too badly.

As usual, the rest can be seen on Flickr.

I’ve got some cool things planned (at least I think so!) and am really looking forward to getting some of these mini-projects done!

She’d also never done anything like this before so, as some of the photos show, she’s a bit uncomfortable but loosened up and I think I got some good shots. As always, I’ve learned a few things I need to work on but I’m pretty happy with this as a first attempt.

Here are some of my favorites.

As always, you can see the whole set here

I should have the previously mentioned wedding photos done by the end of this week. This weekend, I’m looking to get out and shoot…provided the weather is acceptable…

That’s not what I’m writing about today. Last time I started throwing down with the first step of off-camera lighting, actually taking the damn flash off the camera. Logically, there has to be a next step and a next step after that. As the post’s title would dictate, this is the first next step. I started digging a little deeper into what I could do with what I have. Basically, I have one actual light, a bunch of white foamcore posterboard, a table, a white wall, and a pineapple roughly the size and shape of a human head. What can I do with these? Let’s see!

These images are all straight out of the camera with absolutely zero tweaking. First, I put the client (pineapple) on the edge of the table with the flash standing on the ground between the table and the wall pointing up at the back of the pineapple at an angle of roughly 75 degrees. I put a piece of foamcore behind the flash to keep light from spilling onto the background. What I got was pretty much a rim (separation) light.

After that, it seemed like a good idea to try to light the front of this thing but I only have one actual strobe. o noes, what iz i to do? Foamcore reflectors to the rescue!!

Alright, granted it’s not the prettiest solution because there isn’t a lot of light hitting it to reflect but you can see a difference. I held a big piece of the stuff about a foot above and to the left of the client to get a little front lighting.

After this, I got the nerve to see if I could do something with a high key background. I fired my strobe at the wall from the floor, upward at the same 75 degree angle. I should have set it up higher instead of on the floor but the idea is workable. Then it’s time for more reflectors. Larger one on the left, smaller one on the right, and then both together as close as I could get them without having them be in frame.

Then it was time to take the expensive electronic equipment off the floor. All the rest of these were shot using my ghetto-ass softbox I built for the purpose of seeing whether I liked using a softbox before dropping cash on one. I do, and this one works fine for costing all of $4 to make.

I pointed the softbox directly at the client on camera left at about 45 degrees and a range of a foot and a half, give or take. There was a reflector up on the opposite side (camera right, if you’re playing along at home).

I moved it in closer and dropped the power, albeit a little too far. Whoops!

After this, it was time to turn the softbox so that the edge of the light was feathering across the client ever so slightly.

Then I wanted to see if I could make the background totally black so I pulled everything away from the wall by about another foot or so.

Looks like I can! Remember, that’s a white wall. Of course this is really basic stuff but I’ve never done it before so screw you buddy! I’m having fun here!

Then I decided to actually take a crack at broad light and short light. Short light is when you shoot from the unlit side of a subject. Broad light is the opposite. Split light is where you shoot from the exact center, and then there’s butterfly light which is really hard to practice with a pineapple. Anyway, below are short and broad, using a big piece of foamcore as a backdrop:

I’m putting in work on these because I want to get comfortable enough shooting live humans in these ways. This holiday weekend, I’m going to have an opportunity to shoot in a very low pressure one on one situation. I’m starting to visualize specific shots I want and thinking about how I want them lit. I will get to borrow a second light. Armed with two actual lights, some reflectors, a big house with some north facing windows, potentially very fun locations, and a lovely willing model, I fully intend to create some great stuff.

I’ve seen a lot of really amazing shots from people all over the world that have taken to the idea of applying the ideas of small-strobe photography and I decided I want in.

I’ve got some equipment, some book (or Internets, whatever) learnin’, some live demos from guys that know a hell of a lot more than I ever will…it’s time to shoot!

The first step was to think about light position. How does the direction of the light affect what the subject looks like? After that, what happens when it’s diffused? What happens when it’s reflected? These are all things we know instinctively because we deal with them every day when we look at, well, everything. Consciously thinking about how to do what we see on purpose gets tricky. I decided to set it all up and shoot at a pineapple. It’s got a lot of nooks and crannies so it has a lot of possibilities for light. Since they’re just practice, all these are direct out of camera with no processing.

Imagine this as my internal monologue as I’m shooting.

“With the flash on camera and no modifier, it’s flat. I’ve heard people that know way more than me call this DMV lighting. Now I see why.”

“With the flash on camera and some diffusion with a softbox, it’s still flat but at least it’s not as harsh.”

“Still on camera but with a Sto-Fen OmniBounce diffuser.”

“Looks similar but not identical to the softbox.

Let’s take this thing off camera and set it about 45 degrees to the pineapple on the left and see what it looks like with bare flash.”

“Harsh but getting more interesting than head on. How about with the OmniBounce?”

“Yes, it’s dark and I need to bump up the flash power but I’m on a roll and it’s looking a little more interesting. What does the softbox do?”

“It almost obliterates any shape in the rear shadow. Cool! How about raising the light up? 45 degrees left, 45 degrees above, bare flash.”

“That’s looking pretty cool! How about with a softbox?”

“Lots of different possibilities here, but the right side of the thing is a little dark. I only have one light so I have to figure something out. How about reflecting light back at the other side? Hey, I’ve got some white foamcore board here, let’s use that!”

“Ok, there’s a little difference, let’s bring it in closer.”

“Wow. That made a huge difference! I don’t need a light to light something! How about another shot without the reflector to compare?”

So, yeah, light is cool! It’s my plan to keep playing with this stuff and move (hopefully soon) to being able to trick friends into letting me play with headshots.

The 52-week project had to go on hold, sadly. I still really like the idea but I need to plan things better before taking on something with that kind of scope. Here’s some of what I HAVE been doing.

Back in the first weekend of March, I went to Columbus, OH to the Arnold Classic. I shot a few events there, including the USAPL Raw competition on Friday morning.

HERE is the entire set from Friday.

On Saturday, I watched the amateur bodybuilding finals. This was definitely an interesting challenge to shoot since the lighting came from a few different sources. That night, I shot the Olympic lifting competition.

Saturday’s set can be found here.

There is more going on but that’s all for this post. I enjoyed shooting that weekend and I hope to be able to do more of these sorts of things.

Week 3, however, was a different story. The assignment was “repetition”. I shot a bunch of stuff but these were the ones I liked most.

This was also an excuse for me to play with my new (to me) Nikon SB-800 flash. It’s an excellent addition to my gear and a lot of fun to use. I continued that into week 4, the assignment being “composition”. It was also an opportunity for me to improvise a small studio setup using a black bath towel. My favorite was this first one.

I really did like playing with my artist’s mannequin. He shall make a return in the near future.

Lastly, speaking of the whole new flash thing, I registered for the FlashBus Tour with David Hobby/Joe McNally, two of the most influential and revolutionary small strobe photographers. April 12, I’ll be spending the day at the Indiana Convention Center getting my head filled with as much information on lighting as possible from two of the best in the world. It’s going to cost me sleep and $100 but it’ll be WAY worth it.