just some dog shots for lindsay...

Just spending the day outside and still working on my street photography. And well so far nobody complained that I took there picture and most of them I deleted anyway.

Basically these are the only ones which had a nice expression. If you happen to recognize your self and don't want this picture be able to see, please drop me a line and I remove it.

just being bored at the airport in chicago a couple of days and happily snapping away till I got the 'look' from one of the airport security guys...

The car picture was just taken to practice panning at low shutter speeds and get some feeling of speed into the picture.

...i'm weak...

I bought an ipod touch 16GB...

...and I still don't really know why...

...maybe I don't want to pay thousands for an iphone?

A couple of days I was asked to take a couple of pictures at a soccer game to help somebody to evaluate the tamron 70-200 F/2.8.

His focus was to use it for highschool sports at night times and in the evening. Now noramlly there are lights on during these kind of events, but in my case it was very dark, I was barley able to see anything in the viewfinder and the lights were off...

Means I went to the absolute max of the Nikon D80 and shot at ISO 6400 (3200 in camera and +1 stop in pp) at F/2.8 and 1/50s. Normally you would shoot soccer at 1/500 - 1/1000s to freeze the players.

After all I was surprised that I got some usable pictures at all out of this. I would never imagined that the camera could focus or produce an usable exposure.

Well needless to say, the person was very happy with the result.

...i really need to stop starting all my posts with 'well'...

Well I really have to learn to take good macros. I normally get the color right, but i never get the sharpness I'm looking for.
Maybe I need to stop using natural light for this kind of stuff and use speed lights again.

But I seriously need to find a way to make money with this hobby, since it becomes way to expensive. There are so many toys I want and I hate to wait and save...

some things are weird I was really not happy with the 17-55mm F/2.8, but I'm really sad that I returned it. For some strange reason I miss this lens.

Some squirrels are to curious for there own good...

And my tamron 70-200 + TC seems to have front focus issues at really close distances which is normal for a combination like this. I did not really expect to ever need the macro functionality of this lens...

I always woundered how people get these really nice sunset color done, whenever I tried it, well It never looked real...

So I kept reading and the answer was like always very simple. Define a fixed white balance instead of auto white balance. If you use auto white balance, it just washes out and looks like 'blah'

The picture itself is nothing special and really boring, acceptable composition, blurry trees, but the colors start to go the way they are supposed to be.

Well does anybody know what kind of flower this is? I hate to take pictures of stuff I don't know. As a reference bunnies eat it and is ca 12 wide.

Taken with Nikon D80 + 90mm macro + 1.4 TC, hand held at iso 800.

yes would be nicer without the noise, but there is no space for a 70-200mm F/2.8 + camera with 90mm macro and a flash. So the flash had to stay at home for now...

Well my quest for the holy grail of chipmunk images starts to return the first results. I still don't get closer than maybe 8 yards of them and I'm covered in dirt after trying to sneak up to these little bastards. But at least I start to get reliable results with the tamron 70-200m F/2.8 + TC 1.4

now I just need to get 7 yards closer to them, maybe I should watch caddy shack again...

I discovered Herby, he was hidden under tree and covered in rust and dirt...

he is even missing his number :(

Like with every embassy appointment, I arrived early, way to early, about 2 hours to early. So I took the time to take some pictures in the area of the German consulate and I really like the area so far and would love to live there.

It's just so beautiful.

At least 3 shots out of 800 turned out to be pretty nice. And I really like the flying bird, which is pretty sharp.

• my first successful bird in flight
  
• just four birds
  
  
  


• the three stugges
  

At moments like this I wish I had a Nikon D300 and a Nikon 300mm AFS, the Nikon D80 is a wounder full camera, but the focus tracking is really really awful sometimes.

And it finally managed to catch up and focus when the bird landed with the crab...

well the longer I look at this picture the more it bugs me, for example all the detail in the hair was lost.

Well now it's back and I really should be happy with this look.

Btw this is the original picture our of camera with 0 adjustments

Since I was not really happy with the original version, I went back to the drawing board and did some more magic. I guess now it really rocks :)

well the post processing is done and I got lots of very beautiful shots out of it and think Kim is going to be very happy.
It also gave me the chance to test some new methods of post processing

1. overexposed by two stops to archive this classic pin up high contrast look.
   


2. This picture was just beautiful composition wise but totally out of focus, well 15 minutes of work transform it into a classic piece of art :)
   


3. Kim was trying to reach for her daughter (which tried to knock over my light stands) and I really like the dynamic of this composition (sadly the framing is a bit off)
   
   


4. just a beautiful mum and daughter picture
   
   


5. Well I went a little bit nut's with the lightning, contrast and exposure brush but boy it looks cool!
   
   


6. slightly out of focus but after all a very nice composition with some simple post processing
   
   


7. well simple black and white and just looks nice
   
   


8. it feels nice to look sexy
   
   


9. and last but not least, it's always sunny in davis...
   
   

all the post processing was done using only adobe lightroom, which shows the power of this program quite well. And I had a lot of fun :)

The rest of this set can be found under zenfolio

all the pictures where taken using a Nikon D80, available light and a nikon 35mm F/2 or Tamron 70-200mm F/2.8

And really the last picture,

Just using the sun and the shade in some trees without any post processing.

something smells fishy in the state california,

today I went with Kim and her cute little daughter to take some potraets of them (which turned to be excellent, since I just finished the first sd card and have around 25 shots already) and my camera misfired about 50% of the tim...

you press the shutter button and it just refuses to fire. Now It could be that the onboard flash just overheated, since it worked fine when I use it without the flash. Which I just hope and which tells me I shoot to many pictures and should get a dedicated commander or worse pocketwizards (perfect solution just so expensive...)

I also ended up with alot of natural light shot's which seem to be quiete nice. It's impressive what happens at the golden hour. They just have this WOW quality and need barley postprocessing.

Ok how do I shoot potraits?

available light only:

1. go in manual mode
2. set your desired aperature
3. set your desired shutter speed
4. set auto iso to 800 and let it figure out the rest
5. as metering matrix or spot metering, depending on situation

flash and available light combination:

1. go in manual mode
2. set shutter speed to 1/250th
3. set an aperature of your choice
4. set iso two 200 - 400 to reduce the workload for the flashs
5. arange you light's, basically one on the left, one from the front
6. set them to 1/2
7. chimp with the display,iso,flash power,aperature till you get the correct exposure
8. balance with the ambient light. Rule of dumb, the slower the shutter speed, the more ambiant light you get

important lesson:

put some heavy stuff on your lightstands/umbrellas. Since the wind blows them over which means you loose 40$ for some new umbrellas or try to fix them with ducttape.

well today I received my new bag pack, which I had to order because my old bag pack is to large as carry on these days and boy it's beautiful in a strange way....

Basically it's an ugly sand colored cotton bag which looks like a 15$ yard sale bag and just needs to get really really dirty and some NRA*,Colt,"Shoot first ask later" stickers to become perfect.

Why?

Because it doesn't look like a camera bag, is very small and has enough space for 2 - 3 lenses, a camera and a tiny laptop in the bag.

For example it fits my travel setup:

1 x Tamron 70-200mm F/2.8 without hood
1 x Nikon D80 with 35mm F/2 attached
1 x IBM X60 Laptop and power supply (no love for the mac book, it's to big)
1 x small Lens X - maybe the sigma 10-20, did not test it yet or a small mono pod at the bottom


That's the one


*NRA = national rifle association

lenses for portraits on DX framed cameras (1.5 crop factor)

well after taking a lot of pictures in the last two years and testing a lot of lenses and cameras I'm finally able to make a statement about what stuff to use what situation at a defined working distance.

Currently this is my standard approach

• full body 35mm F/2
• half body 50mm F/1.8
• headshot 90mm F/2.8

This allows me to be 2 - 3 yards/meters away from the model and communicate in a normal way without screaming out of my lungs. It also permits my flash system to work without trouble. If I shoot available light or need to be able to switch focal distances quickly I moving over to the heavy and big 70-200mm F/2.8. It's very flexible but demands shutter speeds of 1/250s and some distance to the model, since it can be intimidating.

well after googeling a bit, I found a nice dual bracket holder:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250279099019

which could fix my: flash has not enough power problem and should be cheaper in the long run.

1 x SB-800 = 320$
1 x SB-600 = 170$

2 x SB-600 + Flash bracket = 400$

ok It's maybe cheaper to get an SB-800, but two SB-600 have much more power than a single SB-800.
It's a moot point anyway since I need a controller first. The nikon cameras can only control two bank.

I'm not even sure if I want to stick with CLS since it work's perfect inside, but is pretty unreliable outside, since the communication signal can't bounce off anywhere, maybe it's time that radio poppers drop by like 50% in price...

well after taking the potraits of lindsay today, first time ever with two umbrellas in public and testing something totally new. Yes i am a photo nerd...

Well SB-600 are great flashes for indoor work or to work in the shade with, but they are pretty much useless in the bright sun. They have just not enough power and it seems that I won't buy anymore of them.

Seems that the next flash will be an SB-800 or I have to shoot pictures after the 'golden' hour. An SB-900 would be even nicer, but at 500$ a pop and SB-800 for 300$ a pop, well it's not really a question anymore.
After all it's just a hobby...

I also could just shoot at ISO-400 or ISO-800, but this means that I never get nice sharp sparkling eyes. And a portrait without these is just pointless. Ok there is a solution to shoot sparkling eyes at up to ISO 1600 - 3200, it's called D3/D700 and way out of the reach of my wallet. (For now at least)

Why a third flash in the first place?

now I need a hair light or rim light from time to time to give my pictures this particular edge and to be more flexible.

well I finally start to understand adobe lightroom and discovered the greatest feature ever, the exposure brush. Basically you can lighten,darken parts of a pictures with the touch of a brush. The effects are quite amaizing.

For example, before:



and after adjustments and partial desaturation using exposure brush + reducing the exposure in some parts



so you need photoshop CS3/gimp less and less these days, thanks to photoshop light room.

Today I did some potrait shots with my two flashes, umbrellas, couple of gels and my nikon 35mm F/2 and Tamron 70-200mm F/2.8

well this is going to be an interesting weekend, basically I'm going to practice shooting pictures for a small photo shoot with a friend on Monday.

And so far I pretty much decided that I want to use:

• hard light
• long shadows
• black & white

and on the other hand

• very soft light
• some highlights on the wall, most likely snooted and colored
  

only issue I got, I maybe need a third flash (SB600/800/900) for this, which I don't really want to buy right now, since I spend so much money this year on this hobby.

Anyway most of the things I can do with two flash's, just the one thing is unsure.

this are some ideas:

mostly pretty hard and dramatic:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hlyeoh/2727419975/in/pool-strobist
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hlyeoh/2727419855/in/pool-strobist
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stobe187/2733699624/in/pool-strobist
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dezdemonchik/2735855354/in/pool-strobist
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25565901@N04/2738740399/in/pool-strobist
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24296421@N05/2741171712/in/pool-strobist
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crosswarrior/2734190095/in/pool-strobist

soft and should be pretty easy

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cornelategan/2740679881/in/pool-strobist
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24862159@N02/2736516757/in/pool-strobist
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremyjuel/2711008187/in/pool-strobist

well i will do a practice run on saturday evening with lindsay and see how it turns out.

Today my 1.4 TC arrived + monopod and some other goodies. So I happily went outside and started snapping away to see how good it is. Well from 100 pictures not a single picture was usefull and the AF basically does not work anymore (only if you have extreme amount's of light). This seems to be a camera issue + tc + lens issue. And I'm not sure if it's related that the lens and TC are incompatible. Who sponsors me a D300 so I can compare it against another camera?

Anyway so I setup a small bunny with a SB600 to the left and to the right, use iTTL to save work and put the camera in aperature mode. This are the results of the 100% crops, and as we can see this combination is pretty sharp wide open a F/2.8 + 1 Stop and get's much better a F/8 + 1. At F/11 + 1 it get's worth again.

All pictures were shot with a D80, on a tripod at 200mm x 1.4, iso 100

results

F/2.8 + 1

F/4 + 1

F/5.6 + 1

F/8 + 1

F/11 + 1

So guess I have to try to figure out how to get some nice pictures now in nature. If I got enough time, than there is no problem to manual focus on the oject on my choice.

Well I'm saving for the 300mm F/4 anyway and that's why I bought the TC originally.