10 days later

Petals about to drop...

more bright-field

Using what I learned back here to preserve a rather stunning bunch of tulips.

a study

Possible location for the short film The Plan.

dark-field

during endSomewhat different than a straight dark field setup in that these were lit from the side with a pair of strobes in front of a dark background, rather than with a single strobe from behind the background. The exposure on the right has an additional small spotlight on the front of the mug in order to define the etching on the glass surface.

Interestingly, the exposure for the image on the left was an ordinary flash timing of 1/100 second @ f/14, whereas the image on the right was 13 seconds @ f/14. Because the light on the front of the mug was so insignificant in comparison to the flash, the subject is illuminated by the modelling lamps + the spot on the front of the mug.

Update on Saturday, January 19, 2013 at 05:07PM by KMW

There were several other iterations to this photograph. The one I spent the most time with was this one that uses a white reflector the exact size of the mug, which gives a consistent color to the liquid.

another during

bright-field

before afterEntirely too many How-To books around here. With enough time and dedication I'm going to become an expert at HTML, Javascript, Snow Leopard, video Color Correction/Grading, photographic lighting, motion picture lighting equipment, Cinematography, Soundtrack Pro, Final Cut Pro, CSS, Microstation, Autocad, etc. etc. Pretty much all of them are hard copy print editions, overflowing the shelves, only a few of them current.

Tellingly there are no Pop Psychology titles in the lot. DIY should not be confused with Self Help. I can't find a breakdown in the categories, but the Educational Book Publishing market in North America is worth something like $4-5 billion a year, most of that in secondary and university textbooks.

DIY is probably only a small fraction of that, but it seems I'm doing my part to keep publishers busy with new titles all the time. This work with "bright-field" strobe photography is from the inappropriately titled Light: Science & Magic - An Introduction to Photographic Lighting.

enough about you...

While the carpentry projects continue, linger, advancing oh so slowly, but steadily, there are others that present themselves. This guy, Spathiphyllum floribundum,

blossoms only every other year or so, and you don't see the spadix unless you lie on the floor and look up at the plant. The latest idea is a time lapse of one of these blossoms opening. I don't know when it happens, perhaps even during the night. So it's set up in the studio with a one second interval. Tomorrow morning, when I have to clear out the room, should tell whether anything has transpired. Then it's back to the deck, to the final missing component.

an annual thing pt2

This tree, which resides in our front yard, has defied me to represent it adequately for years. I don't think this is "it" yet, but perhaps I'm getting closer. At least it's something different. The background is always the problem. Perhaps I will rent that lift and get it from thirty feet up.

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age vs. beauty

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Perhaps "third time's the charm." These roses are holding on remarkably well. This probably has something to do with where they're being stored: in the basement where there is only a modicum of natural light, none of it direct. While they're now 13 weeks past their date of expiration, it seems they're more beautiful than ever, and haven't changed  much since the last entry. Which inevitably suggests another series.

And don't forget that this is evidence that some things do improve with age.

decay yes - disgust no

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Now that Mark Hobson seems to have abandoned - at least online - his Decay & Disgust series, I might as well add my 2 cents. This from a rather large bouquet that JDW received as a sympathy gift. Rarely do I find myself writing about the photograph at the head of the entry, but this one seemed to merit doing so. The flowers are almost more beautiful now than when they were fresh - but maybe that's me. Not surprisingly for such a large mass of organic material, they are indeed still quite fragrant. But that too is past its prime. I'll be curious to see how they manage further in time, now that they're safely stored in the multi-purpose-studio-extra-room space.

what was I thinking?

My awe and enthusiasm have waned in the intervening hours since dinner. It's not usual for me to say much of anything about tech, but this one is so cool I've got to mention it.

My brother loaned me his D70 a month or so ago to play with to learn about flash photography. That's been coming along. I won't bore anyone with details. I've become the most cooperative model I know... The most recent work has been within the house using the flash to light bits and pieces of rooms, usually with a lamp and a window somewhere in the frame. I've used my Sekonic meter to get a flash reading, then change the percentage readings and vary the settings on the camera accordingly. This has worked fine, but the problem is learning anything from this requires downloading the images to the computer and looking at them there.

Roger suggested Camera Control. Whoa... After installing it twice, charging the battery, changing the USB port setting on the camera, damned if it didn't work! Set the camera on a tripod, connect to a laptop via USB cable, and most of the basic functions (and a lot more) can be controlled from the computer, and then view the image on screen, instead of the shitty little LCD. Great for studio work, that's for sure. Or any kind of remote photography. In fact, with the addition of another $580 wireless device, you can connect the camera to a WiFi network and go wireless. Wouldn't that be too cool? On top of that, the newer more expensive cameras (Nikons) will generate a live feed to the computer.

I can see that these are the tools I should be using for the architectural photography that I've started to do. Especially with interior lighting, it's nice to be able to get instant feedback on the settings that work the best. One more example for me that there is no reason to do any commercial photography using film. I still prefer using the view camera, but these digital tools do way more a lot faster. For the sizes that I'm likely to need for people, a current SLR is likely to have plenty enough quality.

Alas - another nail in the coffin. I exposed five pieces of 4 x 5 film in the past three days, and it was still a lot more fun. Not as gee wizz, but still ultimatley more satisfying. I see a possible division of tools coming: more digital capture for other people, architecture, and that sort; continued use of the 4 x 5 for more personal work which I might want to print larger.