Pixel Darkroom Photography

Strobist info: 580 EX II via PW half snooted at 1/32, CL (obviously).

Time.

Strobist info: 2×580 EX II via infra red trigger in two groups (A+B). One 580 EX II with 3 gels (2 blue gels on one half and one red gel on the other half) and the other 580 EX II bare. Stuck the pages together with magnets and covered the cover with a black foam. I left the setup shot in full color here so you can see that I didn’t tweak anything in Ps. Small dust spots removed in Lr. Shot with +2 diopter filter over a 50 mm prime. In case you didn’t know what this is, it’s a book. A “Tell the Time with Thomas” book by Christopher Awdry.

Beautiful beautiful flowers. I did a self portrait today and after grabbing the setup shot, I made this. It came out amazing and there you have it. I vetoed the self portrait shot and stuck with this. No post-production whatsoever. Jump below for secret recipe and link to licensing this image. Most of the images you find on the site are available as fine art prints. Just drop me a line and I’ll see if I can pull a few strings to get you some.

Strobist info: 2×580 EX II via Pocket Wizards. Background 1/8 power zoomed to 24mm with two gels CalColor Blue 60 and 90 (whatever that means?), and one into softbox at 1/2 with 1/2 CTO zoomed to 24mm. Shot at 1/160 of a second, ISO 200, f4 through Canon 50 mm prime. Setup shot here. License this image here.

Strobist info: 580 EX CR at 32 or so via PW. Small tweaks in Lr.

Believe it or not I went through two sets of Christmas light strands to see why all of a sudden none of them worked anymore. These are the bulbs that were all burned out. Even though I replaced bulbs back and forth I only got one half strand to work. Apparently if a bulb is burned out the set will still work. Top quality, these things.

Strobist info: All available light. White napkin background and white napkin as fill card. Small tweaks in Lr.

Strobist info: 2×580 EX II CR shoot through white umbrella, CL, slightly behind subject with full CTO both via Pocket Wizards, shot at ISO 100, f2.8. No postproduction. Setup shot right here. Thanks for stopping by. Don’t hesitate to grab the RSS feed to have these images delivered to your e-mail or reader of your choice. Go down to the right hand side and look for “Actions”. Enjoy.

Today I drove all the way to Christmas Way, and no, there was no Santa Claus there, no snow, and not many people. I did have to stand in the middle of the street in order to take some of the shots, but since today is Christmas Day, there were hardly any cars on the road. I drove around a little bit afterwards. It’s amazing how deserted everything is, and if you think that less than 24 hours before taking this shot the whole city was crazy and packed with shoppers and cars, it makes you realize how commercialized this celebration has become. Why were there so many people around yesterday and why is there nobody around today? I think we all know the answer. Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

Christmas night. God bless you all. Merry Christmas!

Strobist info: 2×580 EX II into 28″ softbox CL, 580 EX II into umbrella bellow camera and 580 EX with coroplast grid/snoot CL al via PW at various powers with a variety of CTO gels (except for the grid/snoot pointing at Jesus.) Setup shot here.

“A little me just like me.” Will Smith
Wait! Two little me’s, just like me!
I put up too many lights lately so these should do.
Merry Christmas everybody.

No strobist info: Merry Christmas everyone!

Strobist info: 580 EX via PW CR with coroplast snoot.

I thought it’s about time to hit the road some more and get some shots outside. I got some other great images tonight but in the end I chose this one.

Strobist info: 30″ exposure with two 580 EX II CL full power manually triggered on the rocks. AWB. No gel on the flash. I did cool it down a few degrees in Lr.

Strobist info: 580 EX II CL 128th zoomed to 50mm, very close via PW. Shot at 1/200s ISO 100. Quick and clean. No post production.

Strobist info: 580 EX II via PW CR with coroplast grid on. Setup shot.

Strobist info: 580 EX II via ST-E2 CL into umbrella.

Strobist info: 580 EX II CL zoomed 50mm at 1/128 via ST-E2.

Today I saw an UFO. It’s the first UFO that I have ever seen live. I got the camera out and took this shot. It was unbelievable. I then saw a guy being lifted up by this big ray of light. Then he fell – they must have dropped him, or somethin’. I don’t know what to say. Maybe they picked up the shutter click from my camera and it somehow interfered with their beam. I never really believed in UFOs, but after tonight,… I don’t know, man… it’s just something… I’m really dizzy. Maybe the ray of light got to me too… I hope I’ll still be here tomorrow. If you don’t see a post tomorrow… you know where I am. I’ll keep my camera with me, in case I ever get back, or in case someone finds the camera… or at least the CF card.

Strobist info: UFO light up in the sky. Tweaks in Lr only (WB, tint, etc.) – no layers, no Ps, nothing else.

Post Scriptum: big big big kudos to whomever can tell me how this shot was done, in case you didn’t believe my UFO story.

Here goes day sixty. 305 to go. Aww, man!

Strobist into: 580 EX II via PW CL at 1/32 or so with 1/2 CTO. Shot at a whopping ISO 400 and slow shutter (1/20 or so) handheld at f2.8. No setup shot. Figure it out. Thanks for the ooohs and aaahs.

It’s so good to have a little model willing to pose for me. I wonder what the long term effect will be upon my kids. I do try to make it quick and simple for them, although it doesn’t work out all the time. As you can see from the setup shot, I had little time with my model today – not even a chance to grab a setup shot.

Strobist info: 580 EX II into 28″ softbox CL at 1/2. Shot at 1/200 5.6 ISO 200. Setup shot here.

Everybody’s taking daily pictures – each with their own equipment. Today was the first snow around here. I went outside tonight to shoot some snow. I thought I had a shot but when I walked in the door, my daughter called me (she is talking more and more!) to take some pictures. I thought she wanted me to take a picture of her but she had her camera in hand and she actually wanted to take a picture of me. I think her’s turned out great. She was using the LCD on the back to delete some where I didn’t turn out so well. She likes them straight out of the camera.

Strobist info: Av mode, 580 EX II ETTL bounced into the front door triggered with ST-E2. Small tweaks in Lr. The setup shot only shows you the front door with the 580 bouncing in it – nothing fancy.

“Armed only with a gently curved stick, he brought order to the world.” Master Healer.

Today was Help-Portrait Day, an international movement where photographers from all over the world got together and organized studios in different locations and shot free portraits of different people. If you are a photographer, you should definitely look into this for next time this happens. Many of the people who showed up got prints to give to their families or friends or to keep for themselves. All printed on the spot. The caption was given to me by Wayne himself and added a nickname with a special spelling, which I could not record.

UPDATE
Original image removed at the kind request of Help-Portrait organizers.

UPDATE II. Short clip of what went on here.

This is left.

No strobist info.

Today I am ready to unveil one of my long term projects. I’ve been working on this classic for some time and now it’s finally finished. The last two things I had mounted were the driver’s door handle and the hood ornament. I had to take the door apart but it was well worth the effort. I took it to a friend’s garage where we could set up a little car show lighting and shot a few frames. I would like to point out that this classic is in top condition and drives excellent. The engine runs smoothly and this is one of the most comfortable rides.

I said I would like to point that out but as much as I wish I could, I unfortunately cannot, because this is not a full size 1953 Chevrolet Bel Air. Even thought I had fun trying to make it look like a real size car in a car show exhibit I cannot even fit a pancake inside this car and the trunk doesn’t even open. It is quite beautiful though. I’ve always loved the “old America” and these kinds of classics remind me of a time I wished I had been around.

Strobist info: light painting technique with a 6 (or 9?) LED flashlight and two 580 EX II on IR slave standby. 15″ exposure at f22. The 580′s are there to blink their magic IR light on the tail lights and create a bit of break lights sparks in the back. Setup shot here – notice the small flashlight, my Canon remote and the two 580s at the back of the car.