Pixel Darkroom Photography

A couple of days ago I started using strobes again. I was so tired of using them for some reason. I’m easing back into it. This one is shot with a couple of speedlites one on camera pointed backwards to trigger the other one (handheld) by my voice controlled remote light stand wife.

This is a repeat of a shot done a while back on Day 50. This time it happened outside with the moon in the background and with a new airplane and totally different lighting.

I used my cheap camera + stock lens on this one. The most interesting is the effect the polarizing filter had on the sky (sunset camera left, obviously). Day 267 and stubbornly counting.
[Note: I never like the exported final images on web resolution and sRGB color space, they look like supermarket prints. Sorry web viewers.]

We’re playing baseball more and more. Here’s a photograph from a long time ago,… oh about 4 long hours ago. It was quite interesting to create the 1930s look for this image. It didn’t take long and I definitely think it looks great on sports photography. I shot this with my old rebel and a stock lens and the post production in all done in Lightroom 2. Here’s a great Day 256 to you too.

A different perspective.

Gone fishing.

Today was a very emotional day (for some people in the household). The big change can be seen right here and the broken door knob is just a prop. The missing tooth came out very easily actually and I don’t believe we have seen the tooth fairy. Hard cold cash in one easy $5 non-negotiable instalment did the trick.
Strobist info: 580 EX II into Westcott softbox, via PW, CL.

Up here you’re not allowed to use the mobile phone and drive at the same time anymore. I ended up getting this bluetooth headset. I would have gotten some wired headset because pairing and connecting these things is a pain ad posteriore but it works fine eventually. I have a (made with cell phone) picture from long time ago, when my son was probably only two years old, and he is wearing a headset like this. That was a cute one. This time it’s a cool one. It’s about time, he’s 5.

Strobist info: 580 EX at 64th zoomed to 105mm trough coroplast grid as rim, and 580 EX II at 128th CL both via Pocket Wizards. Tweaks in Lr.

I saw this cool biker all dressed up in tux and I thought it would make a good photograph for my project. The idea came up yesterday when we came home and my son got up on his sister’s tricycle. We shot this in a few frames with one speedlight camera left and hurried home to watch the Backyardigans.

Strobist info: 580 EX II CL with 1/2 CTO, zoomed to 105mm at 1/32 or so via PW ISO400.

This was definitely not the intended outlook of the photo shoot but I thought it would be a great image for the blog. She fell behind the tree since the step stool was too little for both of them and then her shoe came off. I don’t know if he was helping her or tickling her. I also shot a little HD movie of them playing around in the grass. I tell you what, the movie looks amazing shot with this professional lens. I might edit it at some point and publish it, but I tend to be slow on those things. If not, it’s all for private viewing or for the grand parents. Here goes another blessed Day 196.

Strobist info: 580 EX CL via Pocket Wizards shot at 1/128 80mm zoom. Small obvious tweaks in Lr.

A boy and a girl…

Strobist info: 580 EX CR zoomed to 70mm at 128th power triggered with Pocket Wizards.

Strobist info: 580 EX II at 1/8 bare CR via PW.

You may think this is another posed portrait of my son where we were looking for a deep look, dramatic lighting and a great expression. I was actually playing with getting a dramatic lighting but had a different image in mind while he was just finishing his chocolate chip cookies and milk. I snapped a few frames and he got bored. This is just as he was getting bored and you don’t want to see the other ones. I then gave up as I didn’t want to upset him too much, yet again, and focused on something else. You might have ended up with something totally different tonight but when I uploaded the images, I found this, I loved it and here it goes. My son getting bored because of the somewhat repetitive task that Daddy has been doing for 108 Days, now.

Strobist info: 580 EX on a handheld lightstand/boom above CL, triggered via Pocket Wizards. Small tweaks in Lr.

Homeschooling. Yes, jump and worry. Many people were shocked, too. Not to mention all the Romanians we know. (Some have never heard of such thing, and some have said that it’s a great idea if you can afford it. Well, as a Vancouver photographer and a pianist, I have to say that I make close to Fortune 500 salary and I could afford to homeschool my son on the moon if I wanted to, but we just made a decision to keep it simple, down to earth.) We believe it is the best thing for our children right now, so we started to homeschool. Early, I might add. I’m not going to go into the details about it. I’ll just say it’s fun. For us and for the kid(s), too, so far. Today I had the chance to do some of the work with my son and I must say I loved it. Homeschooling is great, it’s flexible and it allows us to spend a lot more time as a family.

Image available for licensing.
Lighting information: 580 ex II CL bounced back into white wall and CL as rim/hair light, triggered via Pocket Wizards. Speaking of Pocket Wizards, I’m working on an iPhone application that will trigger Pocket Wizards. Stay tuned for the launch. I’ll post more info as it comes along.

Note: If you believed the Fortune 500 reference, the post about the UFO, the post about why (new) technology should be kept away from the hands of women, then you need to stop by here more often, and remember that we like to use irony sometimes.

No big anniversary today. It’s only fifty days. I can’t believe how many days have already added up. I must say, this project is one interesting way to document your life (part of it – at least 1/200 of a second each day). Today I made a beauty dish and this is a shot taken with it. I like the shadows, the light fall off on the wall and definitely the highlights in the eyes.

Strobist info: 580 EX in CL handheld DIY beauty dish at 1/4 triggered via ST-E2. Setup shot here. No postproduction. Nothing.