Great Book For DIY Lighting: Low Budget Shooting

I placed an order for this fantastic book a few days ago. I rec'd it this morning, and what a wonderful book it is. It's only 63 pages but what it contains is a library's worth of DIY photography "goodies". I've only thumbed through it but what I have read so far is excellent.

Some of the things you will learn to make are:

• Backgrounds
• Imaging Table
• Mini-Seamless Backdrop
• Outdoor Light Tent
• Travel Diffuser
• Softboxs and Striplights
• Close-up Diffuser
• Holders for Mirrors and Reflectors
• Many more projects…..

I've seen a lot of great DIY projects out there for photography but the ones contained in this book at top-notch. Most of what I saw was very inexpensive but yet the projects had a professional feel to them. Once I read through the whole thing and even try a few things contained within - I'll get back and write a better review. You can find the book here:
Low Budget Shooting

If you are a fan of Strobist you will love the simple solutions to everyday photography lighting. Pick up a copy - you will not regret it!

Come On - Chalk It Up

Ah nothing beats the fun of youth. Not only is being young fun but all the cool toys and stuff you get to play with is hard to beat (well maybe photo equipments beats childhood toys - who knows). My son loves to color with chalk on the driveway - just about every afternoon he goes out there and draws to his heart's content - even in 95 degree temperatures. I decided to follow him out there one day with my camera and 100mm Canon lens just to see what I could capture.

I love the look of chalk - it's colors, textures and shape really lends itself to some good captures. As he was busy with something else I quickly grabbed a few pieces and laid them down on the concrete to see what I could come up with. I was only out there a few minutes but there is so much you can do with this stuff. All I did for that shot is converted the RAW image into a JPG using Lightroom - just a few levels adjustments to darken the concrete. You can also pump up the color saturation (which I also did) to bring out the texture of the chalk.

Don't be afraid to try different angles too. I set these back up differently and got down on the concrete - ouch - that 95 degrees tends to warm things up. My wife and neighbor were across the street. They both were looking at me as if I was some kind of nut (which I am, btw). They asked me what in the world I was taking a picture of (since they could not really see the chalk). All they saw was some guy laying on his stomach on 100 degree concrete with a camera in his hands - I guess I would have asked too....LOL.

Here is shot I was after (top photo below). I don't like this one as much - I guess the composition could have been a bit better - but hey - there's always tomorrow. I plan on doing a few more with chalk and taking a bit more time. As I do I will have a follow-up article with some shots and some explanation. I may bring it inside and try some on a seamless white / black background.

++ The Karate Kid ++

What started out to be a photo shoot with a mother who wanted some shots for an upcoming CD cover became a much more exciting session with her young son. Once I finished up with mom – her son came out in his karate uniform. I agreed to take some shots of him – the day was nice and he was ready to go. I took the usual shots of different stances. Being that we were in his backyard somewhat limited the excitement of the shots (since he had a fence all around the back yard and the background did not lend itself to some really striking shots (no pun intended).

After taking a few mundane shots I glanced over at the trampoline and got an idea. I asked him if he could do some kicks while up the air. He said he could. I then asked him to jump up and down on the trampoline to get an idea of weather my vision would work. While he jumped I stationed myself in various locations and took some test shots. I wanted a picture of him in the air doing a kick with nothing but clouds in the background.

After taking into account such things as the position of the sun, how close to the trampoline I had to be and which way he kicked – the time came for him to ‘do his thing’. While it did take several shots – mainly due to the timing of the kick, his expression and the lighting – we were there in no time. In looking through all the shots I took – this one is the one I am most happy about. I think his expression is self explanatory. He had a blast. I showed him the shot in the viewfinder but of course a viewfinder does not do a final photograph justice. Once he got the print – he and his mother were very pleased.

While this was not a difficult shot – several things had to be considered for it to work. I could have used flash for fill-in but I don’t really like the look of flash. I wanted to see if I could do it with natural light. Another key is your position relative the trampoline. I did not want to get too close because it would look like I was shooting right up his nostrils but yet I had to get close enough to miss the background behind the trampoline. Of course the fact that he could jump fairly high helped.

I hope you enjoy the shot as much as I enjoyed taking it. This setup could be used for several other shoots as well. Perhaps some cheerleader shots would be interesting taken the same way.

So next time you see a trampoline – jump on the opportunity to take a different shot.....

++ The Fly ++

I thought I would start with one of my shots that I am very proud of. I really enjoyed shooting this one - lots of lessons learned, especially patience. This was featured in the May 2005 PopPhoto issue article "You Can Do It!"

Below is a description of what I did to achieve this shot:

Let’s Get Small
For years I have been awed by macro photography. A few years ago after purchasing my Canon D30 (I now own a 30D, BTW) and a Canon 100mm macro lens, I set out to capture the world beyond the scope of the human eye. While we sometimes tend to concentrate on the world we see – we fail to see the world we don’t. I shot thousand of photographs of butterflies, insects and anything that fit within the bounds of my 100mm macro lens. I then set out to capture even smaller subjects such as ladybugs and smaller insects so I invested in a set of extension tubes. Of course I wanted to get even smaller.

Vincent Price – Is That You?
My goal was to fill up the frame with the head of a fly. I knew I could not do that with my 100mm macro (even with extension tubes). My father had an old Pentax bellows. Having seen some of the shots that could be taken with a bellows I set out to find one for my Canon D30. I priced a new one and found that I could get one for around $650 dollars. I did not want to spend anywhere near that. I set out on a hunt for a used bellows. After much looking, I finally found an older Canon FD mount bellows for $75 – that was a match, price that is.

Will It Mate?
My next hurdle was to find a way to mate this bellows to the newer Canon EOS mount. I checked around the internet and found a Canon FD to EOS converter. I purchased that for $45. Next was the lens. I could have put practically any lens at the other end of the bellows but, I needed something that would allow me some room around the lens and still allow me to get close. I remembered from my Black & White darkroom days that I had a good quality enlarger lens. It’s been around the family since the mid 70’s, so I was not sure of its condition. It is a Schneider-Kreuznach Componon 28mm f/4-f/16 lens. I purchased a threaded mount that allows it to attach to the other end of the bellows.

Hunting Season
Now that I had the equipment and it all matched up nicely I set out on my safari to catch a fly. Living in Texas finding a fly was not a problem. As much as I would have loved to take the shot while the fly was alive, I knew I would either kill it out of frustration or it would successfully escape my miniature studio. Next step was to figure out a way to kill the fly without deforming it. No one wants to see a photograph of a fly after being squished. I thought of freezing it but I knew one of two things would happen – I would have it focused perfectly 1 second before it would thaw and that was the end of that, or it would be obvious that he was frozen in the photograph. I decided to kill it with rubbing alcohol – cheap, quick and odor free once it dissipates. Once the dastardly deed was completed, I had to figure out a way to hold the fly in place.

Posing My Subject
I could not place the fly on a flat surface since the lens would have to be so close to the fly and that would not allow light to reach it. I needed to elevate the fly somehow so as to leave room around it for lighting. I found a pushpin and inserted it into the underside of the fly. I then flipped it over and put some double-sided tape on the edge of the table and secured the pin/fly (see photo). This would allow me to get very close to the fly and have light hit the fly from several sides. Ah yes, I need light…..

Lights, Camera – No Action
My subject was sitting still, posed and ready for action. The first step was to adjust the magnification of the bellows and the distance from the front of the lens to the fly – yes I had to focus. This was perhaps the most difficult of the entire shoot. I of course had the camera on a tripod and the bellows had adjustments to increase/decrease the magnification as well as distance to my subject. I would have thought that that was all I needed. I turned the camera on, I looked through the eyepiece and it was as black as night. I did not take into account that with the bellow’s length and smaller than average lens – a LOT of light is lost. My overhead light in that room was not powerful enough so I took out my trusty 1,000,000 candlepower flashlight, set it next to the fly (which also helped evaporate the alcohol). This amount of light, along with opening the lens up to f/4, allowed me to focus. This took some time and patience. Any slight movement and I would loose the fly from my view. Even getting close to the tripod legs on the carpet threw it out of focus. Finally I had it where I wanted it.

In A Flash
I, of course, could not use an on-camera flash. The lens was only about ½” from the fly and the light would never reach it since the lens would cast a shadow. I have an infrared transmitter, so I put that on the camera and set the flash on its side about 2-3 inches from the fly (90 degrees to the lens). I then wanted some light to kick back onto the other side of the fly’s face. I set up a business card on the opposite side of the fly from the flash. I set the camera on MANUAL and shutter speed at around 1/160. I used mirror lock-up and a cable release. I took a few test shots. They were overexposed but that was ok since I had the lens set at f/4. Once I liked the composition I carefully rotated the lens to f/16 and shot it again. Voila! We have a fly’s head on the LCD screen. I then shot about 20 photographs or so varying the distance from the flash to the fly and distance from the business card to the fly, etc.

Concluding Thoughts
Well I must say that it was well worth the effort. The pictures you see of the set-up were recreated, since I only had one camera at the time I took the original photograph, but as you can see the setup is not complicated and can be achieved on a tight budget. If I had purchased the $650 bellows I would not have done anything different and I’m sure the photograph would not have looked any better.

Just to sum things up here is a list of what I used to take the picture:
1. Camera (very helpful).
2. Bellows
3. Canon FD to EOS mounting adapter.
4. Lens of your choice.
5. Push pin
6. Double sided tape
7. Good flashlight
8. Tripod
9. Cable release (or self time can be used)
10. Last but not least – a Fly.

My efforts, I feel, paid off. I spent around $150 for the whole setup (being that I had the lens already). It doesn’t have to cost much to get good results.

And in case you were wondering, I never could get the fly to sign a model release…..