Project 52 ... 3

The Shoe Queen of Berkshire...

Catherine likes her shoes. A lot. So there was never going to be any other shot than her with her shoes and these red ones are exceptional!

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D200, 17 - 55 f2.8, sb 800, Vivitar 285, Sunpack small flash

This was the first Project 52 shot that used multiple flashes. Again, the setting on the camera are not too important, except that i meter for the ambient light in the room, then under exposed by about two stops. I then added the SB 800 in a softbox to camera left about two feet from Catherine's face and a half or quarter power, I don't remember. The Vivitar 285 had a black straw gridspot firing on the picture (of the same red shoes!) over the bed and the sunpack was snooted on the side of Catherin'es face to give it a bit of a rim light.

This was a fun shot if rather cramped, with tripods everywhere! In a later post I'll show how I did the shoe shot in the background.

Project 52 ... 2

This is Cein.

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D200, Nikon 105 vr with SB 800 in softbox to camera right

This shot was taken in daylight in a dining room, there was a fair amount of sunlight (given it was the second week in January!) coming through the windows.

I wanted to create a shot that solely focused on Cein. So I set the camera manually, chose a small aperture to give a limited depth of field and positioned the softbox close to the side of his face. The net result of this was that the only light in the room that the camera was seeing, was falling on Cein's face and so the background was thrown into complete darkness.

The 105mm VR lens on the D200 is subject to the 1.5 x factor magnification which makes it into a great portrait lens. It is also tack sharp. The SB 800 was triggered by the SU 4 built in super slave. I used the pop-up flash on the camera set at 1/16th power to merely trigger the SB 800. It did not add any light of consequence to the photograph.

I cannot remember the camera settings, but they don't really matter. More on this later.

Project 52 ... 1

There is much talk about personal projects in the photographic press and this is mine. For the 52 weeks of the year I am going / have been taking a portrait of someone. In the begining this is relatively easy - immediate family, then friends, then work coleagues and then it starts getting harder... and more interesting.

One, Katy, D200, SB 800 with gridspot to camera left

The photograph of Katy above was taken in the first week of January, outside, in the freezing cold! I did set the shot up beforehand and then asked her to join me, but she was still shivering with the cold when we finished!

I shall show a photo of the gridspot and explain how it works later.

The Beginning...

This is the first post of what I hope to make a regular blog about my photography and the way I photograph people, places and things.

It is a journey that I have been on for sometime and have only just begun to blog about it!

Canon A95, 6 photographs stitched together using Panorama Factory

This is Blackrock Baths, about 6 miles south of Dublin City Centre. The baths were once used by all the locals but are now in a distinct state of decay and neglect. I don't know what will happen to this amazing place in the future, but in the past I remember many a time spent swimming there in the wonderful cool sea water with the occasional piece of green seaweed floating by!