230. Holiday Image - November 12-18, 2017
Don-
The week of disastrous photography. From photographing to having prints made, little is working
out. Todays studio work did not pan out so I will submit a picture I did on Monday.
I believe the lettering is the unique part of this photo. I used the tassels to fill the letters to give them
a interesting look.
Focal was 70mm. Exposure was 1/320 sec; f/2.8; ISO 100; Aperture Priority. Three lights, a 50 watt LED flood and two ten watt LED spots.
The week of disastrous photography. From photographing to having prints made, little is working
out. Todays studio work did not pan out so I will submit a picture I did on Monday.
I believe the lettering is the unique part of this photo. I used the tassels to fill the letters to give them
a interesting look.
Focal was 70mm. Exposure was 1/320 sec; f/2.8; ISO 100; Aperture Priority. Three lights, a 50 watt LED flood and two ten watt LED spots.
Byron-
I have an affinity for M&M's, pinball machines and the holiday spirit. It was natural that I would combine them into one photo. My M&M guy was already wearing his Santa hats so I needed to find a festive background. I thought that my pinball machine could look festive with its red colors and bright lights. I first did a test exposure of the playing surface while the M&M guy lounged in his robe near the fireplace. I first setup a softbox off to the side to illuminate the subject. In my first few attempts I discovered the softbox was throwing too much light on the pinball machine ruining the effect. I was considering other backgrounds when it occurred to me to try the trusty Byro-snoot. That did the trick. It contained the light in a small enough area as to avoid the pinball machines playing surface and only light the M&M model. I did have to use Photoshop to balance the lights on the pinball machine. My sense of balance (some call it OCD) requires that the left side look like the right side.
23mm, 1/40 sec, f5.6, flash set to 1/16th power (it might have been 1/32)
I have an affinity for M&M's, pinball machines and the holiday spirit. It was natural that I would combine them into one photo. My M&M guy was already wearing his Santa hats so I needed to find a festive background. I thought that my pinball machine could look festive with its red colors and bright lights. I first did a test exposure of the playing surface while the M&M guy lounged in his robe near the fireplace. I first setup a softbox off to the side to illuminate the subject. In my first few attempts I discovered the softbox was throwing too much light on the pinball machine ruining the effect. I was considering other backgrounds when it occurred to me to try the trusty Byro-snoot. That did the trick. It contained the light in a small enough area as to avoid the pinball machines playing surface and only light the M&M model. I did have to use Photoshop to balance the lights on the pinball machine. My sense of balance (some call it OCD) requires that the left side look like the right side.
23mm, 1/40 sec, f5.6, flash set to 1/16th power (it might have been 1/32)
Darin-
What says 'Holiday Image' more than a photo of your sloppy drunk cousin, Angry Ken. Here, all regaled in his holiday best, just before he pulls out his shot gun and starts firing at the moon. "That dadgum guy keeps staring at me with that cheese eatin' grin!"
We all have an Angry Ken in our families! So, at your next family holiday gathering, take a good shot OF them, before the cops take a good shot AT them! Enjoy the turkey everybody!
What says 'Holiday Image' more than a photo of your sloppy drunk cousin, Angry Ken. Here, all regaled in his holiday best, just before he pulls out his shot gun and starts firing at the moon. "That dadgum guy keeps staring at me with that cheese eatin' grin!"
We all have an Angry Ken in our families! So, at your next family holiday gathering, take a good shot OF them, before the cops take a good shot AT them! Enjoy the turkey everybody!
Kevin-
Let me begin by complimenting Don for designating the theme as Holiday Image, rather than Thanksgiving Image, or Christmas Image or Hanukkah Image or some other very specific holiday theme. Honestly the last thing I wanted to capture was an image relating to an over-photographed holiday.
So I dug through a list of obscure holidays. And was delighted to learn that January 19 will be National Popcorn Day. After all, who doesn’t love a big bowl of popcorn!
After that what seemed like a good idea quickly went to becoming an extremely uninspiring photograph. But at least it took hours of effort to create the mediocrity!
You see, I decided that I wanted to photograph the popcorn actually popping. An open, uncovered popcorn pan with popping kernels flying up out against a black background. What could be easier?
First, my brother warned me that popcorn would pop best in a closed pan, and that by taking the cover off it might not pop at all, or might need even higher heat, making the idea of the popcorn burning all too possible. And with his fire department experience he warned me that the oil would be really hot. So have a fire extinguisher standing by. And of course I knew that without a cover on the pan that hot oil would splash all over, making the fire risk even greater, and of course creating a clean-up mess.
Finally, initial tests suggested I should pop in a very shallow pan, not in a deeper popcorn pan, simply because many kernels don’t actually rise much when they pop. And I wanted to capture them against the black background, rather than the in the pan.
I even watched a YouTube video featuring a couple of guys demonstrating popcorn popping in ultra-slow-motion.
Okay, I set things up in the kitchen, towels surrounding the pan to absorb some of the splashing hot oil, newspapers on the floor for the same reason, fire extinguisher standing by, camera covered with a garbage sack to protect it from the splashes, a cheap filter over the lens (I rarely use a UV filter, but I knew I didn’t want to have to try and clean vegetable oil off of the front element), two Nikon SB-900 series flash units set up, one from the side, with a bounce card on the other side, and the other flash above and behind, and I started popping.
And as predicted the result was hot oil splashes on the filter...
Clean the filter, add a deep lens shade to make the splashes less likely, and try again. The metadata tells me that I tried this seven times. I exposed over 200 frames. Only about twenty of them even captured popping kernels as they move so quickly. And of course many of those fell outside the plane of focus, even at f/32. Only once was I able to capture two popping kernels in the frame at the same time.
The results were spectacularly unspectacular. But I will go with the image below. Nikon D4s, mounted on a Manfrotto 055CXPRO4 tripod with a Acratech GP ballhead, 105mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor lens, ISO 100, f/32 at 1/250th of a second (flash sync). Not exactly a ton of popcorn popping, just one darn kernel. And cleanup of the cooktop, the pan with burned oil, the towels, the newspapers, and the camera gear, etc. took more than two hours. I will need to do more over the next two months to prepare for National Popcorn Day. Sigh.
Let me begin by complimenting Don for designating the theme as Holiday Image, rather than Thanksgiving Image, or Christmas Image or Hanukkah Image or some other very specific holiday theme. Honestly the last thing I wanted to capture was an image relating to an over-photographed holiday.
So I dug through a list of obscure holidays. And was delighted to learn that January 19 will be National Popcorn Day. After all, who doesn’t love a big bowl of popcorn!
After that what seemed like a good idea quickly went to becoming an extremely uninspiring photograph. But at least it took hours of effort to create the mediocrity!
You see, I decided that I wanted to photograph the popcorn actually popping. An open, uncovered popcorn pan with popping kernels flying up out against a black background. What could be easier?
First, my brother warned me that popcorn would pop best in a closed pan, and that by taking the cover off it might not pop at all, or might need even higher heat, making the idea of the popcorn burning all too possible. And with his fire department experience he warned me that the oil would be really hot. So have a fire extinguisher standing by. And of course I knew that without a cover on the pan that hot oil would splash all over, making the fire risk even greater, and of course creating a clean-up mess.
Finally, initial tests suggested I should pop in a very shallow pan, not in a deeper popcorn pan, simply because many kernels don’t actually rise much when they pop. And I wanted to capture them against the black background, rather than the in the pan.
I even watched a YouTube video featuring a couple of guys demonstrating popcorn popping in ultra-slow-motion.
Okay, I set things up in the kitchen, towels surrounding the pan to absorb some of the splashing hot oil, newspapers on the floor for the same reason, fire extinguisher standing by, camera covered with a garbage sack to protect it from the splashes, a cheap filter over the lens (I rarely use a UV filter, but I knew I didn’t want to have to try and clean vegetable oil off of the front element), two Nikon SB-900 series flash units set up, one from the side, with a bounce card on the other side, and the other flash above and behind, and I started popping.
And as predicted the result was hot oil splashes on the filter...
Clean the filter, add a deep lens shade to make the splashes less likely, and try again. The metadata tells me that I tried this seven times. I exposed over 200 frames. Only about twenty of them even captured popping kernels as they move so quickly. And of course many of those fell outside the plane of focus, even at f/32. Only once was I able to capture two popping kernels in the frame at the same time.
The results were spectacularly unspectacular. But I will go with the image below. Nikon D4s, mounted on a Manfrotto 055CXPRO4 tripod with a Acratech GP ballhead, 105mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor lens, ISO 100, f/32 at 1/250th of a second (flash sync). Not exactly a ton of popcorn popping, just one darn kernel. And cleanup of the cooktop, the pan with burned oil, the towels, the newspapers, and the camera gear, etc. took more than two hours. I will need to do more over the next two months to prepare for National Popcorn Day. Sigh.
Paul-
Some people will tell you there is only one way…one image… that expresses the holidays in a way that is good and true and faithful to its original intent. Some people will tell you (with strident conviction bordering on zealotry) that there is only one to way capture the spirit of the season so that its message and meaning are plain for even the most jaded eye to see.
Some people will tell you we have fallen short and far too often from seeking that image that brings forth the true holiday spirit, and there is but one way to revive it.
And some people will you that seeking purpose at this time has now become a drop of sweet water in a salty sea…irretrievable and futile as we collectively turn from the one way to retrieve it.
But I’m not so sure.
I may have found that one way.
Some people will tell you there is only one way…one image… that expresses the holidays in a way that is good and true and faithful to its original intent. Some people will tell you (with strident conviction bordering on zealotry) that there is only one to way capture the spirit of the season so that its message and meaning are plain for even the most jaded eye to see.
Some people will tell you we have fallen short and far too often from seeking that image that brings forth the true holiday spirit, and there is but one way to revive it.
And some people will you that seeking purpose at this time has now become a drop of sweet water in a salty sea…irretrievable and futile as we collectively turn from the one way to retrieve it.
But I’m not so sure.
I may have found that one way.
Jerry-
Sorry for my lateness, but here goes! I hope to have more interesting holiday photos in the next few weeks. I regularly volunteer at a local thrift shop and I did see a cute little nativity scene but my ideas for a photo of it are bordering on the profane (imagine it on fire, or with skulls and bones).
This was with my D5200 that lets you funkify the images with different filters right in camera. 16-85 was zoomed to 72mm, f8 at 1/60, ISO 3200.
Sorry for my lateness, but here goes! I hope to have more interesting holiday photos in the next few weeks. I regularly volunteer at a local thrift shop and I did see a cute little nativity scene but my ideas for a photo of it are bordering on the profane (imagine it on fire, or with skulls and bones).
This was with my D5200 that lets you funkify the images with different filters right in camera. 16-85 was zoomed to 72mm, f8 at 1/60, ISO 3200.