87. Cube - February 8-14, 2015
Jerry-
Here be my cube, I went the dice direction after remembering the kids had this game called "Tenzi" where you do all sorts of crazy things with dice. I used the snoot attachment for my photogenic monolight and liked the directional, hard lighting. The 100 watt modeling lamp was the source, the flash portion unused. It was interesting to try a high ISO like 6400 and shoot handheld.
D5200 with 40mm Micro-Nikkor, f11 at 1/200, ISO 6400.
Here be my cube, I went the dice direction after remembering the kids had this game called "Tenzi" where you do all sorts of crazy things with dice. I used the snoot attachment for my photogenic monolight and liked the directional, hard lighting. The 100 watt modeling lamp was the source, the flash portion unused. It was interesting to try a high ISO like 6400 and shoot handheld.
D5200 with 40mm Micro-Nikkor, f11 at 1/200, ISO 6400.
Kevin-
Well, Cube tuned out to be one of the most exciting and gratifying WPOTM themes ever for me, mostly because of what it compelled me to try. Ice cubes were my chosen form of Cube. After playing around in my mind with stacks of ice cubes on their own, or slightly humorous camera shaped ice cubes I decided I wanted to portray ice cubes falling into a beverage. As a first test I tried this with a beverage I don’t care about at all, Diet Coke (blah!). And I like the result, but all taste aside the beverage was obviously too dark. Scotch or Whiskey would have been perfect, but that’s not something I typically have around the the house. So I mixed a little bit of a darker beverage (Port) with water and loved the look! Next the lighting and background were a challenge. I had the beverage glass on a light grey background and was trying various forms of top light, back light, etc. None of the shots looked compelling. So finally I put the beverage glass on a sheet of clear glass. A big softbox was on the left at about 45 degrees behind the beverage glass and a large white Tri-Grip bounce on the right, also at 45 degrees behind. Each with one Nikon flash unit. Then one more Nikon flash unit on the floor below, with a tungsten gel on the front to achieve the orange light behind. Tests looked good! Finally I needed the ice cubes frozen as they were falling into the beverage in the beverage glass. So it was time for the TriggerTrap application to trip the camera based on the sound of the ice hitting the beverage! I made many attempts, a few of which were close but still not ideal. Plus it took a lot of clean-up time from shot to shot as a fresh, clean, beverage glass was required each time with just the right amount of liquid. Each carefully placed and focused. It was also necessary after each shot to clean up the water from ice that missed the glass plus liquid splashes off of the glass surface, etc. Finally, after about a dozen attempts I got what I wanted!
Nikon D3s, tripod mounted, three Nikon flash units dialed down to very low power to keep the flash duration really short. The shutter was at the flash sync of 1/250th of a second. The 24-120mm f/4 Nikkor lens set to 86mm at f/5. ISO 200. I wish now that I had dialed the ISO up to 800 so I could have shot at a smaller aperture to get a little more depth of field. The glass and the splash in the glass look great but the ice at the top of the frame, falling out of the ice scoop held above, could be a little more crisp. But I’ll still take it!
Well, Cube tuned out to be one of the most exciting and gratifying WPOTM themes ever for me, mostly because of what it compelled me to try. Ice cubes were my chosen form of Cube. After playing around in my mind with stacks of ice cubes on their own, or slightly humorous camera shaped ice cubes I decided I wanted to portray ice cubes falling into a beverage. As a first test I tried this with a beverage I don’t care about at all, Diet Coke (blah!). And I like the result, but all taste aside the beverage was obviously too dark. Scotch or Whiskey would have been perfect, but that’s not something I typically have around the the house. So I mixed a little bit of a darker beverage (Port) with water and loved the look! Next the lighting and background were a challenge. I had the beverage glass on a light grey background and was trying various forms of top light, back light, etc. None of the shots looked compelling. So finally I put the beverage glass on a sheet of clear glass. A big softbox was on the left at about 45 degrees behind the beverage glass and a large white Tri-Grip bounce on the right, also at 45 degrees behind. Each with one Nikon flash unit. Then one more Nikon flash unit on the floor below, with a tungsten gel on the front to achieve the orange light behind. Tests looked good! Finally I needed the ice cubes frozen as they were falling into the beverage in the beverage glass. So it was time for the TriggerTrap application to trip the camera based on the sound of the ice hitting the beverage! I made many attempts, a few of which were close but still not ideal. Plus it took a lot of clean-up time from shot to shot as a fresh, clean, beverage glass was required each time with just the right amount of liquid. Each carefully placed and focused. It was also necessary after each shot to clean up the water from ice that missed the glass plus liquid splashes off of the glass surface, etc. Finally, after about a dozen attempts I got what I wanted!
Nikon D3s, tripod mounted, three Nikon flash units dialed down to very low power to keep the flash duration really short. The shutter was at the flash sync of 1/250th of a second. The 24-120mm f/4 Nikkor lens set to 86mm at f/5. ISO 200. I wish now that I had dialed the ISO up to 800 so I could have shot at a smaller aperture to get a little more depth of field. The glass and the splash in the glass look great but the ice at the top of the frame, falling out of the ice scoop held above, could be a little more crisp. But I’ll still take it!
Byron-
This weeks theme is one of those where I have 2 potential submissions. I chose one to be my official submission. No doubt, the one I have chosen will be the least favorite of the rest of the WPOTM crew. Let’s start with my official submission. It is called “Desert Cubed” It is a decoration in our condo. It has been there during our entire stay, silently resting on a table never calling attention to itself. In fact I almost didn’t notice it while looking for cube ideas. I placed the desert cubed on a small table that was covered with my black jacket. This is not the first time it has appeared in a photo as a black background. I used my SU-800 to trigger both flashes. One flash is equipped with the Byro-snoot and is handheld directly of the cube. The other flash is mounted to its stand on the floor and is aimed straight up. It also has the orange filter snapped to the front. Its only job was to through warm light on the wall. Using the controls on the SU-800 I was able to balance the amount of light from each strobe so it looked pleasing to my eye. I took a grand total of 4 exposures.
My unofficial submission was a picture of the apple cube A/C adapter. I shot it on the floor with morning light streaming in through the blinds. The surface of the cube looked too dark so I popped up the built in flash and it lightened the shadow side of the cube but it looked harsh. Luckily, within arms reach was an empty 1 gal water jug. It is made of plastic that has a frosted look. I positioned the jug next to the lens so the flash would fire through the jug. That is 2 surfaces that diffuse the light. It worked the way I hoped.
Editorial comment: Making a picture, using flash, that is properly exposed is now incredibly easy. With both pictures I didn’t do any type of calculating the correct exposure or how to match the flash output so it would not be overpowering. I just turned on the flashes and that gave me the exposure I needed. The only thing I did was kick up the light on the wall by 1 stop. In the old days I would have used a handheld flashmeter and double checked each strobes output. The adjustments were pretty crude so I would shoot the photo. Leave it all setup until the ektachromes came back from the processor and then sometimes reshoot to correct the mistakes. Now when I turn on a flash unit it says “Ok Byron, don’t worry about a thing. I’ll give you a good exposure”.
This weeks theme is one of those where I have 2 potential submissions. I chose one to be my official submission. No doubt, the one I have chosen will be the least favorite of the rest of the WPOTM crew. Let’s start with my official submission. It is called “Desert Cubed” It is a decoration in our condo. It has been there during our entire stay, silently resting on a table never calling attention to itself. In fact I almost didn’t notice it while looking for cube ideas. I placed the desert cubed on a small table that was covered with my black jacket. This is not the first time it has appeared in a photo as a black background. I used my SU-800 to trigger both flashes. One flash is equipped with the Byro-snoot and is handheld directly of the cube. The other flash is mounted to its stand on the floor and is aimed straight up. It also has the orange filter snapped to the front. Its only job was to through warm light on the wall. Using the controls on the SU-800 I was able to balance the amount of light from each strobe so it looked pleasing to my eye. I took a grand total of 4 exposures.
My unofficial submission was a picture of the apple cube A/C adapter. I shot it on the floor with morning light streaming in through the blinds. The surface of the cube looked too dark so I popped up the built in flash and it lightened the shadow side of the cube but it looked harsh. Luckily, within arms reach was an empty 1 gal water jug. It is made of plastic that has a frosted look. I positioned the jug next to the lens so the flash would fire through the jug. That is 2 surfaces that diffuse the light. It worked the way I hoped.
Editorial comment: Making a picture, using flash, that is properly exposed is now incredibly easy. With both pictures I didn’t do any type of calculating the correct exposure or how to match the flash output so it would not be overpowering. I just turned on the flashes and that gave me the exposure I needed. The only thing I did was kick up the light on the wall by 1 stop. In the old days I would have used a handheld flashmeter and double checked each strobes output. The adjustments were pretty crude so I would shoot the photo. Leave it all setup until the ektachromes came back from the processor and then sometimes reshoot to correct the mistakes. Now when I turn on a flash unit it says “Ok Byron, don’t worry about a thing. I’ll give you a good exposure”.
Deron-
This is a shot I took from a helicopter that was hovering over Mount Vescubeus. As you can see Mount Vescubeus is an active volcano and... oh crap, let's be honest... I can write a fancy story to go with this photo, but lip stick on a pig, doesn't change the fact that this is a pig. The truth is, this is a bunch of sugar cubes piled on top of a small bike tail light.
This is a shot I took from a helicopter that was hovering over Mount Vescubeus. As you can see Mount Vescubeus is an active volcano and... oh crap, let's be honest... I can write a fancy story to go with this photo, but lip stick on a pig, doesn't change the fact that this is a pig. The truth is, this is a bunch of sugar cubes piled on top of a small bike tail light.
Paul-
The image I had initially intended to submit was very close to this one; it had your standard one-lump-or-two sugar cube resting on the spoon. It was nice, and met the theme, but seemed a little boring. So, looking for a little twist, I raided our Yahtzee game and replace the sugar cube with what you see here. Immediately, there was a problem. The concave surface of the spoon reflected all the numbers on the side of the die—distracting the viewer from everything else. I overcame this by placing the die on top of the previous sugar cube. (I hope you can’t tell.)
Guilty omission: I probably have taken liberties with the spirit (if not the law) of WPOTM ground rules. Clearly this photo has been vignetted. I was so intent in positioning the different elements just so, I neglected a bit of a lighting hood encroaching in the corner of the frame. I tried a trick or two in Lightroom 4, but in the end this was the most expedient and effective way to get rid of it.
Pieces of white foam core helped reflect the light, but not quite as evenly as I would have wished.
Our story so far…
He had decided that his new Nikon D5200 fitted with an 18-55mm lens (focused at 37mm); and set to ISO 400; and 1/60 sec. (at f11) was definitely his cup of tea.
The image I had initially intended to submit was very close to this one; it had your standard one-lump-or-two sugar cube resting on the spoon. It was nice, and met the theme, but seemed a little boring. So, looking for a little twist, I raided our Yahtzee game and replace the sugar cube with what you see here. Immediately, there was a problem. The concave surface of the spoon reflected all the numbers on the side of the die—distracting the viewer from everything else. I overcame this by placing the die on top of the previous sugar cube. (I hope you can’t tell.)
Guilty omission: I probably have taken liberties with the spirit (if not the law) of WPOTM ground rules. Clearly this photo has been vignetted. I was so intent in positioning the different elements just so, I neglected a bit of a lighting hood encroaching in the corner of the frame. I tried a trick or two in Lightroom 4, but in the end this was the most expedient and effective way to get rid of it.
Pieces of white foam core helped reflect the light, but not quite as evenly as I would have wished.
Our story so far…
He had decided that his new Nikon D5200 fitted with an 18-55mm lens (focused at 37mm); and set to ISO 400; and 1/60 sec. (at f11) was definitely his cup of tea.