Category: Photography

This was a good week for astronomy.  The BBC had three nightly programs called Stargazing Live.

The second program was of course the highlight, covering the partial solar eclipse that occurred that morning.

I had the opportunity back in 1999 to witness the a total solar eclipse.  It meant getting up early and jumping on the motorcycle for a 300 plus mile ride to catch the eclipse.

They gave some good tips on capturing photographs of the night sky, well worth watching and showing the BBC at its best, entertaining and educational.

I have done some astronomical photography in the past and will post some pictures and techniques in future blog entries.

Flash!

No not Adobe’s flash, I am not getting into that argument.  I have an Apple iPhone and I fully accept its a better phone for not having flash, but then I am also a flash user and on my professional website I use flash for my photographic galleries!

No this post is about Photographic lighting.

Most photographers are used to the typical hot shoe flash.  The hot shoe flash is quite the modern electronic marvel.  I have a pair of Nikon SB-800’s and they are great.  Full TTL control; if you are scared of flash then just set them and your camera to full auto, and with appropriate flash head positioning you can get great results.

The key is not to use the flash in the camera’s hot shoe but use them off camera.  For fill in flash and the odd party I use hot shoe flash with great success.

For studio work, I always use professional mono-block mains powered studio lights.  That, with a good soft box produces results that are hard to beat any other way.

I usually hire a local studio with Elinchrom RX lights, and find I get good results far easier then with small hot shoe flashes.

Many photographers are intimidated by studio lighting.  It seems hard work.  The camera has to be set to manual.  You have to use a flash meter to calculate your exposure.  Then there are all the complicated accessories, softboxes, brollies, snoots, barn doors and honeycomb grids, to name just a few, to modify the light.

I have now started to think about getting some studio flash myself.  The very high end stuff is out of the question, far too expensive for the few times each month I would use it.  But it needs to be of good quality, robust for travel, have stable colour temperature and high speed flash duration to freeze action.

In the UK that leaves you with just Bowen’s and Elinchrom.  If your in the USA then Elinchrom and brands such as Alien Bee’s are popular.

I have spent quite some time now researching the brands and am still no nearer choosing what I want.

Bowen’s lower end models work with battery packs, so are easy to use away from mains power, there are a large array of accessories available, and you get good reports about customer service.  They are also a UK brand, and even the lower end models are very well built.

Elinchrom are what I am used to.  The Rotolux softboxes are the best, and the skyport remote system is excellent.  Most Pro’s I know use Elinchrom.

Once the brand is picked, where do you enter the system, go for the bottom of the range, cheap but will they take the abuse of travel.

I have to admit, after a lot of research, all I have managed to do is confuse myself more, and I am still none the wiser.

Checking out the forums has not helped, its nearly as bad as the Nikon and Canon arguments.

Any advice gratefully received.

A quite day at home for us today.  We had decided to have the day off to extend our Christmas holiday.

The morning was spent contacting a few local models.  I am currently planning a location shoot to test a few new ideas for the new year.  The location is now all set so I just had to book a model.  I was wanting to try someone new so I contacted a few local models using some of the popular modeling forums.  I was soon sorted so now everything is booked.

Over the next couple of weeks I will finalise my ideas and make copious notes.  You really want a good plan for when your doing a shoot.  The location, sets, clothes, make-up and poses all ready and written down.

This does not mean you cannot use spontaneity during a shoot, but have a good plan before you start.  There are to many things that could go wrong, or you could get side tracked, forgetting what your trying to achieve and end up coming away with nothing.

For this particular shoot, the customer is just me.  The intention is to test out a few ideas and to test out a new location.  If it all goes wrong theres only myself that will get upset.

When its a paying customer you must plan everything out, have a full shot list and backup plans.

Even though the shoot is just for me and only a test, I will still treat it as if it was a normal paid shoot and plan accordingly.

Twas the night before Christmas when all through the site

Not a creature was stirring and noone to fight.

The pictures were posted on profiles with care,

In hopes that the bookings soon would be there.

The togs were nestled all snug in their beds

While visions of TF danced in their heads.

And models in their underwear, some even nude,

Were posting new pictures, some rather rude.

When out on the forum there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.

Away to my computer I flew like a flash,

Opened the browser and refreshed the cache.

The posting was new and fresh on the thread,

And what I was reading filled me with dread.

With fear that cut to the depths of my soul,

I saw a new message from the internet troll.

“Now chaperone, now no-show, now GWC!

On part paid, full paid and TFCD!

Canon and Nikon and some other kind

Are you a perv or are you just blind?”

As replies filled the site with meaningless junk,

The mods came online and got in a funk.

The threads were locked, the defences were manned,

And before I could post, the troll he was banned.

He sprang to his keyboard and went to reply,

and they drove him away before he could try.

But I heard him exclaim, as he logged off the site,

“Bah Humbug to all, and to all a bad night”

Thanks to Sean for posting this.

Well today I finally got my hands on the Sony NEX-5.  This is not going to be a review, I am sure you have read many already, just a few first impressions.

The big advantage of the Sony is the size of its sensor, as its APS-C, its the largest sensor yet fitted to an EVIL camera.  Yet its the smallest interchangeable large sensor compact yet released.

I have to admit, it does look odd with the oversized 18-55mm lens it comes with, but it does feel surprisingly good in the hand.  The ergonomics are surprisingly good, and I was certainly expecting worse.  While not as pocketable as a ‘normal’ small sensor compact, it would certainly fit in a large jacket pocket.

With the size of the sensor, I would hope a few nice wide angles soon appear.  This is an area where Sony potentially have an advantage over micro four thirds, but currently the lens selection is limited compared to the micro four thirds system.

The controls were reasonable and certainly much better then I expected from reading other reviews.

©Andrew Jordan

The biggest issue I find is the lack of a true viewfinder.  I want a camera with a proper viewfinder, so once again the camera that still leads the pack for me is the Panasonic GF-1, as at least it has an optional EVF.

Chris Bennett has recently purchased the two lens NEX-5 kit, and I am sure a a true review will be appearing soon on his photography blog.

As you can see the quality is easily as good as any of the current DSLR’s.