Fundraising and Zombies
Took the day off work yesterday to do a fundraising photo shoot for my local Playcentre (its kinda a parent run pre school centre)
This was the flyer we did a pre-shoot for a couple of weeks back that was designed by one of the other dads.
Since my lights weren’t really up to the task of running all day we had to borrow some from local photographer Adrian Heke who lent us a set of Hensel 1000Ws… Cheers Adrian!
So basically we shot family portraits from 9am til about 4pm (we did have a bit of a break in the middle)…. So needless to say it was a pretty long day, not to mention the just under 2000 images I still have to edit and post produce 🙂
And then if I wasnt tired enough already I went and hung out with a whole bunch of Zombies on a Zombie walk for a couple of hours… the press guys who I am starting to get to know a bit better still find it amusing that I am shooting film and lets just say the Rollei isn’t built for speed but put my first roll of 3200 ISO film through it so will see how it comes out.
I think I currently have a backlog of 5 x 120 films and 1 x 35mm film to develop so hopefully I will get a chance to do them soon.
Just Uploaded 3 Photo5 Competition Entries
finally got round to uploading some of my Canon Photo5 Entries.
Single drop of water with a picture of a cityscape inside it hanging from the head of a pin.
Bubblegum Portrait
Incense Black and White
Still have to do:
Confetti Motion
Inspired by sound
Only about a week to go so will have to crank it up to get the last two done… Wish me luck
How It Was Done: Water Drop Shot
Ok so I havent done one of these in a while and the entry’s for the Photo5 competition have closed so theoretically no one can copy this for the competition.
Anyway here is the finished image that I submitted to the competition….
Competition Brief: Eye Dropper
This brief is asking you to use your lens to look closer. Use the eye dropper to place drops of liquid in any arrangement you want. You can use a single drop, or as many drops as you like.
And you’re not limited to just water – feel free to use liquids of different colours and consistencies, such as milk or tomato soup. Just make sure you get close.
OK that seems simple enough…
I had the idea to suspend a drop of water from the head of a pin and using a slide projector somehow get an image into the drop (at this point I want to say that using Photoshop wasnt an option that I really wanted to use).
Equipment Used: Kinderman Slide Projector, Nikon D70s with 50mm f1.8, 2 x Nikon PK13 and 1 x PK12 Extension Tubes, Tripod, Cullman Macro Rail, Various supports like chairs, 1 x Pin, Bluetac and a 42″ translucent reflector (used later on)… Oh and various slides.
So I set up the projector at the same height as the camera and blasted a slide onto the drop of water (which took at least 15 minutes to get to stay on the head of the pin) which produced the following image.
Even at 1/5000th of a second this was about as good as it got… Not really the look I was going for…
Step 2: Place a 42″ reflector in front of the projector to act as a screen… At the moment the projector is about 1.5 metres away from the water droplet.
Ok at this point I stop thinking “what the heck am I doing this is never going to work I must be crazy”! And start seeing a small glimmer of hope projected down a very bright slide projector.
However still not really what I had in mind when I initially set out.
Step 3: Time to move everything back away from the projector… now about 3 metres away still with the reflector in front acting as a screen.
I keep forgetting stuff… The slide was projected onto the screen upside down so that it was right side up in the droplet.
OK now we are cooking but still not quite right.
This is what the setup currently looks like (the images are from a point and shoot so sorry about quality/focus issues)
My studio is soooo sophisticated 🙂
Who needs a macro lens when you have a bazillion extension tubes…
Opps almost forgot to say that I added a small pop of speedlight at the pin just to give it a bit of a catch light.
Anyway I found that by moving a reflector backwards and forwards I could alter how much of the image would appear in the drop so after a lot of stuffing round (293 images from the first shot) this is the image that I liked the best…
This is the file straight off the camera with no processing
With a bit of straightening and a saturation boost and not to mention all the dust removal here we go 🙂
And before I forget here is a scan of the slide that I used…
All droplet shots on Nikon D70s with 50mm f1.8 Lens with 2 x Nikon PK13 + 1 PK12 Extension Tubes.
Fatherhood Friday 26: Kites, Bikes and Mud
All I can say is that it has been a full on couple of weeks!
Samantha finally got Chicken Pox, unfortunately on the day my parents arrived for a 4 day visit, and after the first day Emily had a 3 day bout of vomiting and diarrhea. So lets just say that the girls werent at their best for the visit.
Anyway here are a few shot from one of our trips to the ,still being built, bike track.
Nikon F5, 50mm f1.8, Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO Film.
Last 2 Canon Photo5 Images
Here go the last two images I entered into the Photo5 competition.
If you missed the earlier ones they are here
Not quite as happy with these ones cause they were a bit rushed. I would have liked to have done the spray can one in The Alley but unfortunately time was against me.
f5.6 @ 1/40 Seconds
The one below is the inspired by sound entry but basically just turned into me having a bit of fun with Xmas lights, a power drill and some LED lights. It kinda fits the brief… Sort of 🙂
f11 @ 61 Seconds
Nikon D70s, 50mm f1.8, 200 Iso.
Kingdom Come Abandoned Set
Went and had a look at the abandoned set for Kingdom Come last night.
Lets just say that the Wellington weather is having its way with it… Not to mention the graffiti artists…
It all feels a bit mournful with all the work that went into it without being completed and then being destroyed by the elements.
Looks like it is quite the popular place to go as we weren’t the only ones there.
Colour film from Rollei and B/W from F5 still to come 🙂
Nikon D70s, 19-35mm Tokina Lens, ISO 200
Cuba Festival Images
Three images from the 2009 Cuba Street Festival which turned out to be the last one 😦
This was one of the days that I pretty much started taking street images…
Nikon F5, 80-200mm f2.8 and 50mm f1.8 Lenses, Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO Film (I think)
A Couple of Skulls
Earlier this year I went exploring for some abandoned amunition storage units from WW2. Found heaps of them and they are apparently now the place where sheep go to die
Nikon f5, 50mm f1.8, Ilford Delta 3200 ISO Film.
Fatherhood Friday 25: Chickenpox and Cabin Fever
Whats worse than a week of chickenpox? A week of torrential rain and not being able to go out and run round AND chickenpox.
Both girls are starting to go a bit crazy and Emily is starting to talk non stop all the time…
At least today it is finally sunny and both girls are out on the deck running round chasing each other and screaming happily.
Apart from the spots Emily has been pretty much normal all week and has done a brilliant job of not scratching.
Twilight Fern
Fern shot at twilight with tripod and speedlight off to the right of the image.
Nikon D70s, 18-70mm Lens, ISO 200, Nikon SB80DX Speedlight with SC-17 TTL Cable.
Couple More 360 Degree Panoramic Images
Alas the Nodal Ninja has gone back to its owner but here go another couple of pics.
Nikon D70s, 18-70mm Lens, ISO 200. Nodal Ninja and Tripod. 22 Images stitched in Photoshop
Darkhalide Photography 
Recent Comments