They Don't Make Them Like That Anymore..

For once, this is a different non-photo-lighting kind of rambling, but it is still rambling. As its the festive season, tv brings out all the delights that the post cinematic world has to offer and puts it to a largely drunk audience.. and for the ones that aren't drunk, we're probably wondering why the schedulers are showing us a load of crap.

And the answer to that is simple - the decade that give us some of the greatest films is long gone ... ah, the 1980s. I've probably had this conversation with everyone that has ever known me, but I can honestly say, that going into and out of the 1980s was Hollywood's golden year for me. During that decade, there were some of the greatest (western) films I've seen and continue to enjoy via DVDs, repeats etc.

D300 ICM camera profiles

There has been some discussion on the D300 flickr group about the camera ICM colour profile that is used for correct colour balance used in RAW editors such as Nikon's Capture NX or for use in ufraw.

Now, its probably only of interest for ufraw/gimp users that require the camera colour (ICM) profile. I was only able to find one reference on describing how to obtain the ICM profile.. and it involves using View NX (or Capture NX).

DIY PocketWizard Holder

After being inspired by Rui M Leal's PW holder I was always looking to replicate this for my own Manfrotto 026 umbrella adaptor.

[strobist] Balancing Twilight

This is the same setup as everything else particularly the balancing ambient setup. The only thing that we need to take care of is the rapidly dropping ambient.

[strobist] Balancing the Sun/Crosslighting

The sun during the day can be pretty hard to over power, but you dont need to be fighting this battle. In fact, you can use the sun to your advantage with cross lighting. And what is cross lighting? Its exactly what it sounds like.. you have 2 light sources pointing at each other.

[strobist] Balancing Ambient

Unless you are shooting at the golden hours (just after sunrise and just before sunset) then it will most likely be you will be turning to this technique -- your flash will become the main light for your subject and the ambient becomes fill.

[strobist] 101 in a Nutshell - The Starting Point

Whenever we are balancing for a scene the strobist site recommends the following the same basic strategy for all shots:

• get to max sync
• get correct exposure using aperature

[stobist] Learn it, Learn it now

There aren't many ways to control light using your camera.. you can change shutter, change the aperature and ermm, do both. But thats the great thing - thats it!! With one of these you have control of your lighting situation from camera.

Helping the Recession - PW PlusII

... and now i'm going to be broke for the next 3 months.

After spending a lot of time with my ebay/cactus v2 triggers, I finally decided that the misfires and unreliable nature of these very cheap triggers where enough to make me consider the PWs.

Yes it was painful, but I believe I read somewhere Michael J Fox saying (as he thuds his head off the road in Back to the Future) "pain is temporary, film is forever"

Now for the Science: The Very Basics - shutter speed/aperture/exposure/depth of field

Go back to basics: shutter speed, aperture and ISO

Its a Start..

This is really a set of online bookmarks for my current interests.. and a way for me to track progress.

For now, the thing that I've got myself hooked on this getting the best out of my photos.

Ever taken a photograph of you/your friends at an event (birthday dinner etc) with your camera and 'click-bang' there you go .. A picture that has your face hit by white light and the background is, errm, black. Might have well as taken inside a cupboard as without the proper control you have no idea of what the context.

There was always something that annoyed me with pictures that turned out like this, with the lingering thought: why can't I have pics that look like the ones in the magazines? I used to think that this was the preserve of the "studio look" with their massive studio lights and endless hot women..

A big influence has been David Hobby's strobist site that taught us about lighting which opened up numerous new avenues and not just related to artificial lighting.

A new road .. addiction comes easy