Santa Fe Workshop With Heisler

This past February I attended a workshop with Gregory Heisler at the Santa Fe Workshops in Santa Fe, NM. I had a wonderful week learning some new tricks and making new friends.

This photo was taken at the New Mexico state penitentiary just outside of Santa FE. This location is just wonderful to shoot at! The section of the prison that we photographed in was the scene of a prison uprising back in the early 80's.

In lighting this photo I wanted to simulate the old overhead lamps that where suspended from the ceiling in this hallway. I used an SB-800 on a boom above and just forward of the subject, I also had another SB-800 in the doorway on the left of the frame. The strobe in the doorway had the diffusion dome on it and was pointed away from the subject.

This photo show you what the location looked like before placing my subject and adding the lighting.




I also had the opportunity to be photographed seated in the old gas chamber at the prison. I managed to get cell phone service in there, allowing me the opportunity to call my wife and son. Strange, I know.

Another location we shot at was the Masonic/Scottish Rite Temple in Santa Fe. This was another wonderful location to shoot at. On this particular photo I changed my color balance to tungsten and used a small hot light to illuminate the subject. The light coming up from the bottom of the frame is that of a homemade "Home Depot" fluorescent lights.

If you have never done so, try to attend a workshop in Santa Fe! What a wonderful way to spend a week learning with other photographers and sharing photographic experiences with each other.

Cruising

Regular readers of this blog know that I bought a Canon G9 several months ago. I just love this camera, not only can I shoot video, It makes beautiful 12.1 mega pixel RAW files. I am just blown away by the quality of the images this little camera produces.

This past week I was on vacation in California, my family and some friends took a 3 day cruise from Los Angeles to Ensenada, MX, and we also spent an additional two days in San Diego and at my late father's home of Newport Beach. On this vacation, I took only the G9 to photograph with.

I thought this quick post will allow me some additional time to work on some more meaningful post about actual assignments I've been shooting. Anyway, thought you might enjoy seeing some of the images from this wonderful camera.

Back In The Saddle

Hi there. I want to thank all of you that have written me concerned about my absents from blogging, I assure you that my family and I are fine. I've just returned from a very busy month! 2 workshops, 2 job and a vacation. I attended a workshop in Santa Fe and one in Los Angeles. Between those workshops I managed to squeeze in a 3 day job shooting helicopter aerials in Vernal, UT and an underground shoot in a coal mine in Illinois just before my vacation.

We did manage to shoot video on both shoots and I will be post them when I have the time. I have another week before things will settle down to a normal pace for me. My sister is in town visiting, she arrived at the airport at the same time that my family and I arrived at the airport on our return from our vacation. Once her visit is complete, I'll be able to resume my somewhat normal schedule of posting to my blog.

I have some exciting things going on in my life that I am looking forward to sharing with you when I can. When events come together I'll let you know. In the meantime, I look forward to new posts and hearing from you.

Thanks for hanging in there. DT

D-70 Infrared Conversion

I had mentioned on an earlier post that I had converted my old back-up camera a Nikon D70 to Infrared. I am absolutely thrilled with the results. I did the conversion myself with the help of a tutorial from Life Pixel.

I read on their web site that the Nikon D70 was one of the simplest digital cameras to convert to infrared. I purchased Life Pixel's custom glass Infrared filter to replace the hotmirror I was taking out. You can read the whole process HERE.

The whole process of the conversion took about 40 minutes, I did have to re-open the camera a few times to make a better connection of some of the electronics. One of the neat things about the conversion is that you no longer need to shoot through a dark Infrared R72 filter to produce an infrared image.

I use to use an older Olympus snap and shoot to shoot IR photos using the R72 filter method. You needed a tripod to shoot as the exposures where very long, often having to focus the camera before putting the dark filter on.

With this new conversion the image in the viewfinder is clear as normal and you don't have the the density of the R72 filter to effect your shutter speeds. I can hand hold the camera or just have shutter speeds fast enough to freeze the movement of plants and trees from the wind.

Here are a few more images from Florida. I look forward to winter ending here in Colorado so I can shoot more images.

The Voice Activated Light Stand

Erik calls himself a voice activated light stand when he's holding a strobe in this manner.

It was an overcast morning when workers started to work in the field at the San Jose, California Airport. The movement around the concrete pillars was fast and less than stationary. By having Erik move with the subject and keeping the same distance, I was able to place light where it was needed. Because of the loud construction taking place in the area, I decided to use the Nikon Command Unit SU-800 to fire the strobe. I was able to control the flash output from my position behind the camera.

Here are a few images using the V.A.L.S.

Erik was holding the strobe just below and to the left of the worker on the concrete pillar.





I'm working on some video from this shoot for you, I'll post it when I'm done with it. DT