Monday, September 26, 2011

Looking Into The Sun


Shooting into the sun can produce some very dramatic effects and present some difficult exposures for you. I use the sun as a design element, which plays an important part in the overall composition of the image.

An exposure from an image like the one shown above would most likely be something like, 1/250th @ f/22.0 at ISO 100. I really like getting that star effect off the sun, the only way to get this effect is to use a steep or deep aperture like f/22.0, f/16.0, or f/11.0. The steep or deeper the f-stop, the more the star effect.

The EXIF data on this image says that I shot this photo at 1/160th @ f/22.0. I used an SB-800 to lite my subject, and the flash way just outside of the frame of the image. If I am not mistaken, I think the flash was set to about 1/2 or 1/4 + 2/3. The flash had no modifier on it so it was a direct flash.


In the image above, my assistant John was on an adjacent tank on top with an SB-800. I used a Radio Popper to trigger the flash as I was not in line of sight of the flash. Often when shooting is strong sunlight, the CLS system falls short and a third party system is called for.


In the above photo, I had John stand next to me with a monopod extended in the air above the bent pipe with an SB-800 on it. From this position, I was able to use the Nikon CLS system to trigger my strobes.

I'm leaving for Europe today, I'll be giving 4 workshops in Austria and I also have a speaking engagement in Vienna for Nikon. I'm looking forward to this trip and I will try to post while on the road. Good shooting. DT

Monday, September 19, 2011

A Busy Few Weeks Ahead

I've been on the road quite a bit these past few weeks, and I have more travel ahead of me. I've been in East shooting stills and video for a new Oil & Gas client. This past week I was shooting in Pennsylvania, West Virgina, and Kentucky.

I was photographing various gas processing plants for my client, I visited 5 different plants on this trip. Shooting video is new to me, I was shooting mostly B-roll material with out sound. I actually had fun doing it, however I have no plans on developing it any further then the basics.

Here are a few images from this recent trip.










I'll be leaving for Austria next Monday, I have 4 workshops and a speaking engagement in Vienna for Nikon. I am very excited to be speaking to a large group of photography enthusiasts, let alone in Vienna. As I mentioned, I'll be holding 4 Small Strobes, Big Results workshops in Austria. You can find out more information about these workshop HERE.