Sunday 26 May 2013

Year-book assignment, sorta

The location? A Taekwando gym. I think it was a black belt presentation ceremony or something similar. The whites were placed on the mat to reduce the red reflections on the subject.

The catch? The belt and the name on it should be visible, and most of my clients were kids or teens. The routine: a single shot, a family shot and one with the instructors.

As my friend put it, this was not a particularly difficult assignment. Just that I don't really like working with people, and giving orders to pose people really isn't working with me. I like spontaneous, and would follow the subject.

Now that's where the problem lied. I missed at least 2 kids' names, and the height of the shortest kid actually caught me off guard, though luckily I think the shot would still pass. The whole session went very fast, so I didn't actually have the luxury of reviewing the shots (anyway I don't have the habit too). So if I missed it in the viewfinder, probably I will miss the shots.

So what now? Obviously back to the desktop to see if there are ways to patch: Photoshop! Luckily for me, it is still pretty workable and took me two nights. Hope I wouldn't have to work this anymore...

P.S. wonder how effective the mirror at the side is as a huge reflector?

Saturday 25 May 2013

A Slime draws near!

Intended as a parody ;) Been scouting a ideal setting for the shot, finally came across a candidate while walking back after a friend dropped me off after a drink. Good things just pop up unexpectedly, don't they?

A very easy shot, hardest part being walking to the location under the intense heat of the day. Crazy weather this time of the year.

Location is actually shot against a highway at the back, but luckily the trees managed to block everything and cars flashing by are not that obvious ;)

Only two shots were taken, this being the first. The light and the location was almost so perfect, I don't even have to use the reflector or the flash that I carried, though the polarizer was used. The only post-processing was just a minor horizon fix, some contrast push. The focal length was about 50mm; if I knew earlier, I would have brought the Lensbaby as well.

Next was to get the command boxes in. Copied them from a jpeg in wiki, a little copy and paste, cutting here and there, and tada, the end result at the top ;)

A planned shot for Vesak

Technically not a difficult shot, but getting that yellow glow the way I want was. What I thought could be fixed in 30 min took over an hour ;(

The setup: 1 flash with a golden yellow gel and another lean in close to the subject, zoomed at the tele end (probably 85 or 105mm). Triggered wireless, since I shot this on the D3.

Didn't notice that the washing machine was reflecting the yellow light until I took a picture of the setup! Maybe I should do it earlier next time as a check for other surprises...