drizzlecombe's photostream  

January 7th, 2011 - sort of. It's been a hectic day, but I did want to post something fun, and a wee bit frivolous. Since this seems to represent the workings of my mind right now, it seems very appropriate!

LX5 8 seconds @ f/8, ISO 100.

A picture of a picture in the making. This is the view down through my Hasselblad 500c/m. I like the fact that the fruit is very soft focused, and has an almost illustrated tone and quality to it. The graininess of the etchings on the focusing screen adds to this effect.

It was pretty interesting putting this shot together. The fruit was arranged (roughly) on a black blanket on our kitchen island. This surface has halogen spots arranged above it, and provided all the direct lighting. The Hasselblad was mounted on one tripod angled at about 15º downwards some 2 feet from the subject's subject ;-). That short distance was outside the closest focusing limit of the 80mm lens on the 'blad, but I liked the softness of the fruit. I started trying to get the shot straight down on the 'blad, but that was way meant it was very awkward to look in the view finder of the 40D, and also required that I handheld the shot. Not feasible, due to the dim lighting, and me blocking the overhead lights too!

Then I had the idea of I flipping the 'blad on it's side in the ballhead it was occupying. That way I could mount the 40D on another tripod pointing directly at the viewfinder of the Swedish Brick. That's why the fruit appears sideways. This arrangement also had the benefit of easily putting a diffuser over the Hasselblad to prevent it's gleaming chrome from, err, gleaming, and I could use another hand to fill in light from the bottom right with a reflector. Whew!

6th January, 2011

Canon 40D, 100mm macro lens. 3/5sec @ f/2.8, ISO 100. Top light through a diffuser, with light reflected in to the bottom right using a silver reflector.

Since it was a damp, misty evening, and getting a bit late, staying indoors was definitely on the cards. I was tossing up between doing some light painting or still life: both of which I've done just a little bit of, but rather enjoy. Since I've done a bit of light painting recently, it seemed reasonable to twiddle with a quiet arrangement of something or other. But what? Then I had an idea ...

For some reason, Flickr is rendering this picture a bit darker than I see it on my computer. Oh well - doesn't look too bad large.

January 5th, 2011

Canon 40D, 100mm macro, 1/13th sec @ f/2.8 onto ISO 100. Top light through diffuser.

I have quite a few pictures I've taken in and around Powell's Books here in Portland. There's always somebody or something interesting in there. I don't know why, perhaps since Powells is always such a cosy place and that thought counteracts today's chilliness, it seems about the right time to start gathering them up in a series, so that's exactly what I'm going to do: digital, pinhole, the lot.

January 1st, 2011.
LX5

A quick jaunt across the river during my lunchtime found me at the Salmon Street fountain area. I don't know why the city don't just leave them running ... when it's this cold, and ice could easily form today, there was noone there to slip over!

4th January 2011
LX5 1/500th sec @ f/8 and ISO 800. Stopped down 1/3 of a stop