beachc0mber's photostream  

I played around with this blue gelled strobe for ages, trying to get it just right. I'm still not entirely satisfied. I think I need to revisit Hector Rodriguez's stream and see how he uses those gels. That guy is an absolute genius with the old light modifiers!

Set up was my 24-70mm at 43mm (the filthiest lens ever, judging by the clean up) at a shutter speed of 1/200at f/7.1, ISO 50.

Strobist:
SB600 through soft box camera left on 1/2 power.
SB800 behind model, blue gel, on 1/2 power through a home made snoot (made out of a cigarette box).

When half term began this time last week I was sure that it would be the easiest week of Project 52 so far. Up to this point, all my portraits have been taken during term time and I was looking forward to having a whole week to get in touch with a model, plan my shoot, collaborate on a vision...

Instead, I got sick on Sunday and have scarcely recovered a week later. I have the most brutal cold sores; they're all down my throat and while I'm not vain, I am feeling awful about returning to work tomorrow looking like this. I feel marginally better, but it's slow going.

I was really lucky to be able to get a stand in model at the last minute.

Set up was my 24-70mm at 70mm at a shutter speed of 1/200 at f/7.1, ISO 50.

Strobist:
SB600 through soft box camera left on 1/2 power.
SB800 behind model, blue gel, on 1/2 power through a home made snoot (made out of a cigarette box).

I bid on this gorgeous film SLR a little while ago on eBay. I waited until one became available with a 35-70mm lens, because lots of the other listings were for a 50mm prime and I wanted something wide enough to enjoy landscapes. It came with a lens hood and filter (not pictured). It also came with the hard-body case it clips into.

When I first loaded film into this camera, I honestly felt like my stupid modern fingers weren't equipped for that manner of dexterity. Once I got it loaded I might as well have started a fire with a spark from a rock I was so pleased.

This camera dates to 1981, and while I was visiting with my parents the other day, my dad gave me a carrier bag filled with expired rolls of film! I have about 15 - and only 3 of them I actually bought myself!

Strobist:
SB600 through soft box camera right, on 1/4 power.
SB800 bare camera left, on 1/16 power.

This camera dates to 1979, according to the Internet. It places it's introduction to the USA to 1979, but as many countries are aware, America isn't the only country in the world so when it was introduced to the UK I don't know.

I actually won this camera on eBay by accident. I'd been watching it for a little while - purely because I thought it was an attractive body. When it got down to the last 2 minutes, I had the eBay sweats and prematurely bid on the item! FOOL! I brought a load of other bidders out of the woodwork and started a frenzy. I won this by a quid, but ended up paying a lot more for it than I thought I would.

However, I believe it's the most beautiful camera I've ever seen. It's got a 50mm f/1.9 prime on it, and the whole experience of film feels so very tactile. It came with film already inside and as shown - no neck strap, no lens cap, nada.

I love it already.

Strobist:
SB600 through soft box camera right, on 1/4 power.
SB800 bare camera left, on 1/16 power.

Aled, contrary to his protestations that Valentine's Day is a 'Hallmark holiday' aimed at single people, brought me home an orchid last night, my favourite, after he'd worked a 12 hour shift.

I'm kind of into him.

Sigma 105mm f/2.8 at f/6.3, 1/100, ISO50.

Strobist:
SB600 through soft box camera right on 1/4 power, 24mm.
SB800 through shoot through umbrella camera left on 1/32 power, 50mm.

In less romantic news, I've been having some problems with my SB800 slaving recently. As soon as I'd turn it on, I couldn't get it to enter SU4 mode; but when I'd take the batteries out and reset the thing it would work fine - until I needed it!

This had been frustrating me for a while, but today I figured it out. I'd been using a new umbrella bracket that I bought on eBay, and instead of the cold shoe that my old one had, it had a metal hotshoe. I was getting the SB800 to slave fine when it was off the stand, and that gave me the clue that there was a problem with the umbrella bracket.

I switched the umbrella bracket to the cold shoe that I used to use, and it slaved fine! I'm so pleased I figured this out; I thought I was going to have to get another Pocket Wizard Plus II transceiver and trigger it separately. That's £120 saved!