Kirstein's photostream  

A boring still life photo.

I needed to test a reverse mounting of my camera on a tripod - so instead of the camera hovering above the three legs of the tripod, it was now hanging between the legs (that sounds as something else) enabling a clean and plan photo of the subject placed on the floor directly under the main axis of the tripod.
I was handholding two Speedlights (SB-600 and SB-900) controlled with PWs. The power of the flash units was managed by the PocketWizard AC3 unit (SB-900 = Group A / SB-600 = Group B). The camera was set to time lapse release of 5 sec and I used my cable release Nikon MC-36 to focus and release the camera which gave me time to drop the cable release a grab the flash units before they went of.

Nikon D300, AF 50mm f/1.4D - ISO 200
Exposure: 1/125 at f/11 with 0 EV

On my blog - KIRSTEIN'S SHUTTER BUG - you can read about this photo, and how I transfer it from a RAW snap shot to a usable photo using the histogram as basis for setting the correct exposure and white balance.

Today I couldn't find any inspiration or ideas for the daily photograph. I'm tired after 2 hours of spinning and I have a cold. Hmfffff.

So I Chose to test the Lightscoop Warm flash bouncer unit together with a Nikon MC-36 remote cable release unit attached to my Nikon D300. In this way I could position my self in front of the camera and auto focus by pressing the "release" botton on the MC-36 and take the photo by pressing full. A very smart little cable release unit this Nikon MC-36.

This is the photograph - I must apologize for my appearance but here we go. In LR3 I dropped the saturation a bit and made a few other small corrections (needed :-) )-

Another day with interesting meetings. While visiting central Copenhagen for a meeting I walked to the nearby Skuespilhus - (House of Acting) - an architectural master piece placed alongside the harbour front and just opposite the even more impressive Opera building. The sun was shining from a blue sky and the temperature was minus 1 degree C. Perfekt weather for photographing.

Shooting against the sun is often difficult, but by watching the histogram for highlight clippings and dialing in the right amount of EV I managed to get a decent photograph where it was only necessary to add some light to the shadow areas. Otherwise only sharpening has been applied.

Nikon D300 with AF 20mm f/2.8D. ISO 200.
Exposure: 1/800 af f/11 - 1/3 EV

Another day where I'm testing an old lens. This time it is a ELICAR Automatic MC f=135mm 1:2.8 with serial number 800649 - Nikon F-mount. I can't find much information about this lens other that is was manufactured by Komine - a Japanese lens maker - and it should be extremely sharp. The build quality is very good and the lens comes with a built in lens hood.

My Nikon D300 with the lens was mounted on a tripod and the Nikon cable release MC-36 was connected to the D300. Again I used "Mirror Up" mode for optimal sharpness. To the right of the subject I placed a SB-900 with a 1/2 CTB (I just love this gel) and a narrow beam honeycomb from Honl Photo. The flash was fired with a PW's. In manual mode I chose a shutter of /125 sec and then played around with the aperture ring on the lens while gazing at the display for clippings. WB was set to Cloudy (warm in contrast to the blue gel) and ISO to 200. After some experimenting I dialed in -2/3 EV and hit the right exposure.

I must say I find this lens generates a very sharp photo and there is no vignetting at all. It could become a perfect portrait lens!