Monday, September 26, 2011

{Self-Portrait Project} Contemplation

exposure: 1/10sec f/stop: 10 iso: 100

Hi everyone! At least twice every week, I get up at four in the morning to take some landscape photos. It's a lot of fun to do and even better at the beaches. It's so peaceful and quiet that I get to think and enjoy the morning air whilst taking photos. I don't think I'd ever get sick of doing this. 

This was a tough photo to take because I didn't have anyone to hold the tripod in case it got knocked over by the waves. My camera was set on a tripod with a graduated neutral density filter and a neutral density filter. I pre-focused and set a self timer for ten seconds and quickly ran to the rocks to do a pose. Time was against what I initially wanted to achieve in this photo because since the sun was rising, I had to increase my shutter speed to avoid overexposing the photo. I wanted a slower exposure to capture the motion of the waves so I'm not exactly happy with it and also because it was rushed but then again I'll be going to the beach again many times to redo it.

Gear used:
- Sony a350 with Carl Zeiss 24-70mm 2.8 lens attached
- Cokin graduated neutral density filter 8
- Cokin neutral density filter 8
- tripod

Monday, September 19, 2011

{Self-Portrait Project} Kitchen Levitation

exposure: 1/160sec f/stop: 7.1 iso: 100

Hi everyone! I originally had a different idea planned for this shot but I had to change to a different idea because I needed more time to prepare the other shot and time was something that I was short on. I then went onto planning my other idea in the kitchen but my lens wasn't wide enough (I wish I kept my 17-50mm lens). So here I am in the kitchen checking up on something that I am baking. 

My camera was set up on a tripod attached to a remote cable. There were two flashes used where one was in my oven with an orange gel and the other behind me, where both were triggered wirelessly. The shot is two photos in one where the first was just the kitchen background and the second was myself and then merged in photoshop.

Gear used:
- Sony a350 with Carl Zeiss 24-70mm 2.8 lens attached
- two flashes (HVL-F58AM & HVL-F43AM)
- remote cable
- tripod

{Self-Portrait Project} Smokey water

exposure: 1/4000sec f/stop: 8 iso: 100

Hi everyone! This is my first post of a double self-portrait for this week since I missed the previous week. The name of  this title says it all. I'm blowing what looks to be smoke out of my mouth. In fact, it is milk that I'm using to substitute for smoke and I must say it looks pretty cool. I got this idea from another photographer who did pretty much the same thing and I thought it was interesting to try out. All credits go to Patrick Taschler who originally did this. You can check it out here.

The photo was achieved by filling a fish tank with water. I set the camera on a tripod attached to a remote cable that I triggered and I had one flash used wirelessly to my right. I dunked my head in water with a mouth full of milk and I blew it out making the smokey effect. I also cleaned the image up in photoshop to get rid of some of the bubbles.
Gear used:
- Sony a350 with Tamron 90mm 2.8 lens attached
- one flash (HVL-F58AM)
- tripod
- remote cable

Monday, September 5, 2011

{Self-Portrait Project} Falling

exposure: 1/160sec f/stop: 8 iso: 100

Hi everyone! I'm going for something different in this week's self-portrait and after looking at some inspirational images and sites, I came up with this photo of me falling on my bed. These sort of photos are called levitation photography and they're pretty fun to do and set up. Don't be surprised if I do more photos like this in the future.

I took this photo with five shots merged together in photoshop. The first was just the background. The second was of me on a chair lying down on top. The third and fourth was of my two pillows and the fifth shot was a shot of a random running shoe. The camera was set up on a tripod with a remote cable to trigger and set on a two second delay. I was using an off camera flash with an orange gel attached sitting on one of my stands. 

Gear used:
- Sony a350 with Carl Zeiss 24-70mm 2.8 lens attached
- one flash with orange gel (HVL-F58AM)
- remote cable
- light stand with Manfrotto 026
- tripod