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Photo of the Day - January 2019

“Snow Camel”
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mollyc said:
P52 | Guilty pleasures

I am following prompts on another forum, and this would not be my first choice. But then I realized as I was shooting this today, that my thought process of the diptychs and the actual setup of a macro image with a strobe was the culmination of a series of workshops I took through that site last year, and that all those thing really do add up to the perfect storm of a guilty pleasure of shooting and flowers and imagery.

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Great images @mollyc. Are you using one or two strobes and do you use any light modifiers? Please do tell - it appears that you're doing an outstanding job of controlling the light in your shots.

~ Peter
 
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Cheese&Apple said:
Great images @mollyc. Are you using one or two strobes and do you use any light modifiers? Please do tell - it appears that you're doing an outstanding job of controlling the light in your shots.

~ Peter
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Thank you, Peter! What high praise to come from you. I actually happen to have a pullback. The angle is a bit odd here, I should have taken it more straight on, but with the tilt of the beauty dish, the bottom edge is basically inline with the table edge, and the top edge of the dish is right over the table, so the flowers are really underneath the light, very close to it.

I used an Alien Bee 800 at 1/32 power with a beauty dish. Just one light. I took an OCF workshop last month that really kind of set off some lightbulb moments for me, and while I've used strobes in the past for macro work, I do think my recent attempts are better than previous, just building on some of the knowledge I learned in the class. :)

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Matz said:
The overall photo is beautiful, but my eye is particularly drawn to that fine dry-stack wall. I’ve built several, and in the process have learned enough to appreciate them more fully.
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Cheers Matz. Dry stone walls are pretty common in these parts but that certainly takes nothing away from the skills needed to build them to last. Unfortunately a dying trade so kudos to you for helping to keep it alive.
 
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mollyc said:
Thank you, Peter! What high praise to come from you. I actually happen to have a pullback. The angle is a bit odd here, I should have taken it more straight on, but with the tilt of the beauty dish, the bottom edge is basically inline with the table edge, and the top edge of the dish is right over the table, so the flowers are really underneath the light, very close to it.

I used an Alien Bee 800 at 1/32 power with a beauty dish. Just one light. I took an OCF workshop last month that really kind of set off some lightbulb moments for me, and while I've used strobes in the past for macro work, I do think my recent attempts are better than previous, just building on some of the knowledge I learned in the class. :)

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Thanks for sharing this. Wish I could upvote it more. Light is extremely important for photography. It's easy to get caught up in gear (meaning cameras and lenses) while ignoring the gear (i.e. lighting) that makes or breaks studio shots. Talking about lighting is less sexy than talking about cameras/lenses. Learning lighting can be intimidating and requires practice/work. But for many types of images, lighting is much, much more important than what camera you used or what lens you used ;)
[doublepost=1547961223][/doublepost]Off-camera flash bounced off the ceiling with a speed light. Quasi-snapshot.

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mollyc said:
Thank you, Peter! What high praise to come from you. I actually happen to have a pullback. The angle is a bit odd here, I should have taken it more straight on, but with the tilt of the beauty dish, the bottom edge is basically inline with the table edge, and the top edge of the dish is right over the table, so the flowers are really underneath the light, very close to it.

I used an Alien Bee 800 at 1/32 power with a beauty dish. Just one light. I took an OCF workshop last month that really kind of set off some lightbulb moments for me, and while I've used strobes in the past for macro work, I do think my recent attempts are better than previous, just building on some of the knowledge I learned in the class. :)

View attachment 816496
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kallisti said:
Thanks for sharing this. Wish I could upvote it more. Light is extremely important for photography. It's easy to get caught up in gear (meaning cameras and lenses) while ignoring the gear (i.e. lighting) that makes or breaks studio shots. Talking about lighting is less sexy than talking about cameras/lenses. Learning lighting can be intimidating and requires practice/work. But for many types of images, lighting is much, much more important than what camera you used or what lens you used ;)
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Thank you for the reply Molly and I'll second kallisti's comments.

With the help of a knowledgeable photography friend I've been trying to learn more about off camera lighting, modifiers, studio set-ups, portraiture, etc. As kallisti said, it can be intimidating but I find it very interesting. Creating light is a whole lot different than waiting for that perfect moment of light to happen.

Thanks again Molly. :)
 
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Lighting is a nightmare! Do I move it closer? increase the power? Change the angle? Add a modifier? Modify my exposure?

I don’t do much of it (which doesn’t help). But when I do it’s not a quick process!
 
Cheers a2jack. Not as difficult as it might sound since the sunlight was already diffused by coming through the trees. Direct, full sun is more of a problem with lens flare and poor contrast although some lenses are better than others. Key for this type of effect (and also to get sun stars if that is what you are after) is to just let the sun peek out from behind some obstacle - in this case a tree. Hope this helps.
 
Apple fanboy said:
Lighting is a nightmare! Do I move it closer? increase the power? Change the angle? Add a modifier? Modify my exposure?

I don’t do much of it (which doesn’t help). But when I do it’s not a quick process!
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Cheese&Apple said:
Thank you for the reply Molly and I'll second kallisti's comments.

With the help of a knowledgeable photography friend I've been trying to learn more about off camera lighting, modifiers, studio set-ups, portraiture, etc. As kallisti said, it can be intimidating but I find it very interesting. Creating light is a whole lot different than waiting for that perfect moment of light to happen.

Thanks again Molly. :)
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For some reason I have a much easier time with a strobe than a speedlight, even though it is exactly the same process. I guess maybe because my strobes have modeling lights, but they really don't make much of a difference.
 
mollyc said:
For some reason I have a much easier time with a strobe than a speedlight, even though it is exactly the same process. I guess maybe because my strobes have modeling lights, but they really don't make much of a difference.
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I have speedlights, macro speedlights and a couple of Westcott light sticks. Oh and a Rotolight Neo. But it mostly stays in the cupboard. Unless I set up the light tent like the tin of tea I shot a few weeks back.
 
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