Taking the umbrella outside of the studio

I've been reading strobist for a while now and learned a ton of techniques on shooting with flash inside and outside of the studio but I never really tried much of it outside of my studio.

Since I was carrying a ton of equipment for my photo trip to Sunset Park, I thought that I would try my first shot using an umbrella outside the studio. Wow what a difference! Definitely carrying the light stand with me next time I go out. Absolutely worth the extra bit of weight!

Technical info: Canon 580EX mounted on light stand with a studio umbrella from below (as the second light source in contrast to the backlight from the sun), remote via Canon ST-E2 on Canon 10D body mounted on a tripod. Shot with Canon 24-70 f2.8L lens. Self-portraits triggered using Canon Timer Remote Control TC-80N3.

Mac Farr (MMF) for the Ideal Husbands project.







Happy Together: SML + MMF for the Kiss project.



Kiss: SML + MMF for the Kiss project.



+ SML Flickr Sets: SML Men
+ SML Projects: Ideal Husbands
+ SML Projects: Kiss

MMF / SML

Magical things happen when love is in the air. Also see full set on SML Flickr: MMF / SML

Technical info: handheld Canon 580EX from left, remote via Canon ST-E2 on Canon 10D body mounted on a tripod. Shot with Canon 24-70 f2.8L lens.

MMF at Deadyard in SML Studio


MMF at Deadyard in SML Studio


Kiss: SML + MMF at Deadyard in SML Studio


Kiss: SML + MMF at MMF home. Shot with the Canon SD 850IS


Related SML
+ SML Flickr Sets: SML BW 李思明黑白攝影
+ SML Flickr Sets: SML Men
+ SML Projects: Ideal Husbands
+ SML Projects: Kiss

Chelsea Art Galleries Openings

After the positive experience with Aaron Johnson (Flickr / SML Flickr / Twitter) first at the Chelsea tour then at the Eastern State Penitentiary, I joined up with Aaron again on 2009-09-10 to check out the art galleries openings in Chelsea.

All photographs taken with:
+ Canon 10D
+ Canon EF 24-70 f2.8L: my current everywhere lens
+ Canon 580EX

See description on Flickr regarding detailed information about the pieces.

Art, artists and art openings crashers

More Ideal Husbands found while touring

For the SML Ideal Husbands project. Aaron spotted him:

Eastern State Penitentiary

Eastern State Penitentiary (Wikipedia) is considered one of America's most historic former prisons. It was the world's first true penitentiary, a prison designed to inspire penitence - or true regret - in the hearts of criminals. the original seven cellblocks spread like the spokes of a wheel, and had running water and central heat before the White House.

Its vaulted, sky-lit cells held many of America's most notorious criminals, including bank robber "Slick Willie" Sutton and "Scarface" Al Capone. The prison stands today in ruin, a haunting world of crumbling cellblocks and a surprising, eerie beauty.

I had a chance to visit the place thanks because Novaid Kahn (Flickr:numbphoto / SML Flickr) offered to drive me there. The day before the trip, I met up with Aaron Johnson (Flickr:Erotocrat / SML Flickr) for the first time, and I asked him to come along.

Check out the full set on Flickr. Detailed description of the photos are included on the Flickr photo page. Here are some highlights.

Hallway

Hub at the Center

Typical cell

The cell of Al Capone

Abstracts

HDR

The extreme lighting condition at the Eastern State Penitentiary (Flickr set) makes a fine candidate of creating some HDR photos. I'm glad that I brought my tripod!

ESP Photo Trip Camera Bag

See Flickr notes for equipment details

Novaid Kahn

Aaron Johnson

SML Me!

Photo Credit: Aaron Johnson

Related SML
+ SML Collections: SML Location
+ SML Flickr Sets: Eastern State Penitentiary
+ SML Flickr Tags: Eastern State Penitentiary

Multi Strobes

I've done multi-strobes before. But only in the studio, and always with a tripod.

Tonight I went to see Arthur's Landing and I took some photographs. The place is completely dark and I'm using my flash. The dynamic energy and motion of the musicians were lost, so I thought to myself, why not try it out with multi-strobes - it's silly to get the 580EX and just stick it on with TTL all the time.

So here it is. Hand-held at a live event, with no tripod, trying to hold the camera still while setting the flash to multi at 10Hz. It's pretty clear that I couldn't really hold still, as there are double-image of the drums, but the musician's motion were captured. I will definitely shoot more in multi-strobes in the future.



The event
Arthur's Landing
Genre: Pop / Experimental / House
A celebration of musical genius Arthur Russell
www.myspace.com/arthurslanding

About Arthur Russell
Wikipedia: Arthur Russel (musician)

Charles Arthur Russell, Jr. (May 21, 1951 – April 4, 1992) was an American cellist, composer, singer, and disco artist. While he found the most success in dance music, Russell's career bridged New York's downtown, rock, and dance music scenes; his collaborators ranged from Philip Glass to David Byrne to Nicky Siano. Relatively unknown during his lifetime, a series of reissues and compilations have raised his profile in the 2000s.

Related SML
+ SML Flickr Tags: Arthur's Landing
+ SML Pro Blog: Arthur's Landing

Gay Pride New York 2008

It was pouring so hard that I missed the parade this year, but I did managed to photograph the other events during pride week. Because of the weather, I shot most of these at ISO 800. Although quite grainy when viewed at 1:1, the photographs were fine at screen resolution scaled down.

As in my previous experience, for shooting events with a lot of crowd, zooming all the way into the expression of folks far outweigh the necessity to show the costume and such.

Here are some highlights:

Coney Island Mermaid Parade 2008

Ever since I went to the Coney Island Mermaid Parade in 2007 for the first time, I have been waiting for my second opportunity to photograph this event again. Here are some highlights from today's event.

Related Flickr Sets
+ Coney Island Mermaid Parade 2008
+ Coney Island Mermaid Parade 2007

SML in Motion

Having more fun with multi-strobes today:









Here's the setup:

Strobist Info
+ Canon ST-E2 on camera for focusing + flash control
+ Canon 10D: Manual: ISO 100 70mm f/4.0 1/2 sec
+ Canon 580EX on light stand with umbrella set to 1/32 power 8 exposure at 10Hz



Related SML Flickr Tags
+ Experiment
+ Multi-strobe

Related SML Universe
+ SML Me
+ SML Photo Blog

© 2008 See-ming Lee (Blog / Facebook / Flickr / LinkedIn / Network / Orkut / Twitter / Wiki)