It is dangerous to walk around in the garden, when Lias is in charge of the hose. Good thing the 7D is nicely sealed...
This shot turned out a little bit different than I had in mind. I wanted to do a hyperfast flash sink, but found out that this doesn't work with the built in flash as a master - and there was no second Canon flash around (left it in the office). So no total freeze, but therefor interesting experience with glas and reflexions and a nice waterflower top right.
Making of here.
Light: 2 SB26 at 1/4 power, 85mm camera left, 1m and 1.5m high, one SB24 right, same setting, 1.4m high, 580EX at 1/16, 24mm in a 60cm Softbox with 1/4 CTS, 1.2m left and slightly infront of subject, pointing down from 1.4m, skyport and optical trigger (one SB26)
31.8.11
30.8.11
Martin - had to reed out loud - which made him laugh. We were testing softboxes with and without diffusers, grids etc.
You can see a pattern on the right side, which comes from a 60cm Softbox without diffuser, but with a grid.
Light: SB26 at 1/8 power, 85mm, 4:00, in a 60cm softbox without diffuser, but with a grid, skyport
28.8.11
Our 12 wedding day!
I am in the nice situation, that I still think it was one of the best decisions I ever took to mary Bettina.
The rest is left to your imagination.
Light: 2 SB 26 from 4:00 and 8:00, 1/32 power, 85mm, skyports.
27.8.11
Dramathic sky as softbox for a dramtic UBS KIDS CUP.
Lias finished 9th of all Kids his age in Kanton BL doing athletics (or the UBS Kids Cup), alltough he was not very good at throwing the ball - he even changed hands just before the throw...
Light: Sky (with Ts-E 45)
26.8.11
Laurent and Nathalie - on their way home. A strangers portraiture (siblings) after installing the lights with my 9 year old son Simon. I like their serious and straight forward expression.
Thank you for modelling - send me a mail to receive your pictures.
Making of here.
Light: SB26 in a lumiquest III, 1/8 power,1/4 CTS, from 7:00 and at his hairhight, hairlight (and shadow on the wall - pink floyd?) is a EX430, 1/64, 105mm, 11:00, bare, 3m behind them and from above their heads, Skyports
25.8.11
Selfportrait in Rodin style (the thinker).
Light: SB26, 1/8 power, 24mm, in a (new) Apollo 28'' softbox from 4:00, Skyport
24.8.11
Watering - a easy way to make things grow. It would be nice if you could water your own (photografic) skills to make them take the next step.
Setup here.
Light: Balance at sunset, DIY mini beautydish from 3:00 with SB26, 1/2 power, and SB26 with snoot as hairlight from 10:00 (hitting my neck and shoulders instead, which is easier), 1/16 power, 85mm,
skyports, whitebalance on cloudy
23.8.11
I tried some thngs tonight but they wouldnt work today as I wished. So you get all pro bad guy actor myself slowly going nuts in the heat of the night looking for a sujet.
Light: SB26, 1/4 power, 1 CTB, 70mm from 50cm left 9:00, on a sc17 cable.
20.8.11
I was to exausted today to shoot something else - we had flea market in our village today and were selling old stuff and buying similar things again - in very hot conditions. Look at the singers - they are all wearing camel backs with water.
Light: AL = 2 stage lights and some background lights.
19.8.11
Salome said, that she is a fotogenic - maybe she was joking, but that got her to be the model of today - and she was right. I had a quick stranger shooting with her - 13 pictures from beginning to end, 7 of them selected.
There was no time left to tell me what she does or what I should write, because she had to catch the bus (the location is the bus station - I am often in that area on fridays, have a look before my south Africa trip - because I get a free hour waiting for my son Lias to finish athletic training).
So thank you Salome for stepping in.
Send me a mail and you will get your picture.
Light: 430EX, 24mm, 1/2 power, 1/4 CTS in a lumiquest III, 4:00, maybe 50cm from her face.
See the pullback picture here.
18.8.11
It is quit late, so I decided to show my fatigue in the car. I hat my Tilt Shift Lens on, which didn't make things easier. Then it even startet to rain, see the shadwos of raindrops on my head.
Light AL and 430EX on a ETTL Cable lying at 3:00, poiting upwards.
17.8.11
Flour catching.
I don't really know why I decided to make a mess with flour in the kitchen after midnight but I did.
I saw some speed flash pictures with ballon with flour inside exploding severeal months ago, maybe that inspired me.
I timed a sequence of 10 shots with 10sec ibetween to gather some flour from the surface and tried to clap on 10, then started to throw the flower on 9, what gave me the right shot, because my hands are open to catch some light.
Please leave a comment - I am in a lean period at the moment with my 365 - and need some interaction, to keep my motivation up.
Making of here.
Light: Two SB26 left and right (3:00 and 9:00) 50cm above hands, 85mm, 1/8 power, black straw grids, skyports.
16.8.11
So look out for sound to come aswell. I will inform you here when things get started on our homepage.
By the way, this ist the Zoom recorder H1 with similar mics like the famous H4.
Light: SB26 with a snoot from a little tripod on the table, 85mm, 1/8 power with a black straw grid, triggerd by sc-17 nikon cable, white paper right of H1 as a small reflector.
15.8.11
Lias will start to play oboe tomorrow. He is discovering this interesting instrument here. I don't know why, but both our sons have choosen to learn to play oboe after a instrument presentation at the local music school. We don't listen to a lot of classic music. But they liked the tone of it and gave up their plans (for now) to play the guitar or the fagot. And I think they are not even influenced by each other.
Light: SB26 1/2power, 24mm in a 50cm Softbox from 4 o'clock, slightly from above his head, Skyport
Silver reflector behind him, to lighten up the red Instrument case.
14.8.11
Back to strobist kind of photography combined with a bit of South Africa design. I am wearing my souvenir T-shirt, Bettina paper neckless, my own neckless and a bowl.
Making of here.
Light: 580EX in a Orbis as fill around lens, 24mm, full power, SB26 in a lumiquest III boomed overhead from 2 o'clock slightly behind me, 1/2 power, 24mm, SB26 full power, 24mm on a white curtain in the background.
13.8.11
Very tired after a bithday party at my sisters home. I am in bed snapping this picture with my iphone to keep the blog running. Good night.
Light: reading lamp from iphone left.
12.8.11
Wild animals often look harmless. In Africa, more accidents occur with hippos than with lions. Its jaw can extend 170 degrees, as you can see here. I saw these two scenes in the zoo today - a very funny feeling beeing in the zoo today, looking at animals we had seen in Africa just a few days ago.
This is a small photoshop dissolve picture of todays two to three pictures I made.
I think, that I will soon return to more strobist pictures.
Light: AL
11.8.11
Resocializing in Switzerland. I am working myself through quit a culture shock after returning from South Africa to Switzerland. Everything seems to be tidy but boring. So washing clothes is the logical thing to do to resocialize in a proper manner.
Light: AL Eveningsun
10.8.11
Contrast program arriving in Europe again. I couldn't resisit to shoot this toddler playing with his ipad on our way home in a Tramway in Basel without the permission of the parent. Theirefore I shot it secretly out of my hip.
I think it was a Indian kid - no wonder they out-compete us in programming computers.
Light: AL
9.8.11
Saying goodbye again. Marc and Tanja, with a smiling and a sad eye, are waving us goodbye at Cape Town airport. They have been our perfect hosts, entertainers, tourist guids, friends, knowledge brokers, chefs, drivers, nannys etc. - thank you so much for everything - there have been so many things I don't dare to start listing them, in order not to forget one - Enkosi kakhulu.
Light: AL
8.8.11
Marc and Tanjas House - where we had a wonderful accomodation during the last two weeks. Thank you. Very much. Thanks.
Light: 430EX with 1/2 CTS, ETTL fired backwards 24mm into the corner behind me, SB26 triggered opticaly, 24mm, 1/16 power with cup to spread the light from the kitchen counter onto the sofa.
7.8.11
My younger son is trying to make a fire like the san - our san guide Ivan had just shown us how to use the hard and the soft stick to do so.
LIght: AL + built in flash (+ 1EV)
6.8.11
This is the leopard (in Africas golden hour) we never saw. If you ar a good spotter, you might find out how many animals are hiding in the gras.
Thank you Lias and SImon for providing me with your souvenir zoo animals of stone, wood, plastic and wire.
Making of and answer here.
Light: SB26 with 2 CTOs from 4 o'clock, 50mm, 1/4 power, gobo infront of foreground-gras, ambient -1 2/3 stops
5.8.11
Babie was our gide today to take us to a Townshiptour, which was very impressing. We drank beer in a dark shack, visited a daycare center, looked into houses, ate in a buy and braai (restaurant) and went wo see the township hospital, where Tanja works. And a lot more (like meeting a sangoma - but that is another story).
These are sheephead ready to be cooked, lying on a table, outdoor, next to the street - they call them smiley, because their limps shrink while beeing cooked, what makes them show their teeth.
Light: AL
4.8.11
Archeological work with a dentist drill - seen in the Iziko South African Museum in a glass vitrin like room.
This women is cleaning a dinosaur bown part.
Rainy winter day at last.
Light: AL
3.8.11
This was my first time to see whales and there were quit a lot. They come to the coast of South Afirca to mate and birth (a year later).
4 whales with quite impressing 80 tons curiously interrupted their "dancing" mate ritual to approach to the boat to have a look at us (beeing +/- 18m long).
Light: AL
2.8.11
The i-p-k.co.za people do interesting work councelling NGOs around the world. So have a look at their homepage.
Remember that the picture is more or less out of cam, because of the lack of software here.
Light: AL from 11 o'clock, changing alot between cloudy and strong africa sun, SB26 on a Tripod through a umbrella left just out of the frame, 430EX right and handheld by VAL (voice activated lightstand) with 1/4 CTO and in a Lumiquest III right as Mainlight, both flashes firing hard (1/2 and full power) and triggered by Syports.
1.8.11
Actually I wanted to have somebody sitting on the table / under the lamp (preferable naked or with some neet cloths on) but coulden't find a volunteer tonight :-)
I am preparing for the shooting tomorrow and had a relaxed day at a beautyfull beach after talking things over with my client.
Light: SB26 in a Cup, optical triggered, 1/16 power at 85mm, shooting straight upwards (:-), triggered by the built in 7D flash set to low power