The Wet Look

Black/Gray/Gold Rollerclip Ballpoint Pen
by Manta Designs (http://www.mantadesigns.com)

This is really REALLY cool. The only thing I'd change is the color of the "sky". It should be bluer.

Using old non-Ai lenses.

Fountain Pen Nib
Shot with Nikon D80 and 55mm f3.5 Micro non-Ai lens
on adapter made from extension tubes

There are some great lenses out there for dirt cheap. I mean REALLY cheap. If they were made before 1977, they had slightly different mounts and aperture controls. Newer bodies are unable to mount these lenses without damaging the lens and/or body. That includes my Nikon D80.

Tamron AF28-80 F/3.5-5.6

Tamron AF28-80 F/3.5-5.6
Nikon Mount

This lens came in the mail earlier this week. I've been down with the flu so have only spent a few hours (over the past two days, when I'm lucid) working with it. It was purchased from Adorama for $70. It's new with a USA 6-year Tamron warranty.

Reflectasol and the DIY Softbox

Stuffed Starfish.
This is *NOT* made of chocolate!

Working through learning to use strobes, I've been using various combinations of hard strobes, paper reflectors, ceiling and wall bounces, and my old Reflectasol umbrella/folding reflector.

I never got the soft even light I was shooting for. Nothing seemed to get there for me. Until I can create it, I can't control it. I was about ready to blow some money on a softbox or shoot-through umbrella.

Sensor Noise and ISO Settings

 

As I've been playing with lighting and exposure with the Nikon D80, I noticed something disturbing. When looking at a photo at full 100% resolution, I saw large amounts of noise. No clean lines, no sharp edges, no solid dark colors.

This bothered me. I triple-checked my ISO setting (100) and was still seeing it. Then I happened to look at my EXIF information. My photos were being shot at ISO 1600! GAH!

Turns out that while I was specifying my ISO setting, the camera had a setting deep in the menus for Auto ISO. And it was ON.

One light + a Mirror

VW Bus
Model by Malibu International LTD

Two posts back I talked about putting the optically triggered booster strobe in a Magic Silo. (See HERE if you missed it.) I showed it being used by itself with a lens adapter as the subject.


Today I'll show what I did to fill out that flash and get rid of the dark side of the moon adapter. Let's start with a photo of the above VW Bus model with the single strobe in the Silo.

Sepia In-Camera on the D80

My little girl, goofing for the camera.

The D80 has some post processing features built into the camera. Being a Photoshop user (currently still on CS3), I've generally avoided those features. Making changes on the itty bitty LCD on the back of a camera isn't a lot of fun.

The Magic Silo

The Magic Silo is a light tent made by RPS Studio Lighting. It folds into a 17" diamater flat circle and fits into a nice pouch.

I bought this thing right after moving out to Colorado, probably 6 years ago or so. I paid $40 from Englewood Camera. I tried using it as the instructions suggest. Put the lighting on the outside of the tent and point the camera in from the top. But I could never get it to work for me. I was using hot lights (aka: clamp reflectors with light bulbs in 'em), and they just weren't strong enough to work. So into the garage it went.

More with the Flash Booster

 I played some more with the D80 and the Quantaray MS-1 Flash Booster yesterday.

Those lenses are some the old gear I found when I did my inventory. I offered them up on Craigslist for free, and someone will be by in the morning to pick them up. Before listing them on CL I wanted to take some photos.

The lenses were placed on a mirror, the flash booster was placed so the light spill would hit the subject directly, while the bulk of the light would bounce off the wall.

Quantaray MS-1 Flash Booster (slave)

Several years ago I picked up a Quantaray MS-1 flash booster from the Ritz Camera store in the Orange Mall. The store is no longer there, but I still have the flash. The reviews are still on the ritzcamera.com site HERE.

I bought it for macro work, but it was a pain to get the exposure just right. So after burning two rolls of Velvia to try to get it right, I gave up and tossed it in a bag.