Uploads from ☣ cUKi, tagged strobist

Chromazones, try 1b

nobody@flickr.com (☣ cUKi) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 18:02:19 -0800

☣ cUKi posted a photo:

A first attempt at building a Chromazones swatches table - I don't call this a success, but it points out a few interesting things ("Chromazones"!? Well, here's an explanation, straight from the source - watch the video excerpt).

The Lee gels used are listed below. For each colour, I've measured the base exposure in reflective mode, then bracketed the aperture all the way, then adjusted the flash power, took another base measurement then bracketed the aperture the other way. Lots of exposures:

First row, no gel
716 Mikkel Blue
128 Bright Pink
089 Moss Green
104 Deep Amber
025 Sunset Red
201 Full CTB
244 Full Plus Green
204 Full CTO

#1: My exposures were not accurate enough, even if I used a flash meter. One problem is the meter has a 0.1 stops precision while the camera can be adjusted only in 1/3 stops increments, so I had to randomly round some values. Even at a glance, swatches on a column don't seem to have the same luminosity, even if they're supposed to. Or maybe my camera's response curve was automatically adjusted at some point (RAW developer?), I'll have to try and control it better.

Another problem is that shooting handheld and not having a very uniform coverage of the target means that the averaged values can be randomly skewed by the wrinkles on the cloth and the light's falloff. For a better test, the camera and target should both be fixed, and the illumination soft and from the camera's axis.

#2: It was a surprise how small the difference between full stops can be (but see #1).

#3: It was not such a surprise how saturated the colours can get at their specific exposure (way out of CMYK gamut, for instance) on a simple white nylon screen. Collins was right, they can get scary. The colours can then get much less saturated only a couple of stops away.

#4: There are not just one colour gradients, the hues change as the exposure varies, and that becomes obvious when the channels start to get clipped (below -3Ev and above +2Ev). I think that's OK, the purpose of this table is to provide a realistic representation of the effects of changing the exposure, not just a colour gradient. On the other hand, I'm not sure if clipped exposures belong in this table.

#5: Because of #3 and #4, the results of altering the exposure are not intuitive, so building and referring to such a table is definitely worthwhile.

#6: After uploading to Flickr, I can't see the first column anymore, colours got darker and have lost some of their saturation.

This image is "commentware". If for some reason you decide to download it and use it, you're welcome to, but please do also leave a comment here. The image is meant as a visual reference only, and it's obviously inaccurate, so please don't calibrate anything on it.

DIY spill kill sleeve for Ezybox mount

nobody@flickr.com (☣ cUKi) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:43:11 -0700

☣ cUKi posted a photo:

As promised, here is my take at dealing with the spill at the rear of this popular softbox. The attachment ring is made of steel wire (I guess 1mm thick), and the sleeve is made of an opaque black plastic, cut to approximate size and machine sewn (but feel free to construct it with gaffer's tape if you prefer). The wire is inserted in one of the hems, with the little claws protruding through the material; a bungee with locking ball was inserted in the other hem. Nothing fancy, but very effective, easy to use, easy to pack, and extremely light.

DIY Gaffer Tape Softbox Grid

nobody@flickr.com (☣ cUKi) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 09:27:58 -0700

☣ cUKi posted a photo:

I shoot often in my small living room, and the spill from the 60cm (24") softbox is unbearable. AFAIK, there's no grid of this size available to UK customers in the price range I'd consider buying it.

The Strobist approach, making a grid out of cardboard, doesn't really appeal to me. I'm not going to build a grid each time I'll need one, and I plan on using one often. If I'm to make myself a grid, I want it to be good looking, sturdy and easily portable.

I've tried sewing 50mm black elastic band into a grid. No way, after a few hours I had done only about 10 cells, and even those weren't as regular as to ressemble anything. So I've abandoned that idea.

The next idea was to make a grid out of gaffer's tape (I chose the cheaper Gaffa Tape, 50mm x 50m from Boyes). I've decided to build it in it's collapsed form, otherwise I would have needed some sort of very complex rig to give it shape. I've failed miserably at my first try - I succombed to the urge to check, while building it, if it looks nice. Big mistake - that glue, when it comes into contact with itself, bonds instantly, for good. If you mess up, you shouldn't waste time trying to unglue and rearrange it - just throw it all away, take some time to remember what your uncle Bob used to say when he crushed his thumb with a hammer, then start over.

I did start over. The concept is stupid simple. Using a cardboard template cut to the required size, make rings out of tape, sticky side out (1). Stick them on a smooth working surface, they will come out easily (2). Remove the template and press flat the cell with your finger. Stack the cells to the right half-length apart to make a row (3), in my case a row would be 10 cells long. Start the following row half-length to the left, carefully aligning the current cell's right edge to the left edge of the second cell on the row below (no pic, sorry). Keep rolling and laying cells for as long as it takes. Don't give up, don't rush it, and DO NOT unfold the grid until it's finished and no sticky surfaces are left uncovered. If you carefully align all the edges on all the rows, the structure unfolds as a pretty regular grid (4). You only need to add some velcro on it's edges (I've put the fluffy side on the grid; I'm not sure it was teh right choice) and install it on your box.

Well, it may not be exactly finished. The tape I used proves to be too shiny for my taste, so there will be some light spilled via reflections from the grid itself (didn't actually checked how bad is it, but as you can see from the photo, the tape is only 2-3 stops darker than the diffusion material, when it should be as close to black as possible). I'm going to spray the whole thing with a coat or two of matte black paint before considering it completed. If I could find some thin sticky black velvet tape...

Sounds easy, but it's not. After a few rows I got better at this, now I can make a 10-cell row in about 15 minutes. My grid has 10 rows. Would I make another one? Well, maybe, but not anytime soon. I'd rather buy a ready-made grid instead - if only I could find one reasonably priced.

The grid seems sturdy enough to last for a while, and it rolls nicely to fit in the softbox storage case. But with the grid on it the soft box is about as heavy as the ballhead bracket can hold, I have to tighten that screw until I feel it's gonna' break.

See here another mod and a sample of the light pattern.

Discussion here.

Portagel

nobody@flickr.com (☣ cUKi) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:02:51 -0700

☣ cUKi posted a photo:

Out of some PET food packaging I've built two gel holders for my komb and grid. The one on the komb (up, left and right) is pretty robust, between its two layers it securely holds the gels bunch even if I shake it. The single-layer one on the grid (down left) is very easy to build and allows fast installation and removal of the gels, but it doesn't hold the gel securely, and it won't even hold the weigth of the bunch of gels. Both are useful. To install, I simply slip them under the isoprene sleeves.

The Komb v1.2

nobody@flickr.com (☣ cUKi) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:38:02 -0700

☣ cUKi posted a photo:

In making this version I've traded simplicity for robustness. I failed to find the steel tape I was looking for (the kind used to tie pallets). A requirement was to mount the device in an isoprene sleeve (ASDA mousepad), since it's a very light, effective and not so bad looking solution. Parallel ribs made of cardboard or plastic sheet wouldn't sustain the compression of the rubber by themselves - and with bent ribs the device is useless, the beam becomes too feathered. So I've made an outer case out of hard cardboard capable of sustaining the pressure, and I mounted the plastic ribs such as there's only a small vertical pressure on them. After being glued, planed, spray painted and mounted in isoprene, this komb (15mm deep, 4mm cell width) is in my lighting bag now.

Behold the Komb!

nobody@flickr.com (☣ cUKi) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:36:01 -0700

☣ cUKi posted a photo:

Flags are easy to set up if you have enough light stands, but I don't. Grids and snoots produce spots of light tightly confined both on the horizontal and the vertical. When shaping kicker lights, what I need is horizontal confinment (to avoid lens flare and background spillage) and large vertical coverage (for full body shots). The most common solution is to use gridded strip lights, but those don't come cheap.

Enter the Komb. The one above was crudely fabricated from an A4 black card. This is just a prototype, 30mm deep. I'll build a couple more out of plastic or sheet metal and with a wider angle, and I'll mount them in short neoprene snoots.

An improved, more rugged and better looking version here.

Discussion here.

Cristina

nobody@flickr.com (☣ cUKi) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:31:03 -0700

☣ cUKi posted a photo:

Strobist info: Minolta Program 4000AF in silver umbrella camera right, gridded Sunpak Softlite 1600A from behind, triggered with PT-04TMs. Shot with Canon EF-S 18-55 IS at 21mm, 1/160, f/4.5, ISO 200. Some "Grasă de Cotnari" (that's a Romanian white demi-sweet wine) and assorted funk jazz for the mood.

Cristina

nobody@flickr.com (☣ cUKi) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:28:24 -0700

☣ cUKi posted a photo:

Cristina is a dear friend of mine; we were high school classmates back in the 80's. I never returned to Galaţi (my home town) without meeting her. We're both going through some rough times right now - but some good chatting, some good wine and some photography can make life look almost nice.

This shot is from a long evening shooting session (thanks Cristina for the patience!), and was taken specifically for the Strobist Bootcamp II assignment. Lately I've been studying retouching so I needed some shots to work on, but this particular photo was barely post-processed and not one pixel was retouched or harmed in any way (no cropping).

Shot with my Tamron AF 70-300 1:4-5.6 TELE-MACRO at 154mm, 1/160, f/5.6, ISO 100. Lighting: Minolta Program 4000AF at 1/2 in silver umbrella camera left, Sunpak Softlite 1600A through white umbrella as background, model's white sleeve acting as reflector camera left. Yep, the white brolly IS the background. I'm using Chinese PT-04TM triggers.

Myself

nobody@flickr.com (☣ cUKi) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:28:24 -0700

☣ cUKi posted a photo:

That's me. Yep, I know...

Shot with Tamron AF 70-300 1:4-5.6 TELE-MACRO at 88mm, f/4.5, 1/160, ISO 100. Lighting: Minolta Program 4000AF at 1/2 in silver umbrella camera left, Sunpak Softlite 1600A through white umbrella as background, both triggered with Yongnuo PT04-TM radio triggers; silver reflector for fill about 1m away from me, camera left

(Note: if it wasn't this particular subject, I'd probably be bothered by the stray hairs behind the head)

nobody@flickr.com (☣ cUKi) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 14:28:24 -0800

☣ cUKi posted a photo:

Falling Off

nobody@flickr.com (☣ cUKi) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:08:44 -0800

☣ cUKi posted a photo:

Some guys practicing parkour jumps near the Marina. Very small flash on VAL, camera right, against the sun - triggered with PT-04TMs. HDR from single RAW, large-radius sharpening, some more usual messing around.

Your comments are much appreciated!

The Supervisor

nobody@flickr.com (☣ cUKi) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 07:01:02 -0800

☣ cUKi posted a photo:

Filip @ Streetlife Museum in Hull (a great place to shoot, free entrance, no problem shooting, plenty of space, not crowded, and... about twenty colours of neon, sodium, mercury and tungsten lights besides the large windows!). Handheld radio-sync'd flash through 33" umbrella, camera left.

Patterns on the side of a milk crown

nobody@flickr.com (☣ cUKi) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:37:18 -0800

☣ cUKi posted a photo:

My challenge for this shot was just to catch the crown. The strange patterns are a result of mixing water and milk, I guess. I'll have to practice lighting it properly for the next step (if I don't get too bored dripping water in the meanwhile!).

Note: about seven months later, no reshoot :) Sorry guys for the blurry image... my macro lens allows only for a very shallow DOF, and I was dropping the water from a handheld seringe. To do it properly you'd definitely need some fixed rig and lots of patience - which I don't have.

Flash somewhere in front of the camera, aimed at a coloured cardboard box in the bg and triggered optically with the built-in flash of my PowerShot A75 at 1/4 power.

My strobe

nobody@flickr.com (☣ cUKi) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:37:29 -0700

☣ cUKi posted a photo:

I've got plenty of gels (Thanks, Lee! Thanks, Rosco!) but not much else.