Posts Tagged: experimental

New gear, getting ready for a new year.

I recently had a bit of monetary windfall and decided it was time to upgrade the gear. Out goes the venerable (and tough as nails!) Nikon D50 and in comes a shiny new D7000. The Alien Bees I’ve been using for the last three years have gone back to their owner. Replacing them are an SB-910 and a Yongnuo YN-560 II. Wireless slaves, snoots, beauty dishes, grids, etc. All kinds of toys.

Below are a few images from my couple of days of experimentation getting familiar with and relearning some old tricks. Enjoy.

Galen and Wendi on the couch.

D7000, 1/60 @ f/6.3 21mm ISO 100
SB-910 at 1/4 powers with 1/8inch grid to camera left and back about 4 feet from the couch.

Portrait of Galen.

D7000, 1/60 @ f/5.3 66mm ISO 800
SB-910 at 1/2 power in 16 inch beauty dish with diffuser sock. Dish was immediately to camera left and about 3-4 feet from Galen.

Tequila, bourbon and rum bottles on black table with light glowing through them.

D7000, 1/125 @ f/11 34mm ISO 200
SB-910 @ 1/2 power in 16inch beauty dish w/ diffuser to camera left and up about 2 feet, pointing back to bottles.
Slave strobe @ 1/4 power with 1/8inch grid on stand behind and slightly above bottles to through light through the bottles to get color.

Lego pirate on pipe next to rum, tequila and bourbon bottles.

D7000, 1/125 @ f/1.8 50mm ISO 200
ND-8 filter on lens to get DOF where I wanted and bring the focus back to the pirate.
SB-910 @ 1/2 power in 16inch beauty dish w/ diffuser to camera left and up about 2 feet, pointing back to bottles.
Slave strobe @ 1/4 power with 1/8inch grid on stand behind and slightly above bottles to through light through the bottles to get color.
Bumped up the contrast and dropped the blacks slightly. The ND-8 left things looking a bit hazy.

Bottles with light behind and above, showing good glowing color.

D7000, 1/125 @ f/1.8 50mm ISO 200
ND-8 filter on lens to get DOF where I wanted and bring the focus back to the pirate.
SB-910 @ 1/2 power in 16inch beauty dish w/ diffuser to camera left and up about 2 feet, pointing back to bottles.
Slave strobe @ 1/4 power with 1/8inch grid on stand behind and slightly above bottles to through light through the bottles to get color.
Only modification was a slight crop.