Monday, November 16, 2009

Pocket cam gallery #2


Yesterday I took a walk thru a nearby park to shoot the last of our fall color.
The little Canon S90 continues to impress me, this image needed no post processing to speak of.
I only did a small contrast correction in curves and light sharpen.
iso 80 , 1/500 @ f5

Friday, November 13, 2009

Pocket cam gallery #1


Pocket cam gallery consists of photos taken with the Canon S90.
Just things that I shoot casually day to day.
This picture of some fall color was shot in my backyard, I cropped out almost half of the nearby leaves to come up with this composition.
f4 1/320 iso 80 @ approx. 50mm equivilant
btw ... the S90 allows for full manual control of exposure and focus.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Pocket cam joy !


For so long, I ignored digital "point and shoot" cameras as mere toys, made

for mom's and quick vacation photos,etc.


A couple of years ago I decided that I could use a every day tote along camera to capture stuff I run into daily, a pocket camera.


My choice then was the Fuji F30, it did a nice job in not so great lighting but a maximum aperture of f 2.8 was limiting in some situations.


Last month I gave my Fuji to my nephew in Sacramento and bought the new Canon S90 to replace it. Hey Matt, hope your having fun with it !


First it features a 28-105 f/ 2 ! An excellent zoom range with a nice fast f/2 max. ISO's up to 6400 or higher are possible, but I'm finding that iso 800 turns out very smooth images, 400 is similar to what I used to get at 100 iso.


Actually, I can see using it professionally if a client needs some candid shots , in an office setting for instance.


At any rate, it's a winner in my book !


Here is a link to a Wired article on the S90 : http://www.wired.com/reviews/product/pr_canon_s90

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Warehouse photo fun


A recent assignment for a global electronics distributor included some shots in their huge warehouse. I accomplished this shot with a single Nikon SB-800 strobe. It was "mounted" on a voice activated stand behind the shelves to camera right, aimed at the lift operator. I dragged the shutter in aperture priority @ 1/8 sec. f 5 for the overall exposure.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Annual report group shot


I'm working on the annual report for Western & Southern Financial again this year.
It's always a challenge to make group shots interesting, at least for me.
Starting the shoot early this year gave us the opportunity to shoot some of these groups outdoors. This one was shot on the steps of their HQ. I used my small strobes kit. One light high up on camera right just skimming the column and another strobe placed on a floor stand behind the men aimed at the wall.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Mobile Heath Unit




I was assigned to do a shoot for Onsite Health, a company that dispatches mobile units to many points in the country. My assignment was to cover health screenings for senior citizens. The unit features three exam rooms. I used my compact strobe kit ( Nikon SB800 and Sunpak 5500 units ) . The narrow hallway and small exam rooms would have made using standard mono-lights very difficult to position, not to mention the safety of those aboard. I attached a SB800 to a 6 ft. light stand bouncing the light off the white ceilings. This created nice soft wraparound light.

This single light also made the experience for the patients less of an intrusion into their privacy.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Contractor


I shot Anthony , a contractor & VP for a concrete company , for a trade publication.
Luckily, a rainy morning turned into a glorious afternoon !
All I needed was some fill flash from camera right, one Nikon SB 800 on full power.