Send in the Clowns

I haven't been that inspired lately to take photos and by inspired, I mean that it's been way too cold to go outside and shoot. While not a really good excuse, I really haven't been motivated. However, last night I stayed up after arriving home and around one in the morning, I shot this self-portrait.

It is inspired by Frank Sinatra's "Send in the Clowns", which is a song written by Stephen Sondheim for the musical A Little Night Music. It is a song of sorrow and regret and while not dramatized, Sinatra's voice is very moving, which really speaks to the talent of the very celebrated singer. One thing I love about Sinatra is his ability to portray the role of the person singing and emote the feelings as if he was the one deeply affected enough to have written the lyrics. He really makes it easy for us to relate to the song. I believe all of us have found ourselves at the end of a relationship that had at one time sparked this deep passion within us.

Whenever I listened to the song, I imagined Sinatra standing on stage with only a spotlight on him as he conveyed his story about his heartache in front of an audience. And so, I set up a flash perhaps three foot taller than me and three feet away. I was sure that I would have to use full power on my Nikon SB-25 speedlight because I wanted to kill all ambient light around me. I shot at f/22 and 1/250 shutter speed so I would only get the flash. I set up a foam board as a flag to limit spill of the flash on the back wall. I took the photo and in Photoshop, I simply just placed it on a new layer of black. I wanted quite a bit of negative space to reflect the sorrow and loneliness of the song.

What Tiger Can Teach Obama

I saw the cover and laughed as I looked through the magazine rack. 10 Tips Obama Can Take From Tiger made me glad I am not a magazine editor, but it helped in at least one sale today. I immediately came up with an idea, but it got even better. There was a pull-out section, like a Playboy centerfold, but it merely showed forty-eight pictures of Jack Nicklaus from 1940 when he was a baby up until the present in preparation of his 70th birthday.

The Wescott 28" softbox is a handy light modifier and I've gain compliments on my photos because of using it, even though they have little idea of lighting technique, which is a bit less than I know. I have an SB-25 on the way to replace my SB-600 since I have a pc adapter rubberbanded to the hotshoe because it really isn't that secure. The SB-25 has the sync port while the SB-600 does not.

I'm just beginning to learn about off camera flash, but I think I just need more experience. My first approach for this shot is knowing that I wanted to eliminate most ambient light, which was going to take a high-sync speed. So 1/250 of a second was dialed and I decided to used ISO 400 because I knew it was going to be dark inside my small living room. Then I shot at f/4 for a test with the magazine on the chair and could see immediately that it was too bright. I shot at f/5.6 and only a small bit of the magazine was flashing on the highlights screen. I stopped it down 1/3 stop, and then realized that the magazine was being held a little closer to my softbox which was just right of the camera and pointed downward a little above eye level. I then dropped the aperture another 1/3 stop at f/7.1.

I probably took nearly 100 photos. I started at one angle shooting down, then moved the camera to left and shot more. By the time I shot this frame, I had gone ninety degrees around the chair, lowered and then raised the tripod. Some frames were ruined due to anticipating the flash. Sometimes, it would be nice to have a random self-time mode so one doesn't get used to the time before the shutter is released. At 1/2 power, the flash was close enough to really get several frames of squinty eyes, but with my new CyberSyncs, I didn't have to deal with the on camera flash, which is worse. Before, I would place a sock overtop of the flash to diffuse it and enough light came through to trip the optical slave.

Self-portraits.

I have shot several self-portraits since I began shooting November 2008. Here is the latest self-portrait:


I had for the past year looked at David Hobby's Strobist blog and elsewhere looking at adding some light. Working in television, I understood the importance of light, but I didn't really understand the concept of it. While I've been consistently taking photos as my schedule allows, I happened to find two wild and crazy gringos, who were doing one light set-ups like Zack Arias. I liked what I was seeing and priced a softbox as well as the Cybersyncs that Michael was using.

I got the light stand and softbox with the hot shoe umbrella clamp yesterday. I had them delivered to work. It is much easier that way. Then I took the following picture before going to bed.



I am definitely going to have to search for some models, although shooting outside isn't much of an option lately due to the cold weather. I have a nice rabbit fur hat that becomes quickly unbearable indoors and actually used it extensively last year to better get acquainted with the Nikon D40 over the winter. It really seems like I've been shooting for much long and in a sense I have through the concepts I learned for video production. I had wanted to purchase a digital-SLR for some time, but never had the extra cash. Now, I am satisfied using the Nikon D200, but I would love a few more lenses and more lighting, which is really the heart of the image.





It still remains odd to see oneself. I find myself wanted to be represented in some way. Somber, cool, happy or some other type of emotion. Some on Flickr do a 365 self-portrait, which is a self-portrait a day for an entire year. If only I had that amount of time.

Lensbaby 2.0 and Learning New Gear

I purchased the Lensbaby 2.0 from Amazon after just looking for something new to add to my photo gear. I bought it on sale at amazon.com and am happy with being able to experiment with something new. While it comes with different drop-in apertures, I think the tendency for people to use wide apertures because they want a shallow depth of field. Of course, tilting the lens does not change the depth of field, but merely changes the focal plane. These two things will work against each other if one wants to maintain some focus in their image.

I really wish I had a couple grand to drop on a tilt-shift lens, but then again, right now, I'd rather have the new 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII Nikon. If you know anyone willing to trade one for a '73 Cadillac Eldorado convertible, which does need some work, let me know.

It has been exciting to see my progress, but I feel like there is even much more to learn in digital photography. I would love to have more gear only to have the ability to have more options. You cannot learn what a lens is able to do until you shoot with it. I am venturing out into new areas of photography and ordered a softbox and some radio triggers. I recently discovered Lighten Up and Shoot and really got inspired to start using off camera flash. I haven't done many portraits because I understand the techniques for lighting since I come from a video background, but didn't have the equipment nor do I have a grasp of strobes compared to WYSIWYG of video lighting. I cannot wait until I start taking some pictures with more control of light.

I have received positive comments on my photos. Although I have shot nearly 25,000 images so far, I believe around 400 have actually been seen by others. When I first started shooting, I could spend a couple hours, shoot 200 photos and not have a single one that really stood out. Now, there are still times when I just don't see anything too interesting and only fire off a few exposures just to see if I can find something that works. The forest photo below is after walking around for about an hour and not seeing anything, I wanted to look through a "new" lens and threw on the Lensbaby. I only took perhaps ten shots, but this stood out in my mind even before I looked through the viewfinder. I love that moment when things just click.

The following picture is one I took at Woodland Cemetery and first began to play around with the Lensbaby. I really like the effect. It's difficult to hold your camera still while pressing down on the shutter button. However, I think isolating my index finger has been instilled in me from firing off handguns as well as releasing your breath as you pull the trigger to open your shutter.



Lost in the Woods, Lensbaby 2.0 f/4, 1/125, ISO 100


Lensbaby f/5.6, 1/400, ISO 250