All posts filed under: Photography

In the Studio – Yuki

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A few studio images of Yuki that she can use to update her portfolio. We shot three looks; natural, casual and formal. I kept the style of image simple with a grey background, but used 5 lights: a beauty dish as the main light, a softbox providing fill, two strip boxes for rim light and a hotshoe flash pointed at the background. A far more complicated setup than the single light karate portraits, but for beauty shots it’s great to have both the option to use more lights and the time to work with them. Makeup by Summer Johnson and jewelry provided by Ledeen Diamond Co. Boutique.

White Mouse or Black Tablet

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A friend asked if I wanted to buy a black tablet. He told me I’d be able to interact with the world in ways I couldn’t even dream about. I’d become faster, more agile, in more control. He’d been a user for a few months, but decided to quit. He offered me a deal. “You take the white mouse – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the black tablet – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.” I paid him the cash, he mailed me the tablet. The mouse is caged, but will this be a bitter pill to swallow. To paraphrase, Pietro a photographer friend asked if I’d like to buy his Wacom Intuos4 graphics tablet. He wasn’t using it much and thought I’d find it valuable when editing in Photoshop or Lightroom. He offered me a great deal so I took it. I’ve never used a tablet before and heard they take some getting used …

Karate Masters Portrait Project – Hanshi 10th dan Yoshitaka Taira

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These are the first images in the Karate Masters Portrait Project. The idea is to document the hanshi (grand masters) of karate. I wish I had started this project several years earlier before some of the hanshi passed away. Hanshi 10th dan Yoshitaka Taira Images are shot with the 645D which means I have fantastic detail, important for an archival project. I used a portable black velvet screen to have clean background and then used a single studio light with a beauty dish for illumination. I plan to shoot all portraits with the same setup.

UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson – Saitama Super Arena, Tokyo

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While in Tokyo, I saw an Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the Saitama Super Arena. Ultimate Fighting is a mixed martial arts competition where fighters can win by knockout, tap out, or points. The fighters come from a range of disciplines including striking styles such as boxing, karate and kickboxing along with submission styles that include aikido, judo, and wrestling. Fighters compete within their own weight class, but fighters of one style can be paired against any other style. This means you get matches between boxers that want to keep their distance and use punching power against submission fighters that want to take the fight to the mat and bend limbs in the wrong direction until their opponent taps out. The bouts take place in a octagon with wire walls rather than ropes. You definitely get the feeling you’re watching something not far removed from gladiatorial combat. The stadium atmosphere, however, was more friendly and reverential than bloodthirsty. The Japanese audience clapped and cheered for fighters from all countries, the greatest cheers were for combatants …

April / May Photography Workshops

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Now that I’m back from Yonaguni and Tokyo I can start organizing the coming workshops. Please click on the links to see more details about each class. I’ve put in two Photography 101 workshops in April so that people who aren’t yet comfortable with their digital SLR can master the basics before taking part in the Light Painting Workshop. I’ve also had requests for another Off Camera Flash course, hopefully this will happen later in the summer. April 14/15 – Photography 101 Weekend Workshop with Chris Willson US$250 April 28/29 – Photography 101 Weekend Workshop with Chris Willson US$250 May 3 – Going Retro Mini Workshop with Trevor Williams and Chris Willson US$50 May 4/5 – Light Painting Workshop with Trevor Williams and Chris Willson US$150   To reserve a place send an email to chris@travel67.com (please write WORKSHOP on the subject line) Please state the name and date of the workshop you wish to book. I’ll send a paypal request for the course fee. Once payment is made your place on the course is confirmed.

Going Retro Mini Workshop

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Just a quick announcement so people can put the date in the diary. Trevor Williams will be holding a “Going Retro” mini workshop on May 3rd 2012. Trevor will take people through the process of creating the look, setting up lighting, image selection and then editing. Time is 6PM to 10PM. Location is my home / studio in Uruma City, Okinawa. Class fee is US$50. I will start taking bookings for places in March.

Ikelite K5 Housing – Open Water Test

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Tested out the underwater housing for the K5 at Cape Maeda this morning. Hiroshi and Shawn were my buddies for the dive. As more experienced underwater shooters, they could make sure that I’d sealed everything down properly. So what did I learn? The housing didn’t leak and you can operate all buttons while underwater. There also appears to be a button (labeled Fn Button in the manual) that allows you to press the lens release button. I may contact Ikelite to see if I’m just being dimwitted or if this is some design issue. (I didn’t try to use this while underwater.) Operating functions that require doing two things at the same time are tricky e.g. pressing the ISO button and turning the rear e-dial. This means using exposure compensation underwater will be more problematic than simply using manual mode and adjusting exposure with the e-dials. The controller for the “Green Button” can easily get stuck. Probably not an issue as I don’t use the Green Button normally, but strange nonetheless. Live View is useful …

Yongnuo YN560 Speedlite Review

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Is buying a cheap alternative brand hot-shoe flash a great way to save hundreds of dollars or are you just wasting your money? Let’s start with the key difference. Cost Nikon SB910 $538.81 Canon 580EX II $457.00 Pentax AF540FGZ $399.00 Yongnuo YN560 $67.40 So what are the similarities? Power: The Yongnuo Flash has a guide number of 58. This means the camera has a similar maximum power to the other top end flashes listed above. (Guide Number indicates the power of the flash.  GN = max distance to subject x f-stop at ISO 100 – e.g. if GN is 58,  max distance to subject is 29 meters when aperture is  f/2 and ISO is 100.) Manual Control: All four flashes allow you to manually control both the level of power and the zoom on the flash. Slave Modes: All four flashes allow you to slave the flash so it fires when it detects the light from another flash. Bounce: All four flashes allow you to both tilt and rotate the flash head to bounce the flash off the …

Triple Terabyte Time Machine

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As you shoot more photos, or buy more media from iTunes you are going to fill up both the hard disks on your computer, and if you’re a Mac user, your Time Machine. My 1.5TB Time Machine was so full it couldn’t update easily so I decided to get something bigger. The hard disk I was previously using as the Time Machine will then be used for off-site backups. Fortunately as the need for storage grows, the price per terabyte  has gone down. In Japan, you can now get a 3TB hard disk for less than ¥16,000  which is about the same amount I paid for the 1.5TB model a year or two ago. Not a particularly exciting piece of gear, but if you don’t back up your data… “All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.”