Lesson 15 History of Flash

A great History of  Flash

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/757920-REG/Broncolor_95_002_03_Book_The_Photographic_Flash.html

 

 This book came out after World War II and explains how strobes work.

http://www.amazon.com/Strobe-lively-light-Howard-Luray/dp/B0007DS90I

 

 

 MIT has a site dedicated to Edgerton's work and even has all his scientific notebooks.

http://edgerton.mit.edu/

 

An interesting website dedicated to American Photography and the Stage.  It has amazing list of New York photographers and talks a little about the careers.

http://broadway.cas.sc.edu/

Lesson 14 Still Life

Two lights were used for this jewelry shot and each was shot separately.  The resulting two images were processed in Lightroom and then combined as layers in Photoshop

We varied the distance that the microphone was from the balloon and that gave us different results.

Live View with EOS Utility and Lightroom 4

Using Canon EOS utility has a great advantage in Still Life in that you can see in real time how you light is looking on the object.  It is especially useful for placing reflectors and gobos.  I have made a list of setting in order to use the Canon 5DMII with Live View in the EOS utility with Lightroom 4.

There are two important settings on the Canon that must be made:

1.       Go to the Menu with a wrench and two dots. 
2.       Go to Live View/Movie func. Set
3.       Set Silent shoot. To Disable.  (Must have this set so that the flash will fire when we make a picture with Live View on.  I didn’t know about this setting in our demonstration and that is why the flash wasn’t firing)
4.       In Menu go to the camera symbol and scroll down to C.FnIV Operation/Other and go to option 1 and set on #3 AE lock/Metering + AF start.  This will set the focus start to the button on the camera with AF-ON and will disable the shuttle button from trying to focus.

Now open the Canon EOS utility.  You might have to open it in applications.  You should have the camera tethered and on at this point.
1.       Click on Camera settings/Remote shooting.  You should see the remote shooting screen with all you camera settings.  The settings can be changed on this screen.
2.       Next go to the Preferences Screen

a.       Basic Settings only check the Show main window button.

b.      Destination Folder change the folder to Watched Folder on the desktop and keep everything else unchecked.

c.       File Name  Do not modify

d.      Download Images  set to Images not yet downloaded

e.      Remote Shooting check box for Save also on the camera’s memory card

f.        Linked software None

g.       OK

Now open Lightroom and make the following changes:

1.       File®Auto Import®Auto Import Setting

2.       Set the Watched folder on the desktop

3.       Set the destination folder to somewhere not on the desktop.

4.       File Naming set to Filename.

5.       Make sure the Enable Auto Import is checked

6.       OK

Go back to the remote shooting screen and press the Set-up menu then press the Live View/Movie func.set. button.

1.       Under LV func. Setting check Stills only

2.       Under Screen settings click Still display

3.       OK

Now click Live View shoot button

1.       Set the white balance to Auto (give a better preview image and does a decent job with the capture)

2.       Play with the focus setting and see what works.

3.       Take a picture with the remote button and make sure the flash is firing.

We also talked about using the PocketWizard Multi Max on SpeedCycler.

1.       Press the Menu button.

2.       Press A for Advanced Menu

3.       Press D for SpeedCycler

4.       Set the channel (Let’s say 17) and have A and B activated by pressing the letter to high light it.

5.       Now set the internal pocket wizards on the 1200R packs by turning on off and then set the MultiMax to 17A only and hold down the test button while someone turns on the 1^st 1200R pack and the pack fires.  This could take a few seconds.  Now turn off that pack.  Change the MultiMax to read 17B, hold down the test button while someone turns on the 2^nd 1200R pack and the pack fires.  Turn on the 1^st pack.  Now set the Multimax so that it is set on SpeedCycler on channel 17 and both A and B are highlighted.  Each time you press the test button one strobe will fire at a time and in sequence. ABABAB etc.

6.       If you are using the 2400 packs, use the PocketWizard III and set one to 17A and the other to 17B.

Assignment 14 Final Photograph

Execute the photograph we discussed in class. Post the results, the final lighting setup, and the photograph you emulated as separate images.

Lesson 13 Night Photography

We looked at the work of 3 photographers who have unique visions of the night

 

Brassai

 

Michael Kenna

 

 Frank Relle

Assignment 13 Night Photography

Go outside between dusk and dawn using whatever existing light is available recognizing its color and mood, make a photograph that is surprising by what it reveals.

Post a photograph that you like the lighting and that you wish to emulate. Sketch out how you think it was lit. You can use this file to make your sketch:
http://www.diyphotography.net/lighting-diagrams

Lesson 12 Stop Action

 

Not Good!

 Curtain showing on various shutter speeds.

 Using the PocketWizard FlexTT5 on HSS mode as a receiver (images from the PM Class after downloading firmware update and keeping the settings to the default C1)

The HiViz SK2 Sound Trigger is an inexpensive way  to set off a strobe with sound.

An explanation of Paul C Buff Einstein strobe to show the two different ways strobe manufactures control the flash output and what that has to do with stopping power and color temperature.

Another blog that we looked at about using the PocketWizard FlexTT5 on High Speed Sync (HSS) mode you could sync our studio strobes at a 1/8,000 sec.

Assignment 12 Stop Action

Photograph something in action that you can’t see with the naked eye.  Use a camera and flash combination on manual attached to the hot shoe or the off camera cord.  The flash should be dialed down to 1/16 power or less in order to achieve a flash duration of 1/10,000 or less.  Examples are splashing water or stopping a fans blades with a ribbon attached.  I want these images super sharp with no blurs.