ChichaPlanet

The need to learn more about photography and acquiring new skills has led me to join the strobists.

What is this all about? Get started here:

This website is about one thing: Learning how to use off-camera flash with your dSLR to take your photos to the next level.

Here, you'll find everything you need to know about how to more effectively use your small speedlights. There are more than 1,000 articles about lighting. Over a million photographers from around the world have learned small-flash lighting techniques from this site. We're thinking you can, too.

Why small flashes? Because that's all you really need take the plunge into high-end lighting techniques.

On Flickr, there are thousands of examples of what the strobist look is like (see some here) and I want to join the fun. Midwest Photo Exchange assembles and sells strobist kits to match your camera. I've gone for the basic setup; one off-camera flash should be enough to get started. The kit contains a flash, stand, umbrella and the rest of accessories needed.

I look forward to particularly taking shots outside and using the flash to create a completely different look that is achievable through natural light.

Resources:

• Youtube videos
  
• Gear articles
  
• Shots with "strobist" tag
  

Sample strobist kit

Just a few basic tweaks in color and contrast can make a big difference.

Before


After

This is my first successful HDR (high dynamic range) pic. This photo is a composite of 5-6 shots (bracketed +/-3 from basic matrix metering) taken yesterday at the with the with the D40 in RAW. I used Photomatix to create the HDR and then tone mapped the resulting image into a 16-bit TIFF. In PS CS3 I tweaked levels, lightly burned some of the trees, sharpened the image. Then flattened and converted to a regular 8-bit JPG.

He subido un par de galerías de fotos:

• Fuimos a Nueva York, donde el clima estuvo bastante feo (lluvia, viento, poquísimo sol, etc.). Espero que pueda regresar en unos meses para tomar fotos de mejor calidad.
  
• El fin de semana estuvimos en Albany, capital del estado de Nueva York. Gran coincidencia: ese mismo día se celebraba en un parque el Festival de Tulipanes. Ahora sí con buen solcito pude fotografiar las flores y por lo menos una o dos de las fotos me han quedado bastante bien.

Flickr: Nueva York; Albany.

My parents got me a Nikon SB-400 flash (read a good review) and I've taken some test photos. As you can see, bouncing the flash/tilting the flash head makes a huge difference. It softens features and eliminates ugly shadows behind the subjects. It also affects color balance. These photos are straight from the camera. The only modification has been resizing for the blog. Photos taken on a D40 with a 55-200 AF-S DX EG with VR set to off, on a tripod.

Flash straight on/0 degrees


Flash straight on/60 degrees


Bounce flash/75 degrees


Bounce flash/90 degrees

This test could have been made more accurate if a) I had compensated exposure (either in-camera or in post) to make all the photos have very similar histograms; and if b) I had color corrected to match. Yet because this is not what I am interested in seeing right now, it's not a big deal. The importance is the quality of light hitting the subjects, which is determined by the angle.

Allow me to introduce our talent. The hugging bears were given to us by my aunt Rosa for our wedding. To their left is Spike, a cactus that Melissa picked up when she went to Tucson.

I am selling a lens on eBay: AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 ED Nikkor.

I have discovered two companies that rent lenses, LensRentals.com and Glass and Gear.

For advanced amateurs like myself, this kind of business is great. Because I have no budget for lenses, especially the expensive ones, renting a lens makes sense for two reasons.

First, if I have a specific need that won't happen often --a trip perhaps-- then I can get a specialty lens and use it only that one time. No need to waste a lot of money for a piece of equipment that will barely see any use.

The second reason has to do with testing. Though it is not that complicated to buy a new lens and return it if you don't like it, renting seems like a good option, particularly to avoid the hassle of returning items to online stores.

I will be keeping these two companies in mind, particularly LensRentals.com, which has a better selection.

Sapsucker Woods/Cornell's Lab of Ornithology
Nikon D40, Nikkor 70-200 VR, 1/320 at f/5.6 with fill flash, ISO 200, handheld, curves adjusted in PS3

The George Eastman House (of Kodak fame) has a podcast now on varied photographic topics. You can watch the videos there or subscribe with iTunes.

Lens manufacturer Tamron has posted some very interesting photo mini-courses. Though they make a point to feature Tamron lenses of course, the content is decent and educational. I enjoyed the ones about nature photography and seeing behind the scenes (it's amazing what grad ND filters can do).

I found two blogs about my camera:

Nikon D40 and D40x Photog

Nikon D40 Blog - Amateur Hour

If you know of any other good blogs about photography and/or the D40/x, let me know.

by Manuel Lora at 6:58 PM under photography (Comments)

Gotta love it!

More photos here.

I took these a couple of nights ago after a bit of snow. Night photography ain't easy

This book is a bit light on technical info but the photos are great. I am selling it, however, since I'll not read it again. Contact me if you're interested.

Over the weekend we had a chance to go to Disney World where I indulged in some low light photography. I didn't have a tripod so there's some blur but it's not too bad. The lovely colors compensate

Main Street with the castle in the back


Rack zoom while the shutter was open


Mickey Mouse ears!


Lovely colors


It was a nice show

Photos from New Hampshire.

La semana pasada fuimos a las montañas de New Hampshire y obviamente llevé mi cámara. Pude tomar un par de fotos decentes (Sntapitalism) pero siempre se aprenden cosas:

• Efectos - no es conveniente tener la cámara siempre en "Saturation+" porque los colores quedan muy feos si hay mucho o poco contrate, o si estás tomandole fotos a gente
  
• Trípode - ahora sí lo usé
  
• Auto ISO - hasta hace poco siempre tenía la cámara en Auto ISO pero para obtener mejores imágenes, decidí usar ISO 200 para todo
  
• Filtro polarizador - no se debe usar siempre
  
• RAW - estoy comenzando a tomar fotos en formato RAW (mejor calidad y control final de la imagen)
  

Está comenzando el otoño y quisiera aprovechar para tomar fotos con ojo más hacia el color que el contenido, quizas más abstracto. También veré si de paso aprendo a manipular archivos RAW con Aperture o PS CS3.

I have some photos from New Hampshire that are worth sharing.

More will be posted over at Snapitalism.com.