Photo 120

Change of plans

After being shut out at first, I managed to get into Photo 112 (color) and 121 (lighting), so which spares me from taking 120, and spares you from looking at me any longer. Mostly. At any rate, this spells the end of this blog category.

Photo 120

Famous? I? Oui, it is true.

Really? Non. Not really. But I can use ze flash and ze rim light to make me look like I am.

I haven’t been this well lit since the last wedding I went to. Hi-yo!

The tripod with the D70 and its built-in flash were on a a foot and a half to my right, and I held the SB600 speedlight with Stofen diffuser about a foot to my left.

I’m struggling for project ideas, but here’s one: Create a couple of portrait styles, and really flesh them out with 2 or 3 shots of 5 or 6 people, give or take a few of either. These people would ideally form a group of some kind, like a team or a band. There could be an action shot for each member, along with two studio portraits, one very straight and one very stylized.

Photo 120

Feeling kinda High Fidelity

I started out trying to get a reflection of my CD collection in my glasses, and it proved both challenging and underwhelming in the end. I’ll have to return to this one.

Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, including mine.

Today’s Brilliant Project Idea: QTVR portraits. Put my people on a turntable, spin them slowly and shoot a 360 of their heads. The result would be an interactive cranial experience.

Photo 120

The Daniel Show! Starring … Daniel!

So I’ve got to keep a daily journal, and it must include a self portrait each time. No problem. I can think of any number of kooky art-school ways to do that.

On second thought, screw that. I want to shoot people pictures, so here’s my chance.

Here’s the thing: I want to work on portraits, both in an immediate sense and in a long-term, big-picture sense. It stands to reason, then, that I should take this opportunity to use myself as a patient model for different lighting setups and so forth.

Oh, yes, I love doing self-portraits. I love it with a fiery intensity.

For this one, the D70 and its built-in flash were on a tripod about 4 feet in front of me, while an SB600 speedlight with a Stofen diffuser sat about 2 feet to my right. It was a lot harder than using my cell phone would have been.