Beauty Dish Update

Yesterday after I made my beauty dish, I got to use it in a promotional shoot I did for a local restaurant. Below is a sample of a small group shot (3 people) sitting at a bar. The beauty dish is about 8 - 10 feet away (2.5 - 3 meters) from the subjects. I'm glad I brought the beauty dish with me. Since it is on about 12 inches (30 cm) in diameter it was much easier to keep it hidden from being seen in the mirror behind the group. This would have been impossible to shoot with a soft-box or an umbrella.

I have included a shot to show the light drop off of the beauty dish. The dish about 6 feet (1.85 meters) away from the wall.

Make Your Own Beauty Dish

Here is what you need to make a simple beauty dish; white plastic bowl, foam board, zip-ties (zap straps), aluminum tape

Trace around the front of your flash. Make sure it is centered on the bottom of the bowl.



Make 2 diagonal cuts to make the flaps

Fold the flaps back 90º.
(Trick - once the flaps are cut, fill your sink with hot water from the tap, let the bottom of the bowl sit in the hot water for about 5 min. to heat up the plastic making it easier to fold back)



Check to see how your flash fits.



Front view of fit.



Draw circle on foam board, about 1/2 the diameter of the bowl.



Apply aluminum tape on other side of foam board, making sure the aluminum tape covers a larger area than the circle on the other side.



Cut out circle with sharp box cutter knife.



Cut slits just big enough for the zip-ties to fit through every 90º.



Bend the zip-ties (you'll see why)



Insert zip-ties through the holes you cut into the circle so the bends in the zip-ties face outward (radiating from the circle)



Front view



Cut slits into the plastic bowl just big enough for the zip ties to fit through every 90º
(Trick - you might have to insert a small flathead screwdriver into the slits to stretch them just enough to get the zip-ties through, the zip-ties should be held in place by the friction from the slits)
DO NOT MAKE THE SLITS TOO BIG SO THE ZIP-TIES MOVE FREELY!



This is how it looks finished.



With an omni-bounce on the flash.


Front view.



Illuminated (with omni-bounce on flash).



I might not be beautiful, but the light from the beauty dish looks good!

Any questions or comments please post them in the comments.

30 Days Using Aperture 2 (Day 9)

Day 9
I'm starting to feel like a monkey using Aperture 2. It's probably me, I'm just getting overwhelmed with everything Aperture can do. The learning curve seems quite steep. The tutorials show 2 different screen modes and I can't seem to get to the one I like. I might be too familiar with Adobe products and the Aperture 2 interface is a bit different from what Adobe offers. I think a bit more time using Aperture should get me more comfortable.

Today I watched all the tutorials under the "Compare and Select" heading on Apples website. I'm trying to get to the point where I start "getting" Aperture 2, but I'm not there yet. I'm seriously thinking of joining Aperture Users Professional Network just to understand the program. But, I'm holding off until I decide Aperture 2 is worth the purchase and I decide to commit to it.

In the mean time here is an image I worked on that I took with my Canon G9 while out ski touring behind Whistler Mountain. I'm didn't want to make too many adjustments before I really get to know the software. You can see the adjustments I did make on the left side of the images.

Any input, advice or comments are appreciated.

Master

Adjusted

30 Days Using Aperture 2 (Days 5-8)

Days 5 & 6
"The Weekend From Heck" I did manage to import 34 reasonably decent images (not my best ones) into Aperture 2. At least I'll be able to show the adjustments and features of Aperture 2.

Day 7
Tried to recover the "lost" images on my computer. No luck! I trying to figure out a solution. Maybe, loading the images on to a PC and converting them to DNG might work. I'll keep you informed.

Day 8
Watched more tutorials (see list below). I'm starting to see the power Aperture 2 has under the hood.

• Cropping and Straightening
• Recovering Highlights
• Setting Levels
• Setting Advanced Levels
• Using the Retouch Brush

In the next post we will explore some of the adjustments and use sample images.

30 Days Using Aperture 2 (Day 3)

Day 3

The tutorials I watched today on Apple's web site were; "Adjusting White Balance", Adjusting Exposure", and "Enhancing Your Images".

I wanted to show you a more dramatic effect with the adjustments I did today, but my white balance and exposure for the image were dead on (I know, I'm perfect... kidding). It does help tremendously if you use a gray card and a light meter. I think I will have to revisit white balance and exposure adjustments in Aperture 2 with another image, maybe something I took with my Canon G9. I didn't make any adjustments to the white balance and exposure, but I did bump up the saturation to 1.25 and the definition up to .50. The color saturation setting from yesterday's trial adjustments have been removed, but the edge sharpening settings were kept.

The two images below show the "master" image (no adjustments applied) and the adjusted image. I like the feature of being able to toggle between the adjusted image and original "master image" in Aperture 2.

Unadjusted image "master"

Adjusted image

30 Days Using Aperture 2 (Day 2)

Day 2

Today I watched the following tutorials on Apples website; "Exporting Versions, Masters, and Projects", "Using RAW Fine Tuning", And "Sharpening Images". There is a lot of stuff Aperture 2 can do. I'd like to say I'm starting to scratch the surface, but I'm not even close. I feel like I have my index finger extended and ready to start scratching the surface, but I'm still about a mile away from actually starting to scratch. But I'm getting closer.

Today, I decided to try a quick experiment. "What is the experiment?", you might ask. Let me tell you. I took an image I shot last December, in RAW on my trusty (I said trusty, not rusty) Canon 10D and imported the shot into Aperture 2. I then proceeded to process the image in Aperture, trying to use roughly the same adjustments I used in Canon's Digital Photo Professional. I know it's like comparing strawberries to water buffalo, but I just wanted to see a comparison for myself. This will also be the "before" (before I knew anything about Aperture 2) image, and at the 30 day mark I will process the exact same image as the "after" image using all that I have learned (if I learn anything) and we'll be able to see my progress.

For my client I originally increased the saturation in Canon DPP software so the image would "pop" when printed in the local news paper as a small "Grand Opening" ad. I also added some sharpening to the image. I tried to do something similar in Aperture 2. The image on the left is of the contrast settings I used, and the image on the right is the edge sharpening settings I used.

Now for the comparison shots. I'm not going to make any judgments based the two comparison images. I still have way too much to learn regarding Aperture 2 and making any judgment calls this early would be foolish. So lets wait and see what things look like after 30 days, shall we.

Processed with Canon Digital Photo Professional software


Processed with Aperture 2

Let me know if you have any questions or comments below.

30 Days Using Aperture 2 (Day 1)

I've been wanting to do a post about Aperture 2 for almost a month now since it was announced. The day Aperture 2 was announced I ordered more RAM (Aperture 2 minimum RAM requirement is 1GB) and an external hard drive from an online retailer hoping to get the items in a week or so. Well, I just got the RAM and hard drive yesterday. They were back ordered on the external drive cases. I now have 2GB RAM (recommended) and a 250GB FW400 external drive on iMac G5 2.0 GHz. This is the system and setup I will be using for the next 30 days while using Aperture 2.

My Aperture 2 "test library" resides on the external drive so it doesn't affect my current image library or my system. I installed the software today and the process was quite simple and seamless. I have never used Aperture before so I decided to watch a couple of the tutorials on Apples website - "Exploring the Interface" and "Importing Basics". This was enough to get me familiar enough to create a new project and import 23 images into that project. So far things have been easy, but I'm sure that will change as I explore the software more.

Over the next 30 days I will be posting regularly on my experiences using Aperture 2. Since I am noob at using Aperture you'll be able to learn from my mistakes and probably get a good laugh at the stupid things I end up doing. If there is anything specific you want me to do or try with Aperture just let me know.

Softlight for your Speedlight

Yesterday evening turned into arts and crafts night. I was starting to go stir crazy from being stuck at home with this cold so I had to do something. The following is the result:

I remember in college (long, long time ago) we had these great Mole-Richardson Softlights in one of the studios. And the light they produced was quite nice. So, I thought, lets see if I can make one for my 550EX.

Here are a couple images of the finished softlight.

What you need:

• Ruler
• White fome board
• White bristol board
• Aluminum tape
• Scissors
• Pencil
• X-acto blade/knife
• Glue stick

The first thing i did was cut out the sides from the foam board.


I measured the height of the front edge.


I then transferred that measurement to the bristol board (already cut to the width I wanted, including 1.5" extra for gluing tabs) and folded the board at that measurement.


I marked on the bristol board where the next fold would be and then folded the board.


I then marked where the 3rd fold would be and folded the board.


I marked the board 1/2" from the edge on both sides with a pencil.


I then cut out gluing tabs up to the lines I just drew at all the folds and cut smaller notches for the curved back.


I then applied aluminum tape up to the 3rd fold. Leaving the curved back white.


I applied aluminum tape to the foam board sides to the bottom portion (from where the from panel starts to where the curve begins).


I then fold up all the gluing tabs along the 1/2" pencil marks, using a ruler as a guide.


Then I mark the back where the flash will fit (between the first and second fold) and draw diagonal lines from corner to corner of the flash outline. Then cut along those diagonal lines creating an "X" where the flash fits through.

I then glued the bristol board to one of the foam board sides applying glue to the tabs with a glue stick. Then repeated the gluing process with the other side making sure the aluminum tape faces inside of the softlight.


Here is what the inside of the softlight looks like when complete.

Disclaimer: This project, the photography and the blog post were all done while running a fever and on cold medication. If there is anything that is unclear (like I was during this whole process) please ask any questions in the comments. I will be posting sample images using the softlight as soon as possible.

Painting With Light

In the image above I have the model light herself with the flashlight

I was originally thinking of posting a how to on the basics of painting with light, but then I thought, "How boring!" I couldn't bear the thought of subjecting you to images of things being drawn in mid air, or people being outlined with flashlights. I did a model test shoot years ago in my studio in Toronto using only a small flashlight to light the model. These are some of the images form that shoot.

The setup I used was simple, a black bench, my camera on a tripod set at f16 & bulb with a cable release attached, and the model. Oh yah, and my trusty little flashlight. I tried to keep the exposure time under 30 seconds to keep sensor noise to minimum. Grab your camera, tripod, a flashlight, and a cable release and find a dark room or go outside at night and give it a try. It's not as hard as it looks. And have fun!

This image looks blurry, but look closely at the reflection of the flashlight in her eyes and eye lashes... It's tack sharp!

I intentionally asked the model to keep looking at the camera while she moved her head

I you have any questions or comments feel free to post them below. And post some links to your images too.

Make Your Own Weatherproof Flash Cover

I just posted a video showing how to make a quick weatherproof cover for your flash out of two ziplock type sandwich bags.

Here is a link directly to the video.

Using Your Gray Card

This is the follow up post to "Making Your Own Gray Card".

There are a few methods you can use to obtain your white balance using your gray card:

RAW
One method for using the gray card is to include the card in a test/reference image, shot in RAW format. You can then continue shooting under the same lighting conditions as the test/reference image. For each lighting change, a new test/reference image will need to be shot. Your camera should allow you to shoot in AWB (Auto White Balance) mode. It is important that you read your camera and software instructions to make sure this method can be used.

Transfer the images to your computer using whatever method you are familiar with. Once the transfer of images is complete you can open your RAW conversion software. Most RAW conversion software packages allow you to pick a neutral gray color point on an image to set a custom white balance. You can use the gray card as your neutral color point. You will now be able to apply that setting to all the images shot under those lighting conditions. See your camera and RAW conversion software instructions.

JPEG
Use the same shooting method as if you were shooting RAW (see above) but instead set your camera's image output to JPEG. After you have transferred your images to your computer you can now color balance them in your favorite image editing software. Use the reference image with the gray card in it. Open up the levels adjustment and click on the middle eye dropper tool to set gray point. Now, just click on the gray card and your image is white balanced. Check your software for specific instructions on applying the settings of the reference image to the rest of the images shot under those lighting conditions.

Camera
The gray card can be used to obtain your white balance using your cameras internal white balance utility. Just place the gray card in front of your lens and fill the entire frame with the card and use your cameras internal utility to create a custom white balance. See your camera owner’s manual for instructions.

Make Your Own Gray Card

Quick introduction to gray cards.

White balancing your digital images without a gray card can be hit or miss. Chances are there will be something in the scene that looks gray and using the white balance eyedropper tool in what ever RAW conversion software or photo software you use to click on that gray looking area will make the image look better. But, how accurate is the white balance? Chances are its not that accurate. That gray item in your image probably has some sort of color cast. I'm not going to go into technical detail, but most items that are gray are not completely neutral (have a color cast) and also under different lighting conditions produce a different color cast (not spectrally neutral)

The solution is using any gray card, right? Not always. Some cards were originally designed before digital cameras ever existed and have a color cast. Others are not spectrally neutral. Some can not handle and abrasions, dirt or moisture. While others are just too complicated.

Making your own gray card.

I'm going to tell you how to make a gray card that has no color cast, is spectrally neutral, can be cleaned with soap and water, and the color goes all they way through the material so scratches will not affect it's performance.

What is this amazing material? It's called Sintra®. It comes in 2 shades of gray, light and dark and in 2 thicknesses, 3mm (1/8") and 6mm (1/4"). Both will work for white balancing your RAW images, but the dark gray is closer to middle gray and can be used for white balancing JPEG images. See my follow up post on "Using Your Gray Card". Sintra® comes with a slight semi-gloss finish so that will have to be sanded down with a random orbital sander with 120 grit and then 220 grit sand paper so as not leave any sanding marks. All you have to do now is wash the card and apply Armor All® (optional).

So why did I tell you how to make your own gray card when I sell them on my site? The answer is simple, If you have the ability to make the card yourself...Great! If you don't have the ability to make the card then you can get someone to make it for you, like myself.