SS 1/60 – Sloth Shots

2017-07-03

Oz Comic Con | Melbourne | 2017

Been down in Melbourne a fair bit lately with the day job so took the opportunity to delay my return flight and enjoy Oz Comic Con down south for a change (though, still quite likely go to Sydney come September too!).

Lot of fun, people just as friendly and some truly awesome cosplay on display as always. Having done a few of these things though I’m starting to form the opinion that shooting cons should be classed as an endurance sport! I do long distance running, 100+ km’s cycles and triathlon’s and generally feel pretty fine afterwards, my wristwatch clocked about 6km walking on Sunday and I was a physical wreck, glad for the cradle of the seat on the flight back (and the extra leg room afford by the exit row).

[flickr_set id=”72157685804218785″]

2015-01-28

Week 5 | Warmth

The warmth of a hug from a loved one..
The warmth of the morning cuppa to wake you..
The warmth of a sunset celebrating the days end..

OR a self portrait, sparkle/shine macro, dreamy sunset all set in a triptych about warmth. That wraps January in a bow 🙂

Self Portrait:
Nikon D5100
18-55mm DX Kit Lens @ 18mm
ISO 100
f/3.5
SS 1/15 sec

Speedlight on body, set to bounce at an angle.

Sparkle/shine Macro:
Nikon D5100
50mm FX prime lens with +4 macro filter
ISO 100
f/1.8
SS 1/60 sec

Off camera speedlite remotely triggered with fairy lights in the background to twinkle in the bokeh.

Dreamy Sunset:
Nikon D5100
35mm DX prime lens with a +9 ND filter
ISO 100
f/22
SS 30 sec

No additional lighting.

This shoot was basically “Use ALL the toys” as it’s the first time I’ve broken out the remote speedlite controller, the macro lens, used Pam‘s nifty fifty and the ND filter. Along with all the gear I usually use (such as my tripods, remote shutter controller, pad controller software).

Out of all the images I feel I rushed the portrait a bit (especially in adding the fake bokeh background I’ve accidentally given myself a much needed haircut, but missed a chunk at the front) and I struggled to find a good spot in Pyrmont for the sunset, but given the time I got out of work it’s all I could get (and at least we had a sunset today as it’d stopped raining finally!).

I’d’ve liked some ‘wisps’ from the cuppa too but I think they bokeh’d out as they were definitely there when shooting.

Oh well, just glad I managed to get all five themes into one picture (this is going to get more difficult as time goes on 😉 ).

A little behind the scenes, top image is the selfie set-up and the bottom is the cuppa – I figure a camera on a tripod for the sunset is fairly standard and folk know what that looks like :p

Link to the original Facebook thread here.

2015-01-13

Week 3 | Triptych

Had a few ideas for this one (ironically, three) but this is the best I feel. I love street photography (though have never been happy with much of my own) and really enjoyed the Triptychs of Strangers series by Adde Adesokan so here is my homage to the style (head, body and feet shot to take three personality-matching body shots and make them one). Initially I was looking for the guy who’s been busking with bagpipes around Sydney CBD for the last few weeks, I thought the effort in the face would make a great portrait (plus I could tell him where to stick the bagpipes afterwards as there catawailing pierces even our office on the 26th floor) but alas he was nowhere to be found, that’s where I came across Joe Moore busking on Pitt Street outside Westfield and thought it’d make a great composition, especially with his feet tapping away.

Shot using aperture priority:
Nikon D5100
55mm-300mm DX Telephoto @ 300mm
ISO100
f/5.6
SS 1/160 – Head
SS 1/60 – Body
SS 1/100 – Feet

PP includes colour and exposure correction in Photoshop (lots of shadow recovery to get facial detail) along with cropping in for effect.

This was the second idea, I really liked the idea, moreso than the one I went with, but that’s mostly because I didn’t realise it very well in the three pictures.

When I was wandering around looking for the bagpiper I saw these two homeless guys sat by the Westfield David Jones, one with a sign and the other sprawled out in what looked like a pool of his own urine (thankfully, didn’t get that in shot). I then took a wider shot of David Jones and the Westfield Tower above, I had the idea of the towering elite looking over the oppressed below as some sort of allegory running through my head but once I pieced together the shots it just wasn’t springing out at me.

Admittedly I rushed the pictures as I was on my lunch break and had already wasted half of it cramming down two whoppers (gotta love “two’s-days”) and looking for an errant Scotsman. Maybe with some better composition this might’ve worked – I may scout for some better locations tomorrow (and bring a packed lunch to save time!).

Similar settings to the above for these, aperture priority so the shutter speed will be adjusted slightly for each.

Link to the original Facebook thread here.

[edit]

I found the bagpipier! I also think it’s highly unfair he gets earplugs and the rest of us don’t….