Day 109 - moggles

I couldn't leave this update of the blog without including some moggles, so here they are...

First, one of my last pictures of Anna before she started moving too quick for such a tiny studio arrangement.

Second, Jessica doing some jumping. Oh dear.

Day 108 - Chair portrait

More thanks to Sian for posing again, although at least this time she got to sit down.

Strobist:  Sigma 530 DG Super with shoot-through umbrella camera left, YN 460-II bare above right as hair light.

I think this lighting setup is getting there, but still needs a little tweaking to lighten up the area around the eyes, which each get a shadow from one of the strobes.

Day 107 - good egg

I took this using a single flash with Lumiquest Softbox III very close behind the egg, with large white reflector in front to give a little texture to the front surface.

Day 106 - Open Open

Another snatched snap, this time the sign in our local corner shop.

Day 105 - Huddersfield Narrow Canal

Still working on looking for photo opportunities as I go along, here are some shots from the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.  The light was pretty dull, so I tried out the solarisation filter on the phone camera to liven it up a bit.  For anyone who wants to see a better example, try Man Ray's portrait of Lee Miller.

Day 104 - yellow

One of my aims in taking on this project was to look for more photos in everyday life, so here are some on a yellow theme.

Day 103 - Smarties have the answer

Chuck some sweets in the air and hope some of the are in front of the camera when I hit the shutter.  While a faster rate of continuous shooting would help, I don't think this experiment quite justifies the 7-8fps D300s that I lust after.  And, to be honest, the flash (camera left, white foam board to the right - are you getting this now?) wouldn't keep up anyway.

Day 102 - Sian's new top

My thanks to Sian for modelling her new top and even putting some make-up on.

Strobist: YN 460-II with Lumiquest Softbox III camera left as key.  Sigma 530 DG Super with shoot-through umbrella camera right for fill.

A second one with slightly different post-processing after the click...

Day 101 - hug a hoodie

Who wouldn't support David Cameron's youth policy with hoodies like this roaming the streets?

Day 100 - funky toy

I was hoping that the photo for day 100 would be something splendid, but as it happened we spent most of the day in the car so this will have to do.  Just a single bare flash to throw some hard shadows.  If you can't tell where the flash is, you shouldn't be reading this blog ;-)

Day 99 - Dad

Here's my Dad, not looking too tired after a week of us staying visiting.

Strobist: fill with Vivitar 730AFC on low power bounced off the ceiling, YN 460-II @ 1/8 with Lumiquest Softbox III for key camera right, Sigma 530 DG Super @ 1/32 bare gobo'd  rear camera left as kicker

Day 98 - splash!

Back to my usual moggles today, with some candid shots of them splashing about in the back garden in Southend.

Day 97 - bowl with a hole

A rather nice bit of pottery for you:

I shot this using one speedlight with shoot through umbrella above right for fill and another bare above and behind the bowl to give the well defined holes in the shadow.

Day 96 - Southend photo shoot

I had an excellent photoshoot with Jenny from Model Mayhem today, mixing up the bright sunshine with some off-camera flash at the seaside.

A few more of my favourite shots from the session after the link.

Day 95 - Magnolia

I wanted to get a soft, dreamy look for these magnolia flowers.  I used a slow shutter speed (1/25s) to get a little bit of blur in camera, overexposing by two stops to burn out the sky.  In the post-processing I added a layer with a soft glow at about 40% opacity as well as tweaking the curves slightly.

Day 94 - Tulips

Some more tulips...

The composition isn't particularly interesting, but I liked the lighting.  These were shot using the YN 460-II with Lumiquest Softbox II as key camera left.  I got the background by firing a bare Vivitar 730AFC on low power through some frosted glass.

Day 93 - Jessica's See-Saw

A quick test using the Lumiquest III Softbox with on camera TTL flash (Sigma 530 DG Super):

This is a vast improvement over the bare flash, giving a nice soft light and lifting the foreground off gloomy evening light behind.

Day 92 - Elspeth and bump

Elspeth very kindly offered to model her bump while passing through on her way to the Dales.

This was lit using a Sigma 530 DG Super with shoot through umbrella camera left, bare YN 460-II behind Elspeth for a hair and rim light, and ambient as fill.

Click through for a few more from the shoot.

Day 91 - Easter Bunny

Easter chocolate.  One for Jess and one for Anna, but Anna is a bit small for chocolate.  Jess, on the other hand, is making short work of hers.

Strobist - Sigma 530 DG Super with shoot through umbrella directly above @ 1/32.  YN 460-II @1/64 with Lumiquest Softbox III camera right.

March

It's a useful exercise for me to look back at what I've achieved each month.  Often, the need to find a picture every day can have me hunting around in the evening to find a subject, which leaves me with the impression that I'm not really progressing.  Then, when I review the month, I find some work that I'm really pleased with or shows a real change in my technical ability.

This month, once again, it's the portraits that I love the most.  Annabelle is becoming quite the photogene, as she shows here and here.  Jessica is becoming more of a challenge to photograph, but the improving weather now lets me practice with some outdoor portraits and combining daylight with flash.  I've even convinced Sian to model for me this month.

As for technique, I think the photo of the glass, while not too interesting for most people, shows the most progress to me.  Compare it to this very early effort.

Thanks for looking everyone.  I hope you've enjoyed the snaps.

Day 90 - golden hair

I was at a local arts meeting tonight, so I grabbed a quick picture of Jessica sitting on my bed in some lovely window light.

Day 89 - Lester Morrill Solicitors

This was taken on my HTC Magic (nice phone, rubbish camera).  I think this might be the least impressive legal office in Leeds.