Senior Portrait Session

Back in the beginning of March, I had an opportunity to do Senior Portraits for a friend's son.  Normally I prefer to do Senior Portraits in the Spring or Summer before the student's senior year.  Sometimes the Fall season works as well for last minute portraits.  March was a bit cold to be taking pictures outside.  Given it was a last minute request, I couldn't turn it down.

We met up at the local train station.  I could tell my friend's son was a bit unsure of the portrait session.  I immediately took charge and started to take pictures of him.  After the first ten shots, my friend's son started to relax in front of the lens and started posing for me.

Here's a sample from the photo shoot:

Her son is not an early morning person, so we agreed to meet in the late afternoon.  I spent two hours with my friend and her son taking his portraits at two different local locations.  I used both my 85mm/f1.8 and 24-120mm/f4 lens.  I used my 85mm for the first hour and literally had to "zoom with my feet" to get the right shot.  I used the 24-120mm lens for the second hour and at the second location.  It was a sunny day and I still used my flash for fill-in shots.

He really got into posing for me.  He was a natural at this and made my job easy and fun.  Moments like this is why I enjoy photography.

Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G: Low Light vs Compact Speed Light

After I mounted my new lens onto my D7k, I took some sample pictures in a room with low light.  I had an incandescent lamp turned on to the left of the following book samples:

85mm, f1.8, 1/125, ISO 2800 (no flash & handheld)

85mm, f1.8, 1/125, ISO 400 (SB-400 compact flash & handheld)

Can you see a real difference between the two pictures?  In the first picture, the low light no flash picture looks quite good.  In the second picture, I bounced my compact flash towards the ceiling.

So far, I like the results I'm getting with this new lens.  More to come....

Slave Settings for Nikon SB-600 Speedlight

I finally had a chance to take some pictures of my SB-600.  Here's my instructions on how to set the Nikon SB-600 Speedlight as a slave flash.

My SB-600 flash with normal settings:

SB-600 normal display (P7100)

Press the "Zoom" and "-" buttons simultaneously and hold until the CSM setting mode displays.  Then press the "-" or the "+" to get to the wireless connection setting.  This will appear as a squiggly "z" shaped arrow and displays "OFF" by default:  

SB-600 showing wireless communication is Off  (P7100)

Press the "Mode" button once to change from "OFF" to "ON":

SB-600 showing wireless communication is On (P7100)

Press the Power "ON/OFF" button to exit the CSM setting mode.  The display will now show the SB-600 in slave mode with CH set to 3 and Group set to A (default settings):

SB-600 set to slave on Channel 3 and Group A (P7100)

Once my SB-600 is set to slave, the flash will remain powered on and ready to go.  Red LED lights will blink until I take a picture and then continue to blink afterwards.  Also the SB-600 will make a chime sound when I take a picture to let me know that the flash was fired.  Nice!



Here is my new SB-700 Speedlight.  It is set to Master and would be installed on my D7000.  On the lower right, is the On/Off/Slave/Master toggle and button switch.  To set this flash to Master, I press and hold the round button while moving the toggle to Master.  Here's what the display settings look like:

SB-700 set as Master (P7100)

In the above picture, you can see that I've set my Group A flash exposure setting to -1.00 EV and the (M)aster set to 0.0EV.  Group B flash exposure is showing "---" as there are no flashes being used for this group.  Pressing the "SEL" button several times allows me to move between the different fields displayed.  I use the rotating dial (around the OK button) to make my changes.  Once I make the appropriate changes, I just press the "OK" button to accept the changes.  Now I'm ready to take my pictures.

My next adventure will be to use my D7000 DSLR as the commander or master flash and then set my SB-700 as a slave as well as my SB-600.  Stay tuned!

Pictures were taken with my Nikon Coolpix P7100 and Nikon SB-400 flash.

Nikon CLS (Master and Slave)...My First Studio Shot

This evening I was staying out of hubby's way.  He was working on his sermon for tomorrow's service.  I decided to pull out my Nikon flashes and try out the Nikon Creative Flash System or CLS.  I did an informal studio setup.  Nothing elaborate.

I had my SB-600 with a medium size softbox on a tripod.  My new SB-700, attached with my Gary Fong Lightsphere was perched on my camera on another tripod.  I placed the SB-600 (slave) to one side and turned the flash head/softbox up towards the ceiling.  My camera was turned sideways (portrait) and the SB-700 (master) flash head was turned up towards the ceiling as well.  

I had to program my SB-600 as a slave.  Not having any instruction book handy, I just played with a couple buttons.  Okay, not knowing what all the icons and symbols meant...I headed over to my buddy Google.com and found what I needed.  I made the change on my flash to slave and it gave me the default channel 3 and group A.  

I configured my SB-700 to master which entailed holding down a button and turning the flash on to Master on the dial.  That was way too simple.  I tried a test flash with the master flash and noticed my slave wasn't going off.  Hmmmmm.  I remembered the number 3 and the letter A from the slave flash default setting.  I looked at the settings again on the master and noticed it was on channel 1.  A quick change to channel 3 and I was all set.  

It took several shots before I finally got the hang of taking a self portrait using the two flashes.  Here's my first studio test shot.  

BTW, I also used my corded remote control to take the pictures.  All I had to do was plug it into my camera and it was ready to go.  

I'm just having way too much fun!

After the Rain (with my SB-400)

We were fortunate to have a rainy day.  I noticed our clematis was looking a bit wilted.  After a day of rain, our garden perked up.  (So did all the dandelions that appeared out of no where).

The late afternoon sun was going in and out of the clouds.  I decided to try another tool from my photog arsenal.  I took out my lonely SB-400 and just snapped a couple of pictures using this small handy flash:  

Tree Peony (200mm)

Alpine Columbine (200mm)

Clematis (200mm)

Weigela (200mm)

Even when the sun came out, I left the flash on.  I like the results.  I call my SB-400...a portable flash.  It's small that I do not notice the extra weight on my camera.  There are no settings to tweak on the flash.  My smart D7k knows what to do with it.  I think I'll be taking this flash with me more often.

Simple Flash Techniques with My D7000 and SB-600

Photography is art.  When I look through my camera's viewfinder, I'm looking for art.  The camera is my tool.  I can adjust the zoom, aperture, shutter speed, and produce something creative.  Something of my own.

A tool that I use with my camera is an external flash.  This changes the mood, light, and colors I see.

The Nikon SB-600 flash is a great all around external flash to use.  I've used it with my D40, D5000, and D7000 cameras.  While the SB-600 feels cumbersome and bulky on my D40, it feels well balanced with my D7k.

What's included with the SB-600?  A plastic flash stand to mount on a tripod and use as a slave flash, a soft case, and a sliding diffuser that's built into the flash head.

The accessories I've purchased for my SB-600 include a StoFen Diffuser and a Gary Fong Lightsphere (Cloud).  Both products work well.  When I use my flash, I always have the StoFen attached.  It softly diffuses the harsh projected light.  I've experimented with the GF Lightsphere and use it primarily for portraits and taking pictures of flowers.  It's best used for up close pictures.

The first year I had my SB-600, I used the flash straight on.  I didn't know any better.  I noticed huge shadows appeared behind my subjects.  I also noticed a lot of red-eyes.  As you can imagine, a lot of my pictures were blown out.  The flash was too bright...even with the flash exposure set to 0.  It was frustrating.  I didn't like my pictures.



Sto-Fen Diffuser:

I started doing some research and noticed a lot of photographers were using diffusers.  That's when I bought this Sto-Fen Diffuser made for the SB-600.  It sits over the flash head and diffuses/spreads the light over a wider surface area.  It lessons the shadows (some are still there but not as pronounced) and softens the light on the subject.  I was happy with the results I was getting, but I was still getting some red-eyes.

I then played around with the flash head.  Moving it straight up to bounce off the ceiling.  Moving it around (swiveling on the base) and point the flash head behind me towards a wall.  Bouncing the flash reduces the harsh light directed at the subject.  I'm not a technical person when it comes to photography.  If one is interested in knowing the technical aspects of external flashes and the bounce techniques, I would research this on Google.

This is my typical flash setup with the flash head pointed slightly upwards

I used this setup when I take portrait pictures and I turn the camera sideways

When I don't want a lot of flash (softer light), I will bounce the flash behind me towards a wall or ceiling

After experimenting with the movements of the flash head, I noticed something else was missing or lacking in my pictures.  Sometimes the flash was still too bright.  I've learned to play with the adjustments right on the flash itself.  While my camera exposure remains at 0 (zero), I've learned to tweak the flash settings.  Many times I've been inside a dark house, room, or church setting and the flash pushes out immense light...even when bouncing off the walls or ceiling.  I've learned to adjust the flash exposure down.  Typically for portraits and still life, I will adjust the flash down to -0.7.

My typical external flash settings I use.  I press the "-" button until I get to -0.7

When I take pictures of my artwork, the -0.7 setting on my flash will produce a harsh glare on my paintings.  I've had to adjust the flash down further to -1.0 and sometimes -1.3.  

Again, press the "-" button until I get to -1.0

If I just want some soft lighting, I will go all the way down to -2.0.  

Pressing the "-" to get to -2.0 for just some soft lighting from the flash

All this depends on how far away you are standing from your subjects.  The settings above are good for distances of 5-10 feet from your subject.  If you are further away, you will need to up the flash exposure...possibly going up to +0.7 or even +1.0.  I hardly ever have to go in the + side of exposure.


Note:  pictures were taken with my Nikon D40 and SB-400 external flash:

My 4 year old D40 used to take the pictures for this post.  It's my back up camera.  This camera has taken over 15,000 pictures and still produces beautiful colors!

The Nikon Coolpix AW100

For the last two years, I've been doing some research on waterproof/shockproof/drop-proof point & shoot cameras.  My research led me to the Canon D10 and possibly one by Panasonic.  The D10 had mixed reviews.  The IQ (image quality) was way above average and to my liking.  Underwater photos were coming out superb quality and great colors.  Unfortunately, the camera itself was plagued by software/hardware issues.  It also appeared to be hit or miss.  Kind of like...it works great all the time or you get a lemon.  Another issue was a leakage problem.  I believe that is the result of operator error.  If you follow the instructions in the manual, there shouldn't be a leakage problem.

As you can see, my primary usage for an all weather camera is...snorkeling.  For the last 4 years, I've used an Olympus 790 SW p&s camera.  It has traveled with me to several Caribbean islands where I snorkeled in the water and played on the beach.  Earlier this year in Aruba, my tough Olympus finally leaked.

I couldn't bring myself to get the Canon D10.  It's always been on the top of my list for picture quality, but the nagging software/hardware issues were prevalent as I was reading more and more consumer reviews.  A few months ago, Nikon finally announced a new camera...the Coolpix AW100.

Now, I don't want to remind a camera salesperson that I spoke to two years ago about the possibility of Nikon making a waterproof/shockproof camera.  The sales person laughed at me and said "Nikon wouldn't dream of getting into that market".  Well, they finally have done it.  I believe they are the last well-known camera manufacturer to enter this market.  And about time!

So, I present to you a new toy!

Nikon Coolpix AW100 with a sturdy single side latch

Back view with simple buttons

I have yet to test this baby underwater.  I did wander around the house taking pictures to see if this camera could handle what I threw at it.  At first, I was disappointed at the IQ results.  I ended up having a chat with myself...reminding me that this is no match and no comparison to my fancy Canon S90 p&s camera.  My S90 has a lot of bells and whistles.  My new AW100...does not.  

The next two pictures were taken in the late afternoon.  Here is my new floor standing easel:  

No flash - ISO 400

With flash - ISO 200

Silk flowers test:

No flash - ISO 800

With flash - ISO 200

Random pictures test:

No flash - ISO 800 (notice the grainy background)

With flash - ISO 200

No flash - ISO 800

I think the AW100 is a decent camera.  I would not use it for low light photography.  That's why I have my Canon S90.  The AW100 produces pretty good pictures when the flash is used.  I will be testing it outdoors (daylight) where I plan on using this camera the most.


Oh...back to my beloved Olympus p&s camera.  While I was snorkeling in Aruba early this year, the camera decided to get an error message.  More like my whole LCD display was screaming an orange error message.  I immediately took the camera out of the water.  Several times I turned the camera off and on and several times I ended up with an LCD looking like a scrambled TV.

My hubby kept telling me that I was trying to bring back some of that Caribbean ocean with me:

My Olympus 790SW work horse (media & battery) drying out

Once back on the ship, I dunked/rinsed my camera and left it to dry.  After a few hours, I opened the compartment door and pulled out my media card and battery.  Sure enough they had wet spots all over.  I removed the water and let them dry out overnight.    

The camera still works, but I can no longer use it near water.  It will be a matter of time before it will stop working.  I'm sure there are bits of dried salt inside the camera.  I believe the seals have worn out because of use and age.

I will testing out my new AW100 in a sink full of water to make sure it doesn't leak and the buttons function properly.  The real test will in the Caribbean next month!

Finds in Alaska...The Other Hobby

I spent one evening on a shopping adventure for my family.  I found two wonderful yarn shops in Anchorage.  I came across these beautiful buttons at Far North Yarns for future garments:

50mm, f5.6, 1/125, ISO 400

Then I came across some beautiful yarns by Rowan, Louisa Harding, and Noro (Far North Yarns and The Yarn Branch):

50mm, f5.6, 1/125, ISO 400

So far, Far North Yarns is my favorite yarn shop.  They had a wide variety of yarns, plenty of colors and a large quantity on hand to knit garments.  I'm in the process of knitting Christmas gifts from these beautiful finds.  Shhhhhh....

Blueberry Muffins

I decided to make another batch of blueberry muffins while the fresh blueberries are still in season.  My third attempt this month and I have to say they came out lovely:

Blueberry muffins with blueberry sauce swirled in the middle and on top
(55mm, f5.6, 1/125, ISO 1000)

I used a recipe from America's Test Kitchen (2nd attempt).  This time, I decided to have fun and that made all the difference in the world:

Yummy!
(95mm, f5.6, 1/125, ISO 720)

I used 1 cup of blueberries in the muffin mixture.  For the sauce, I also mixed a cup of blueberries with a teaspoon of sugar in a sauce pan and heated the mixture.  I squashed the blueberries as it was cooking down.  Take it off the burner and let the blueberry sauce cool to room temperature.  

Using an ice cream scoop, I scooped the batter into each greased muffin mold (pan).  Using a teaspoon of the blueberry sauce, I placed it in the middle of each muffin and used a chopstick to push the sauce into the middle of each muffin.  I swirled the tops of each muffin.  

All I can say...Yummy!

Gary Fong Lightsphere

See what happens when I have a day off from work? You get two blog posts from me today.

I've been itching to write a post about some of the equipment I use and carry in my bag. Here's my latest toy, the Gary Fong Universal Lightsphere (Cloud). When I first saw this contraption, I thought...who would carry something like this in public? Kind of geeky, if you ask me. I did some research and found that this gadget actually diffuses light 360 degrees. I imagined something like surround sound. Off I went to my local camera shop to check out this nifty toy. I took my camera and flash with me as Roger wanted to be sure the lightsphere would fit my SB-600. Because this version of the lightsphere is called "universal", it easily mounted on my flash and then got strapped with velcro. We tested the flash with and without the dome. Bounced the flash around the store. I was sold on this product.

Here's some pictures of this geeky gadget on my flash.

The frontside of the flash with the lightsphere and dome attached:





The backside of the flash:






Flash at an angle:





The rubber band that goes around the flash head (to hold the lightsphere in place):




The pieces (lightsphere and dome):




I'm glad I got this toy. I can now take my creativity to a new level and well...I get to spend more time with my camera. I plan on using this lightsphere for portrait photography as it reduces a lot of shadow. Personally, I think it's better than the Sto-Fen diffuser by a long shot.


In case you haven't noticed...I took all these pictures without a flash at ISO 1600.

In the next post you will see one of the results of using the lightsphere. Also if you look at my profile pic/avatar, that was taken with the lightsphere. Pretty cool stuff!

Camera: Nikon D5000
Lens: 18mm-200mm
ISO: 1600
Flash: None (I had to take it off the camera to take a pic of it)

Peonies & Lighting & Aperture

After working long hours this past week, taking a break yesterday to regroup and recover mentally, I was ready to get my creativity going today. I was out and about in our garden early this morning looking for some beautiful blooms to put in my vase. The peony blooms and buds are abundant this year thanks to the our snowstorm blizzard we had in early February. Right now, our gardens are looking lush and green.

I stumbled across three different varieties of peonies. Two are double flowers (white and pink):

(ISO 800) The only touch up I did with this photo is to auto adjust the colors. Typically, the image from the camera produces a dull white flower


The other is a single flower peony in a striking dark red color:

(ISO 1600) No touch up was done to this picture

Personally, I try to not to cut a peony stem if there is a blooming flower with buds attached. After the stem is cut, the tight buds will never open for me. I prefer not to waste a bud that could be blooming it's heart out in our garden later.

I wanted most of my flowers to be in focus with the background slightly blurred. I set my camera to Aperture Priority with an f/22 setting. Both pictures above were taken with this setting. I also used my SB-600 flash with a Gary Fong Universal Lightsphere attached (including its dome covering). I bounced the flash off my living room ceiling. I received a nice surprise.

I did take a few pictures with a smaller f-stop at 11. The center flower was in focus, but the rest of the flowers became slightly blurred.

After many years of working a hectic schedule, I'm learning to stop and smell the flowers. I'm learning to open my eyes and see God's creation and beauty around me. Photography is a great way to capture those moments. I'm glad I have the ability to do that.

Camera: Nikon D5000
Lens: 18mm-200mm
ISO: 800 & 1600
Flash: SB-600
Accessory: Gary Fong Lightsphere

After the Snow Fall

DH reminded me that I needed to take some pictures of our conifer garden and basically any shrub that was green. Hint, hint. He is giving a lecture later this summer on Conifers. So, I grabbed my Nikon and headed outside to capture my adventure in our gardens. It was cold outside, only 18 degrees F. Brrrrrr!

I decided to test the camera with the flash attached to see how well the pictures turn out (with snow and sun). Interesting, the details that a flash will bring out.

Here is a nice sign that Spring is right around the corner:
A Witch Hazel in bloom


My favorite shot...I just love the yellow and gold colors of this shrub


Close up of a conifer


Back yard shot with Conifer garden to the right


Another conifer...I like seeing the mounds of snow on the branches


It's so peaceful taking pictures


This picture was taken without flash. Kind of looks ho-hum. Isn't the snow just gorgeous?


As you can see, I don't know the names of all the plants and shrubs in our gardens. A lot of this was planted over 10-15 years ago. Some grow slowly, some have grown enormous.

This was our first big snow fall for our area this year. Some of it has melted when the sun peeked out yesterday afternoon.

Camera: Nikon D40
Lens: 18mm-200mm
Flash: Nikon SB-400
Media card used: San Disk Extreme III - 2GB