Went back east to visit the family over Thanksgiving. Weather was challenging for photography (overcast and drizzling) but I made do with what I had.

Comments welcome!

Dutch Island Lighthouse taken from Ft. Getty - Rhode Island.

Cheers,
Ken

 

Beersel Castle. Click to embiggen:



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Hey all.

So I am reviving my Livejournal upon recounting what a valuable resource it can be - especially the communities. They are great sources of inspiration and assistance! Feel free to add me.

So I was fired from a job I hated about three months ago. At the same time, my grandmother died, and I received a rather large gift as a result. I feel that the omens (If you've read The Alchemist, you'll know what I mean!) have pointed me down a new destiny, and that is to actively pursue my passions.

I've been shooting parties in Los Angeles for a year now, but have yet to aggressively pursue pay. I really love doing it because I love beautiful things and I love taking photos of people. More importantly, I try to express a certain viewpoint, and that is one of a girl who is very very shy, but is empowered behind her camera lens - it allows me to be outside of the party while still being a part of it. I'm a wall flower with a camera.

So I've decided to up the ante, and ordered myself some AlienBee lights, along with the rest of the equipment needed for a mobile photobooth. The plan is to pitch my services to clubs, wherein I would photograph for the night, host their images, and include their logo on the photos. When people post the photos to their Facebooks, etc, it is free advertising for the club. I've seen this business model in action, but hope to take a more genuine, more streamlined approach for a much more modest price. I've already established some healthy networking connections as a result of my previous work, but I know I will have to hustle.

Have any of you any advice for the photographer setting out on her own this way?

Anyway, for Thanksgiving, I brought my kit along to my parents' house, and shot my family (Heeheee). I am still figuring out how to get the hairlight to do what I want - obviously, it's not bright enough in some of these. I was using the silver side of an umbrella and reflecting the light from behind at an angle with the light at about 1/8th power. I don't know if the reflector is the way to go, but I did another test shoot without it and the light was too bright at 1/8th and spilling too much onto the backdrop. I'll have to keep experimenting. I do love how the key light came out...I was shooting full power through a shoot-through umbrella for diffusion in the "butterfly lighting" set up.

I went in a did a little editing with Photoshop, mainly just upping the contrast a bit, adding some dither and a slight vignette. Most of them are cropped to a square shape to mimic the medium format, which is how I want to go with my final set up.

Anyone have advice regarding faking a square format while shooting? Can I put tape on the viewfinder or something? In film school when we wanted to fake a letterbox, we put tape on the camera LCD so we could plan our shots accordingly and then added the bars in post. Can you do something similar with a still camera?

Additionally, you will notice some banding of the black backdrop that occurred after Photoshop - how can I prevent this? What causes it? I wasn't shooting RAW - is that why? I suspect that once set up, most of my output will be to web, where it really won't matter, but my parents would like to print some of these. Is there anyway to get the camera to shoot in a greater resolution than 72dpi (I'm shooting with a Canon Rebel XT)? (I've looked this up, and I don't think I really understand dpi and printing as well as I should.)

If you have any questions regarding my set up, I'd be happy to answer them in the comments.

And now, without further ado....

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Thanks for looking and for any answers/advice you can provide!

I'm thinking about putting in a request for a EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens for Christmas. Does anyone have this lens? How do you like it? Have you found much distortion along the edges? Do you find this particular fixed length limiting? Can you share an image (or two) you have shot with with this lens (doesnt have to be an edited image)?

Photographed in a barn at an abandoned citrus packing plant near De Land, Florida.

A Little Tune for Black Friday - and one not the shopping one!