Canon Speedlight Video Tutorials

If you are a Canon user like myself I have discovered a link with speedlight video tutorials courtesy of canon digital learning center.  Check the part 1 here and part 2 here.  The video shows how to control external speedlights through the camera.

Strobing a Triathlete

I have been so excited when I spoke to my client/friends from Philippines last month when they agreed to let me take their photo as a triathlete. These are my banker friends who are very active in the sports.

I finally did the shoot last weekend when I had my business call (to my full time job as a financial broker) in Manila.

Trina and Jojo met with me at Mandarin Hotel Makati for breakfast. I also called one of my friend, Mikey, to help me out with the lights. Sort of like an intelligent tripod. Mikey is a fellow hobbyist who was based in Hong Kong but moved back to Manila just recently.

This shot on the right is Trina. I used Elinchrom Ranger Quadra A to light Trina positioned at front top of the model acting as a spot light. I used the sun as a back light and under exposed the ambient light to create drama. This was shot at 1/200 @ f18 iso 100.


This shot is Jojo. I used two 580 EX II one positioned on the left of the camera and one on the right. I used the new Pocketwizard Flex and Mini to trigger both flashes at 1/1250 f2.8 iso 100.


Mikey posted some behind the scene on my flickr photo page here












After about 90 shots of Jojo and Trina we were interrupted by a roving security patrolling the are. I was told that we needed to get a permit to be allowed to do photoshoot in the area. Oh actually you needed to ask for a permit to do photoshoot in any area in Manila. If you are a photog and using an SLR I can assure you that 90% you will be asked if you have a permit specially you have a model with you. Kinda weird for me considering that in HK you can shoot a model anywhere without being hassled. Anyway I pretended not to know the rules and told the guard just a few more shots. After a few minutes I asked the guard to join in with Jojo and Trina for the last photo. He was reluctant at first saying this might appear in a magazine (yeah right!) but after convincing him that it was just a fun shoot he gladly joined. See the shot below.

Since we cannot continue the shoot on the open field we then decided to do some swimming shots and The Serendra courtesy of Trina's friend. Tina and Lionel joined us for this part and here are a few shots on the pool.

The lap shots were really tiring. I asked Mikey to follow the swimmers while pointing the flash to the swimmers trying to capture them when they were gasping for air. The flash were triggered by Pocketwizard Flex and Mini on ETTL mode. On the last photo I used two 580 EX II to the left and the right of the subject triggered by PW on ETTL.

Check my flickr set to check the rest of the photos.

Margaret

Margaret was the first ever model that I shot back in August last year when I was in the early stage and exploring photography. She left Hong Kong and went to England to study and now she is back for a vacation. A fellow photog invited me to shoot her again and I was so excited.

Here are two of the shot I did in August 2008.

All Natural Light




And here is the shot I made August 16. Oh no I just realized its a little over a year! Its almost an anniversary :P

Natural Light


I used 580 EX II cam left bare and 580 EX II cam right on a portable beauty dish triggered with Pocketwizard Flex and Mini TT1


Hope you guys like it!

Water Droplets Tutorial

My wife went back to Manila for a vacation and to study make up artistry to suplement my hobby. Now I have more time to play around with the water in the kitchen without my wife nagging me about the pirex plate being played around. Don't worry baby ill take care of this :)

So this shot is inspired by the Strobist article a few months ago.

The equipments used

White transparent chopping board
White pyrex plate
Plastic for the water
2 580 EX II gelled
Canon ST-E2 to trigger my flash
Tamron 70-200 f2.8 Macro lens
Canon 5d MK II
Tripod

I hanged the plastic bag on top of the exhaust fat and check where the water is dropping. I placed a marker (tip of the spoon or knife) on the spot and pre focused the area. I turned the focusing on manual so that everytime I pressed the shutter it wont find a focus again. Oh by the way my exposure was 1/200 and f8 and had my ISO at 50. I was shooting on manual mode as well. I chose to used 1/200 to slightly kill the ambient light.

Here are some of the results.




You can visit my flickr set here as well.