Topics

16

Lighting / Need Assistance on how to improve skin tones with strobes

« on: September 14, 2012, 03:03:29 AM »

In the following attachments you will note an untouched portrait straight out of the Canon 5D Mark III and then a post processed (in CS5 and LightRoom) which took about another half hour.  I used 2 Elinchrom 400 watt strobes at almost the lowest setting which was 2.2 to achieve a 6.3 and 1/100th light meter read at ISO 50

Does anyone have any suggestions with an older audience how to capture better portraits without all the red areas as in the untouched photo?  Am I perhaps too close with the strobes?  The 2 strobes were about 6 feet high (client seated), facing downward angle of about 45 degrees and approximately 16 inches form subject.  Each strobe was placed about 6 feet apart at 45 degree angles

Hope that helps to describe my setup to offer suggestions.  Thanks in advance.

17

Lighting / Test Your Knowledge with Strobes/Thinking outside the Soft Box

« on: September 12, 2012, 02:02:59 PM »

Here's a photo I shot with two Elinchrom soft boxes and no external / remote flash in cold or hot shoe. 

Note the strange phenomenon at the lower part of the photo where you can see a slight gradient from dark to normal as you look upward in the portrait .  It took me a bit to figure out why this was happening but ultimately found the answer.  I put my Sekonic L-358 meter in "cordless flash" mode (meaning it captured the proper lighting of the  two soft boxes when they fired) suggested 1/200 at F 6.3 so there was plenty of light with the recommended settings for manual and I was below the hi-speed sync setting of 1/250.  The soft boxes were at 45 degree angles and about 18 inches away from the subject and upward angled position of above 6.5 feet high and 30 degree angled downward.  The subject was seated in an armless chair that swiveled left to right.  I had a 42" reflector on a swivel arm in front of the subject at waist height for any facial shadow fill ins. I used a Canon 5D Mark III and a 100mm USM L IS Macro lens for this portrait in ISO 50. So what could it be?

18

Lighting / Perplexed on Aperture Choosing with Sekonic Meter

« on: September 09, 2012, 03:20:09 AM »

In the following studio scenario I have 2 x Elinchrom softboxes (400watt) series set at 2.0 which is the lowest light setting placed at 45 degrees in front of subject at approximately3-4 feet away.  The setup is in a garage with minimal ambient light from the front of the garage's small windows in which it appears the soft boxes are overriding.  I am using a Sekonic L-358 meter on the cordless flash setting which means it is put in the queue and waits for the burst of strobes (2 softboxes) to offer up a reading.  I can increase the shutter or decrease the shutter and at 1/200 I am at 7.1.  The problem is for the portraits I would rather use a wider aperture such as 4.0 (Using the canon 5D Mark III and 100mm 2.8 L USM Macro with IS).  Unfortunately in cordless flash mode you can only work the shutter and the Av changes with it on the fly.  I'd rather place 4.0 and see what the shiutter should be however  I am thinking hi-speed sync at this point if the Elinchrom set up offers this (it may).  I would be curious to any other options thought you may have such as pulling the soft boxes back further (?) to obtain that wider aperture.  I've attached a sample of a portrait of a couple I shot.  This was my very first session with the Elinchrom setup.  I also had a 580EX about 8 feet high set at rear/left at 1/4 Manual  to increase highlights in hair.  Open to any thoughts or should I not be concerned with the 7.1 setting for portraits?

19

Lighting / Sekonic RT Module-32

« on: August 13, 2012, 05:54:51 PM »

After acquiring this recently along with an L-358 Meter together as a set, the RT is not compatible with the Elinchrom system..darn.  Apparently, best I can tell, there are no Sekonic modules that work with Elinchrom SkyPorts..double darn. Though I can use the standard flash icon meter and put it in the queue, once it see the flash fire from Elinchrom DLites it does offer a fairly accurate reading but no way to do an exact sync.

If anyone in the U.S. wants to take this Module off my hands just send me a PM.  If there is a module I am not aware of that does work with the L-358 and can radio sync with the Skyports I would be most interested.

20

Lighting / Sekonic (or any other) Light Meter Question for Landscape readings

« on: August 11, 2012, 03:23:11 AM »

I recently read that the onboard light meter of your camera along with its histogram still are not as accurate as a Light Meter and can produce incorrect or slightly skewed factors hence my acquisition of the Sekonic L-358 Light Meter.  I can't say enough great things about this device especially for determining accuracy in Aperture and Shutter in setting values in the camera's (M) Manual mode especially when using a strobe system - simply essential.

 My question then may be for any seasoned Light Meter experts out there that shoot landscape scenes.  I am aware I can change the Lumiscope on this device for outdoor use, however where does one take a light reading when shooting a mountain range as an example or any wide area to be photographed?  I realize in some cases say with a baseball field you can walk to a particular point, get the light reading if you wanted and plug it in on your camera say for a particular object on the baseball field such as a dugout but what an inaccessible landscape? Or is the answer so simply as saying in the front of your camera? Thanks in advance

21

Lighting / Portrait Lighting - Newbie

« on: July 27, 2012, 12:53:30 AM »

I'm finally getting some interest in portrait photos and will need a mobile lighting set up.  I've got the right camera gear 5D MKII and 580EXII and plenty of lenses (L) but know this is certainly not enough.

I found a new kit on craigs list.  woman says she's a reseller and the kit includes everything in this link and is sufficient for up to 4 people / person portraits.

Price is $389 and made by QY160. http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/pho/3165542726.html

Any comments from anyone would be appreciated or a redirect to alternatives is fine as well.

Thanks for the help.

22

5D MK III Sample Images / Band / Artist / Concert / Music Photos with 5D Mark III (not lens specific)

« on: July 25, 2012, 03:01:28 AM »

Here's a photo of Steve Walker keyboardist from Modern English about 4 hours before his show at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, CA 7-12-12 (24-105 @ 65mm / 4.5 / ISO 100 / 1/1250s

23

Software & Accessories / FoCal Pro version 1.5 and the 5D Mark III

« on: July 20, 2012, 02:54:18 AM »

I opted to pull the trigger and acquire this much anticipated software.  At first glance, it can be a bit overwhelming in printing targets, lining up the camera so the targets are precise, installing software on a laptop (not a desktop) as you will more than likely need space to roam especially with Tele's zooms .  There are many things to keep in mind when setting up for this calibration though the software does a good job of pointing most of those out.

I noted however the software did a few unusual things to at least my 5D that weren't there before.  For one, the shutter release was reprogrammed to perform a different function other than to focus.  I found this out when I tried to focus on the printed chart and lost all AF capabilities.  I swapped out the 24-105 lens with a 100mm 2.8 L and nothing (still no focus).  I put the 24-105 on my 7D and it was fine so I had isolated it was in fact the 5D.  I then checked Custom Controls and found the 5D M3 was reprogrammed.  I also noted Spot Metering kept getting turned on as well as the Exposure was up by a +1.  On a few occasions I also found Custom White Balance toggled on and not AWB.  The printed 8.5 x 11 FoCal chart did not work with the 16-35mm 2.8 MK II lens.  It just simply wouldn't focus at 1 foot (MFD is .92 feet) or 5 feet which is perhaps due to the target being too small?  Not sure.  I ran the Aperture sharpness tests on the same lens (the 100mm 2.8 L) consecutively twice and got different results.  The camera nor the light did not change.  The first time is showed the 7.1 was the sharpest aperture then it showed on a second run that 4.5 was the sharpest aperture.  One would think it would be consistent - same test same camera, same lens.

Any one else have any comments on this or own this software with the 5D Mark III?  PS I found the Martin Bailey site had it on a promo for £45 British pounds or $73 US vs  £69.95 or $112.21 USD.

PS I did see the blurb on the web site:  "Does FoCal change my camera settings?"

"FoCal changes a number of settings on the camera while running the test (e.g. aperture, ISO, metering etc.).  Before each test is run, the current settings of the camera are stored on the computer.  When the test completes, the settings are restored so your camera is back exactly as you had it before running the test.

Should anything go wrong (e.g. a power cut, the camera battery running out, the cable being unplugged etc.), the next time FoCal is run with the camera connected it will offer to restore the settings exactly as they were."

The camera was not reset hence the documenting of the above issues. Perhaps this is specific to the 5D MK 3

24

5D MK III Sample Images / Post Your Summer Beach Shots here

« on: July 10, 2012, 03:53:16 AM »

Spent the latter part of the day in San Clemente at the beach here in southern Cal.  It was bright and sunny and everyone was happy.  I opted to change this mood as we photographers can do on the fly to a more gloomy kind of thing and came up with a stark, predator-type "I'm watching you" kind of shot


Predator At The Beach by Revup67, on Flickr

25

Software & Accessories / Adobe Lens Profiler for Canon Cameras / Lenses

« on: July 09, 2012, 03:30:51 AM »

Posted this elsewhere but perhaps it needs its own thread

Looking for personal opinion on the adobe lens profiler:

I just downloaded the app, read through the instructions and curious if anyone here has seen "significant results" doing a comparison of a before and after.  When selecting a focal point how does one select which aperture and focal length should be chosen when referring to a zoom if you only want to do the standard 9 shots?

Does this process somewhat overlap what DPP has to offer as it uses a lens profile there as well?

Finally I am thinking of getting Focal Pro and wondering if it makes sense to do those calibrations first then do the Adobe Lens Profiler?

Thanks in advance

26

5D MK III Sample Images / Post Your 4th of July Photos

« on: July 05, 2012, 02:11:57 AM »

Taken above Mission Viejo Lake, CA.  Settings were:  taken with Canon 5D MK3 and Canon 70-300 L IS USM lens @ 4.7s, F10, ISO 100, tripod (Y), BULB setting with TR cable, @ 83mm AWB.  Post Process in DPP only RAW to JPG.  No HDR


4th of July 2012 (Mission Viejo, CA) by Revup67, on Flickr

27

Lenses / 16-35 MKII USM L > Lens Alignment tool with MA..which looks better?

« on: June 29, 2012, 07:25:32 PM »

I wasn't sure initially but thought perhaps my 16-35 may have been slightly soft in certain areas of the photos.  I finally got out the Lens Alignment tool (MK II version) and set up for preparation

The first image is at "0" whereas the second image has an added Front Focus adjustment of +5.  I'm curious as to your thoughts as to which one looks better either photo ending with 75 @ 0 or photo ending with 79 which has the +5 adjustment..I think I'm going blind after staring at dots and stripes for 2 hours.  If you can try and ignore the lighting (slight difference) - these are crops from RAW's as JPGs no sharpness or unsharp or other enhancements were done of course. If you think they are both off then advise..thanks n advance..download if need be to zoom

28

5D MK III Sample Images / Post Your 5D Mark III Sports shots (cropped or uncropped) here

« on: June 21, 2012, 12:37:22 AM »

I spent a half a day at Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point today utilizing the 5D Mark III with some more of it's potential.  This was taken on the rocks with a 400mm L 5.6 lens ( no filters).  Settings were: 1/2500, 6.3, ISO 800, Exposure +1 2/3, AI Servo, AF Point Expansion:Surround, AWB, High Speed Conitnuous.  Made 2 additional copies of the file at -1 exposure and -2 exposure.  Stacked in Photomatix 4.2 then cropped to 1920x1280 from JPG master which was from 3 RAW files.

After seeing what this camera can do..I'm not sure I'll be using the EOS 7D anymore.  The 5D MKIII is nothing short of amazing.  (Flickr has dulled this image)


Surfer @ Salt Creek Beach by Revup67, on Flickr

29

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Canon GP-E2 GPS Now Available..USA Warranty 5 left in stock

« on: June 19, 2012, 06:56:23 PM »

Just ordered mine for the Canon 5D Mark III will also work with EOS 7D with firmware upgrade (forthcoming).

Abe's of Maine:  http://www.abesofmaine.com/item.do?item=CNGPE2

Call their 800-992-2237 x 266 Fred was my sales rep - said he has only 5 left.  Everyone else (J&R, BH is out of stock) Free Shipping as well 269.95

Tell him Anthony sent you..( I don't get any kickbacks )..good luck !

30

5D MK III Sample Images / Still having doubts about the 5D Mark III? then check this out

« on: June 13, 2012, 01:39:11 AM »

The Black Crowned Night Heron - Dana Point Harbor, CA 6-12-12.  Canon 5D Mark III and Canon 400mm 5.6 L without IS.

This photo is not cropped and almost untouched except to adjust the white balance which was ever so slightly off.  Basically the image is straight out of the camera and was a RAW converted to a JPG then resized to 1920x1280.  Settings were:  1/1600, F 5.6, ISO 200, Evaluative Metering, AI Servo, AF Mode = Spot AF, Shutter Priority, EC = 0 and hand held by a 53 year old.  I spotted this Heron on a fence and gingerly walked up to him and snapped a few pics.  There were so many good ones it was hard to decide which one to post.

If anyone has their doubts or gripes about what the 5D can't do or if you still care to boast about the D800 then this image ought to keep those humbled and bring things into perspective


Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax ) by Revup67, on Flickr