It’s a fun time to be in photography

I have learned a lot from other photographers. In fact, community with photographers (both local and worldwide) has been one of the driving forces in me furthering my skills as a photographer. The other being personal research and study.  But, I’ve probably learned most through interacting with other photographers, from tagging along with seasoned veterans of the wedding photography business to peer conversation.

One of the first inspiring communities I joined was the Strobist off-camera lighting blog and corresponding discussion/sharing platform on Flickr.  A couple of years ago, there was an assignment to shoot a picture of a basketball. This assignment was fairly open-ended, but contained a few restrictions (including a maximum of 2 flashes and no Photoshop tricks), making for a fun learning experience for me.

Here was my final entry.

See all entries from this exercise.

I seem to photograph shoes…

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I learn a lot about photography by experimenting.  Last May, I took a picture of my new shoes:

Then, I recently needed another pair of running shoes (since I misplaced one). So, with my new camera, I took a picture of them. Click through to see the lighting setup.

I like the result, and think I’ve grown as a photographer over that time. So that’s good – I’ll have to keep experimenting!

Whenever I get a chance, I experiment with new photographic techniques. For this experiment, my subject was my new lens, a Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8 L.

I had a few goals in mind before starting. First, I wanted to have a reflection of the lens. I also wanted to show the lens’ shape and curves. Lastly, I wanted to add a splash of color to the image.  This pre-production phase is important to my work, be it a product shot or a portrait. 

For the reflection, I decided to use some plexiglas that I picked up at The Yard (an awesome place to find random “photographic” equipment). The plexiglas also allows some light through, which allowed me to throw some color onto the background by putting some gel on the flash. To show the shape, I used an umbrella for a broad source of light, with white foam core on either side. This gave some broad, specular highlights on the edge of the lens.

The setup shot to the right shows how it all came together. Two folding chairs, one tri-fold poster-board, two pieces of plexiglas. The umbrella is over a flash, and the other flash has red gel for the color.

Here are the end results. The second shot has the gelled flash pointing straight through the plexiglas and gave it an edgier look.