Model shoot in a Philips building

Last Saturday I organized a photo walk for some of my friends in Eindhoven. Because of the assignment, make an environmental portrait WITH implemening one or more well known composition rules, we rented a model. We were lucky we had one with a 'pro' expression and dito drive.

These are some of my photos. For photos of my fellow photographers that day, see this link to the photo club blog (in dutch) Komt Dat Schot.

Liquid

Today I saw some nice water sculptures on the internet, and I though it would be nice to experiment with photographing water (or liquids). As a complete beginner in this area I thought that the easiest way to get some decent shots is not to make it too complex. For this kind of work I figured that I would need a macro-lens, which I don't have. I tried to make some shots with my Canon 450D with my 85mm F/1.8 with a flash attached (Canon 430EXII), handheld, while the water was running slowly (can I say that this way in English?). I took some shots and the results where quite good, althoug not pin sharp. Well, I mean that only the water droplets are not pin sharp, the rest is of the photo is.

I looked back on the internet how to get those crispy sharp shots, and this is it: The flash duration must be extremely short, and  if you know your flash (speedlite) you know that the lower the power, the shorter the flash. So... reduced the power to the minimum of my two Metz 58's (1/256th), made my flashes remotely controlled.

Also I found my 50mm F/1.8 with my 250D closeup filter. I used this combination on my 5Dmk2 for even higher quality. Mounted everyting on a tripod, placed it in the bathroom sink, and from there it was easy. Focus carefully (manual), ISO100, 1/250s, F/8, 2x Metz 58 on 1/256s, 2x Yongnuo CRT301 remote triggers. Make sure the light in the bathroom is off, to be able to freeze all the action with the flash light.
A carefull reader would see that I use 1/250s with flash. This results in a black bar on the left of the mages. This is all cropped out in post.

Here the final result.

Composition practice (or: painting with light)

To improve my Photoshop skills I gave myself the assignment to make a composition of different photos and make it into one. Normally I only use Photoshop to solve some problems and not to improve or even create a new photo with. Lately I notice many fellow photographers expect that using a computer to create a new image will become more and more important. For me good reason to start playing...

Ingredients:

• DSLR (camera)
• Wide angle lens (e.g. 35mm)
• Tripod
• Cable release (couldn't find it in my big box of small photo-accessories, so: not with me)
• Flash + remote control + extra batteries
• Colored gels to put over the flash
• White shoot-through umbrella
• Model (=car)
• Location (=industrial area in Eindhoven, next to the car-wash)

Instructions

• Wait for the late afternoon (early February in the Netherlands 16.00h is about OK).
• Wipe the snow of your car and throw your gear in the back (your photogear I mean).
• Drive to the car wash and wait your turn.
• Clean your car, thoroughly (I forgot the last part).
• Position your car at the supermarket parking lot and find a nice angle. 
• NOtice that at 16.00h the supermarkte opens (it's a Sunday) and the parking lot fills COMPLETELY.
• Find another spot where no-one is WITHOUT spoiling your clean car with snow and salt. (drive slowly)
• Position your car and find a nice angle to shoot the car from.
• Put the camera on the tripod and DON'T move it anymore until you are finised.
• THINK what you want to accomplish and take shots.
• Merge all shots in Photoshop to a nice picture.

I thought it would be nice to combine all kinds of light angles on the car and the surroundings and then combine it.
These are some of the individual images I took. I made quite a lot of photos to be able to play with them at home. Better one too many than one short...

Then..
Go to Photoshop and put all photos in a different layer. Because the final image is not very large, I used the selection brush (A) to paint what I wanted to keep: the specially lit areas. The rest is erased with Eraser (E). This is done with every photo (about 20 or so). I used the 'lighten' function for the layer behavior adding light to the base layer. Finaly I picked the nicest sky, placed the moon and flattened all layers. Then finalized in Lightroom. (I can't help using Lightroom...)
And yes, the moon was really there. Sure, you're right. It was a little smaller. I used a 200mm to get it to this size.

Here is the final image.