Who goes there?

How many SciFi movies have you seen where they've used this cheap effect - Predator, and Beast Master spring to mind. I've always wanted to try my hand at this - but a word of warning, although the chemicals are non-toxic they will stain (they maybe a little corrosive, like vinegar or something mild). The setup is pretty straight forward, and the result has had minimal LightRoom treatment. My tip to shooting in low light, is to auto-focus whilst the lights are on, and then switch to manual focus for the rest of the shoot. (Just remember to switch back to auto when you're done, or you will be scratching your head next time you get the camera out).

Brain cells

After the recent trouble with inky water challenge, I was going all out to capture some smoke.

When they say you need a lot of light - they are not kidding, this is lit with 1500W of halogen, and a bounce card one foot to the left. In case you haven't spotted it, this photo was shot upside down - as smoke rises. The shot glass is suspended from above, dangling by a simple bit of string and gaffer.

Black drop cloth, and a microphone stand to hold the stinky incense stick, and you're away (well about 50 photos later). Then it's just a little LightRoom to flip and color grade.

In case you're wondering, the "IQ Zero" shot glass is my dig at Alcohol and Tobacco.

Inspired by http://gizmodo.com/5662030/82-striking-photos-of-smoke

Dark moment

This is a Photoshop (Gimp actually) composition of two photos - #1 for the basic setup, and #2 for the gun blast, which is actually light (close proximity torch light), which is then subtracted from the image. And then a little bit of LightRoom for the color grade.

Inspired from http://gizmodo.com/5504469/shooting-challenge-shadows-part-1

Blood Simple

This shot looks pretty straight forward, unfortunately it wasn't, and needed some pretty heavy handed lightroom to save it. Now it may have been easier if I had red dye, but this actually Soy Sauce - and through the wonders of digital technology, it's now red. But that is really the least of your worries - the real problem here is pulling the clean white back ground out, without losing the detail of the dye. Overall I'm still not happy with the end results - and ideally would shoot it again, but I'm done with it, and want to move on.

I got the idea from here.
http://gizmodo.com/5661918/shooting-challenge-smoke-gallery-1

I'm now tempted to try some smoke.

Freelensing

I don't know if I would recommend this style of photography for the faint hearted. Grab your 50mm lens, unscrew it, and turn it around - that's right back to front, and hold it in front of the camera - and you've got yourself a poor-mans macro. This "technique", also known as freelensing. I set everything to manual, after checking the speed, ISO etc, manually focused by moving the camera forwards and back, and click - it works.

Truth be known I actually tested this out with my old film based Ricoh, with its lens, so I knew how to hold everything together, before trying this with the DSLR (didn't actually take any shots - as I have no film in the house).
I'm surprised this even works - I thought light leakage alone would ruin the shot.

I got the idea from here
http://gizmodo.com/5679403/101-photos-taken-with-the-lens-detached

Food for thought

I've done a series of photos for Rie's blog (http://rieskitchen.blogspot.com/), and this is the latest.
Now for food I prefer to shot with natural light - as lighting with artificial light, and making it look natural is a skill that still alludes me. This is shot in the dying light of an overcast afternoon - I was actually against the clock with the light really fading. These little gluten free treats were straight out of the oven - and the scene is completely fake - a table has been dragged to the window to get what little light there is left, and then dressed the table with whatever festive decor I had at hand - pronto. The shot is taken with a 50mm lens, with a moderate aperture - because I wanted the closest mince pie to be mostly in focus - so 3.2 felt right - 1.8 was too much BOKEH (did I just say that).

(PS - A professional food photographer contact of Rie's commented that the photo was maybe a little busy, not enough white for some particular magazines, but other than that, said it was pretty good - I must be doing something right)

Bug in the machine

Birthday surprise.
Taken with the 50mm lens & tripod, with up-lighting under/behind the circuit boards, and a little side lighting for key lighting.
Not much light makes it through the boards - hence the need for the tripod (0.3s f7.1)

Spflash

I'd always wanted to have a go at this kind of photography - all you really need is a flash and some patience, as it's going to take more than one attempt to get it right. The flash will generally only want to go to about 1/250, and this is shot on a 50mm, so you can get plenty of light. Tweaked up in Lightroom to look more pumped. If I was to have another attempt, I might try manual focus, on where the fruit is going to be

Golden Orb

It's much easier to shoot a spider when they are fricken huge.

 

In the wild these critters, are generally under the jungle canopy, which is generally low light.
But a tripod, and long exposure will not really help you out here - as the slightest breeze and the whole lot moves.

The red hourglass

It's harder than you think to photograph such a small subject.
This is a juvenile female red back spider.
The lens is less than one inch away, and focusing it extremely tight.
Thankfully there is a glass jar between me and her.