Loreo 3D Lens in a Cap Preview

Just wanted to share a couple of samples from the Loreo 3D Lens in a Cap.  Will post a review soon.

UPDATE: Loreo 3D Lens in a Cap review now posted here.

parallel view

cross-eye view

parallel view

cross-eye view

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Home Pastries With The OMD

 

That looks tasty, my wife was baking these pastries at home and I immediately remembered a short movie Phillip Bloom made of his mother cooking, it was brilliant, so I decided to do something similar but with stills, and document the main parts of the process. It will be also a chance to talk about the OMD for a bit.

I am not ready yet to give my final impressions on the OMD since I haven't had enough experience with it like other cameras, I am now at around ~ 1200 shots on the clock, back to our topic.

 

I find it easier to pick up the OMD and take shots around the house than I did with my 5D3, don't read this as an advantage for the OMD over a DSLR, it's not, this is an advantage to my current storage camera bag over my previous Lowepro Pro Runner 200AW DSLR storage solution, it's just easier for me to lift the cover on my Thinktank Retrospective 5 bag and pick the OMD with my favorite do-it-all lens attached, the Panasonic Leica 25mm f/1.4 lens (50mm equivalent), the result is that I'm shooting more at home than I used to.

 

So why didn't I pick the Sony RX100 that is always at hands reach, just beside my keys? A couple of reasons, I still don't like holding the camera and shooting through the back LCD compared to a viewfinder, it is not as stable, and the Sony lost aperture quickly once I zoomed in, and I wanted some shots at fast apertures, so I picked the OMD since I was planning to do all shots using available light, at the lowest ISO possible, hand held.

 

 

This is the core flour paste used to make the goodies, in all of the shots there are two equally strong light sources, flourescent ceiling lights, and tungsten spot lights over the kitchen top, you can notice that by looking at the top and the inside of the paste in the image above.

 

I was shooting at ISO 200 which is the lowest ISO setting, and despite planning to shoot close to wide-open, I found myself shooting @ f/3.5 or thereabouts for adequate DOF, this of course resulted in ~ 1/10 sec shutter speeds, but the IBIS dealt with that quite nicely. You can also see that the AWB have dealt with the mixing color temperatures quite nicely.

 

 

This is the filling, white cheese mixed with small mint pieces, you might not believe it until you try it, but it gives those pastries their main flavor and taste. Also despite planning on using the viewfinder, I used the tilting LCD for some of the shots to get more interesting angles.

 

 

Here's the cheese put on a piece of the paste, the image is not sharp because I was holding my daughter with one hand, and shooting with the other hand using the back LCD, not the best scenario when the shutter speeds are slow.

 

 

And here's a full set almost ready to get in the oven, just one more addition remaining.

 

 

Before they enter the oven the top parts of the pastries are painted with raw eggs to give them a brown glow when they get in the oven.

 

 

In the oven, as you can notice, she made several sets of pastries, different shapes and different fillings, the oven light was a weird deep orange color, I guess they made it that way to look similar to fire glow.

 

 

And here's the final product, see that brown crisp on the top? That's the egg paint.

 

Overall, I am very satisfied with the OMD, it has certainly exceeded my initial expectations coming from a 5D3, and I am still learning more of its characteristics everytime I use it.

 

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Silver umbrellas made obsolete by new octagonal softboxes

I was looking for a silver umbrella, but found out they are pretty much obsolete. That's because of the Westcott Orb and similar octagonal softboxes on eBay, Amazon, and elsewhere.  In this post, I review the CowboyStudio version of this octagon softbox.  In a first for me, the review will be in video form.

The video will cover these topics:
- Why you might want one for your lighting gear.
- Comparison with other octagon softbox designs.
- Demonstration of how the octagon softbox is mounted with a regular umbrella adapter, a speedlight bracket, and an Alien Bee.
- Advantages of the octagon softbox.
- Disadvantage of the octagon softbox and how to remedy it.
- Demo of its usage.


Here's our video review (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa4Fywt43B0):




Here are the sample photos I took.

Click on the pictures to zoom in.  I did not deepen the shadows in post.  Note that the wall was only about 3-4 feet behind the subject yet looks very dark.  That speaks well of the control afforded by the octagon softbox (here of course I was using it more as a silver umbrella -- if I had used the diffuser I would expect more spill on the background).

Additional notes:

• The umbrella's ribs don't look very sturdy.  I think they could bend or break if a wind blows down the light stand.
• Longer studio strobes such as the White Lightning might not fit into the softbox, but the modifier can still be used as a silver umbrella.
• At this point in time, these Apollo Orb clones are available only in one size -- 80cm (31.5 inches), whereas the Apollo Orb is available as a 36-inch or 43-inch version.
• The Apollo Orb can use a grid.  At least one version of these clones can use a grid as well.  However, mine cannot (the velcro is too narrow to accommodate anything other than the diffuser).  If that's something you would like, be sure to check with the seller if their softbox can use a grid.

Errata:

• In the video I said, there is no hotspot because the bulb is not facing the "camera".  I meant to say the subject.
• The camera I used for the shots was the Fuji S5, not the D300S.

I'm a newbie at video editing so if you have any suggestions for that or anything else pls. let me know in the comments or via email.  Thanks!

If you are interested in this product, you can support our blog by buying it through our Amazon affiliate link below.  At this time, Amazon offers the lowest price on this product ($26 with free 2-day shipping for Amazon Prime).



UPDATE:  Found this similar product on Amazon, except it has a grid.  If I were to need another silver umbrella or small octagon softbox, this is what I would probably order instead.

RELATED POSTS:
How to get a black background without a backdrop

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Lighting Technique: Taking Photos of Dark Objects

With most subjects, the form and its texture is revealed by shadows.  With black or very dark subjects, the shadows blend into the subject, therefore the shadows don't show its form as easily.  Instead, we see the form through the specular highlights and reflections.

I took some photos of a pair of black leather shoes.  In this post, I discuss how I lit the shot.

Because of the shoes' dark tone, I decided to take a photo of the shoes against a white backdrop.  On some of the shots, I also wanted a cool-looking reflection below the shoes.  To do this, I got a white construction paper and then used a glass top from one of our tables.

The tools I used.

Here is my thought process as I was shooting.

The objective here was to make the shoes as desirable as possible (they were to be sold on eBay or craigslist).

First, I tried a lighting scheme where the shoes were somewhat backlit, a style that I often like.  To do this I placed one slave flash camera left, aimed at the left corner ceiling.  I aimed the on-camera flash to the right corner of the ceiling.  Here is the result:

The result looked somewhat ok, but did not show sufficient detail in the shoes.  I tried to add detail by aiming the on-camera flash to the side and a little bit behind the camera plane.  Here is the result:

Definitely had more detail but yuck the shiny specular reflection made the shoes look cheap.

A bit of explanation is in order.  With light colored objects, the quality of light can be most easily seen by the shadows.  Soft light produces soft-edged shadows.  With dark objects, the shadows aren't as noticeable.  Nonetheless, the quality of light still makes a difference -- through the specular highlights.  Hard light produces very shiny specular reflections.  Soft light produces a much more dull reflection.

The specular reflection here was because the wall to the right had a closet with a glass door.  The glass door reflected the flash as though the flash were aimed directly at the shoes.  To remedy this I aimed the on-camera flash at an angle that would not hit the glass door.  This was the result:

Better than the previous shot, but still, there was a shiny specular reflection that detracted from the shoes' appearance.  What I needed instead was to simulate a very large light source to create the softest-looking highlight.  I did that by bouncing one flash behind and to the left, and the other behind and to the right.  Together, the two bounced lights would act somewhat like a very large light source.  This was the result:

Much improved, in my view.  I then just adjusted the intensity.

In post, I removed some of the warm tint from the bounced flash.  I did that in Photoshop by creating an adjustment layer that removed all saturation.  To retain the color in the interior of the shoe I hid the adjustment layer over the interior of the shoe.   The result had absolutely no tint while there was still color in the shoes' interior.  However, I found the image a little too 'cold' looking, so I reduced the opacity of the adjustment layer to bring back just a little bit of the tint.  This was the final shot:


Here is another shot I worked on.  The initial shot had a highlight on the upper left that I found distracting, while the rest of the shoes were dark:

Once again, I adjusted the two flashes so that they bounced to the ceiling (behind the camera, because I was pointing the camera down).  One flash was to the left of the shoes, and the other was on camera, both aimed at the ceiling to combine into a gigantic light source.  The gigantic light source created a highlight that lit the shoes more evenly and gave the leather the soft appearance.

Here are the rest of the shots:

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A Teaser

I've been quite busy lately, and I still am, but there are a lot of goodies coming on the way, so hang on. This is my newly acquired Sony RX100, a 20 MP little monster, and below is a picture taken with it, full flash sync @ 1/2000 sec. ;-)

And a 100% crop for your pleasure, very sharp optics, amazing amount of details for such a small sensor packed with 20 megapixels, great dynamic range, and those Sony sensors can surely withstand pulling the shadows without showing ugly color blotches.

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How I Keep Fungus Out Part 2

This is a follow up post to my previous post on How I Keep Fungus Out.

I have since gotten a Lockdown Silica Gel Can, 750g as well as a digital hygrometer.  Here are the results:



Baseline: our house's humidity is normally 51% (we live in Southern California but we are in a coastal area).  Our heater has a humidifier and when it is active, humidity rises to 64% in my camera closet.

With the humidity at 64%, I placed the Lockdown silica gel can in the closet this morning.  By the time I got home, the humidity was 37%.  (Note that my camera closet is not completely air tight. It's just a regular closet.)

Based on these results, I think the Lockdown silica gel can or a similar product would be the best solution.  I don't need the air tight container or the smaller desiccants.

UPDATE: I have since opened and closed the camera closet several times.  Each time I checked, the humidity was at 37%.  This is close to the supposed ideal of 40% for lenses.  I have not tested this product in other environments (more humid or less humid than our house).

2/13/13 UPDATE: The past couple of days the humidity at our house has risen to 70%.  The humidity in the closet with the silica gel can went up to 45%.  (The recommended range for lenses is 40% to 50%.)

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Leaving the Safety of the Typical Zoom Combo

Yesterday, we went to Disneyland (surprise).  Since my wife was coming, I decided to bring a two-camera combination.  Usually, I bring the event photographer's typical combination of a standard zoom (24-70 or similar) and telephoto zoom (70-200 or similar).  Specifically, I liked to use the 24-70 2.8G on a D600, and the Sigma 50-150 2.8 (non-OS) on an APS-C body.  That combination of zooms covers virtually any situation and perspective, from a very wide 24mm to 225mm equivalent and at f/2.8 all the way.  Pretty darn good combination.

However I think the combination falls a little short in some ways.  Specifically, the 24-70 is one of my most often used focal lengths, and is probably the lens I would choose if I could have only one lens period but I sometimes find the images from a 24-70 a little too tame.  I like images with shallow DOF and to some extent I get that with the 24-70 on a full frame (compared to a 17-50 on APS-C) but it's not shallow enough to really wake my eyes up.  Another kind of image that I find interesting is one with zany lines like those of an ultrawide or fisheye.  Again, at 24mm the 24-70 can somewhat be used to get those lines, but nowhere to the same extent as a true ultrawide.

As for the Sigma 50-150, yes it does deliver the shallow DOF that I like but at the telephoto focal lengths that I typically associate with shallow DOF.  It's what I expect.  So even with the shallow DOF, the images don't make me do a double take.

I decided to try a different lens combination: for very shallow DOF, an 85 1.8G on a D600.  For the crazy lines and wild angles, the Tokina 11-16 2.8 on an APS-C.  Because it was sunny, I decided to use the Fuji S5 Pro.  So, no standard zoom.  Are there shots that I could miss because of the wrong focal length?  Possibly.  Fortunately, I'm not an event photographer or a documentarian.

As a footnote, one benefit of this combination is that my gear can all fit into a smallish Lowepro Nova 3 AW camera bag.

Anyway, here is how the shots turned out.

I didn't expect the park  to be so full yesterday.

With my family in the shade, the sun's rimlight highlighted them nicely.

Photo opp with Pluto.  My family was getting ice cream inside so we didn't get a shot ourselves, but I took a shot of this happy kid.  Note that the background is definitely blurred even though I was shooting from a distance away.

Come on, Sophia!  Why would you be afraid of a 6-foot tall rat?
This shot was taken by a Disney photographer who took it with my S5 with Tokina 11-16.

Lifelong friends. 
I wish I can be as cool as this gentleman when I'm his age.  Mickey was created in 1928.  I am supposing he has known Mickey all his life.

Ice Cream in January

As my son was eating ice cream, I asked him to sit with the sun behind him to... er... not have the sun in his eyes. ahem.  Meanwhile I saw this colorfully-dressed lady a distance away.  When she moved into the background, I took the shot.

I liked how the sunlight reflected off the table to uplight my wife.  Meanwhile a balloon vendor stood in the background and I took a shot as he moved into the right place.

I liked how the sun added a rim light on everyone.



On the go.
I ran ahead of my family to be in a position to take their shot.  I looked around and saw the sun would give a nice rimlight, while they were in shadow, and the swoopy yellow line would add some energy to the shot.  When they moved into the frame I took the shot.



The rimlight accentuated my son nicely.



World of color
As we approached this sign, I saw a balloon vendor far away but coming closer.  I got into position and waited for him to move to the left side of the sign.



f/5.6.  Just wanted to see how sharp the 85 1.8G could get.

This was at f/5.6 as well.

Shopaholic training.  I positioned the shelves on the left to act as leading lines.

Added vignette in post to reduce the distracting elements around the edges of the frame.

There was a fountain show going on as we walked by this ferris wheel.  I waited for the fountain to frame the gondola.

I liked the reflection.

The long wait to have pictures developed.
I chose a perspective that would have foreground and background elements surrounding the subjects.  When those elements got blurred, they acted as a frame around the subjects, surrounding them with blur.

This scene was made for ultrawides. :)

Fireworks in Daylight

Sun flower

Sunny smile.
Here, the S5 was exposed +1.3 exposure comp (because I prefer clean shadows).  The S5 managed to hold the detail in the sky.

Floating
I like how this balloon looked like a sphere hovering in mid-air.  The shallow DOF emphasized the effect.

This new (for me) combination worked very well.  I definitely prefer it over my typical 24-70 + "75-225" combination.  I did "miss" some shots where a normal focal length was more appropriate.  For those I just used the Tokina 11-16 at 16mm then cropped it.

Something that may be of interest is that a full frame is probably not absolutely necessary here.  An APS-C camera with the 85 1.8 or the Sigma 50-150 could also fill the need for shallow DOF.

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