00292 Strobe on!

Got my Strobist kit through the post yesterday and been mucking about with it ever since. The wireless flash thing is awesome. You can just stick the flash unit in a cupboard in the next room and have the light spill out of it when you hit the shutter. Now all I've got to do is go through the tutorials to find out how to use it more effectively and then I'll have to hack the cheapo wireless remote to get more distance out of it. I can see how the pocket wizard's 1600 foot range is something to desire.

And I couldn't resist trying the minature car photography setup featured on the Strobist blog:

Here's the setup:

Added a bit of diffusion after a few attempts. Not bad for a bit of fun.

00291 Pooh Sticks in the North Sea, Brrrrrrrr

Went to Sarah and Russell's Wedding in Southwold the other day and made a couple of sixty second pooh sticks. Came out ok, sailed very well indeed and the North sea, I was glad to find after wading waist deep, wasn't too parky.

00290 Pinhole results

The pinhole camera has a few teething problems that I'll try to iron out if I have the time and inclination. It still worked out to be an interesting project, mind. I'm pretty sure that the fact that I forgot to blacken the inside of the pinhole made all of the internal reflections which lead to the vertical lines that I had to fiddle with in Photoshop. Really good DOF as expected.

Here's the results:

00289 More stuff I might get round to

So I've done the book (but not completed the finer details) and I've made the pinhole camera, so what's next?

Well I think I'll definitely tackle the USB LED desk lamp - it's got a lot of pointless design possibilities.

Then there's "winkle time-lapse", it's kind of self explanatory, but needs some research (I've done one take of it, but I can see that there's a lot more I need to know about training winkles to do what you want).

A new KAP rig is definitely on the cards, seeing as I can only capture images in portrait format and the rig will only tilt up so much. Don't even get me started about the whole Rig-with-the-microprocessor-and-IR-LED thing, I just don't want to talk about it. Except to say that I blew the last (reasonably expensive) Gentled LED and I'm wondering how much more money I'll throw down that particular plughole.

Puppets - I've got polystyrene balls on the way and I'll be looking into clothes, body structures, joints and molding techniques.

Woodwork courses start again soon, so I'll plough on with the backgammon board (I've got to get closure on some of these projects, otherwise I'll un-motivate myself). I'll be trying to utilise their laser engraver as much as possible (maybe I'll do some cool stenciling) and I'll try to look into uncovering the mystery of the laser cutting possibilities of their equipment by chasing the guy they got it from to see if he has the mystery part which will make the laser super powerful.

I also had a wacky idea for a time-lapse sculpture somewhere. It's be this steel structure thingy with multiple platforms for placing all sorts of different makes of camera. Each platform would be pointing at a place of interest and the idea is that you put your camera on it every once in a while and collect some pictures to be made into a time-lapse. It'd have to work in harmony with a web based application to process the images and display them all online. Hey, it's just an idea. Oh, and the platforms would all be colour coded so that you can remember which one you used. It'd work with mobile phone cameras too. Man, that'd be cool. And it'd probably be in the shape of a camera, or something like that. Or maybe lots of arrows pointing out from a central point.

Strobist kit arrives soon - that'll open up a few possibilities I should wager.

00288 Pinhole-arama

Following the tutorial from the fantastic Matchbox Pinhole site, I've set about making this little pinhole camera from (you guessed it) a matchbox:

It's really weird to take pictures and not be able to see the results immediately, but rather like the KAP, it's kind of a nice feeling of anticipation. The other thing is that you tend to want to pick the subjects really carefully, seeing as you've only got 36 (ish) exposures.

Can't wait to see the results.

0287 My book's arrived

Well it's not bad, really. I've definitely made the images slightly too dark, which is mostly down to my inexperience with print media. All things being perfect, I'd like to re-do the images and order another one. At the very least I'll probably lighten the images and add them to a 7"x7" book, that way I'll have a cheaper way of checking the quality. Should have done that first, of course. Doh!

All in all, though, it's a really lovely book.

00286 Jersey egg

Went to Jersey for an "overnight holiday". Weather was very overcast and so the light was flat as a pancake. It's strengthened my resolve to get a strobe kit to light things like the eggs when the light is so soft. Eggs need a little hard light to bring them out. Well, that's what I think anyway.

This was taken at Greve de Lec and what amazing sand they've got there, it's coarse, but smooth. Weird, huh?

00285 Staff Picks

So I looked at the list of books picked out by the staff at Blurb and mines on it.

'Course, I don't know if it's any good, seeing as I haven't got mine yet.

But it's on the way.

Tee hee.

00284 Ordered

I put up the book on Blurb and ordered a copy. I'm obviously obsessing too much over this, otherwise I'd have time to do and write about something interesting.

Here's the book's page.

idle hands

Sand and water cre...

By Lenny

Book Preview

00283 Stand back! I'm pushing the button!

It's coming. Any time in the next three weeks.

Any moment.

I'll just wait here.

Now what am I going to do.

I know I'll drive my family crazy.

Let the pacing begin.

00282 Booky booky

It's getting close to the time when I can hit the "order book" button, which is proper nice.
I'm just struggling through the last bits that bother me, like whether the images will print out as I want them to, what colours (if any) to use and what words to put in.
When it's all done, it'll be 160 pages long. That might be too big for most people, but for a cheap hardback photo album, it'll suit me just fine.

00281 Egg on the moon

At last eggs have been discovered on an off-earth environment

And soon after, the children came (as they always do)

Meanwhile I'm going through all my old images (no mean feat, there are literally tens of thousands) to find the original egg, rakeart, pooh stick and KAP images for a Blurb book that I've been meaning to finish. Using the basic premise that you have to have all the material (i.e. text and images) ready before "assembling" the book, I'm almost ready to send off the order for the first copy.
We ordered a book for the grandmothers' birthdays and, although the books were fantastic (and well priced), it became very apparent that the printed image likes contrast. With that in mind I've been re-jigging all theimages for this new book in the hope that when it arrives, most of the images will be what I want. Tricky thing, mind, trying to guess what the print will look like without actually seeing it.

00280 Another KAPer

So I was out with Kev (aka Ningaloo on flickr) yesterday. He's borrowed my flowform while he waits for his. We headded up to Fort le Marchant and this is the result of his first outing:

Darn site better than my first attempt. He used a Pentax Optio S10 hung using a Brooks KAP kit (really nifty piece of gear) and he's waiting for the arrival of a "Becotized" Sutton 16 (flowform).

Oh, here's mine:

Man, I picked a bland subject - Hackney Marshes. Those were the days. Those were the days of boring KAP shots.

00279 Class with Daves

Maybe this is just a fad I'm going through after thinking about buying equipment, but I was suddenly seized with the idea that I should be using my camera for more diverse applications.

So I joined up with the "Class with Daves: The Audit Group" Group on Flickr and did the weeks two assignments. The first was "duotone" and the second was "nails". I took my time over these and the results are OK, not amazing, but OK. The main thing was that it was really enjoyable and it always feels good to have an assignment to apply yourself to.



The nail image was a bitch to get anywhere near right because trying to get a nail in focus with the hammer in there too proved to be a little tricker than I thought - they were about a meter and a half apart. The one of Cara came about when she suggested that she take an image of her doll. Dolls are weird.

00278 Cameras, strobes & lenses

I don't usually post up links just for the hell of it, but Strobist has really got me thinking that I might like to start taking image capture a little more seriously - if only because years working on film sets never really taught me about the magical world of "painting with light". This seems to be a good place to start and the "101" he's got going is making me think of buying a strobe, stand and 'brella. The only downside is that I like my photos to be a little more spontaneous and however you slice it, you're going to have to put a bit more time onto setting up before shooting. On the other hand Mr Strobist does point out that there are more important things than lighting and that an open mind is key.

Two nice phrases I never came across before (perhaps I need to get out more):

"To a hammer, everything looks like a nail" - about keeping an open mind

and

"Slow is smooth and smooth is fast" - on the benefits of repetitive practice in setting up.

Love it, Strobist.

Which leads me onto cameras. D300 or D700. Like I can chose which one. It seems that there's a debate running as to whether there's a debate to be had. It's simple, either you fall into one camp or the other, or you fall into both (or none). Oh. hang on, that's not simple at all.
Fotunately fiscal pressures leave me with no choice anyway, so that's handy

00277 Dan & Lizzie's Wedding

So we went to North Yorkshire for Dan & Lizzie's wedding and along the way I stopped to float my boat(s):

Which was cool, as it was on a proper river and everything. So that meant real pooh stick racing, rather than letting them drift with the wind. As usual the really nice looking ones lost.

Then there was the time-lapsey stuff of the wedding, which worked out pretty well:



And lastly there was the KAP (sadly no wind on the wedding day). This was the place we were staying:

Reasonable productive, I'd say.

Oh ... and Dan and Lizzie got married, of course.

00276 Roquaine Betty (II)

We went to the launch of the new Roquaine Reggatta Committee Boat, the "Betty II" on Saturday afternoon and, considering that I'd just been kitesurfing in marginal conditions, it seemed an ideal opportunity to KAP the launch. Steady winds around F3-F4, I set up the kite and rig and headed out into the water:

Never had so many keepers, the committee will be well pleased, one hopes.

Three cheers for Roquaine Betty II.

00275 Roquaine egg

Sand a bit bitty, with tiny little stones, but very fine and irresistable. Kids off with Grandma collecting crabs n' shells. Time to make an egg:

00274 Allez! Allez!

A weekend at the Tour de France 2008 brougt with it three stage viewings and much food and wine. Aborted KAP attempt (images to follow) and pics of the Tour below: