New Floor

So we had this new flooring in our livingroom, and loads of space, because the furniture hadn't been put back yet, so..... PHOTOSHOOT!!!!

Model: Kitty, hair and makeup by Amy Miller

More Glass

And my Lemon Drop shot revisited. I used the same setup as in the previous post, and tilted the camera to give more movement to the image. I don't like the splash as much as the last one, but I have several ideas how to make it even better next time...

Glass

A little more experimenting with dark field lighting of glass. Greatly inspired by Light, Science and Magic - one of my favourite technical photography books.

I will post a setup shot for this image on my Flickr page.

IKONIX Workshops

I got to go to two photography workshops today, hosted by IKONIX Studio, here in Des Moines. They were a great opportunity to see some phenomenal photographers in action, to work with great gear, and marvellous models.

Thanks to Tom Woolery and everyone concerned for a wonderful day. I had a blast, met some great people, and took a few photographs. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do...
...there are some more on my Flickr page

It's Beginning To Smell A Lot Like Christmas...

...with Prairieland Herbs' December Soap of the Month, Celebration, from Biscuit's Boutique in Des Moines. This beautiful handmade soap is scented with spruce, fir and frankincense, and is only available while stocks last.

I had great fun making this picture - there's an annotated setup shot on my Flickr page.

Meet The Family

Here are my Nikon lenses:

• AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8
• AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8
• AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8
• AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 D
• Micro Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 D
• AF-S Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 DX

MJ's Pinup Shoot

Undoubtedly my favourite shoot (so far) was MJ's pinup session, which we had on 14th November at IKONIX Studio in Des Moines. We had a really amazing team including Maggie Howe, (Wardrobe coordinator and logistics manager), Michelle White of Beautiful People Organic Salon (hair and makeup), Aisling Gibney (the best photo assistant on the planet - and she's my daughter too!), and Kristine Jorgensen (props master).

This is my design for the image CD cover.

I had a fabulous time, and learned a great deal about posing, lighting, and pinup photography in general. I'm really looking forward to doing more of this!
There are some more images from this shoot on my Flickr page

Donna's Garden

I got to play with the new Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 yesterday. It is a truly amazing lens! I see a lot of wide-angle photography in my future!

What's in my bag...

It's been quite a while since I posted a pic of my equipment, and there have been a few new acquisitions lately, so here's the most recent shot. There's a fully annotated pic here on my Flickr page, if you're interested in the gory details...

Day 113

Some more gratuitous camera porn. The 70-200 f/2.8 VR is probably one of Nikon's best ever lenses.

Day 105

I get to play with a PC-E Micro Nikkor 85mm f/2.8D for a while. This lens has movements - it can be tilted, as in the photo, and shifted off axis - this allows control over perspective and depth of field. I'm really looking forward to testing it - it should be great for doing product shots and architectural scenes.

Day 21

Another shot of my Nikon gear - this time my walkabout lens, AF-S Nikkor 17-... ah, what it says on it. It should have been shooting today instead of being shot.

Day 20

Two pictures again today - views of my wonderful Nikon D300. First, from the "receiving end", the Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8...

...and here is our very handsome cat, Spike, captured through the viewfinder.

The UPS Man Cometh...

...and he brought my new walkabout lens - a AF-S Zoom-Nikkor ED 17-55mm f/2.8G IF DX. Cant wait to try it out!

SB-26

I'm going to sell some of my flash units to upgrade to newer models. Here are the pictures I made for my Craigslist posting.

First Pics

Well, here are the first pictures I took with the D300. They're not masterpieces, by any stretch of the imagination - I hadn't even bothered to properly set up the camera, just stuck on a lens and fired away, but they're a start. It's good to be back :)

This is Maggie's Doberman, Duncan. (Indoors - ISO set to 3200)

...and this is Boots, very much her own cat.

Nikon D300

My new camera arrived a few minutes ago...

Going to play with it. More later. Bye :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Just some gratuitous camera porn.

Digitally disadvantaged :(

My digital camera stopped working the other day, so I need to use film. I'm lucky that I have my Mamiya RB67 and a decent supply of film.

Here is the RB being used to photograph some presents I got at the Spinners' Guild Christmas party last Friday (It had to be postponed due to bad weather). The camera doesn't have a built-in light meter (indeed, it's totally mechanical, so it doesn't even need any batteries!), so I used my Sekonic L-358 meter to measure the exposure. Also in the picture is my home made reflector panel, which I used for fill lighting. Now all I have to do is get the film in for processing.... and wait. How spoiled we have become with the instant gratification of digital cameras!

As soon as I get my pictures back, I'll post some here.

BTW, I took this pic with Maggie's 1.3 megapixel Sony :)

What's in my Bag

Here's a look in my camera bag, if you're interested. This is how it looks today - tomorrow it might be completely different as I'm continuously tweaking and upgrading what gear I have. There's a labelled copy of this picture on my Flickr page.

(This picture was lit by window light, camera left; filled with my DIY Reflector, camera right).