Exciting times...

Picked up a reflector holder today, waiting on a strobe mount for an 'S' type fitting coming in the post, plus a 100cm soft box. Excited? You bet.

Lying, thieving MPs...

Lying, thieving MPs..., originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

An interesting shot this - I took it for a laugh to play with some Lego I'd bought and subsequently donated to my smashing nephew.

It's done a bit of business, maybe as many as a hundred views since I took it in May 2009. However, yesterday it was spotted by something called Yahoo Pipes and it's had around 250 views in two days.

I've looked at the Pipes page, but to be honest I don't think I understand it so far. However, for some reason it's got ahold of my shot, and lots of people are seeing it. Rock on!

Advice III

Advice III, originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

More sage advice from the world of FPS games - always be prepared (or is that the Boy Scouts, I can't remember)...

Strobist: One 430EXII centre top, with a red gel and Honl 1/8" grid, one 430EXII camera right with a 1/4" grid - fired by a 580EX on-camera, with the ratio in favour of the red light...

NOTE: Wasn't sure about this shot, with the two soldiers at the front being slightly out of focus - took a few shots at different focal lengths, but thought this one worked best...

Advice II

Advice II, originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

More fun with Stikfas figures, inspired by playing FPS computer games.

Strobist: One 430EXII to camera left with a 1/8" grid, one 430EXII top right, with a red gel through a pass-through brolly. Both fired via a 580EX on-camera, ratio set 4:1 in favour of the red light to the right.

Advice I

Advice I, originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

I enjoy a good computer game, and play FPS for preference. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that a bit of tactics will get you a long way, like having a squint around a corner before running out like a twonk.

These are some Stikfas soldiers that I picked up in a sale a few years back, finally cranked them out of the boxes today.

Thought I'd go for a cartoon-style triptych for this shot to try and capture the different angles.

STROBIST: One 430EXII to each side of the box, one with a 1/2CTO gel, the other a straight red. Fired on a 2:1 ratio in favour of the red, using a 580EX on-camera as controller. My wife laughed A LOT as I was setting this up and taking the shots on the living room floor...

Man does not live by bread alone...

Man does not live by bread alone..., originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

I haven't been out taking many pictures recently - partly because I've been ultra-busy with work and buying (and renovating) a new house, but also because I've been trying my hand at brewing beer.

The picture is a pint from my first batch of home brew - it's Woodforde Wherry, which came as part of a kit of fermenting bin, barrel, bits and bobs and a beer kit. Very nice too, and in all honesty I've been drinking it earlier than strictly advised, since my birthday on the 5th August last week.

A nice pint, and not at all unlike something I'd expect to get in a pub, if not quite so alcoholic. I didn't measure the specific gravity of the beer at the start, so I can't say how strong (or not) it is, but it tastes nice, so what's to worry about? Also got #2, a stout in a barrel at the moment an #3, a Scottish Heavy sitting fermenting away (bloop, bloop, bloop). Popped into the brewing shop today (5 minutes from the new house) and Jacqueline picked out a ginger beer kit - a hobby we can share!

Strobist: A 430EXII to rear left and right as "B", 580EX on a wire above the beer as "A", ratio was 1:2 / A:B. Flash Exposure Compensation set as +2/3.

God knows your lonely souls

God knows your lonely souls, originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

"God knows your lonely souls" - UNKLE / Lonely Soul

With thanks to Threeleaf.com for the skull image - may have to take this image down if he's not keen to have it used - would have waited but he hasn't uploaded since February 2008, so it could be a while before I hear back...

This is my first attempt at compositing, and a revisit of an earlier shot I uploaded. Loaded the skull shot as a separate layer then selectively deleted parts until I got where I wanted to go. A bit of colouring to bring it near to skin tone and a slight edge of transformation to make it fit and Bob's your uncle.

Oooh, ooh, ooh - got a new picture ready...

...well, I say new, it's a re-working of an earlier shot, and I'm just waiting for permission from another flickrite whose image I've used. Quite excited - it's the first attempt I've ever made at compositing and I quite like the end result. The rest of the world may hate it, but hey, I like it.

Hopefully he'll get back to me soon and I can post this monster...

Needless to say, it's a selfie...

Radiohead (Tribute)

Radiohead (Tribute), originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

[S'me, yet again - apologies if you don't like staring at my mug, but it's the only one that regularly agrees to be involved in my photographic adventures...]

EDIT: Re-reading the title, makes me think of Tenacious D's "Tribute", but there you go...

Just messing about, listening to UNKLE and playing with lights. Bit of a tribute to Radiohead, having just watched their excellent live show from a European festival.

Didn't quite capture the blue as intensely as I'd hoped, but you can't have everything. Where would you put it?

Strobist - Two sidelights, each a 430EXII at 105mm with "Bright Red" Honl filters and a 580EX on-camera as controller with a "Just Blue" Honl filter a
Attached. Ratio was 1:2.33 A:B with the two side lights being group B. Impromtu use of bedsheet to cover up the bookshelf behind my noggin.

Post was Photoship to posterise the image (but you'd guessed that, right?).

Once, we swam in the sea...

Once, we swam in the sea..., originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

Playing with my 50mm f1.8 wide open at Whitley Bay today. Realised that I'd never really tried to get the most form this lens before, just hung around the edges, using it for IR photography. As I'm toying with the idea the a f1.4 lens would be a good thing (either a Canon 50mm or a Sigma 30mm), I figured ti would be good to see why I thought that was a good idea.

Part two of the experiment was setting my 18-55mm lens to 30mm and taping it at that focal length and seeing whether a prime at the length would suit me. Short answer - yes, it seemed pretty good. So, when I can scare up £380, I'll be looking to the 30mm f1.4 Sigma lens, though that might not be for a while yet.

The Frog Prince cometh...

The Frog Prince cometh..., originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

..and he doesn't look happy.

A shot from the Hoppings in Newcastle last week. This was shot with the 50mm f1.8 wide open, and braced on a monopod. It's (reasonably) sharp, and while it doesn't really show much in the way of depth of field, I'm pretty happy with it. Took a few shots to capture the smoke, and this was the best of them.

In all, quite happy with my trip to the Hoppings - got a few nice shots, and not regretting my decision not to take a tripod along. Saying that, waiting to see my friend John's photos before being definitive about that - his tripod looked rock-steady and I'm sure he'll turn in some amazing pics.

Home from home

Home from home, originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

So I might be busy, what with work, home, a bit of photography here and there and the likelihood that we're moving home soon, but I think this shot proves that I can always find five minutes to relax, wherever I may be... :-)

Strobist: One 430EXII (Group A) camera left, into a silver/white 100cm relective umbrella with a 1/4 CTO. One 430EXII (Group B) balanced on a clamp and shining up at the lamp with a 1/4 Green. All set off by a 580EX on-camera (but not firing) acting as controller. Ratio for A:B set to 2:1.

Onwards! To the land of milk and honey...

Onwards! To the land of milk and honey..., originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

How good is this - after four or so years of working, studying and taking exams, I'm officially an accountant. You might not be impressed, but it's pretty good payoff for me.

I realised that I haven't been posting much here recently, but then again I haven't been shooting so much - will have to put that right.... :-)

Eat your shots (Not So Serious Shot)

Eat your shots, originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

Just messing about, inspired by a shot from Mark Hathaway.

Decided to have a go myself and see how it all went.

Lesson #1: A single flash in the gob doesn't give much light, but a second 'external' flash can mess up the illumination.

Lesson #2: When the flash in your gob goes off, it's quite hot. THAT was a little shocking...

Lesson #3: Those flash heads are pretty big, I had a tough time...

Lesson #4: The Canon Wireless Lighting System can cope with lighting this? Go figure...

Strobist: One 430 EXII in the mouth (group A), one 430 EXII (group B) on the windowsill way 6' away with a full CTO slapped on for good measure (probably a mistake, set the camera to "flash" white balance and now I'm a bit orange). One 580EX on-camera, acting as the master unit but not flashing.

Flash ratio A:B 8:1, master unit set to +0 compensation. Still getting to grips with the Canon WLS, so not sure what other data would be useful. Think I had the flash set to high-speed sync, too, but might be wrong about that. :-)

Self-portrait IV - Serious Face

Self-portrait IV - Serious Face, originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

So, my Honl flash modifier toys arrived the other day - snoots, grids and some gels.

After seeing the posters for the new series of House, I wanted to see if I could figure out how the shot of Hugh Laurie had been taken - this is NOT like the poster, but I think I can see the start of where the differences lie - the essential ingredients, controlled light above the centre of the subject's face is there, it's just the effect on the cheekbones that needs fixing, and the high light on the forehead.

May have another shot sometime - not today though...

Strobist: 430EXII with a Honl 1/4" grid attached, above the camera, about 3' away and set to 1/8th. Small Lastolite silver reflector just out of shot under my chin - think the silver has reflected off the underside a bit much. A small amount of temperature reduction and messing with saturation to try and get a cross-processed look in Photoshop.

Gonna leave old Durham town...

Gonna leave old Durham town..., originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

SIngle shot from my trip to Durham last week. I've thought this would make an interesting image for a bit, but never been over that way.

Had an idea of taking lots of photos. Unfortunately, discovered that a chance slight knock of my camera bag had smashed the skylight on my Sigma 10-20mm lens. Ouch.

Luckily seems like no damage to the lens, visited the local Jessops for a blast of canned air and a new 77mm skylight. Now £35 the poorer and only ended up with one shot. However, could be worse, at least the lens was OK. :-)

Wouldn't care, but the skylight that was in was a Sigma DG ultra-thin glass - cost something silly when I bought the lens, more than the £35 Jessops replacement. Teach me to go sticking expensive glassware on the front of my lens just to try and cut down vignetting...

Who's that sitting on my seat?!?

Who's that sitting on my seat?!?, originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

Took this photo a week or so ago, having some fun with macro...

###

I went out to take photos of the Three Kings, some standing stones in the National Park. As I left the house and drove away, the light faded, the clouds came in and it looked like rain. So, a quick detour to the Battle of Otterburn Memorial (as I was passing it) to look for bugs and small things to shoot.

This little fella was having a glorious time sitting on one of the picnic benches - I tried a few handheld before nipping back to the car to fetch my tripod.

First go at using Noiseware Community Edition (it's free!) to reduce the noise in the image - the background was awful grainy, and I think it's done a pretty good job all things told. Further experimentation required...

The f-stop sweet spot...

The f-stop sweet spot..., originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

A tip I picked up from this month's PhotoPlus magazine. Thought it worth passing on as I think it works quite well.

Most lenses suffer at each extreme of apeture, and each also has a sweet spot at which the clarity of the image will be greatest. You can buy charts and stuff (for a price) to help you figure out where the ideal f-stop lies. However, if you get something with enough detail on it (these are the share pages from today's Guardian, the text is pretty small), you can take a series of shots and make your own judgement.

From left to right we have:

f22 - lens stopped right down - the image here is pretty good, If you looked at it alone, you'd probably think it was alright, the difference is RELATIVE...

f8.0 - the sweet spot, as established from a whole set of photos and a lot of pretenting I'm in the optician's (is it clearer and brighter now, .... or now). You can see all the extra bits of ink, the roughness of the paper and the text is sharp enough to cut yourself.

f2.6 - wide as it gets - you'd expect a bit of blur at such a wide apeture, I guess, but not only is it blurred, it's green! It's still "not bad", and I guess I've been shooting a lot of photos like this and thinking "they're just not as sharp as x's shots" or something similar.

So, one lens down, three to go, but I've made a promise to myself to try shooting at f8.0 with this lens for a while and see how it works out....

EDIT : These shots were taken with a Sigma 70mm Macro lens - the most expensive lens I've purchased - if this is the case for a super piece of glass, I'm keen to see the effect in my 18-55mm kit lens...

Backyard irHDR

Backyard irHDR, originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

I've been shooting a bit more HDR recently, but I realised it's a while since I cracked open the IR filter in my bag. That leads me to the though of "what happens if I take multiple IR exposures and then combine them into an HDR?". I can hear the groans already of the people who don't like HDR, and they're possibly right - the result is odd, to say the least. It's taken out through the back of the house, with a Hoya R72 filter on my 50mm prime, eight images with changes to the shutter speed not the apeture. Combined them all in Photomatix with a bit of tweaking and then that's about it (border added in Photoshop - I like a border on my shots).

I know there are a number of immediate problems with this shot - the reflections in the glass, the less than inspiring composition, but I was in the mood to play with the technique, not go driving off to find an inspirational subject, just for it to turn out pants.

On a filter related note, last time I posted and IR shot, someone raised the issue that filters cost around £200 and it wasn't worth it - it's true that if you want to stick one of these on a 77mm threaded lens (like my Sigma 10-20mm), then you'll be looking around the £150 mark. However, you can get one for a kit-lens fitting around the £30-40 mark.

Linhope Spout Top

Linhope Spout Top , originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

A landscape shot today, and back to HDR, courtesy of Photomatix.

After the chaos of tramping stands, lights, brollies and the rest around for the self-portraits, it was nice to relax with just a camera bag and a tripod.

I think that the messing around with flash is having an impact on my other photography, and in a good way too. I find myself thinking about light in shots a lot more than previously, and I'm more aware of angles when I set up shop. For example, in this shot, I moved around to the right and lengthened the legs on the 'pod, so that I could get clearance over the boulder at bottom left to see the stream futher up to the next cascade.

The shot is an HDR, processed in Photomatix from five original RAW shots at -2/-1/0/+1/+2 EV. I've consciously tried to hold back the "HDR-ness" of the shot, and I think it's pretty much worked.

Ian & I

Ian & I, originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

So here it is - the clever techinque from Joe McNally's "Hot Shoe Diaries". Essentially you put your camera on a monopod with a remote release, then hold it in the air - instant hight-angle shot.

This was taken on a wander with my great friend Ian, and is shot with a Sigma 10-20mm lens and a wireless shutter release. I think it would work as well with any camera with a timed release, Ian's Fujifilm has a ten second time. Presuming you can set it to continual focus then it should be alright.

It's one of those things that seems so obvious once you've heard it, but I'd never have thought of it otherwise. Joe mentions it in relation to taking photos of (American) football scrums.

The Hot Shoe Diaries

Just started reading this book by Joe McNally, and it's a bit of a treasure trove. Basically a narrative of how he has approached shots, and more importantly why he made the decisions he did.

Also picked up a new way to hold my camera as a "left-eye" photographer, which seems to be working pretty well so far and a bit of inspiration, involving a monopod and a remote release. Off to play in the forest now, and try out the monopod thing, I'll post a shot when I get back (if it works...).

You can see Joe's book at http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780321602497 although I picked up a hard copy - it's nice to be able to leaf about through it... :-)

DIY Gel Holder

DIY Gel Holder, originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

I mentioned a while ago, that I had a solution to attaching gels to flashes without sticking velcro to the head. Well, here it is in all it's glory - basically the same thing, but without ending up with stuff glued to your gear. I call it...

"My solution to putting gels on a flash"

1) These are the fellas you need, velcro ties and some velcro stick-on tape

2) Velcro ties - essentially just double sided velcro, through the loop at the end is pretty useful (if a bit tricky - this stuff sticks to itself no problem)

3) Wrap a velcro tie around the head of your flash - my advice would be "soft side down", as this gives a bit more puchase and is unlikely to slip

4) Use the velco tape to attach pieces to your gels - if you've gone "soft side down" in number 3), then you need to use the soft tape here

5) Attach the tabs of velcro tape to the tie on the head, likewise the one at the top

6) Finished article - the whole thing can be pushed back a bit to ensure a snug fit

I've done the same thing using squares of black card to control the light at the sides - two of the ties is better for this, and it gives more control

Hope you like it...

Focusing for self portraits

I've moaned on a few times about trying to get the focusing right on self portraits - the following excellent suggestion came from shoens at www.flickr.com;

"Self portrait focusing idea from Ericson Calderon that I read in the Strobist Flickr group: set your tripod where you want it, take the camera to your posing position, set the focus on the tripod head, set focus to manual (and don't touch the focusing ring), set the camera on the tripod, voila"

It sounds clever and simple at the same time, so I figure it will probably work for me - now to get out there and try it!

If you go down to the woods today...

Self Portrait III, originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

It's me! Again!

I decided it was time to get out of the house with my lights, and try a bit of shooting "on location". Luckily, I live only a few miles from beautiful woodland, so I headed there hoping to make it before the rain broke.

The nightmare of focusing correctly when you're both in the picture and behind the camera reared it's head again. I picked up a wireless shutter release from Hanhnel for £60; it works pretty well, but you still can't tell if it's focussing at the right thing unless you go back and look at it. Then, turn of the AF and try to stand EXACTLY where you were before.

It hasn't put me off, if anything, I want to get back out there tomorrow - the CTR-301 remotes were playing up a bit at the end - I have a very nice shot of a rock lit (if I say so myself) pretty well, but WITHOUT ME ON IT. The shot was to see if the lighting worked, then, when I got back in position, the flashes didn't want to play. Still, it means I get to go back and have another play...

Strobist: 430EXII to camera left, through a white brolly at 1/4. 360AFD behind left and above, at 1/4 too, I think.

Brollies!

Brollies!, originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

Number two brolly just turned up at the door. The 100cm beast on the left of the picture is my new Lastolite All-In-One umbrella (didn't buy the full kit with stand, sourced the other bits elsewhere, am a fan of the Manfrotto Lite'n'Tite brackets, anyway). Looking at this, can't help but feel that the 80cm silver was not a good purchase, it's reflection is on the weedy side.

That's me, once again, centre stage.

Strobist - the one on the left of the picture is a 430EXII at 1/16th, the one on the right (in the small silver) is a 360AFD at full power.

The joys of gel fixing...

I've mentioned before, the joys of trying to fix gels to a flash-head with blu-tak. I've had a bit of a notion as to how to improve on this situation without sticking velcro to your flash. Call me snobbish, but I've never been keen on the idea of sticking anything onto my hard-saved-for flash units. I could tell you now, it's really easy, but instead I'm going to deliver this inspirational flash through the medium of photography.

Sometime in the next couple of days, when I get a chance to take some shots of the whole process, I'll put the pictures up for the world to marvel at....

As a hint, it involved a trip to the DIY/home improvement store.

Gel

Gel, originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

A picture paints a thousand words, or so they say.

In an effort to try and explain what a gel is, a picture of one in action. I tried to write a description, but I think this works much better. This is a red gel (a plastic insert for disco lights in this case) and some blu-tak to hold it in place. I wouldn't recommend the blu-tak, in my experience it doesn't hold too long...

I think any coloured plastic would work, so long as you can get it over the front of the flash somehow. I just got lucky and found some of almost the right size for next to nothing.

Incidetally, you can also see the CTR-301 wireless trigger under the flash, all mounted on a tiny Slik table tripod - very useful for sticking the remote flash on the floor or a table.

Strobist: 430EXII in shot, at 1/64th with a red gel. 360AFD to camera left, at 1/16th about 30cm away. Not the classiest of shots, but then I was in a bit of a hurry.

Self Portrait

Self Portrait, originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

Well, here I am - trying out a bit of over-the-top portraiture on myself. I was wondering how well I could control two different colours and it turns out to be less difficult than I thought. One flash to the left, on my face through a home-made snoot, one behind me painting the wall (which is cream in reality). This took an age to get the red light in the right place, the number of nearlynearlynearly shots I took is quite staggering, but I got there eventually. I would have liked a little more sharpness on the eye, and there's a fairly bad piece of cloning in there somewhere, but I think it's OK for starters.

I'm thinking I need some drinking straws, then I can give my snoot a honeycomb. Not sure whether that'll make a huge difference, but I'm enjoying the make-and-do approach and think it's worth a pop.

Strobist: 430EXII camera left with a red gel, 360AFD behind, pointed at the wall with a green flash. Both set to 1/16th if memory serves...

Strawberry Towers

Strawberry Towers, originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

I think I've caught the stacking bug. After seeing a rather impressive apple/lime combination, I went to search the fridge for stackables.

Straberries are easier than potatoes, it turns out, though they tend to be shorter lived. This set lasted a couple of seconds after the shot before plummeting to the earth.

I'm most happy with the choice to leave the foliage on, though this was more of a technical decision, it makes for better stacking...

For simplicity's sake, no backlighting this time, just two flashes with Sto-Fen diffusers - 1x 430EXII to the left, about 6" away and set to 1/16th, the 360AFD to the right, probably three feet away and also at 1/16th.

A nice drop of red

A nice drop of red, originally uploaded by Venn Diagram.

Revolutionising the blog! Just discovered that I can link my flickr account to my blog and transfer pictures directly. It's great, not only does it save me time, as I don't need to upload twice, but it also saves storage space somewhere, and hopefully the planet.

Last night's (only mildly drunken) shot of a glass of wine. It took a few glasses until I got the right one, you see.

Strobist: 360AFD through the background, 430EXII above camera left through a snoot. Had initially thought they'd both be at 1/16th, but on looking remembered that the 360AFD would have reset itself and so I've got full power. That explained a lot, I thought the light was a bit weird at the time...

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

One potato, two potato, three potato ... four?

I'm at home, working, today and wanted to take something quick to keep the momentum up. I'd seen a fantastic image of some stacked biscuits last night, posted by one of my contacts on flickr and became convinced that the same thing with potatoes would be both groovy and fulfil my need for speed.

Let me stop the train here and say that if you've never tried balancing potatoes, you should go and try it now... I'll still be here, but you need to have some empathy for the next bit.

Potatoes are near impossible to balance, it turns out. Maybe I should have realised that, I don't know, but it was a joke. Took a good twenty minutes to get these babies balanced, and there was no way I was going to mess it up by trying number four.

Sorry, this is about lighting, not potatoes - for the background I took a sheet of A3 card and cut a hole to slip my 360AFD flash through, with my old Sto-Fen diffuser on the front (it fits, score one for Jessops, the same head shape as my long-departed Vivitar flash). The flash was lying side-on with a pile of books to bring it to the right height to fit through the hole. Distance to potato, about 5cm (say 2"), I guess. The idea was to try and get a bit of a halo going on, though the white background has killed any rimlighting, I suppose. If you look closely, there is a bit of a colour difference around the 'taters to the further out background.

At head height, camera left (so above camera, I was shooting at table height) the 430EXII shooting into a silver umbrella, must have been all of one metre away. Both flashes set to 1/16th. All done while balancing potatoes. Well, to be honest I got the shot set up with one potato, then spent the time balancing the others with the cable release in my hand in case it worked.

End of story - for what is a pretty simple shot, it took an age to set up. I think I'm going to start shooting Lego next, it must be easier.

STACKING IS THE NEW BALANCING!

A note on Nissin

I also tried out a Nissin flash unit today - the CTR-301 just wouldn't trigger it - the CTR-301 units were functioning fine, but the flash just wasn't playing. Then, when I came to remove the flash, it seemed to have glued itself into the hotshoe of the receiver, cue several anxious moments between myself and the shop guy - I didn't want my receiever to break, he was kind of keen his flash stayed in one peace. We all got away safely... eventually.

Remember that I said two flashes would be peachy? Well, my second CTR-301 receiver arrived yesterday, so I scoured the high street this afternoon. You know what? There's not much choice, and if I wasn't so impatient, I should have gone to the 'net, but hey.

Eventually, I settled on a Jessops own brand, 36 guide no. flash that will allow manual setting down to 1/16th. Cut the next few hours out, home I come and decide to have a play - here you can see a photo of the Romanesco my fantastic wife picked up last week as "something I might like to shoot". Nice.

The shot here is the 360AFD behind left through a snoot (at 1/16th) and the 430EXII to camera left around 90 degrees, shooting at 1/16th through a green gel. I picked up the gels at a DJ/lighting shop in town, cost £2 for a red, amber, green and blue set - the sort of thing you see in the front of disco lights, add a spot of blu-tak and there you go.

New toys!

Flash trigger #2 arrived today, so now I need to get flash #2 (tomorrow?). Jessops have a guide 40 flash for Canon that might do the trick, but will probably check out Jacobs too, just in case.

New trigger is v2.0 of CTR-301, it says "TEST" instead of "TSET" on my mk. 1.0. It rattled too, but did work, so not too worried about it. Got a shot planned at work, but need to negotiate permissions - hopefully more news next week!

So here's image #1 - well, it's not strictly #1, I've taken thousands of images, but this is the first genuine attempt to do something interesting - I've attempted to add rimlighting to this cactus. The results are not so good, with only one flash, I had to reflect the light from the back down onto the front, but at least you can see the flesh in this one - the first few were black.

Valuable lesson learned - another flash would be peachy.

Start of something new...

Well, here we are at the end of a day, and maybe the start of something new.

I'm starting out using off-camera flash, a totally new area for me, and I thought I'd like to record what I think. Primarily so I can check back later, but that's me - selfish.

Where will this go - maybe nowhere, but who knows....