Atmosphere: The thing without which every party is doomed

Letter A, day 14/14, 14/365

I’d like to start this post by patting myself on the back. This is day 14, marking the completion of the letter A. That’s 1/26th of the project. The reason this is a milestone for me is because I’ve tried this before. I lasted until day three. This is interesting because I take at least one photograph per day. I have half a dozen cameras, and one is always on me. This time, I’ve not only stuck with it, but taken some of the best pictures I’ve taken in a while, and been more creative with my photography to boot. These are not spectacular photographs by a long shot, but the sheer imagination I’ve tried to put into this makes me a little proud.

This image was born of not knowing what to do and being very tired. When in doubt, throw light around like buckets of paint, and crank the aperture open a bit.

First, I searched Google Images for “party atmosphere.” I got lots of bokeh shots, hands waving, colors – typical party stuff. But I live by myself. It’s not exactly a party in my tiny one-room box of an apartment, so I did what any reasonable person would do.

I threw up some more of those Christmas lights I had lying around, and threw my Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D out of focus at around f/2.5. The reason I didn’t crank it wide open was to give the bokeh a polygonal shape. Straight up round is overused and less fun.

For color, I finally tested out my 3D glasses idea. I came across some of those red and blue 3D glasses at work, and removed the cellophane. The red was taped over my SB-26 and shot at very low power high and to the left, while the blue was taped over the SB-600 which was on the floor angled up.

For the final touch, some glasses and out-of-focus hands , I filled two cups and clinked ’em while I was flat on my back to stay out of the frame.

So there you have it – not particularly awe-inspiring, but fun nonetheless.

Strobist:

SB-26 gelled red with 3D glasses high camera right, snooted; SB-600 low camera left gelled aqua with 3D glasses.

All About Alliteration

Letter A, day 12/14, 12/365

Alliteration could be a cool thing to shoot. You could string together a bunch of ridiculous props to generate an alliterative phrase…

But I didn’t do that. Why? Laziness, maybe, and I don’t have a bunch of crap lying around my house, I guess.

I did have some old Christmas lights laying around, so I taped those to my closet for some meaningless (but pretty) bokeh. I cleared off my little table on which my photo gear usually lies, and wrote down some stuff about alliteration on a pad… it’s all about alliteration.

There’s a single SB-26 high above the subject so I wouldn’t have to use high ISO and make the shot all grainy or smudged. You jack up the sensitivity (ISO), and you get grain. When you remove the grain, you get blurred, unsharp photos. I hate that.

Strobist:

SB-26 into softobox high camera left.

Azure, Aces, Asphalt

Letter A, day 6/14, 6/365

What do you do when someone suggests that you photograph three entirely disparate items in one line? I suppose Paulette Dell’Ario, my dad’s wife, might’ve meant these three words as three suggestions, but I’m the blogger here – I make the rules. And these were disparate enough to seem interesting to me.

What was more interesting, though, was although I knew exactly what I wanted for this frame, I wasn’t sure how it was going to be possible. Asphalt and aces: simple enough, just throw four playing cards onto the pavement outside my apartment. The azure, though… True, this is not only the Land of the Morning Calm, but also the Land of a Bajillion Neon Signs; shouldn’t be too hard to find one that cast a blue glow onto a spot of pavement, throw the aforementioned cards down like a practiced card shark, and snap away. But why not make my own azure?

I’ll tell you why: no gels! I went to America a month ago, and the only thing I set out specifically to buy were gels. Gels are small pieces of cellophane designed specifically to color light, in this case from a strobe. I bought no gels. Not one.

So, what to do, right? Shoot through the blue t-shirt I’m wearing today? Maybe. Or, listen to your photographer friends who are smarter than you when they suggest that you buy some thin, blue paper from a stationary store. I did just that, and 2,000 won later, I was two giant sheets of blue paper richer. More than I needed, but hey, it works. See the picture up there? Blue light entirely by shooting through some paper.

Warning: If you try to use paper instead of gels, know this: flashes work by storing a bunch of electricity in banks of little cylinders called capacitors. My physics teacher in high school showed me how awesome these were by hooking several giant flash capacitors up in series, then swinging a wire into place to complete a circuit between the charged capacitors and and empty set – and BAM! Molten metal everywhere. Anyway, flashes store up electricity, then discharging it in a tiny fraction of a second through the strobe’s bulb. Where there’s light, there’s heat, folks, so keep that paper bowed over the flash in order to keep it from burning. Yes, it will burn. I’ve seen gels melt to flashes, so what’s to stop paper from burning in the same situation?

Strobist:

SB-600, paper’d (?) azure, high camera right. Gnarly sodium vapor street light burning orange, way higher camera left..

An apple a day…

Letter A, day 1/14, 1/365

I’ve begun the experiment. In order to better illustrate my concept, here is my photo for the phrase “An apple a day…”

It’s a common enough saying. “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” right? Perhaps a photo a day will do. No one sent this idea in to me. I decided to go with something tame and easy enough to visually represent, just to get the point across.

I’ve gotten some very interesting entries for the letter A. Keep them coming!

Not sure how I’m going to shoot “Asian aerobics” but I’ve got some ideas…

Anyway, here’s to a year of doing this! Wish me luck.

Strobist:
Nikon SB600+Omnibounce high camera right, 1/64th.

I thought about throwing this through a softbox, but I liked the harsh shadows when I tested this in my apartment. I wish I went back and was less lazy about this, though. As you can probably tell, I was lying prone on the sidewalk for this. The strobe is maybe 1.5 feet off the ground on a Manfrotto NanoStand. I got some very strange looks.