LeggNet's Digital Capture

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/400 second, f/4, ISO 800

(un-retouched other than the Black & White conversion in Lightroom)

Nikon FE, Lensbaby Composer lens – 1/500 second, f/2.8, ISO 800, Kodak Ultra Max 800 film

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/200 second, f/4, ISO 400

Again this year I have been invited to give my “10 Tips for Creating Great Photos” talk at the Venture Outdoors festival in Salt Lake City.  I will be speaking today at 3:45 pm, so if you’re in the area come on over on this beautiful Saturday and say hi.

Details Here

I’ve recently switched to using PocketWizard FlexTT5 and MiniTT1 radios to trigger my Canon Speedlite flashes.  Even though I have had the Flex model since it first came out in 2009, this past month was the first time I used the TTL (through the lens) exposure control feature that these models are known for.  One cool feature is the ability to synchronize at very fast shutter speeds.

I did a quick test of this feature the other day when Julie dropped by the studio.  The above image was shot with a shutter speed of 1/1600 second using a Speedlite 580EXII for the main light and a 430EX for the fill light (both with shoot-thru umbrellas).  I had the MiniTT1 on my camera and a FlexTT5 on each of the flash units.  This high speed ability will come in very handy in the future when lighting motion shots both in and out of the studio.

Have a great weekend!

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens -1/1600 second, f/4, ISO 400

My good friend Ann Torrence (anntorrence.com) is hosting a book-signing tonight in Salt Lake City at the King’s English Bookshop.  Ann poured several years of her life into researching and photographing Highway 89 from Canada to Mexico while writing the book, and tonight marks a culmination of her efforts.  The event begins at 7:00 pm.  Click here for details

When shooting images for my stock photo portfolio, I will occasionally venture away from my usual “Bright & Cheery” shots and work to portray some of the less pleasant elements of our world.  Today’s image is an example of this.  One of the concepts I worked to capture during last month’s iStock event in St. George Utah was school violence.  In an effort to be sensitive to potential uses of the image, I purposely kept the model anonymous.  Since this theme has already sold, evidently there is a market for the concept.

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/60 second, f/4.5, ISO 400

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/250 second, f/4, ISO 400

Pentax K1000, Pentax 50 f/2.0 lens – 1/60 second, f/8, Kodak Portra 160 NC Film

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/200 second, f/4, ISO 400

Here’s a quick sample from yesterday’s stock photo session at a shooting range. We had a great time and the portable lighting rig consisting of a Canon 580EX II Speedlight shot through a white umbrella did a nice job.  This was my first work shoot using the PocketWizard FlexTT5 & MiniTT1 to fire the strobe and I’ve got to say that I’m impressed with the TTL functionality of the pair.

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/4, ISO 200

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/4, ISO 400

Beginning in about 1982 and through the early nineties, my primary camera was a Nikon FE equipped with the MD-12 motor drive.  While that particular camera was sold years ago, my recent kick of shooting film led me to recently find a new (to me) sample on eBay.  What struck me right away is that even though my FE seemed like a fairly large camera back “in the day”, look at how it compares to my current main camera the Canon 5D Mark II.  Yeesh!

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/30 second, f/4, ISO 800

http://mashable.com/2010/06/03/the-potential-of-the-checkin/

I’ve recently been on a film shooting kick.  It all began a couple weeks ago when one of the models that I work with called and said that she had an “old film camera” and asked if I wanted it.  Of course I jumped at the offer and soon had a Pentax K1000 in great condition in my hands.  I carried the camera around for a few days to work through the roll of 36 exposures taking pictures “just for fun”.  Here are a few things I learned during that experience:

• I’ve got a really bad habit of “Immediate Chimping” that I need to break
• When I’ve got a small number of available shots, I take more time to compose
• Getting the light correct before shooting is a skill I’ve let slack
• Film requires much less image editing
• Auto-focus is a very nice thing

Today’s image is a quick shot I took of my friend Dave.  This is un-retouched and taken directly from the CD I received from the lab.  Wow Dave, what beautiful eyes you have (I know, AWKWARD!)  🙂

I’m going to spend some more time shooting film in the coming weeks.  I recently picked up a Nikon FE from eBay to use.  This is the model that was my main camera body (along with an FM2) during my high school yearbook/newspaper days.  I would eventually like to have a replacement for every camera that I have used during the 80’s, but since the list is long (see below) that will be waiting for awhile until there is room in the budget.

My list of film cameras between 1980-1990:

• Petri (model unknown)
• Pentax MX
• Pentax ME Super
• Nikon FE
• Nikon FM2
• Mamiya 645

If you’ve got access to a film camera, I’d recommend putting a roll of film through it and taking note of how the experience differs from digital.  You might be surprised at the results.

Pentax K1000, Pentax 50mm f/2.0 lens – 1/30 second, f/2.0, ISO 100

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/640 second, f/4, ISO 400