Lesson 11 Stop Action

Here some of the photographs I was telling you about in class. City Bakery Tarts being shot by a 30-06. The guy with the gun only had soft nosed bullets so the tips dented on impact. It would have looked better with nice pointy bullets.

Assignment 11 Stop Action
Photograph something in action that you can’t see with the naked eye.


The idea of this demostration was to experience what Edgerton experienced when he first invented the electronic flash back in the 1930's. The technique of opening the shutter in a darkened room and having a sound sensor sync the flash is similiar to his technique. We used a HiVis kit for our sound sensor. The HiVis website has tons of information about capturing stop action images.

In the top two photographs we used a Dynalite pack with one head. The one on the left was set at full power and the image looked blurred due to the long flash duration (approximately 1/125). For photograph on the top right, we turned down the power 3 stops which made the flash duration approximately 1/1000. Still the balloon is very blurred. We tried to use the Profoto Compact 600 at1/16 power but it kept double firing even when Shahrzad kept the dart in her hand. Weird and I no explanation for that. When we used the Vivitar 283 at 1/32 power the approximate flash duration was reduced to 1/10,000. Big difference in stopping power. Also it did not double fire. I just notice that Vivitar came out with a new 283 flash and it is called the Vivitar DF 283 Series 1 Digital TTL Shoe Mount Autofocus Flash for Canon TTL. It is not the same as the old discontinured one that I have. Look on ebay for the older model where there are plenty for sale very cheap.

Lesson 10 Still Life

Assignment 10 Shiny Metal and Glass

Photograph a Shiny Metal object and define its shape and characteristics by use of it reflective qualities.

Photograph a glass object and define its shape and characteristics by using its transparency.


The bottle was placed on the light table and a small light box was placed under the edge closest to the camera and right under the bottle. A second light with a 10 degree grid was place 3 feet behind the back sweep and level with the camera. A shiny silver card was placed 1 foot over the bottle to give a highlight on the cap. We started with the bottle empty and lite it the best we could. When we filled the bottle with water, the lighting remained the same but the results changed dramatically. This change is due to the refraction that occurs when water is in the bottle. It acts like a lens and gathers light from a wider angle and concentrates the light in the bottle. Since the bottle is imperfect and asymmetrical, it is hard to predict the effect of the light will have on the bottle.

This Italian percil sharpener represents a few challenges in lighting. It is made of chrome, glass, wood and lustre black painted metal. We used a single small light box on camera right pointing slightly to the background. That lite the black side of the object and background very well. We made our 1st capture. Next we used a white card placed over the object to reflect light onto the top. It brightened the top and gave it a highlight on the glass magnifier. It also gave a nice highlight on the top ot the crank and the wooden handle. We made the second capture. The third capture was made with the same white card placed on the table in front of the base of the sharperner so that we see it in the reflection of the sharpener's chrome front. I think the reflection is too perfect and doesn't give the feeling of chrome. If we put a strip of black paper on the white card, it would have broken up the perfect white reflection. Also we should of gotten rid of the finger prints with the glass cleaner and paper towel. Saves lots of Photoshop time. Color correct the three images and adjust the exposures in Lightroom. Bring in the three layers from Lightroom by selecting the images, Edit in... Open as Layers in Photoshop. In Photoshop, have the 1st capture as the top layer and add a blank mask. Paint black on the mask to let the lighting from the second layer come through. Add a blank mask to the second layer and mask out the parts of where you want the third layer to come through. In some cases you will also have to mask the 1st and 2nd layer for the 3rd layer to show. This method is very powerful and makes life faster and earier to deal with difficult objects to light.

Lesson 9 Light Painting

Assignment 9 Light Painting

1. Make a photograph using flash as a painting tool.
2. Make a photograph using a continuous light source as a painting too.

Plan what you want to achieve with light painting. The lighting scheme should be hard to achieve conventionally.


We learned how to remotely trigger the 5D MII by using a special cable called the Canon N3 to mini phone by connecting the N3 side to the Canon's remote control terminal and the mini side to the Pocket Wizard II's camera port. By setting another Pocket Wizard Plus II to the same channel as the one attached to the camera, the camera shutter can be released by the remote Pocket Wizard Plus II when you press the test button. For light painting with a continuous light source, we set the camera at a long exposure (30 secs) and trip the shutter remotely when ready to start painting. The room has to be dark enough that it doesn't pick up any stray light during the long exposure. The f stop and ISO are determined by trial and error. With practice a rhythm will develop your painting skills.

The set up of the Pocket Wizard Plus II's for light painting using a flash, is an extension of the continuous light setup. This time we put the camera's Pocket Wizard Plus II in the hot shoe of the camera. The cabling remains the same. We need a third Pocket Wizard Plus II to be attached to a Canon 580EXII using a pc to mini cable. The pc end is inserted into the flash's pc terminal and the mini end is plugged into the 3rd Pocket Wizard Plus II's flash terminal. The 3rd Wizard has to be set on a channel that is one number higher than the other two Wizards. The 580EXII is set on manual and the power is set my trial and error. The four factors determining the exposure for each time we flash are subject to flash distance, f-stop, ISO and power setting on the flash. Now we have the 580EXII and 3rd Pocket Wizard Plus II in one hand and the remote camera firing Pocket Wizard Plus II in the other. As we point the flash where we intend the light to land, we push the test button on the 1st Wizard and it trips the shutter and then automatically uses the pocket wizard mounded in the camera's hot shoe to sync with the flash that is set on the next higher numbered channel. The subject needs to remain perfectly still and then as many captures from as many positions of light as needed. In Lightroom, the captures are selected while in Library Mode, right click on one of the selected images, "edit in" and go to bottom of the list to "open as layers in photoshop". Once in photoshop you can use lighten in the blending modes on each layer to have all the lights turned on. Now it is time to make decisions
as to how you work with each of the lights. Have fun and be brilliant.