I shot this indoors, with multiple lights on, at 4:02pm, 8 March 2012, in Dallas TX. It is completely overcast in Dallas today.
I do not own a telescope.
What I do own is an old, slightly scratched (and rather dusty, apparently) magnifying glass, a Nikon 75-150mm E Series, a Nikon 36-72mm E Series, a set of extension tubes, and some gaff tape.
D7000, Nikon 36-72mm f/3.5 E Series, at 72mm, mounted on a Nikon 75-150mm E Series, at 150mm, both at f/3.5, ISO100, 2.5 seconds.
(full writeup to come tomorrow, if all goes according to plan.)
I won’t go into it right now, as I’m a bit pressed for time, but I will do a full write up with lots more pictures later soon. If not later tonight, then probably sometime over the weekend.
But here’s a hint:
D7000, Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 E Series, mounted to the 36-72mm f/3.5 E Series, via 14mm of extension tubes. ISO100, 1/6th (chosen by the camera, as I was in aperture priority mode, and thus why the pins in the upper right are not in focus), f/3.5 (both).
And, by the way, I shot some video with this setup (and have pictures of the setup) that I’ll share soon, so stay tuned!
Am I cheating by submitting an iPhone photo, hastily (read: not at all) composed while (not quite) doubling the speed limit on an exit ramp?
Maybe, but I’m doing it anyway.
This was shot with ProCamera, my current camera-replacement app of choice. Since I was driving and pretty much spraying-and-praying that I could catch these fluffy clouds all flying in formation over Old East Dallas, I couldn’t be bothered to choose the focus and exposure points, so the app (and the inbuilt camera software, I suppose) chose all of that of its own accord. But still:
ProCamera, Apple iPhone4 3.8mm lens, ISO 80, 1/1436th, f/2.8 (is the iPhone4 aperture adjustable?). Some straightening, cropping, contrast/saturation/exposure/black point/etc. adjustments made in Aperture, but only to recreate what my eyes saw.
So I used the Light Pipe I made earlier today to create a Beauty Dish-ish type of thing. The fresh (and really bad) haircut didn’t do me any favors here, but this was really more of a proof-of-concept project than anything else.
I didn’t take any in process shots. Apologies. But I just cut a hole in the bottom of a roasting pan, shoved the light pipe through, attached it with gaff tape, and stuck a hastily-folded hunk of aluminum foil to the end of it to bounce light back into the pan. It makes really beautiful light, but it chews that light like crazy (and swallows about 75%) before spitting some beauty at the subject. I was having to toss out full pops to get me about 1/4 stop overexposed. I’m not sure if that was due to the distance between me and the dish-ish, or because the light pipe protrudes beyond the borders of the pan, or both.
Anyway.
Proof of Concept, today’s 365 entry, was captured with the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G, ISO100, 1/200th, f/8, with the SB700 at 1/4 power.
After some modifications (and cussing), the Beauty Dish-ish itself and (Not Quite) Beautified and its offspring (Adjusted and Adjusted with Abandon) were captured with the Sigma 30mm f/1.4, ISO100, 1/200th, f/5.6, with the SB700 at full power.
Adjusted and Adjusted with Abandon received treatment from Topaz Labs’s Adjust 5 (now Adjust AI) . The first got the Retro Style 4 and Equalize treatments; the latter got Crisp and Portrait Drama, plus some contrast, saturation, and definition adjustments once I brought it back into Aperture. Fun stuff.
I’ve been back on my homemade trail mix kick of late, and picked up a container of Sunsweet Plum Amazins* to add to the mix this week.
The chopped-prune raisin-type things are tasty enough, and will add a nice bit of sweetness (plus some fiber and nutrients) to the trail mix, but what I was more interested in the packaging, especially once I peeled off the shrink-wrapped plastic label to reveal this nice, white light-modifier-to-be…
The container is a bit big for the SB700, so I did some tracing…
and cutting…
and trimming… and trimming… and trimming… until the lid just barely scrunched around the flash.
Fine so far, but the green lid gives a bit of a green cast to the bottom.
So I applied some black duct tape, which made the fit a bit more snug.
The light spills out everywhere, which is great for some applications, but maybe not so great for others, and so I set up a roasting-pan reflector just to see what would happen.
The constructing shots were made with an iPhone4 and the rest were made with the D7000 & Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G, ISO100, 1/250th, f/8, with the SB700 at 1/4 power. These last two were ISO100, 1/200th, f/8:
If you have any questions or ideas for improvement, please let me know!
*I am in no way affiliated with Sunsweet, nor do I intend to endorse their products. Their choice of packaging for this specific product, however, is inspired.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement
1 year
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Advertisement".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
__cfduid
1 month
The cookie is used by cdn services like CloudFare to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. It does not correspond to any user ID in the web application and does not store any personally identifiable information.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Cookie
Duration
Description
__utma
2 years
This cookie is set by Google Analytics and is used to distinguish users and sessions. The cookie is created when the JavaScript library executes and there are no existing __utma cookies. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.
__utmb
30 minutes
The cookie is set by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to determine new sessions/visits. The cookie is created when the JavaScript library executes and there are no existing __utma cookies. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.
__utmc
session
The cookie is set by Google Analytics and is deleted when the user closes the browser. The cookie is not used by ga.js. The cookie is used to enable interoperability with urchin.js which is an older version of Google analytics and used in conjunction with the __utmb cookie to determine new sessions/visits.
__utmt
10 minutes
The cookie is set by Google Analytics and is used to throttle request rate.
__utmz
6 months
This cookie is set by Google analytics and is used to store the traffic source or campaign through which the visitor reached your site.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Cookie
Duration
Description
_ga
2 years
This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gid
1 day
This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the wbsite is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages viisted in an anonymous form.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Cookie
Duration
Description
ANONCHK
10 minutes
This cookie is used for storing the session ID for a user. This cookie ensures that clicks from advertisement on the Bing search engine are verified and it is used for reporting purposes and for personalization.
MUID
1 year 24 days
Used by Microsoft as a unique identifier. The cookie is set by embedded Microsoft scripts. The purpose of this cookie is to synchronize the ID across many different Microsoft domains to enable user tracking.