Category Archives: Photography
Meowy Christmas 2011
This year was in a rush taking photo of Mythos and Rini in the basement, so that quality wasn’t as good but thanks to Photoshop for post-processing. Mythos and Rini were moving around so much and it was so difficult to capture a good shot, as you can see their poses were a little bit odd. I didn’t have time to do another session, so here we go – Meowy Christmas and Happy New Year!
11×14 Spain and France Photos
After 5 years of having the Greece photos on the wall (from our wedding and honeymoon in 2006 – my first time of using a DSLR), Deb and I both feel that it’s time to have a change. We decided to replace them with a new Europe theme – Spain and France. With over 4000 photos from the 2 trips, I picked 6 of them which wasn’t an easy task. In Photoshop, I then tried to arrange them properly. To have ultimate balance, here is what I have chosen:
- 3 with very dark color (all indoor with strong shadow and highlight)
- 3 with bright color (all ourdoor, all HDR – 2 grass and 1 stone floor)
- 2 buildings – one facing left and one facing right
Next, I went to Costco Photo Center to develop 11″x14″ ($3.99 for 1 hour service), totally around $27 CAD with tax. The quality is pretty good!! It’s printed on Fuji photo paper with glossy finish, not bad.
Since the limitation is to select vertical photos, there were a lot of good photos cannot be used. Sigh! Compared to Greece photos back in 2006, I think my photography skills have improved a bit, right? Here are the best photos from both of the trips:
Best of France Trip 2011
We spent 2 weeks in France in May 2011 and we planned our own trip instead of joining any tour. Attraction highlights: Paris, Seine River Cruise, Champs-Elysees, Arc De Triomphe, Chateau De Versailles, Louvre, Reims, Orsay, Notre Dame, Montmartre, Eiffel Tower, Provence, Marseille, Nice, Monaco and Cannes. We have taken so many photos, and here are some of them.
Mythos and Rini on boxing day
Nothing really special on sale at Pet Stores, so Mythos and Rini were resting at home on boxing day under the sun, relaxing…
DIY Studio Lighting in basement – Softbox
If you are into photography, you know that composition and lighting are the keys to a good photo. Lighting creates shadows and hightlights which make an object become more 3D. Generally speaking, studio lighting has 2 types: continuous (hot) and strobe (flash). To keep the cost as low as possible, I chose to build the continuous softbox lighting.
There were tons of DIY lighting projects on the Internet and I didn’t re-invent the wheel. Basically this project was inspired by Strike Down Photography and combining with others. Do a search on Google and you will be amazed.
Material and Costs
- Fabric from Fabricland (bought when they were on sale 70% off)
- 2 x Dimmer and alumium/duct tape (Home Depot)
- 2 x 500W Worklights (Canadian Tire 50% off)
- Westcott lighting adapter ($17 from Henry’s Photography Show)
- 4 x 23w energy saving bulb (like 100w, Home Depot)
- 2 x Utility Light for spot light + energy saving bulb (Can Tire)
- 20 x foam board (Michaels 50% off)
Total cost was around $170 CAD for this project (3 softboxes + 2 spot lights).
Build in details
It was pretty straight forward, yet, it took me some time in measuring and cutting the foam board that wrapped around the worklight. Then, glued the aluminum foil using white glue to create the interior reflection. By using the black duct tape to reinforce the integrity of the whole structure was very important, I also added a piece of wood at the back for the 2 worklight softboxes to add additional strength. To make sure the light was working, I worked on the dimmer by connecting the wires and plastic tied them on the metal pole.
As for the removable white diffuser, I simply cut out a frame from the form board and wrapped it with the white cloth. Using hot glue to glue everything together firmly. Since I had some rare earth magnets around, so I glued them on the softboxes as you can see in the photos.
As for the big westcott adaptor softbox, it was supposed to either place it on the ground or hang it on the ceiling but I haven’t decided yet. To build everything, including hanging the fabric took almost 2 full days.
Verdict: Still has Room for Improvement
I am always amazed by the photos taken in Hollywood/Victoria Secret models – my original goal for this project was to create the “butterfly lighting” effect, which is way far from being accomplished. Well, I am new to studio lighting, so the placement of the lights were tricky. The other thing is the color temperature, the 500W halogen lamp is having around 3000K which produces a yellowish warm tone. Well, it’s good for Christmas but I am not sure if that’s good to shoot a Victoria Secret model, so the next attempt is to get it to 4000K-5000K.
For the time being, I am satisfied with the result but definitely still have room for improvement. All in-progress projects photos were taken using iPhone, Panasonic GF1 and Canon DSLR. The final “studio shots” were taken using Canon 5D MarkII with 24-70mm f2.8.
Special Thanks to my friend Frank and the baby Brandon for being my model.
Day trip to Brooks Farm
[Oct 14, 2010 Update]: One of my photos taken at Brooks Farm was published on Toronto’s Tonight Newspaper! That is pretty cool!
Friends at MLG decided to have a fall’s event for the kids, so we went to Brooks Farm on the ThanksGiving long weekend. I didn’t bring the DSLR because I was so lazy, so all photos were taken using GF1, it did a pretty impressive job. However, if you have professional eyes and compare to my Canon DSLR album, you can tell the difference.
Edward’s Garden + Baby Brandon
Originally, our photography theme at Edward’s Garden was to shoot ants, but due to equipment issues, we have to shoot something else - like bees, insects and little baby Brandon. Of course, my favorite was to take some HDR photos without tripod too! In fact, taking photos of baby Brandon reminds me of taking Grace and Alex’s wedding photos some years ago, their son Brandon is 1 yr old already! Time files.
(Photos were taken using Canon 24-70 f/2.8 and 17-40 f/4)
Quebec Charlevoix Road Trip
Deb and I went to Quebec and Charlevoix for a few days, the first stop was to have our anniversary dinner at La Taniere Restaurant with 14-course modular gastronomy French cruise. It took 4.5 hours to finish the dinner, and it was just amazing. In our opinion, in some ways it is better than the Michelin 3 Stars rated restaurant we had during our Vegas Trip.
We drove around 8 hours from Toronto and stayed in Quebec City for 2 days and then drove another 2 hours to Charlevoix to watch whales. On the way to Charlevoix, we stopped by Ste Anne Canyon (without any plans, we just found that place while driving) and took some great waterfall pictures. We stayed at Auberge des Falaises for 1 night and I woke up at 5:00 AM to take some amazing sunrise photos and I went swimming in the heated pool at 5:30 AM overlooking the sunrise. It was a lovely hotel and that is what I call a real vacation.
Photos were taken using Canon 24-70mm f/2.8, 17-40mm f/4.0, some with Polarizer filter/Neutral density filter. Also, Panasonic GF1 with 20mm f/1.7 were used. HDR photos were taken using +/- 2 stops without tripod. Joby Gorillapod was used for long exposure at Ste Anne Canyon.
Recorded GPS Waypoints:
- 47.07162 N 70.87395 W (Ste Anne Canyon)
- 47.63573 N 70.15166 W (Auberge des Falaises)
- 47.908373 N 69.805442 W (Beluga Whales)
- 47.949345 N 69.785621 W (Minke Whale)
New Photos of Mythos
Mythos is getting bigger and bigger everyday, and we haven’t taken any new photos of him for a while. On a lazy afternoon he felt like being a model, so here we go…
Photos were taken using Panasonic GF1
Henry’s Photography Show
Deb and I went to the annual Henry’s photography show today. Well, similar to last year – nothing really exciting… luckily we didn’t have to pay for the admission. This time, I didn’t bring my DSLR, but Deb brought her GF1. See the last photo with the girls on the bike? That was taken using Panasonic GF1, not bad eh?
What did I buy?
The next big DIY project is to build 2 x hot light soft box to achieve professional lighting effects. At the show, a light adapter caught my attention, it is a little adaptor made by Westcott – it basically splits one socket into 4.
That’s awesome, because I was about to build something similar, that costs me only $17 CAD. Awesome! All I need is to get some light bulb with color temperature 5000K to simulate daylight.