The Munchkin's Notebook

On August 29th, I led a photography set-design workshop for the Costume & Camera group. The workshop focused on setting up a basic studio at home, then building a full set to match a cosplay or theme.  As part of the workshop, I did a live demonstration showing how I build a set and then use the set during a session.   For this workshop, I used: Canon R6 24 - 105mm lens Surface Pro Tether Cables Spyder Color Checker Westcott FJ400 & FJ200 Strobes Westcott Trigger Rectangular soft boxes Platypod Gels Backdrop stand Hand-painted grey canvas backdrop 3 Light stands Clamps Fabric Flowers Fake candles Fake Skull Bottles LED light Posing Block Floor Drop Boxes Camera Settings: For this shoot, I used ISO 100 with an aperture of F8 and a shutter speed of 1/250s.  My focal lengths ranged from 39mm to 94mm, with 50mm being the most common. Set Up: This shoot was a demonstration, so I kept the set small and ...

On September 13th, I attended the Costume & Camera event at Meridian Hill Park in downtown DC. I have always wanted to shoot at Meridian Hill, as it has a lovely stepped waterfall and just looks nice.  However, the day was super hot and humid, and it didn’t help that I was having an IBS flare.  I almost canceled but toughed it out, which was good because the photographer-to-cosplayer ratio was way off, more cosplayers than photographers. Another nice thing was getting to see one of my favorite people to work with after their two-year hiatus. For this event I used: Canon R6 24 - 105mm lens Cannon speed light Platypod Handel Assistant Camera Settings: This shoot started at 2:00PM in the afternoon in downtown DC.  I ended up about 15 minutes late because I had to find parking and a bathroom, both hard things to find sometimes. It was super sunny with a few clouds, even though the forecast called for rain, which added to the humidity. The park also ha...

On July 25th, I attended the Costume & Camera event at Burnside Farms in Nokesville, VA. This event was in conjunction with Burnside Farms sunflower festival they have, so we were shooting in their sunflower and flower fields.  For this event I used: Canon R6 24 - 105mm lens Cannon speed light Camera Settings: This shoot started at 4:30 PM and went to about 7:30 PM not the harshest sun of the day but not sunset either.  The sky had some clouds as there was the potential for storms to roll through later in the evening.  However, the biggest challenge for this event was I couldn’t use a light stand, and I didn’t have my voice activated light stand (i.e. assistant/husband) to hold the flash for fill.  So, I was shooting with the camera in one hand and the flash in the other to provide fill light.  For this shoot I mostly used ISO 100 but did take a few images at ISO 200.  My aperture ranged from F4.5 to F13 with the most common aperture ...

On June 28 th , I was supposed to do an on location shoot with Sara and Natalie at the Washington, DC National Cathedral. It was going to be beautiful with them in their Italian Renaissance gowns and beautiful stonework; however, the weather had other plans.   As I headed out to the location, it started raining hard, thankfully I had my husband/assistant in the car who was able to text Sara and Natalie to ask if they were ok, switching to my home studio to shoot.   Everyone was good with the switch; I turned the car around and rushed back home to set up my studio in 60 minutes.   It turned out beautifully and no one got rained on. For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Westcott FJ400 Strobes 2 c-stands 2 Rectangular soft boxes 1 Backdrop stand 1 Graphic (wall)Backdrop Sandbags Clamps Laptop Teather cable Continuous light t...

We arrived home in the evening of Friday, May 29 th after two flights, one from Lisbon to Heathrow (London) and the second from Heathrow to Dulles International (DC).  I will say getting out of Portugal was slightly annoying because the airport isn’t well organized, the check in desk didn’t open till 2.5 hours before the flight and the airline recommended 3 hours before the flight, and they you must go through a ticketing screening and border control to leave the country.  Thankfully, border control (basically like going through TSA security check but with passport verifications) only took us about 15 minutes, apparently it can sometimes take up to hour.  If you are not expecting it, Lisbon Airport will trick you, because they put all the duty free after the ticket scan but before border control, but you need to pass boarder control to get to your gate.  It is not like other airports where duty free is on the same side as the gates.   I also discovered I r...