The Munchkin's Notebook

I think this year we started to head back to normal, we are still far from normal pre-pandemic days but we are slowly getting there.  This year overall was a fairly normal boring year for me without any major life changes, as compared to the past two years. This year I shot 10202 frames, which is 43-percent increase from last year.   Though I only edited 5810 frames which is a 36-percent increase from last year. My most used ISO was ISO 100 with 50-percent of my photos being shot at this ISO.   My most used aperture was F8 with approximately 57-percent of my photos. My most used shutter speed was 1/250s with approximately 36-percent of my being shot at this shutter speed. This makes sense since it is the max sync speed for my strobes and flashes. Finally, my most used focal length was 18mm with approximately 29-percent of my photos being shot at this focal length.   This is a reduction from last year, which hopefully means I’m getting better at using different foca...

On December 17th,  I attended the D.C. Cosplay Photo Shoots ’ meetup at the Capitol Turnaround in South East D.C..   The Capitol Turnaround, was formally a streetcar  barn  for repairing and rerouting streetcars across the nation’s capital. This  historic car barn has since been renovated into a modern event center while maintaining the historic character of the building.   For this event I used: Canon 80D 1 Speed light Trigger Light stand 18-200mm lens 1x2 Strip box Assistant The Venue: This venue has a lot of potential, but I feel it is better suited to lifestyle or fashion photography than traditional cosplay photos. I feel the best photos I got from this meetup were ones where the cosplay leaned more towards fashion or modern clothes.  Now don’t get me wrong, you can photograph any cosplay almost anywhere as long as you are creative or eliminate the background. However,  for venues like this I like to include the venue, as I feel t...

On November 19 th , well over a month ago now, I did an on-location photo session with Lady Cels at Seneca Mill & Quarry Ruins. I picked this location, because I thought it would be perfect for her Chun Li cosplay. Due to the location, this was a minimal equipment session; it is also why I chose to bring an assistant.   For this session I used: Photography Equipment Cannon 80D Transmitter/Trigger 1 speed lights Painters Pole Assistant   The set up There was no big set up for this session, since the location itself was the set. My set up included attaching a speed light to a painter’s pole and walking out to the site. Camera Settings For this session I used ISO 100, due to the brightness of the location.   I split my apertures equally between F5.6 and F8 depending on if I was trying to blur the background or not.   The background could be very busy, due to all the trees, shrubs, and vines.   My shutter speed...