The Munchkin's Notebook

This year was a bit interesting especially since during the day, I’m a government employee, which resulted in a lot of stress and a 42-day furlough.  I didn’t attend as many cosplay events with the D.C Cosplay group, now Costume and Camera, as I normally would have, due to schedule conflicts.  However, I traveled up to Poughkeepsie, New York for two photo events, one of which I was a featured photographer.  I attended two conventions, one of which didn’t turn out as expected and the other just confirmed my decision to take a break from it.  Though happily I did a lot of studio work this year, which I enjoyed.  But on the other hand, I lost my dear “studio supervisor”, my dog Teddy.  He liked to great clients and then “supervise” while lying/sleeping in his bed. I also started to work on the business side of my photography work, by investing in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) site to manage bookings, schedules, and payments. No more trying to juggle...

On December 14th, I did a very cute and pink studio session with Maid Adelynn from Heart Strings Café .   This session was also my last session of the year and was a great way to wrap up the year. For these sessions, I used: Photography Equipment Other Equipment Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Westcott FJ400 1 Octabox 1 bell reflector 2 c-stands Backdrop stand 1 white background 1 Pink canvas background Tether cable Laptop Laptop holder Sandbags A-clamps Spyder Color checker Flowers Styrofoam blocks Dowl rods Paper cherry blossoms Pink Tulle Fake food cushion   The setup I wanted to go simple and high key for this session, because it was supposed too bright, cheery, cute, and playful. So, I started with the background which was a fuzzy white backdrop, which covered the floor, over which I hung a hand-painted pink canvas backdrop.  I then dra...

On December 6 th , I did a holiday-cosplay session with Gabby .   This was holiday session based on her Marth May cosplay from the Grinch movie.   For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix strobes 1 Westcott FJ400 2 c-stands 1 Backdrop stand 1 Fuzzy White Backdrop 1 bell reflector 1 blue gel Sandbags 1 rectangular soft boxes 1 60-inch umbrella with sock 1 Platypod stand 4 LED tube lights Christmas Trees Stuffing to act as snow Styrofoam blocks Ornaments Boxes Wrapping paper Posing box Wooden crate Ribbon The set up Let’s start with the set design set up, which I wanted to be representative of a Whoville Christmas but not as busy to ensure focus stayed on the model and the dress. I also drew some inspiration from 1950’s and 1960’s holiday themed photoshoots to help with ove...

On November 22, I attended a  Costume & Camera (Previously the DC Cosplay Photoshoot ) group event at Kap2ure Studios in Baltimore.  This was a special subscribers only event, so the event was rather small with only 4 cosplayers and 6 photographers.   This was a suitable number of people for the studio we were using. For this event I used: Canon R6 1 Speed light Trigger 24 - 105mm lens 1 light stand Umbrella Camera Settings: Even though this shot was in a studio, I still varied my camera settings based on the set design, set lighting, and minimizing interference with other photographers.  Also, this was a partial natural light studio, which had a strong yellow undertone to it, I also worked to balance between flash and the natural light.    My ISO varied from ISO 100 to ISO 2000, with ISO 400 being the most common, followed by ISO 200 and ISO 1600 when relying on mostly natural light. My aperture ranged from ...

 On November 8 th , I did an on-location session with SunnyRae at Claude Moore Park.  The theme for this shoot was 1920’s photographer, which came about during SunnyRae’s 31 days of closet Halloween costumes during October.  I saw the outfit and had to photograph it, complete with the early 1900’s era camera.   For these sessions, I used: Photography Equipment Other Equipment Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 1 Cannon Speed lights 1 30-inch umbrella Light stand Assistant The setup The setup was relatively easy.  I mounted a Canon speed light on a light stand with an umbrella.  My assistant then held the light in the spots during the shoot. Because the camera shown in the pictures was an antique and rather heavy, we only shot in two location, with me relying on angles, expressions, and props to fully use each of the two spots we choose in the park. Camera Settings This sess...

On October 25th, I drove up to Clinton, NY, for the Elven Autumn photo event held by Everlore Events . This was an all-day event that included a light lunch with soup, leatherwork vendors, three different styled shooting locations, and a trip to a stable for photos with horses.  I was one of the featured photographers for this event, which meant I was paid to attend and had to provide at least three images of each model I worked with. For this event, I used: Canon R6 1 Speed light Trigger Umbrella Gels 24 - 105mm lens Camera Settings: This was an outdoor shoot with a forested area, a meadow, a pond, and a pasture for the horse sessions.  This event had dynamic lighting conditions because it started fairly sunny, but heavy cloud cover rolled in as the day progressed.  I used ISO 100 and 400, with most shots taken at ISO 100.  My aperture varied from F4 to F13, depending on the amount of background blur I wanted.  Most of my images were shot a...

On October 18 th , I did a cosplay studio session with Kei (za_warudio) and Kitsune Kauki (kitsune_kazuki) for their Mizi and Sua from Alien Stage cosplays.   Alien Stage mostly takes place on a stage, so I kept the set very simple to align with stills from the show and the fan art references. For these sessions, I used: Photography Equipment Other Equipment Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Westcott FJ400 2 Phottix Strobes 2 bell reflectors 1 round soft boxes 1 bell reflector with barn doors 2 c-stands 3 light stands Backdrop stand Black seamless 2 gels Tether cable Laptop Laptop holder Sandbags A-clamps Spyder Color checker Silver backdrop Smoke genie Stool Pillow (to kneel on) The setup The stills and reference photos provided were very simple in regard to background, so I went with a black seamless and a silver backdrop.  I chose a silver backd...