The Munchkin's Notebook

Back in mid-April, I did a birthday session for Stella. She wanted a boss-babe styled session with a few cute, bubbly photos at the end.   We did an hour and a half session with five outfit variations.   For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix Strobe 1 rectangular soft box 1 60-inch umbrella with sock 2 C-stands Sandbags Backdrop stand White backdrop Pink backdrop Spyder Color Checker Card A-clamps 1.5-foot wooden cube 2-foot wooden cube White paper to cover the cubes Flowers Stool   The setup This session was a simple portrait session, with no fancy set or props, making the setup very easy.  I started by hanging a white 20x10 backdrop, which would function more as a floor-drop than a backdrop.  I then hung a hand-painted pink canvas backdrop over a white backdrop.  I then ...

On May 3, I attended the D.C. Cosplay Photo Shoots ’ meet up at Brookside Gardens in Maryland.  I have always wanted to shoot at the garden but haven’t because it a little over an hour away in DC traffic.  Plus Medowlark Gardens are only 15 minutes away from me. For this session I used: Canon R6 1 Speed light Trigger Mini Round Soft Box/Beauty Dish 24 - 105mm lens Gels Assistant (i.e. my husband) Camera Settings: This was an outside shoot with variable lighting conditions, thus my camera settings changed accordingly.  My Iso ranged from ISO 100 to ISO 400 with ISO 100 being the most common.  I used for distinct apertures F5, F6.3, F8, and F9, with F5 being the most common aperture.  My shutter speed ranged from 1/50s to 1/250s  with 1/250s being the most common speed as that is my native flash sync speed.  My focal length ranged from 24mm to 70mm with the most common being 24mm.   I also placed a ¼ cut CTO gel on my fl...

On April 27 th , I did a long-delayed session with my friend Eowinth Cosplay in her Jinshi from Apothecary Diaries .  For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 1 Phottix Strobe 2 FJ400 Westcott Strobes 90mm round soft box 2 strip boxes 3 C-stands Sandbags Backdrop stand Grey backdrop Spyder Color Checker Card A-clamps Light blue Gel   Flowers Mylar sheets 1.5-foot wooden cube Styrofoam Paper lanterns Wooden trellis   The set up The guiding theme for this shoot was a moonlit Asian garden.  I also chose flowers in the purple range to complement the colors in the cosplay.   I then chose to use light blue gels to give the impression of moonlight. To design the set, I hung a 10x20-foot grey cloth backdrop up, but did not stretch it out all the way, as the lower part would be used to c...

On April 26 th , I did a long-delayed session with the lovely Gabby in her original character blue fairy gown.   For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 1 Phottix Strobe 2 FJ400 Westcott Strobes 90mm round soft box 2 strip boxes 3 C-stands Sandbags Backdrop stand Savage Focus Grey Seamless Grey backdrop Spyder Color Checker Card A-clamps Light blue Gel Bell Reflector Star Filter   Flowers Mylar sheets Tiny stool Wire flower planters Styrofoam Wood blocks     The set up The guiding theme for this shoot was a fairy princess in a moonlit garden.  I also wanted to stay with an analogous color theme centered around blue of the dress.  I also chose flowers in the purple range with just pops of pink and white to break the colors up to complement the dress.   ...

We are back from our short trip down to the Florida Keys.  It was a nice little relaxing trip and different from our normal two-week vacations.  This trip was not meticulously planned and was just thrown together a week before the trip, with a very loose list of activities and lounge time.  Unlike our normal vacations, which are planned months in advance and involve detailed itineraries, none of this lounging around stuff.   The flight back was ok.  But the Miami airport sucks, because of the super long walk from the rental car place to the check-in desk because they are doing construction in the airport.  Also, the waiting areas are super tiny, but that didn’t faze us too much since we hung out in the Delta Sky Club till boarding.   I was unhappy that we arrived at our destination, but our bags did not.  They were put on an earlier flight, but due to weather in DC got delayed by four hours so they arrived at Dulles after us.   We...

Today we got up around 7:00 AM, had breakfast, and then got ready for our pool day.  I went and rented one of the pool side cabana’s for the day.   It was a fair size,  it came with two lounge chairs directly outside of it next to the pool, then under the cabana a couch, two chairs, a coffee table,   a fan, another table with plenty of beach towels, and other table that they put plate, cups, silverware, and a pitcher of iced fruit infused water that was regularly refilled.  The cabana also came with a dedicated server to get drinks and food from the bar, plus a complementary bottle of sparkling wine with orange juice for mimosas.    Also, two iguanas decided to hang out with us either in the shade or in the tree next to the cabana.  We were out by the pool from about 11:00 AM till 3:00 PM.  It was nice because it wasn’t that muggy today and there was a nice breeze.   The pool was nice, and the water was warm.  I ...

We got up a little bit before 7:00 AM got ready and had breakfast before hitting the road down to Key West for a day trip.  The drive was just a little over two hours, with some construction and a quick little stop along the way.    We got down to Key West around 11:00 AM and then had to figure out parking.  We found a place to park and then took the Duval Shuttle (free shuttle in Key West) down to Hemmingway’s house.  We walked around the gardens and the house and saw all the kitties.  There are around 60+ cats living on the property, and they are allowed to go wherever they want, even on the furniture.    From there we walked 10 minutes down the road to the southern most point in the US.   We were not about to stand in line for 10 – 15 minutes to get a picture next to it, so I just grabbed a shot while people were switching out.    From there we went to Louie's Backyard for lunch, based on a recommendation from the ...

On Tuesday, we got up around 6:30 I could get ready, have breakfast, and be out the door by 7:50 AM to head over to the snorkeling place.   I was a little worried as it was raining early in the morning, but the rain stopped by 8:00 AM.     Jim drove me to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and dropped me off at the snorkeling center.  He headed back to the hotel, as he doesn’t snorkel and I went on the trip by myself.  I checked in, picked up my snorkel (which you keep), mask, and fins and then waited to board the boat.  Side note, next time I’m spending the extra money and getting the dry snorkel instead of the semi-dry snorkel, so I don’t have to deal with sea water.  The boat trip out to the snorkel site was good, smooth.  They stopped at the place with the underwater Christ Redemer Statue, but the visibility was bad, so we had to go to a different location.  The location they chose was ok, but you could tell the reef wasn’t co...

This morning started with heavy rain and thunderstorms.  So, we slept in till 7:00AM. (Yes, that is sleeping in for us.)  Then I had breakfast at the one of the hotel restaurants, I went for the buffet and Jim went for a breakfast sandwich.   Afterwards we did a grocery store run, to pick up some RedBull, water, and some additional snacks. I was glad Jim was doing the driving for the run because during the first 5 minutes of the drive it was like driving through a wall of water, which is why we went to the CVS first (it was closer than the Publix). But the CVS was having an internet issue and wouldn’t check us out, so we had to drive up to the Publix, thankfully the rain let up some so that part of the drive wasn’t bad.  Thankfully, we finished our shopping and checked out right as they were dropping off a bus tour the grocery store.  Afterwards we got back from our grocery run we sat on our balcony for a little bit and watched the rain.   During ...

This year we are only doing a short vacation down to Florida Key, because there is a lot of uncertainty in Washington.   Thus, we left DC at 6:00 AM on a flight to Miami via Atlanta.  After a slightly bumpy flights we arrived in Miami around 10:30AM and delt with the confusion of the Miami airport.  We had to then navigate a very unclear indirect route to the rental car location; the signage was horrible in the airport.   After picking up our Mustang Convertible (why wouldn’t you drive a convertible in the Keys) we were on our way. First stop was a grocery store and lunch.  We ate at Senor De La Taco.  They had very good tacos.  Then we stopped at Publix to grab some water and snacks. Since it was still relatively early and we couldn’t check into the resort before 4:00PM we headed to Everglades National Park. We drove out to Everglades National Park and stopped at the visitor center to get a few recommendations on short hikes and pick up ...