The Munchkin's Notebook

On the evening of  November 7th, I participated in a group shoot with the Cincinnati Female Image Makers at a train depot.  The group was 10 people,  5 models and 5 photographers all the photographers wore masks during the shoot, which was 95% outside, except for the few instances people were in the one open train car.  Before the shoot everyone was provided a few mood boards for inspiration, the models went for a more vintage1940’s look in there outfits instead of steampunk look.  For this shoot I used: Canon 80D 2 Speed lights Light stand Mini soft box I shot 247 frames over the course of 75 minutes.   (Each photographer is given 15-minutes per model.) I shoot the 247 frames at ISO 200.   I used three apertures over the course of the shoot F5, which was the most prevalent, F6.3, and F8 which was the least prevalent. My shutter speed ranged from 1/25s to 1/250s with a majority of the frames being shot at 1/250s and 1/160s.   My fo...

On October 11 th , I worked with Dayvon on a cyber concept shoot. This shoot was designed around a pair of contact lens with a circuit board pattern. This inspired me to think about things like “Blade Runner”, “Tron” and cyber punk in general.    For this shoot I used: Canon 80D 2 Speed lights 2 Phottix strobes 2 Phottix Rectangular Softboxes with a grid 2 C-stands Blue gels Silver garage insulation Backdrop stand Black backdrop Connectable foam workout mats For this shoot I started out using four lights. The first two were small speed lights with blue gels attached placed on the floor aimed at the backdrop.  The backdrop was silver garage insulation, which looks like silver bubble wrap. The backdrop reflected the blue light forward providing a bit of rim light.  My main two lights were the strobes is rectangular soft boxes with grids attached. For this shoot I kept the lighting very low key, styled along that of a photo of Ryan Gosling i...

  On October 3 rd , I worked with the lovely Megan Rice to shoot a lovely deep purple dress from designer Ewa Jobka . This shoot was done in Lebanon, Ohio at Colonial Park South. The park has a nice little creek bed and bridge where we did most of the photos that day.   For this shoot I used: Canon 80D 2 Speed lights Light stand Small soft box For this shoot the focus was on how the color of the leaves complemented the dress. For those who don’t remember their color wheel, violet/purples complement is yellow.   In this case the dress fell closer to the red-violet shade thus its complement is yellow-green which is very close to the color of the initial leaf color change and the color of the light as it comes through the leaves.     I shot 216 frames between ISO 100 (55 frames) and ISO 400 (161 frames).   My aperture was set at F4.5. My shutter speed ranged from 1/40s to 1/250s with a majority of the frames being shot at 1/250s.   My f...

  On October 11 th , I got to do a little bit of cosplay photography with Eowinth Cosplay and Apollo Ven .   This was a   Lord of the Rings (LOTR) shoot, which we did out at a local state park.   For this shoot I used: Canon 80D 2 Speed lights Light stand Umbrellas Trigger Eowinth Cosplay and Apollo Ven like to do joint cosplays, were the characters have some sort of relationship with each other. In this case Eowinth was Thranduil and Apollo Ven was Legolas, for those not up on their LOTR lore, Thranduil is Legolas’s father.  Thus, during this shoot, I tried to capture a little bit of the tenuous relationship between Thranduil and Legolas. Additionally, in preparation for the shoot, I looked at several of the LOTR movie stills for both characters to guide me on some poses, lighting, and most importantly color tones that set the overall mood of the image.   This shoot was a bit of a challenge, due to the location.  While the locatio...

  On October   10 th , I got the chance to work with two lovely models; Tabatha and Jacqueline ,   in the White Studio at Something Old Dayton.   This shoot was inspired by the color pink and the French Rocco style. For this shoot I used: Canon 80D Wireless Transmitter Two Phottix Indra500 Strobes with Battery Packs Two soft boxes Speed Light Beauty Dish 2 C-stands Standard Light Stand Colored Jells Laptop Tether Sand bags Fake cupcakes Hoop skirts Tulle Flowers Assistant I did two session, one with each model around the same theme but with variations in the headpiece, outfit and make up.   For the first session I used ISO 200. My aperture varied from F5 to F11 with most of the shots being taken at F5.6 and F6.3.  My shutter speed ranged from 1/50s to 1/250s with most of the frames being shot at 1/200s.  My focal range varied from 18mm to 90mm wit...

On September 27 th , the first meet up of the DCC was held since the COVID pandemic started.  This group meet-up was limited to 10 people (5-cosplayers and 5-photographers) and was held in an Ohio county that was not red. COVID per cautions were taken to include having the event outdoors, keeping 6-feet apart, photographers wearing masks at all times, cosplayers wearing masks when not being photographed, and keeping session times to 15-minutes per photographer. All participants in the event understood their risks, and choose to participate in the meet-up.   For this shoot I used: Canon 80D 2 Speed lights Light stand I shot 199 frames at ISO 100.  My aperture varied between F8 and F9. My shutter speed was on the high end, so I was in high speed sync  for a good portion of the shoot.  My shutter speeds ranged from 1/125s to 1/400s, with a majority of the frames being shot at 1/200s.  My focal length varied from 18mm to 70mm, with most of th...

(ISO 100, Focal Length 18mm, Aperture F6.3,    Shutter 1/160s) On September 26 th   I did a concept photoshoot with Valtinen at Quarry Oaks Park with a set of foam armor that I commissioned from the foam-smith, Maker Fishmeal and a set of wings that I made from packing foam. The concept for this shoot was angle warrior. Before I get into the shoot details, I would like to spend a little time on how I made the wings.  The wings are made from a combination of 10-guage wire, plastic chicken wire, thin packing foam sheets, contact cement, and spray paint.   When designing the wings, I did not use the harness method, because I did not want to have to hide the harness, thus I went with a corset support method.  In the corset support method, the full weight of the wings are supported by a backer piece that is slipped down the back of the corset and held in place by the corset.   The first step was forming the wing shape and backer which I did by fo...