The Munchkin's Notebook

On July 21 st , I did a session with Sonia at the Field of Flowers in Purcellville, VA. The Field of Flowers is a several individual rows of wild flowers and domestic flowers, that you can come and pick.   It is also a lovely place for a small outdoor photo session.   For this session I used: Photography Equipment Canon 80D 18-200mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 RT600 Speed lights 1 Strip box 1 light stand 1 tri mount for speedlights The set up As this was an on-location shoot there was not a lot of set up involved. I used a strip box with two speedlights mounted in side.   I have a tri-mount that allows me to attach multiple speedlights to a single light stand.   I went with two speed lights to ensure I had enough light to fill shadows, because I was going to be using a soft box and fighting the sun at the same time.   Usually, I just use direct hard light, with no modifier but in this case, I wanted a softer ...

On July 15 th , I did a session with Anastasia . This session was all about the rubber duck and the colors blue and yellow.   For this session I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Canon 80D 18-200mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix strobes 72-inch umbrella with sock 43-inch ocatbox 2 c-stands 1 Backdrop stands 1 black backdrop 4 blue plastic table cloths Sandbags   169 rubber ducks Boxes Blue wrapping paper Kiddie pool Ball-pit balls   The set up The baseline set up for this shoot was relatively simple, and inspired by the 80’s and 90’s adds using minimalistic geometric shapes.  I started with hanging the black backdrop to block light coming in through the windows. I then taped together the four tablecloths, which I hung over the black backdrop to make the actual background for the set. Next time I’m just going to buy and use seamless.  I then placed ...

On July 15 th , I did a session with Laci . This session was inspired by the original 1959 Barbie doll.   Note this shoot was planned before the actor’s strike and is focused on the legacy of the doll itself not the movie. I fully support both the actors and writer’s guild strike and this shoot was not done in promotion of the movie. For this session I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Canon 80D 18-200mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix strobes 72-inch umbrella with sock 43-inch ocatbox 2 c-stands 1 Backdrop stands 1 black backdrop 4 pink plastic table cloths 3x6 silver reflector Sandbags Kiddie pool Ball-pit balls Lawn chair Towel Pink metal side table/stool Astroturf The set up The set up for this shoot was relatively simple.  I started with hanging the black backdrop to block light coming in through the windows. I then taped together the four tablecloths,...

On July 8 th , I attended the D.C. Cosplay Photo Shoots ’ meet up at the abandoned Cresson Sanatorium and Prison  in Cresson, VA.   The group shot here last in year in April, you can read about that experience here .   This time it was warm and sunny as compared to cold and snow of the last time.  For these sessions I used: Canon 80D 2 Speed lights Trigger 2 Light stands 18-200mm lens Gels Smoke Genie Headlamp Sunscreen Bug spray Camera Settings: This was an indoor/outdoor event, however most of the shots I took were inside the buildings. Note since this is an abandoned space there is no electricity meaning there was no indoor light except for window light. Thus, I used flash for all my images. For this event I shot using ISO 100 to ISO 1600, but mostly using ISO 200.  My aperture ranged from F5.6 to F9 with most shots being taken at F8. While yes it was extremely dark in several areas, especially the tunnels I kept at F8 ...

This year I attended AwesomeCon . I originally planned to have at least a week separating my trip to Ireland and my attendance at AwesomeCon. However, work training interfered with that and my Ireland trip needed to be shifted only giving me a day and a half between the two events.  I can say I wasn’t 100-percent at AwesomeCon; because I limited the number of shoots per day it was manageable.  I only did four shoots which is a far cry from the 20 I usually do at a convention. Additionally, being able to “easily” commute between the convention and homemade things better, since I was able to sleep in my own bed every night.  Finally, the convention is less crowded then Katsucon thus going a long way to making it feel less stressful overall.    Now let’s talk some photography. For AwesomeCon I was shooting with my Canon 80D with an 18-200mm Canon lens. I had two speedlights, one on camera which acted as a trigger 90-percent of the time and one on a light stand. T...

Places Visited Our trip to Ireland came to an end on June 14 th with our flight back to Virginia.  The trip overall wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either.  It was a variety of things from the accommodations, activities, and us dealing with sinus infections that really put a damper on the overall trip. The flight out was good.   I will be booking 1 st class lay flat seats again for international travel.   It was very much worth the price in my opinion. It would have been even better if there wasn’t heavy turbulence for the first couple hours of the flight, but that is always unpredictable.   On the way back we did regular economy since it was a daytime flight, which wasn’t too bad for being a 3x3. The other unique thing was they did all the US customs and immigrations stuff in Ireland so when we landed back in the US it was like we just arriving from an in country flight, allowing us to get home quicker.  In general, I think I should have done a little...

 Today was our last day in Ireland, again not a lot of pictures mostly driving.  We got on the road around 9:00AM.   Our first stop was supposed to be Newgrange tombs, however I didn’t book a head of time so by the time we got there, there were no tours available. The only way you can see the tomb is by guided tour.  So that was a bust.  The next stop was the Hills of Tara. This was actually free to see, but really hard to see since it is an earthen mound.   The only good way to get a picture of it is from the air, and you can’t use drones in the area. Plus, I don’t have a drone.   We did walk out to the major stone, from which you can see 1/5 of Ireland on a clear day.    We might have walked around the area more, but it is a big field with tall grass and my allergies were just saying no.   Point from which you can see 1/5 of Ireland on a clear day From there it was off to the hotel to drop luggage off before heading over to...