The Munchkin's Notebook

On August 31 st , I attended the D.C. Cosplay Photo Shoots ’ meet-up held at Lescher’s Poultry Farm Sunflower Fields. We shot here last year but at the end of the season when the sunflowers were well past peak bloom.  This year, we managed to hit peak bloom; however, we had about 60-75 minutes to shoot because of a major storm with lighting rolling in.  So, I had to shoot very quickly to be able to work with a variety of people as well as be aware of the weather. For this session I used: Canon R6 1 Speed light Trigger 1 Light stands 1 small bounce umbrella 24 - 105mm lens ¼ cut CTO Gel Camera Settings: For this shoot, I ended up using ISO 200 and ISO 250.  I think I might have bumped the ISO adjustment at some point, as ISO 250 is an odd ISO.  I used an aperture of F4, which allows me to blur the background but still allows you to see it is a sunflower field.  My shutter speed varied from 1/80s to 1/250s, with the most common shutter speed...

On August 3, I had a session with Anastasia in Red to do a second test run of my new stained glass concept. For this test run, I went with a warrior-angle look, which gave me a chance to break out the foam armor once again. For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 4 Cannon Speed Lights 1 rectangular soft box 1 Beauty Dish with sock 2 Phottix Strobe 2 C-stands 1 boom arm Sandbags Bell reflector plus grid Backdrop stand Grey backdrop Table Bench 4 plexiglass sheets Window wrap 8 2x4 foot insulation panels Gaff tape Aluminum foil Electric candles Smoke Genie   The set up I modified the construction of the stained glass windows from that outlined in my previous blog, “Stained Glass Angel.”   As I was not working with the light bars and speed lights, I added a piece of white Styrofoam to the top ...

On July 28, I did a clean modern fashion session with Diana and May, inspired by some late 80’s and early 90’s fashion shoots. For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix Strobe 1 FJ400 Strobe 1 PlatyPod 1 rectangular soft box 1 6-foot umbrella with sock 2 C-stands Sandbags Backdrop stand Seamless in Egg Nogg Spyder Color Checker Card Posing cubes White Wrapping paper   The set up For this session, I went clean and simple.  I started with a Savage Universal seamless in the color Egg Nogg.  This color tends to enhance skin tones and is a nice neutral base.  Then, I placed posing cubes wrapped in white paper in the center of the seamless.  I wrapped the cubes in white paper, as my cubes are dark brown and white, which was a better look for this session.   For the lights, I started by pl...

On July 27th, I had a session with the MelPool Cosplay to test my new stained glass concept.   At first, I was concerned that Roy from Fire Emblem wouldn’t fit the concept, but then I saw the images of the character appearing in Super Smash Brothers.   The Super Smash Brothers shows the character in a castle with large stained glass windows, so the concept was a good fit.      For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 rectangular soft boxes with grid 1 1x2 strip box 2 Phottix Strobe 1 Westcott FJ400 2 C-stands Platypod Sandbags Bell reflector plus grid Backdrop stand Grey backdrop 4 two-foot Aperture light bars Table Bench 4 plexiglass sheets Window wrap 8 2x4 foot insulation panels Gaff tape Aluminum foil   The set up To see how I made the stained glass window, view my ot...

On July 27th, I had a session with the lovely Natalie to test my new stained glass set design.   The set design was inspired by old church windows and chapel rooms in castles.     For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 1 rectangular soft box with grid 1 54-inch umbrella with diffusion 1 Phottix Strobe 1 Westcott FJ400 2 C-stands Sandbags Bell reflector plus grid Backdrop stand Grey backdrop 4 two-foot Aperture light bars 2 smoke genies’ Orange silicone gel Table Bench 4 plexiglass sheets Window wrap 8 2x4 foot insulation panels Gaff tape Aluminum foil 2 Candelabra Electric candles The set up First, let's discuss how I made the stained glass panels.  I covered pieces of plexiglass with stained glass printed window cling wrap.  I then gaff taped two insulation panels togethe...

On May 25, I did a conceptual photoshoot with Anastasia.   The idea behind this shoot was escaping the box you put yourself in in your mind.   I thought of the concept based on comments I have seen about people saying things like “I’m not sure if I should post these pictures of myself that I like” or “I’m scared to post because these images don’t seem go enough.”   Sometimes it is hard to escape the box in your mind but when you do it opens up new experiences.   For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 rectangular soft boxes 2 Phottix Strobes 2 C-stands Sand bags PVC pipe & fittings Plastic drop cloth Tape Flowers Sunscreen Bug spray The set up The first thing I did was find a shady spot in my backyard to set up the box.  I then assembled the box using PVC pipes and corner fittings that were painted s...