The Munchkin's Notebook

On October 19 th I drove down to Richmond, VA to attend a Central VA Cosplay Photoshoot meetup on October 20 th at Belle Island.   I wanted to go to this event because it was in an interesting location, and I wanted to meet some new cosplayers.   For this session I used: Canon R6 2 Speed light Trigger 1 Light stands 24 - 105mm lens Gels Camera Settings: For this shoot, I was transitioning back and forth between being inside an old, dark, abandoned building to bright, sunny woods.  Due to the transitions, my settings varied greatly.  I mostly shot at ISO 100 except for when I accidently bumped the nob to “Auto” and didn’t notice, so I also took shots at ISO 2500, 3200, 4000, and 6400.  The shots at the high ISO actually look fairly decent, and not as grainy as one would expect.  My shutter varied between 1/100s to 1/250s with the most common shutter speed being 1/250s.  My aperture varied between F5 to F11 with the most common ap...

  On October 12th, I did a fall themed session with EJ.   For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix Strobe 1 Westcott FJ400 1 rectangular softbox 1 60-inch umbrella with sock 1 strip box 2 C-stands 1 light stand Sandbags Canvas backdrop Backdrop stand Spyder Color Checker Card A-clamps Orange gel 2 posing cubes Pumpkins Chair Fall leaves Crate   The set up For this setup, I started by placing the two posing cubes in the center of the backdrop and then surrounding them with pumpkins and leaves.  I then placed the strip box next to the backdrop stand on my right, which was going to add some light to the backdrop and some rim lighting to the model.  I then placed my main light diagonal to my rim light on my left-hand side.  Finally, I placed the umbrella with a sock slight...

On October 12th, I had the pleasure of working with the marvelous SunnyRae .   The general theme for the shoot was pumpkins but with coordination on outfits with SunnyRae theme evolved into official portraits of an 18 th century Pumpkin Baron. For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix Strobe 1 Westcott Strobe 1 rectangular soft box 1 strip box 1 6x6 silver reflector 2 C-stands 1 light stand Boom arm Color checker clamps Sandbags Backdrop stand Rough canvas backdrop Pumpkins Rough canvas drop cloth Flowers Old trunk Books Letters Wooden crate Fake leaves Chair Tri-level plant stand     The set up I wanted to keep this set up a bit rustic yet give the feel of staged aristocratic painting of the time.  I started with a plain rough canvas backdrop then placed an ol...

On September 28th, I did a session with May.   This session’s theme was designed around a Halloween headpiece I made a couple of years ago but never got to shoot.   The vibe of the overall shoot was dark queen. For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix Strobe 2 rectangular soft boxes grids 2 C-stands Sandbags Backdrop stand Fuzzy grey backdrop Spyder Color Checker Card A-clamps 2 trilevel plant stands Fake candles Goblets Fake flowers Black fabric Silver fabric Large Styrofoam block Dowel Rods Skulls Fake moss Dry ice   The set up I tried to keep this setup simple in nature.  I started with the base of a fuzzy grey backdrop to which I added a “throne” made from a large Styrofoam block, some dowel rods, and a piece of black fabric.  To that I added two flower pot hol...

On October 5 th , I attended the D.C. Cosplay Photo Shoots ’ special subscriber meet-up held at 3MI Studios in West Virginia.  The studio was a decent size with several different sets, from a cyclorama wall, a rain room (everyone’s favorite), a barn set, decorative walls, and bedroom sets.  It was a good size for the number of people that attended, and we didn’t encroach on each other while shooting. For this session I used: Canon R6 2 Speed light Trigger 1 Light stands 24 - 105mm lens Gels Onsight RGB panels (mostly for rain room) Camera Settings: Because the location is a professional studio with sets and some continuous lights, my settings varied depending on the set and the light setup.  For everything except the rain room set images, my ISO was at ISO100.  For the rain room images, I bumped my ISO up to ISO 1250 because that set uses continuous LED lights, and I wanted brighter images and to be able to stop the raindrops.  My most co...

On September 15 th , I did a double session with the lovely Natalie of Archaic Costumes and Designs .  We started with a Persephone, then switched to the Fleur de Lis Tudor gown.  I’m now going to talk about the Fleur de Lis Tudor gown session. For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix Strobe 2 FJ400 Strobe 2 rectangular soft boxes grids 2 1x3 strip boxes 2 C-stands 2 light stands Sandbags Backdrop stand Hand painted grey canvas background Spyder Color Checker Card 2 trilevel plant stands Fake candles Fake fruit (pomegranates, apples, figs, pears, grapes) Goblets Fake flowers Black fabric   The set up I changed over from the Persephone set to the Tudor set while the model was changing, so it was a quick flip.  For the Tudor gown set, I removed the peacock chair since the model ...

On September 15 th , I did a double session with the lovely Natalie of Archaic Costumes and Designs .   We started with a Persephone theme for her lovely pomegranate dress then I flipped the set to match her Tudor gown.   I’m going to talk about the pomegranate dress session first. For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix Strobe 2 FJ400 Strobe 1 rectangular soft box 1 bell reflector with 50-degree grid 2 1x3 strip boxes 2 C-stands 2 light stands Sandbags Backdrop stand Grey fuzzy backdrop Spyder Color Checker Card Purple gels   Peacock chair 2 trilevel plant stands Fake candles Fake fruit (pomegranates, apples, figs, pears, grapes) Goblets Fake flowers Skull Black fabric Green fabric   The set up The inspiration for this set was the pomegranate dress and Chrissa...