The *Official Photography Thread*

I have one of the flash benders. It's better than a lot of things-I also have a softbox which is far better.

 

Yeah, I knew it wouldn't compare to a softbox but had to be better than direct flash. Seems like it isn't too bad. Almost appears to work like bouncing off the ceiling without having to have the ceiling. I think it will work pretty good as a snoot for a hair light or accent light.

I'm still kind of undecided which softbox I want to buy. Which one do you have Ian?

 

Lastolite Easybox. Folds up and can be deployed in moments, not too heavy either.

 

Tell me more about it. You using the 24" one? I had been looking at the Westcott Apollo. I'd like one I can use with both speedlights and monolights. I was looking at a 43" Westcott Orb but I'm not liking the reviews about the build quality.

 

Speaking of new

I do not have the flashbender but this week I got a set of Rogue flash gel color filters to play and learn with. I really like them and they do seem to be of good quality.

 

That's cool! Looking forward to seeing what you do with them Mike.

I was looking at those too. Thinking of ways I could use them in the background to throw an accent color on something. I saw a shoot one time where they used a gel on a speedlight behind someone to color the wall behind them. They were standing in a entrance way. Turned out kind of neat. I also think you could use some different colors on a landscape type shop to make a building more interesting or bring attention to something.

I got one in a sample pack at my local shop a while back but haven't tried it.

 

The kit I got has the color correction filters in it, but a lot of colors for backgrounds also. With a grey background which is common in a studio I guess you can do a lot with them. I don't do studio work but wanted to play with the color correction. But right now my flash is sitting in a white bucket with the blue filter waiting for the blizzard on Tuesday to give a blue background for snowflake macros LOL. Have a ring flash for the macro lens and going to take a lot of experimenting to get it fine tuned. I did play around outside at night with it for a couple of hours, by varying exposure times and manual flash settings you can do everything from a saturation to just a hint of color. Hey it keeps me busy in the winter!

 

I suppose I could use it with an AB but I don't have the ring for it. The box is 24"^2. Which is about the right size I think.

 

Yeah a grey background is the most versatile to have. You throw a lot of light on it and it turns white. You throw a little light on it and it's grey. You don't light it and it turns black.

What ring flash do you use? There's one more lens (14-24) I want to get before I buy a dedicated macro lens (105).

 

@medic2230 I have Pentax and ended up going with the Pentax AF160FC auto macro flash. It goes down to 1/16 power in manual and in TTL offers -.5 and -1 EV. Separate power settings for the right and left banks which I have been using for a more side light effect. Picked it up used on a forum and got it for the cost of a third party one that didn't offer as many features. Looks and acts brand new and has quite a few assortment of ring adaptors. Lenses seem to be dropping in price lately and a few weeks ago got the Pentax 100mm f2.8 macro which the ring is built for. Mine is the newer Weather Resistant lens which I appreciate standing in the snow with water dripping down on me and the camera LOL.

I use the DA* 1.4x tc with it and am very pleased so far. It will work in autofocus but finding out in macro mode at closest distance better off with manual focus and rocking my body back and forth. DOF is so shallow it has me looking at macro racks and how to focus stack in photoshop, eventually. For snowflakes been using a wool scarf but am rigging a setup with glass and a more dead on angle with a blue background for next time. This was at -.5 EV with only one bank on at night.

 

That's kind of why I was leaning towards the Westcott's because of the light mounting inside the modifier you could use both without having to buy a different speedring. Problem I have with them is the reviews are so mixed with quality of the way they are built.

I like the light quality of the Cheetahstand Rice Bowl but don't really want another huge modifier right now.

 

The Westcott, I looked at but it seems more like a knockoff brand than anything. idk. A lot of stuff seems kinda cheesy at times.

 

That looks like a nice setup you have there. Out of curiosity with the 100mm lens what is your distance from subject to lens with it? The only macro I've looked at was the 60mm and you had to be pretty close to use it.

 

You are correct. I guess I'm going to have to take a trip to Atlanta to one of the big shops and see them in person. Sucks shop are far an few between now.

 

11.9 inches, which is another reason I wanted the 100mm.

 

Yeah that's a lot better. 105mm it is then. Going to need a bigger backpack here soon. Think I'm almost out of creative ways to pack stuff with this one. lol

 

Don't go liking that Mike! You're costing me more monies showing me that damn macro flash unit.

lol

On a side note I played with a 14-24 yesterday. Damn that thing is wide on the 14mm end on FF.

@Cold Iron

 

LOL glad to help Tip of the day, with the slave on full power sitting in a solid white bucket don't look at it when testing to see if the trigger worked! I can't believe I did that, hopefully my vision will be restored by morning.

 

I've done that before on accident. One of the buttons on the front of the camera is assigned to modeling flash if pressed with the flash attached. It's on the side with the camera grip (sits between the grip and the lens) and I had flipped the camera around looking at something and pressed it firing the flash in stobe mode. lol

 

@Cold Iron

I thought you might find this interesting since you're wanting to take snowflake photo's.

http://chaoticmind75.blogspot.ru/2013/08/my-technique-for-snowflakes-shooting.html