The *Official Photography Thread*

in my computer... sorry bro... haha

 

Haha

 

Bit of a photo dump for me. My Mom and lil Bro came to St louis and we went to the Arch. Was fun.

Some of my favs, more in the album.

Gateway Arch by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Gateway Arch by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Gateway Arch by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Gateway Arch by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Gateway Arch by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Gateway Arch by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Gateway Arch by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

Then went to the Botanical Gardens

Botanical Garden by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Botanical Garden by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Botanical Garden by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Botanical Garden by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Botanical Garden by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

Thanks man. Was fun to get to shoot.

We went to the Zoo too and for some reason unknown to man kind...i left my camera in the freaking truck...i still don't know how i did that..


lucky for me, its free so i'll go back in the fall. Lots of cool shit there. Really made me want a macro and wide angle again though..

Too many hobbies..haha

 

Two more from the garden. This is blown glass from a local guy. Was all over the gardens. VERY cool i thought.

Botanical Garden by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Botanical Garden by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

did the arches i posted on the last page too.

 

Where are you heading to from there?

 

Incredible shots Blackdawg!!

 

Some shots from the 2014 Lone Star Toyota Jamboree

My FJ getting some hang time




Playing in the rock garden- this guy and I were the only IFS to make the whole run this year



Some RC fun



Older Pick-up crawling up Twister



Traveling fast



Happy dog



Good day wheeling



7 1/2 lbs of bacon

 

Lone Star looks like a great event!

 

We had over 300 in attendance with 200 rigs. Really a great year ith the weather being perfect. Cool at night and in the 80's during the day. Couldn't ask for better. Only bad part was the red clay dust, which was everywhere due to being dry, wreaked havoc on my picture taking.

 

Great shots, and sick ass fj.

 

Thanks man!

You too! Great photos. Looks fun and awesome fj.

 

We are heading down to Hollister Hills for the Molina Ghost Run tomorrow. We'll see how the dust is-it might rain tonight. Otherwise, it'll be pretty dusty.

 

Thanks- had plans for the Taco but the wife vetoed… lol

Im getting there with the photography. As for the FJ- the next step is whether or not to go solid axle up front. Ive covered just about any trail a heavy worked SA rig can do and then some but there is always that next mod...

Its a killer. Fortunately I was spared any on the sensors. I have those uber expensive Q-tips for sensor cleaning and with the eclipse solution- did a great job.

 

Stupid question for those who shoot in studio

I purchased an Alien Bees ABR800 ring flash with the 56" moon unit. I have it working and was shooting my wife in manual but had a difficult time getting the exposure right. Ended up shooting in aperture priority with the exposure dial back -2/3 with the flash set at the lowest setting. I have a diffuser on the ring as well. Not sure if I need a light meter to get this right otherwise I just keep adjusting and clicking till desired affect is found.

Here is a few shots (these were practice and the backdrop will get ironed)

Shot with 1D MkIV, FL adapted 55m f/1.2 (manual focus/ exposure)



Or should I be happy with these and just keep playing around?

 

I would just keep playing around. That last shot has a great balance between subject exposure and background exposure and I really dig that b/w one. I personally don't have that ring flash but a co-worker has it and loves it. uses it for many shoots. Were you using other fill or just the ring flash?

 

I had two cheap fill lights (ala eBay) with white umbrellas to at least give the sensor something to figure out otherwise it was over exposing each shot. Im still fumbling around with flash studio work. I mainly just shoot outdoors with natural light so this is very new to me.

Most of the shots were at f/2.0 and shot with live view since its very difficult to focus these older lenses without the center prism dot

 

I'm not expert with studio lighting as I'm also still learning. Experimentation is key as 90% of what I know about studio lighting I learned by trial and error. One thing I learned though is those cheap fill lights (CFL's I take it?) are not nearly powerful enough for serious shooting. I bought a cheap set on Amazon and after trying to make it work for me for countless shoots I ended up just setting them aside. I'm still mostly only working with one mono light for my key and some speedlites for fill...and even still it's not enough (probably the cheap speedlites). Sometimes, if it's feasable, I'll use as much natural light as I can for fill, then just use a mono for key and a reflector to help with tricky shadows. but even then, I have a problem balancing the key and the fills. A lot of times when i'm just shooting on solid color muslin like that I just expose for my subject and photoshop the hell out of my backgrounds. lol

Just keep playing with it and experimenting. If your pics were posted chronologically through the shoot then it looks as though you were heading in the right direction.

 

The CFL's aren't going to give you enough light. I'm guessing you probably have your ISO jacked up to get your shutter speed up too. If you're using the ab800 you should be higher than f/2. Remember your flash is controlled by your aperture and ambient (background) is controlled by shutter speed. The closer to your top sync speed the darker the background. The higher your F stop the darker your subject the light is pointed at.

Don't forget also that CFL's are also ambient light not flash.