Beautiful Leica M9

There was also rumours of Nikon’s new mirrorless camera, but when the time progressed there was more and more evidence that it will have smaller sensor size and inferior video capabilities.

In august Sony presented it’s small mirrorless camera Sony NEX-5N. I knew the NEX system from before as I was using a FS100 video camera for a few months (Sony NEX-FS100 first impressions, FS100 best accessory, FS100 after three months of use).

Twins. Like Schwarzenegger and DeVito.

I specially liked the option for using various amounts of different lenses with help of adapters and 1080p 50fps slow motion. After hearing lots of positive reviews on twitter and some blogs (especially eoshd.com) I decided that I will buy one. I ordered it on Amazon (DE, UK) with 16mm f/2.8 lens and a spare battery. I wanted to have at least one AF lens that I could also use for photographing my one year old. Size of the package is also perfect for that as you can have it on you all the time.

So I preordered the camera and waited and in less than a week they send it to me.

Sony NEX-5N w/ 16mm f/2.8 lens

New camera

You can see some candid shots I did on a first photo walk with the camera the day I go it.

Catch the pigeon

Silly guy

Colored gangsters

Hurry! Move!

I hope we'll have enough tomatoes

Leek logs

Clouds prevented the sun to burn everything and let me breathe easier.

Seagulls were playing over the ferry as we traveled to the island Šolta. They were so close that I didn't have to use telephoto lens but just plain 50 mm one.

Sand lizards (Lacerta agilis) mating. They didn't mind me watching.

Cardinal (Argynnis pandora)

The Cardinal was very trustworthy.

I have never seen Carpobrotus (commonly known as Pigface or Ice plants) bloom. It is a ground-creeping plant, with succulent leaves which are mainly dried by the time I used to see them in the summer.

This time they were blooming and I seriously played with the idea to take some of them home with me.

This one kind of look like a little devil.

More Sand lizards (Lacerta agilis). Color green means it is the mating season.

Poppy (Papaver) is another plant I never saw on the islands before.

Aloe vera blooming

Even trees like this Pine tree were different.

Some of the plants were unknown to me but they were beautiful all the same.

The bees were doing their job pollinating the plants before they stop blooming.

I have seen Stick insects (Phasmatodea) in captivity but never before in the wild.

Even the lemons were not the same. This one is called Buddha's hand, Citrus medica.

Date palms (Phoenix dactylifera) were full of dates which were unfortunately not edible.

When I said full of dates I meant full of dates.

(Mytilus galloprovincialis) Mediterranean mussel

Opuntia and its pollinating friend

Its a big black bee with blue wings, latin name unknown.

Beautiful but toxic Nerium oleander

(Sicyonia carinata) Mediterranean rock shrimp almost bite my finger off.

Even ordinarily snails came out while raining.

So beautiful it doesn't need a name.

Lavender (Lavandula) attracted many bumble bees.

Large wasp with four yellow dots and orange head. It could be Scoliid wasp but who am I to tell them apart.

They said it was not poisonous. I felt better believed them.

Caring for the young ones.

Another Opuntia this time in the sunset light.

One of many terrific sunsets.

Orange, how I want you orange.

Last night presented another terrific sight. Summer thunder storm. This phenomenon is actually more frequent later in the summer.

It is true that the water wasn’t warm enough for prolonged swimming in the sea but going to the seaside before the season definitely has its advantages.

I am sorry for all the mistakes that I made naming flora and fauna. If you know the correct names please let me know so that I can correct my errors.

I took of from Ljubljana towards the region Štajerska before 7AM. Weather forecast was good for that part of Slovenia. I was a bit worried about the morning fog but was bound to lift if needed.

7:05 on Ljubljana's highway

I planned the course of the eclipse using SkySafari, iPhone app. With it I’ve seen the path of the moon crossing the sun.

SkySafari for iPhone

I was near the town of Vransko half past seven as I noticed that the nearby mountain tops were lit by the first rays of the sun. I stopped on the nearest hill over the town. The scenery was beautiful.

Panorama of town Vransko from my vantage point.

I quickly started to shoot phases of the eclipse.

Previewof the solar eclipse on Nikon D200 display.

I decided to do a time-lapse only during greatest eclipse as I didn’t have remote head on the tripod to follow the sun path. I used Nikon D200 and an analogue F90x with Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D ED and Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 APO DG Macro lenses. I had a special foil on Sigma for watching eclipses that I got before the last full eclipse in Europe August 11th 1999. Nikkor had a polarizing filter on and a Light Craft Workshop™ Fader ND filter. Combined there was enough absence of light for watching.

Special foil for watching eclipses on Cokin filter on Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 APO DG Macro lens and analogue Nikon F90x

Nikon D200, Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D ED, polarizing filter with Fader ND

The eclipse was not seen with the naked eye.

The scenery and the light during the eclipse was perfect so I took some different photos.

Hand glove didn't helped watching the eclipse.

The lack of sun rays was not visible even during greatest eclipse. Maybe you could see the moon crossing the sun it if you squint with your eyes and imagined the eclipse.

The ground was frozen and after a good hour of standing I was freezing.

After the peak of the eclipse I went home to process the images.

Processing the images using Apple Aperture.

Photos were merged into one where you can see the whole course of the eclipse.

Course of the partial solar eclipse 2011

I pieced the photos into a movie and added a music score. I am very pleased with the creative beginning of the new year.

Solar Eclipse 2011 from Peter Prevec on Vimeo.

Slovenski prevod vpisa najdete na tej strani.

Our house is on the left

Later that morning we went from St. Oswald which is near Bad Kleinkirchheim with a lift on top of Brunnach (1908m), where I did the rest of the time-lapses. Up here is also the Brunnach lake which is used a winter for snow cannons.

Brunnach panorama restaurant Nock-In at height 1908m with Brunnach artificial lake

I used Nikon D200 with MC-36 remote. For one moving shot I used Mizar Optical KD motor mount. I fixed it to the rail with Manfrotto Super Clamp. This shot is slightly shaky ’cause the wind was blowing hard.

Nikon D200, 17-55mm f/2.8 lens, Mizar KD Mount, Nikon MC-36 remote and Manfrotto Super Clamp

12V lead battery and mount remote were placed on the bench next to the backpack

I did the rainbow shot late that evening again from the balcony. I forgot to turned of autofocus so there is some focus searching in the shot.

I used Aperture to process the RAW files, exported them in HD resolution and merged them to movie files in QuickTime. I edited them in Final Cut Pro and color corrected in Color. The music was put together in Soundtrack using ambient loops and bird sounds. I had to remove flicker from the 270º shot. For that I used FurnaceCore (DeFlicker) from the Foundry.

I hope you will enjoy watching the movie.

A day in Bad Kleinkirchheim from Peter Prevec on Vimeo.

I decided to use Vimeo this time because I don’t like the legality politic on YouTube. They turned of on of my videos, television clip that had more than 85% of my own footage. The rest were their TV show presenters. But more on that on some other occasion.

Slovenski prevod vpisa si lahko ogledate na tem naslovu.

First batch of cameras (bottom right is Canon 550D with 50mm f/1.4, that I got from Foto Format) - iPhone (edited with Pro HDR, CrossProcess)

I knew that there will be to little time during the weekend so I went location scouting in the afternoon. I still had an idea about a poppy filed so I followed directions from my friend Nataša to the nearby field. There were a lot of poppies but the surroundings were horrid. Small village on one end and billboards on the other. This was clashing with my idea of a lost lonely girl in the nature.

Poppy field I (©2010 Peter Prevec)

Poppy field II (©2010 Peter Prevec)

I gave up the poppy filed idea and went to Slovenian Istra. I took the highway to Koper and over the hill to Dragonja. It was raining for the whole time and I wasn’t hoping for nicer weather. First photos were made under umbrella.

Istrian wines (©2010 Peter Prevec)

I mainly used Nikon D3s body with the new 24mm f/1.4 lens, which quickly became my favourite lens and only thing that is stopping me from buying it is high price (€2.000). It is everything it promises: sharp, fast, sensitive and wide.

Even old Megane looks like a hot rod with the new 24mm f/1.4. (©2010 Peter Prevec)

There was lots of interesting locations on the way, but they were to far apart and we would use too much time between them so I decided to go to small deserted village called Abitanti near Croatia border. On the way the sun came from under the clouds so I stopped a few times to take pictures.

Sun between clouds and earth. - iPhone (edited with Pro HDR, CrossProcess)

Self portrait - iPhone (edited with Pro HDR, CrossProcess)

I stopped by the road, step out, take picture and drive on. The light was phenomenal. (©2010 Peter Prevec)

Sunset after the rain. (©2010 Peter Prevec)

It was after 9 PM when I arrived to the Abitanti village so I quickly set up the cameras to do some time lapse photography. You may think I was too late and the darkness to thick, but the light sensitive Nikons were performing great in night photography with the fast lenses I had.

Nikon D300, AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, ISO 400, f/2.8, exposure 8s, time 21:52 (©2010 Peter Prevec)

Nikon D3s, AF-S NIKKOR 24mm f/1.4G ED, ISO 800, f/1.4, exposure 2s, time 21:55 (©2010 Peter Prevec)

This is actually a night photo. The bright thing on the sky is not sun but moon. You can see some stars on the left side of the image. Nikon D3s, AF-S NIKKOR 24mm f/1.4G ED, ISO 400, f/1.4, exposure 1.6s, time 23:17 (©2010 Peter Prevec)

I hope I will finally write more about the shoot itself in the following days and even post some video clips.

Slovenski prevod vpisa najdete na tem naslovu.

I planned to get Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, 5D Mark II, 7D, 550D and Nikon D3s, D300s. I need also 50mm f/1.4 for every camera to test them all with the same lenses but I am still one short for Canon, so if you know someone that can lend me one please let me know, or else I will use f/1.8 for one body.

My friend Maja will be my model for the test and we went to do some preliminary photography tests searching for poppy fields in Slovenia. I heard there are poppy fileds at Mengeš fields, but the poppies were scarce. We finally find them hiding in a wheat field and we did the first shooting.

Lovely Maja in the poppy field (©2010 Peter Prevec)

I used Nikon SB-800 through umbrella for the lighting (©2010 Peter Prevec)

We stopped searching for the poppy fields (but if you know for one in or near Slovenia let me know) and went to Dolenjska region and did some shots in the wheat fields.

Hiding in wheat (©2010 Peter Prevec)

Caressing the soft wheat (©2010 Peter Prevec)

Another lighting setup (©2010 Peter Prevec)

I”ll go and search for more locations this afternoon to prepare myself and than when the weekend comes… action.

Slovenski prevod vpisa najdete na tem naslovu.

Factory

Sign on the ruins (Store)

Flower shop at the cemetery

Sand separation

Garden decoration

Trash was lying all over the banks of river Bosna (photographed on Earth Day)

Industry

We might get one for the office on the way back

Suburbia life - wood, football, smoke

Chimney

Night tram

All photos were taken from the car with Nikon D200.

Slovenski prevod vpisa najdete na tem naslovu.

Joe McNally

I noticed his way of lighting the subject years back, when I wanted to learn about Nikons new Creative Light System (CLS). That is how I got to his DVD he made for Nikon - Speed of Light. There I first saw that you don’t need big studio flashes for serious photography. I was so impressed that I bought three SB-800 flashes. I added commander SU-800 and SC-29 cord later on and this is beside diffusers, stands, reflectors and various holders the only equipment that you need for professional pictures you find on his portfolio site.

The lecture started at 3pm and ended at 8pm. In this time we tried a few different situations and he showed us how to adjust the system to your needs. The main feature of CLS system is wireless setup and firing of the three flash groups. You normally divide them like this: A – foreground, B – middleground and C – background. You use flash SB-800 or SB-900 only as commander on the camera or you can use special commander SU-800. Joe uses TTL metering for the flash power setup. You start with one group. You over- or underexpose it for desired value and than add flashes in more groups if you need. The camera is always tethered to the computer so he can se the images on the big screen and adjust accordingly. You can see a few setups on the pictures below.

Joe McNally thinks about how to photograph belly dancer Taisha

EzyBox was used here to soften the light on Taisha and five meter long python

He aslo showed us how to use Auto-FP High Speed with shutter times faster than 1/250s

White table cloth was hanged over the door with flash behind it which was triggered with SU-800 using two SC-29 cords. Light comming through the cloth was soft and pleasing to the eye

This was the result of the setup above, soft light wrapping around the two young faces

The lecture was not that much different as those on the Kelby Training site but it was fun and interesting to see the master of light himself in person.

Slovenski prevod vpisa najdete na tej strani.

Shooting with less than 30 fps was the most wanted function since they introduced the camera and the wanting became even stronger as the introduced other models of camera bodies (1D Mark IV, 7D, 550D) that had this function. The loudest proponent for 24p and 25p was definitely Stu Maschwitz on its blog ProLost. There was a lot of blog posts this morning about the upgrade and there is an explosion of cats and dogs test videos on Vimeo recorded with the new firmware. Philip Blooms blog has some more serious movies as he had the firmware in his hands for quite some weeks.

What does this upgrade changes for me? Nothing directly or better, nothing at the moment. It is true that I am preparing for the large test of different DSLR cameras. I planned to record with Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 7D, Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon D550, Nikon D3s, Nikon D300s, Nikon D90 and Panasonic G1 at the same time and have made a special rig that has the option of holding five camera bodies at the same time.

First package

I got the idea watching studio photography tutorials – I think it was Joe McNally, where I saw a rig that enables you to have laptop next to the camera on a tripod so that you can do tethered shooting and see the images at the same moment on the laptop.

Tethered camera and laptop setup

The base for the system is Manfrotto 131DDB Horizontal 4 Head Accessory Arm and Manfrotto 183 Aluminium Table Attachment. The arm has two screws at the ends which I also used in combination with Manfrotto 553 Angle Bracket for Lever Center Column and so I got the option for attaching four heads (if you remove the laptop table of course). I hoped that I could then attach Manfrotto Quick Change Rect. Plate Adaptor directly on the 3/8” screws but it couldn’t be done.

Quick Change Rect. Plates

So I bought some Manfrotto 494 Ball Head with Friction Control which attached to the Arm together with quick change plates. I gained place for another body with Manfrotto Super Clamp MN035, Manfrotto 208 3/8-inch Mounting Plate For Super Clamp and another quick plate.

There is room for five bodies

Now I have a rig that can hold five camera bodies, but there are eight cameras that I want to test. I probably won’t be able to get them at the same time. Canon 1D and 5D I intend to borrow from Samo Vidic, but he is very busy at the moment so I will probably get his cameras not before middle of april, my father has a 7D, I will borrow Nikon D3s and D300s from Nikon Slovenia, D90 from my friend Matjaž, Panasonic G1 from Jure, who doesn’t know anything about it at the moment and 550D from camera store Foto Format. I would like to test all of them with 50mm f/1.4 lens which represents anther problem, as I need four Canon ones, three Nikon and one micro four thirds one.

Rig is attached to the Manfrotto 525 sticks with 501HDV head

While I was writing this post I found out that I can add another body to the rig with some spare Manfrotto parts. Now I have place for six bodies. I also checked with F90x and D200, so there is enough space between heads for the bodies.

Why did I continue this post about firmware update with the rig. I wanted to record everything in 25 fps, so I waited for Canon to release the firmware. I have no excuse any more. I only need to organise to have all equipment together for a weekend. I probably have some time until then and I can focus on the story of the test movie so it won’t be another pet video or video about local scenery.

Slovenski prevod vpisa najdete na tej strani.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II has the least noise so far, but I also didn’t do much color correction then. I wanted to see the settings I used then because Canon writes on the card besides the video file small thumbnail which is actually a .jpeg file with EXIF info. But unfortunately there is no info about ISO setting or white balance, but at least I found out about which lenses and apertures I used. It would be nice to have the same information with Nikon video mode.

Unprocessed frames from the clips look like this (click on the image if you want to see it at full resolution).

Canon EOS-5D Mark II, ISO and exposure automatic, 50mm lens, which is strange as I only had EF85mm f/1.8 USM, EF16-35mm f/2.8L USM and EF15mm f/2.8 Fisheye

Nikon D3s, 24-70mm f/2.8, shutter 1/50s, WB 2500 K

Canon-EOS-1D-Mark-IV, 24-70mm f/2.8 at 46mm, f/2.8, ISO 6400, shutter 1/50s, WB 2500 K.

Definitely DSLRs need a few functions from the real video cameras (like peaking for easier focusing and histogram for preciser exposure) so they would fell more user friendly.

Streets at Night series is getting bigger. I hope to get other cameras from Canon and Nikon soon to expand the test. Maybe even try Panasonic GH1.

Streets at Night III – Canon EOS-1D Mark IV from Peter Prevec on Vimeo.

Streets at Night II – Nikon D3s from Peter Prevec on Vimeo.

Streets at Night – Canon EOS 5D Mark II from Peter Prevec on Vimeo.

You can read more about first two videos here:

Streets at Night I – Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Streets at Night II – Nikon D3s

Slovenski prevod vpisa najdete na tej strani.

Nikon D3s, 14-24mm f/2.8, 24-70 f/2.8, 80-200mm f/2.8

As I came home in the evening I took the camera and a tripod and went out on the streets to do some filming in the available street light. I decided that I will do exactly the same movie as I did a year ago. She same shots, edit, music… And so I went out armed with six images representing the frames. At the end I was caught by the snow, so I had to end quickly even though the camera is weather proof.

Nikon D3s is a full frame camera in a large body with incorporated vertical grip, which bothered me a bit as I am not used to the size of it. Menus are the same as with other Nikon bodies. Manual exposure is, even though there are lots of wrong info on the internets, easily set. You just set the camera to M – manual (M, A, S, P), press the Lv (Live View) button, press the Ok button to show the actual image and you are there. You set the aperture with front wheel, shutter with back wheel, and ISO combining ISO button and back wheel. Easy as riding a bicycle. I comparison to 5D when I got it a year ago. A big battery holds its charge forever (especially if you have two) and the video file sizes were reasonable. 500MB for 3 minute clip which means that I could record around 48 minutes on 8GB CF card (and you can put two inside) in 5 minutes segments as that is the maximum length of the clip which wasn’t problematic for me.

First problems appeared at editing. The camera records video in avi format in Motion JPEG codec. I imported the footage in Final Cut Pro and wanted to set the timeline automatically (as is the option since 6.0 on) but avi didn’t trigger the automatic setup. Then I wanted to use the method I used editing Canon footage. Rough edit, send footage to Color for color correction and then after recompress to ProRes a fine edit. But that didn’t work either. Color does not support avi files!

What now? Obviously I needed to convert the footage before Final Cut Pro import. And so I used freeapplication MPEG Streamclip to convert everything in mov files which my Mac (MacBook Pro 2.93 GHz) did in real time. When everything was in ProRes (LT) the editing was quick because I already had a previous edit. I tracked the title to height limit markers in Shake.

Color correction in Color was simpler, because ProRes is more suitable to manipulate than Canon’s h.264. The footage had more grain but I partly blame resolution for that. Canon records in 1080p and as I downressed  the clip to 720p for online viewing the grain was a little less noticable. Nikon only records in 720p.

There are still benefits shooting DSLR. Lower depth of field, the quality of the lenses, high light sensitivity, small size of the gadget, but I think that these are still just photo cameras with video mode and there need to be a lot of progression to make recording more useable.

Streets at Night II – Nikon D3s from Peter Prevec on Vimeo.

Streets at Night – Canon EOS 5D Mark II from Peter Prevec on Vimeo.

P.s.: If you want to know more about the camera or movie please comment below.

P.p.s.: If you notice something strange in the movie let me know.

P.p.p.s.: I will write about combining the cameras with the Red Bull event in a later episode.

Slovenski prevod vpisa najdete tukaj.

Planet Prešeren's square

I started on Sunday (Dec 12). I placed the tripod with Nikon D200 a little before 4pm and set a timer to do a photo every 10 seconds. Than I waited until darkness fell around 5pm. This first sequence showed me that they turned on the lights every day at 4:15pm. Later I found out that when the weather is clear the lights turn on 20 minutes later and so I had to freeze longer the first time this happened.

360º panorama of Three bridges

After a week I started to use motor mount for horizontal panning. The head was struggling with the cold and some pans are not as smooth as I wanted. I shortened the time between photos from 5-6 to 2-3 to make slower and smoother pan. And so in nine days in spite of low temperatures and snow I got twelve sequences that ended in the final edit.

River Ljubljanica

How did I get to the movie files? I imported the images in Aperture, did a colour correction and exported them in full resolution. In shake I stabilised the footage where needed and did a white balance through time (images started in the daylight and ended in tungsten light) and did a 16:9 crop. I edited them in Final Cut Pro and did a music score in Soundtrack. If you want to know more about the process comment below and I’ll try to explain some more.

Looking the opposite direction

At the end let me wish you happy holidays and enjoy the movie Hectic Holidays!

Hectic Holidays from Peter Prevec on Vimeo.

If you liked the story, please consider helping me maintain this blog by purchasing your gear through my product links on the right. It will cost you nothing but will allow me to continue writing. Thank you!

Slovenski prevod vpisa najdete tukaj.

Improvised studio in the living room above couch and in the bed room above the bed.

There is a 1000W Photoflex light with softbox on a Manfrotto stand in the studio.

First customer in the studio.

Client was so impressed with the picture, that he ordered another one.

Now you know, that there is a improvised studio in Rose Valley (Ljubljana, Slovenia), where you can get pictures for the fireplace. If you would like whole figure photos, please let me know in advance so I can move the bed. See you there.

* Everybody who knows my apartment knows that I only have two rooms. One big and one a little less big.

Slovenski prevod vpisa najdete na tej povezavi.

I decided that I wouldn’t take much with me. Only computer and camera but I didn’t want to complicate with the selection on lenses. For a long time I mainly shoot with Nikon D200 with AF NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4D on, because it is a very fast lens, it is small and light and taking pictures with prime lenses makes you think harder in the process. But this lens on a 1.5x crop factor body (DX format) acts like a 75mm lens and that is good for portraits but not so much for all around photography. That is why I was pleased when Nikon introduced a new wider prime lens this march (2009). Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G. The price at Foto Beseničarju (209,00 €) was the same as anywhere else in Europe, which surprised me. So traveling light was my excuse to buy myself this new lens at the day of my departure.

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G prime lens is a great companion for my Nikon D200 body. It seems as they were made for each other.

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G on a Nikon d200 body

The lens is made of plastic (that is why it weights only 200g) and is made in China, but after one day of use I can say that I’m very pleased with it. I will write about its pluses and minuses later on when I spend more time with it and test it thoroughly.

Triangle - the first serious photo with this lens. On it is a fountain in front of Croatian National Bank in Zagreb (©2009 Peter Prevec)

More on the workshop follows as it ends and I collect all my thoughts. I will only say at this moment that I’ve learned a lot and heard quite some stories even on the first day.

Poljubi me, miss! - invitation photo

You can find more about making of this photo in the post  Kiss me, miss! – invitation.

That is how they used the photo for the invitation.

Stars in Tjašas eyes

We knew that we will have a quick session, because we already knew what we wanted. Stars in the eyes and black background. I set the lights, made few adjustments and we quickly got the result we wanted. Finally we made few shots with white background.

Equipment – lights: “Stars in the Eyes” light – 750W (key light), PAR 36 pinspot – 6V 30W (back light), bare bulb 200W (directly behind Tjaša); camera: Nikon D200, 50mm f/1.4D AF Nikkor and Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D; background: Photoflex LitePanel.

Spaceship landing

Light setup

Bulb fixture connections... if anybody is wondering

Naïve victim inside the pentagon

Last corrections

We then went through the photos and picked the best. All I need to do after that was color correction.

I will present final result later. I can only tell you that the publisher was so impressed with the photos that hedecided to publish the photo full page inside the book and ordered another for the cover. Magic stars.

First stars in Špela's eyes

Tiny stars in the eyes

The only serious photographic equipment that I had back then was a camera Nikon F90x so I also had to make a stand for the light which reminded me of gallows. I looked something like that.

Light and stand scheme.

The light was very impractical to carry around and preparation for the stand could take forever. Not the most user friendly light. I carried it with me for a long time but not the stand. I got rid of it soon and after some years of not using the light I throw it away too.

When Tjaša asked me to make a portrait of her for her book Poljubi me, miss! (Kiss me, miss!) we decided that the photograph must be something special. I quickly remembered the stars in the eyes and she agreed. I had to make another light. I had version 2.0 in my head for long lime, but there was no time for the upgrade because we did not have much time. So I made almost the same light, slightly bigger and without the big stand cause I bought myself some real stands in between.

The materials cost 33€ and I had bulbs from before (Metalka, 3.840 SIT, 10.9.2003). I build the light over the weekend. I had no problems with the frame. But sadly I bought inappropriate material for it. It had sharp edges, it was too soft and too heavy. I fixed the light sockets. The most tiresome process was connecting the sockets. I connected them paralleled.

Material before the build. Two sides are already cut and screwed together.

The process of connecting the bulbs.

I used reflector bulbs.

I used reflector bulbs so I didn’t have any light spill on the lens. Combined power of the light is 750W. I wanted to use energy saver bulbs with cooler color temperature but they are hard to find and expensive. Maybe for the 2.0 version. I have the plans already. I just need a few parts and I can start building it.

The light preformed beautifully for the portrait of Tjaša Kokalj. The reflection in the eyes was better then with the first version. Stars were bigger.

During this week I will post photos from the shoot so you can see how to use the light.

White rose splattered with blood on the floor of Hotel Bellevue.

The book is a crime story, so we decided to take a gloomy photo. White rose splattered in blood in the middle of some old decaying hotel.

Lowest angle possible.

The session went on pretty fast. We have already picked the room. We wanted the lowest angle possible so I put my Nikon D200 with Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D on the floor.

When we found the position of the camera and the rose, we splattered it with diluted red nail polish to make it look like it was splattered in blood. We pour the rest of the nail polish under the flower for the pool of blood. Tjaša hold the round reflector for fill light.

Miss Universe assisting the photographer.

Contrast ratio between inside and outside was pretty high, but I did not want to have no details in the windows (whites), so I made a series of bracketed exposures separated by 1EV (exposure value). Then I made a HDRI (high dynamic range image) and while converting it back to 8-bit image retained details in the highlights. (You don’t know how much easier is to write technical stuff in english than in my native Slovenian language and wrestle with translation of the technical terms.)

As always I will post final image later when we will send the invitations so I don’t spoil the surprise.

Photo session sequence (© 2008 Peter Prevec)

Slovenski prevod vpisa najdete na tej povezavi.

That is why I was very pleased when Tjaša asked me to take her pictures, because she wants to have her photo on her greeting card the same as last year (just the photo would be better).

Improvised studio

She came to my improvised studio. Background in the corner of my living room, sofa, tripod with camera were almost in the other room next to the laundry machine. I really don’t have enough place for a serious studio.

Photo session diagram

The camera was tethered to computer so we could see how we are doing. We took altogether 14 photos.

As soon as the greeting card will be finished I will post the sequence of photos, but until then just a few photos from the shoot.

Squished between doors.

We looked at photos in Aperture on MacBook

Equipment:

Nikon D200, Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 D, Manfrotto 055PROB (tripod), 329 RC4 (tripod head), 2x flash SB-800, Photoflex 1000W softbox, Litepanel 2x1m (gold), Litepanel 2x2m (gold, black), MacBook, Apple Aperture and probably more…

Slovenski prevod vpisa najdete na tej povezavi.

Subaru Impreza

Paper dumpster