My Gear - What's in the Bags? (Part 1)

It looks like David has read my mind on this issue.

Yesterday I was preparing the article and gladly noticed on Strobist that David has mentioned the subject again.

He had already mentioned it in 2006 as part of the Lighting 101 - Traveling Light, if you have not read the article yet, what are you waiting for?

This will be a 2 Part article. I will approach on this one about detail view and photos of my gear and try to give you some European links where you can buy, at least, some of the stuff.

On part 2 it's more like a "What you wanted to know but you were afraid to ask" this will reply to what some of you have asked me in some of the mails received. I think this will be a great feature since I haven't seen it, yet, in any place.

This will be a follow through with LOTS of pictures and in the end you can see how easy it was to compile all the pictures since the setup gear was not too complicated.

As I'm used to make some Setup shot I will put them, also here, so you can get an idea of how a simple setup can get you some great pictures.

Starting with the picture of all the gear.



This usually is not all the gear I carry with me when doing a small portrait session but I tend to use it more often than I would like.

All my photo gear is packed on the green bag which is an Orion AW and the lighting and accessories stuff goes into the big one Photo Treker AW. I also use for my photojournalism stuff a vest called Now Bomb from a Brazilian guy called Jorge Araujo and it simply rocks. I did not took any pictures of it but you can see and order it at his website (only in Portuguese, unfortunately).



Here is the shot of all the gear out of the bags. If you click on the photo you will be redirect to my flickr page and there you can see each one of the items tagged with it's name.

For now I just leave you with a list of what's in each bag.

On the Orion AW I carry:

- Canon 1D MarkIIN, 16-35 USM L, 24-70 USM L; 70-200 USM IS L, 580EX, Stofen, Giotto Rocket Air Blower, Extra Camera Battery, Small wallet with CF and SD cards, 2 Rodenstock Polarizer filters, Whibal cards, Pen, Some white paper to write, Some business cards, 2 packs of extra AA batteries, Cleaning cloth, 2 flash gobos, Canon remote switch RS-80n3, 1 Rosco Cinegel Roscosun CTO and 1 Rosco Cinegel Tough PlusGreen gels, 1 Gadget Infinity Trigger and 1 Remote.

On the Photo Trekker AW (now Lowepro have a better one its version II that I linked):

- 1 Westcott 43" collapsible optical white satin umbrella (Style 2001), 1 Westcott 43" collapsible optical Soft Silver umbrella (Style 2002), 2 Manfrotto 001B stands, 2 Manfrotto umbrella stand adapter w/hot-shoe mount (026), 2 Manfrotto superclamp (035), 2 Pocket wizards II and one Transmitter, 1 Gadget Infinity transmitter and 3 Receivers, 2 Kaiser Hot-Shoe adapters and 1 PW-MHSF1 miniphone to Hot-Shoe female (for my canon since it does not have PC-Sync socket), 2 small Hama tripods, 2 Rosco Cinegel Roscosun CTO and 2 Rosco Cinegel Tough PlusGreen gels, 4 gobos, 1 Meglite flashlight, 1 AA battery checker, 4 snoots of different sizes (15cm, 20cm, 30cm, 40cm), 1 Plier, 4 Manfrotto Adapter Spigot (013) Universal 16 mm spigot with double male thread 1/4” and 3/8”, 1 Swiss Army knife, 2 Nikon SB-26, 2 Black Straws Grid Snoots (5cm, 8cm), a lot of AA batteries (as much as I can carry), 1 pack of Lee filters gels, 2 DIY filters adapters, 2 Nikon SD-8 battery packs, 1 Canon CP-E3 battery pack, 1 Uniross sprint quick battery charger with car adapter, 12 small clamps, 5 Velcro adjustable ties, 1 Canon battery charger NC-E2, 1 Lowepro 1N small pouch (to put all the Gadget Infinity inside and carry it all around on waist belt later) and 1 ultrafast 80Gb CompactDrive PD70X (to storage all media, if necessary).

UFF!!! I think it's all the stuff in here... maybe there are a couple of small things that I forgot to put on the photo, like the Meglight flash light and the AA battery checker, but as you know, there's always something at last minute that you ad to the stuff and afterwards you don't even need it. :) and if I travel by plane some of the stuff must rest at home because it could not be carried into the plane as you all know.

Now let's look at the items in detail and I will try to get you some place to start looking for them.



Here is the setup shot I did for all the following shots.

Strobist info Tv 160, flash is 220Ex does not have manual control so it has to be the shutter who controls the amount of light Av may vary on each situation but will go from 6.3 to the maximum of 8.0 and on part 2 you will see why. The flash was on an old microphone stand and sent into a white wall to reflect on the objects that I will put on a wooden chair ;)... hey I didn't even remove the vacuum cleaner from there!!




First I will start with camera and lenses and flashes. I think those would not need any presentation since almost anyone has one or at least a camera and a lens and a flash.

In order are Canon 1D MarkIIn, 16-35 USM L, 24-70 USM L; 70-200 USM IS L, 580EX and 2 Nikon SB-26 (for these you can start looking on ebay).



Here you can see the 2 Nikon SD-8 battery packs and on top the Canon CP-E3 battery pack. They are almost identical and they will store 6 AA batteries on the Nikon and the Canon 8 AA Batteries.



I carry with me the Pocket Wizard as backup units since they are much more reliable than the Gadget Infinities and you'll never know when you're gonna need them. I have only :( one transmitter and 2 PW II (Transmitter/Receiver).



To keep this with juice I carry a lot of batteries AA now I'm using the GP 2700 they are good and can perform with a continuous shooting for some time.



This is my main kit for now. It's easy to setup and would not request too much cables around. You just simply attach them to the flash and camera and start shooting. A couple of misfiring but nothing we can't live with, also they are a little fragile (so that's why I keep with me the PW). I got a small pouch (Lowepro 1N) to put them all inside and can also put it on my waist belt if needed.



This are the hot-shoe mounts, 2 Kaiser Hot-Shoe adapters and 1 PW-MHSF1 miniphone to Hot-Shoe female (for my canon since it does not have PC-Sync socket) when I need to use the Pocket Wizards (more of these on part 2).



Since I received the Lee filters sample pack and made the DIY adapter for them they are now my companion since I can use all the colors I need for an assignment and not to worry about gluing them or Velcro them out as in my first diagram.



Here they are my first build upon Strobist Lighting 101, Rosco Cinegel Roscosun CTO and Rosco Cinegel Tough PlusGreen gels I bought a roll of Rosco paper from each color at the time, no Lee to save me then ;)



Next moving into the stands... this is the Manfrotto umbrella stand adapter w/hot-shoe mount (026) and Manfrotto Adapter Spigot (013) Universal 16 mm spigot with double male thread 1/4” and 3/8”. This is what you will use to support the flash and the umbrella to the stand.



This is the setup shot for the shooting on the floor :)



The umbrellas 1 Westcott 43'' collapsible optical white satin umbrella (Style 2001), 1 Westcott 43'' collapsible optical Soft Silver umbrella (Style 2002). I wish I had 2 white one's but it seems they are hard to get here in Europe... I guess I'll have to keep on searching.



This are the 2 Manfrotto 001B stands very light weigh and easy and fast mount, you will love them.



Next I made a couple of Snoots from different sizes ( L to R 40cm, 30cm, 20cm, 15cm). These one's are made of hard card box from an IKEA box but they are difficult to carry. I wrapped them with trans lucid tape and they are good. Next time I will keep my Corn Flakes box and make the same one's but from that box. David has one's from those and you can check them here.



These are my favorites. Made them with straws, you can make one's too check here how to, one has 5cm and the other 8cm.



My gear would not be complete without a good and fast 80gb storage. I use this brand 4 years now and they are very good and reliable. You can buy only the shell and put in, yourself, up to 100gb of IDE drive. Reads CF and SD cards, USB 2.0 and the best part is that it uses 4 AA cells that you can find almost anywhere. If you socket into your PC or Mac you will also have a storage removable drive since you can put all your files there. Check the CompactDrive website for more info.



If needed to charge batteries I take the charges as a precaution, you'll never know when your batteries will "die" on you. Canon battery charger NC-E2 and Uniross sprint quick battery charger with car adapter.



Hey suddenly you have some problems with unscrewing something or you need to cut a line or the models nails and hair ;) I always carry, when possible, with me the Pliers and the Swiss Army knife.



2 Roddenstock Polarizer filters just in case...



Never leave home without them. The pocket cards and the LARGE Giotto Rocket Air blower in case you get some dust on lenses or sensor. I try to clean my cameras prior to the assignment but not always is possible so this will be a life saver. They got them on Amazon.



Cleaning cloth that I got free from an eye glasses shop here in Luxembourg, My Stofen just in case and my Whibal cards because the light, sometimes, could play some tricks on you. I never really use this since I make all shots on raw but since I have them why not carry the small package ;)



These are very nice and cheap. I recall a cheap photo magazine offering them in Portugal a couple of months ago. They are from Hama and you can also get them on Amazon in case you could not find it near you.



Small clamps. These can be very helpful (more on this on part 2). I bought mine on AKI store for about 0,50 cents each try a hardware store near you.



For a long time I'm trying to find the Ball Bungees here in Europe. A lot of guys told me that Spannfix would do the trick but to order them is not so simple. First they are not so expensive, so you have to buy a lot of them, and the shipping costs more than the product itself you cna look them here.

So one of these days I went into another of my tours around the nearest hardware store (my wife keeps telling me that I should work there!!) and saw a new product from Velcro called Velcro adjustable ties and decided to try them. Amazing (more of this on part 2).



The last thing on the bag is the Manfrotto superclamp (035). You can put this thing on almost anyplace and I will give some more details on the part 2.




Leave you with an example of where you can put and use it.

Also this is the setup shot of the top photos of this article.



So let's close the bag for know since there's another assignment coming up...



Come back next week for the part 2 of the article.

We will continue with a more detail information on what you can do with some of the stuff and even how can you assemble the parts together.

All of the photos were done with just one very small light and a little bit of patience :)


Next: My Gear - What you wanted to know but were afraid to ask (Part 2)

Beware with Sigma Lenses purchases

Today I bang with a notice from SIGMA house in London where a lot of gear was stolen from them.

I decided to post this news here since a lot of you out there are using their lenses and accessories and I would not want anything bad happen to you guys.

I'm not really into SIGMA lenses since I only uses CANON primes but this could be helpful to anyone who uses this lenses.

Above is a copy of the original message you can find it here in SIGMA web site.

Sigma Burglary

The offices and warehouse of Sigma Imaging (UK) Ltd were broken into on the night of Friday 15th June.

The theft was captured on CCTV and police are currently investigating. The burglary is believed to have been carried out by a professional gang who stole a large quantity of Sigma products.

Sigma have a record of all the stolen products and their serial numbers, available here, and ask members of the public to be aware of any Sigma products being sold at lower than usual prices. Sigma’s supply chain was temporarily disrupted and we regret any disappointment or delay caused to our customers.

Sigma’s normal efficient service has been resumed and every effort is being made to replace the stolen goods. In addition to being vigilant, we would ask our customers to be patient and understanding of any temporary delays.

If you are suspicious of a Sigma product you have seen for sale, please telephone Sigma immediately on 01707 329 999.

If you have any friends who plan on buying a SIGMA lens advise them to check the pdf serials before buy it over the web .

Thanks for the time and spread the word.

Light + Distance = Background variation

I will start my today posting inspired by the Strobist Lighting 102 1.2 Position | Distance.

I have already approached the Position of the light (here) so this would be another great feature to use on you next photos.

I read the Strobist article on Position|Distance 4 or 5 times before attempting this one and even then I could not figure out how come the background would change if I would move the light forward and backward from the subject position.

I decided that was time to make some setup shots of the process and explain it step by step. This way I will do the exercise and make it register for future reference. For sure there are a lot of you out there with the same issues.

I used, as reference, on this project:

- ISO 100
- Tv 200 (as sync speed for my flash)
- Gadget Infinity Remote triggers
- 580Ex as flash gun
- 24-70 L USM
- 1D MarkIIn
- Subject on a table and distance to background ~2m

I started first by putting the flash at middle position between the subject and the camera (more or less 3m and turn it in at 1/8 (just to evaluate what kind of aperture I can use).
After 2 or 3 quick shots I get the subject well exposed at Av 13.



Here is the setup shop with the flash at the ~3m distance from the subject.

And the result:



You can see that the background has some light, you can notice the shadow on the wall and table at the right side produced by the flash (this is not something that any client would love to see but this is for illustration purpose only ;) do not mind about the imperfections but take a look at the results).

Next I decided that, since the subject is well exposed at Av 13 at middle of the field, then what would happened if I moved the light way back to the corner in my living room?

So I moved the 580Ex back at ~5m and made this setup shot.



As you can see almost all the room was illuminated by the small light and look at the book, it also cached a broader area of light as you can see, a soft light hitting him as well as a harsh shadow on the wall.

After moving the light this far then my monkey scratch come into my head...

If I move the flash light far then I will have to get more power from it in order to reach it's destination (the book) as well as that I needed to open my aperture in order to maintain the subject properly exposed.

Here is the result:



What I did was move the 580Ex to ~5m, gave it more power dialing it up to 1/2 and opened up the Aperture to 6.3.
You can notice a big change on the background, just by opening the aperture on the camera I now have more light on the background and my subject stays well exposed.

You should try this because you'll never know when will you need (on your assignments) to change your background into a lighter or darker one.

Next comes the best part.

I moved the light a little closer to the subject at about ~1m from the it.

Here is the setup shot:



I changed the flash power to 1/64 and closed the Aperture to 22 (since the flash was too close to the subject) in order to get a well exposed photo.

Look at the result...



But this is not all.

I decided to move, again, the light REALLY CLOSE to the subject at ~0,50 m to see what could change dramatically in the picture. The setup photo of the close up.



And the final image is this one. It was made at 1/128 power flash and the Aperture 22 maintained. Since the flash was too close to subject it did not need to change the aperture but yes you need to turn down the power of the flash.



On these last two pictures even with the same aperture and just by moving the flash towards the subject you can see the difference on the background. The halo produced on the table is also much more pleasing.

I compiled on Photoshop the all sequence with the distances and Apertures in case you need some guides for your tries, but please do not use them as a fixed thing since you never have the exact measures of the light position unless you would like to carry with you, all the time, a ruller.

I realize by doing this simple and easy test shoot that if you keep your subject well exposed all the time the background will change by simply opening or closing the aperture on your camera.



If you need a bigger image click here.

The setup shots may not be well exposed since they were only to show you what was the position of the light and how it will affect the subject (I think I accomplish that).

Hope that you enjoyed this simple, but very useful, test and apply it to your situations and assignments.

As my friend David says:

"Here is what you need to know about the inverse square law:
The closer you are to the light source, the more powerful the light.
Get real close and it gets really powerful. Get far away, and it gets weaker.

And here's the other thing:
The closer you get to the light source, the quicker the lighting values change as you move in.
When you get farther away, small differences in distance (from the light) become meaningless."

So... Keep in mind:

1) Light Placed Closer = more powerful + control of the depth of the correct exposure.
2) Light Placed Further = less powerful + a broader zone of even light exposure.

Until then... keep shooting great images.

DIY: Smoke made easy

Hello again.

Sorry guys, It's been a couple of days since I haven't written anything to the blog but I was out of Luxembourg and went into Spain and Portugal summoned by Rolling Stone to cover Monsters of Rock in Zaragoza and the opening show Metallica in SuperBock Super Rock in Lisboa.

You can check some of the shots I made on the above links:

Monsters of Rock - Zaragoza
SuperBock SuperRock - Lisboa

Today I decided talk about a simple project that you can do when the weather is bad or when you do not have anything better to do.

I plan on doing the "Smoke made easy" after seeing a lot of great images about Smoke.

I always wondered how people could accomplish those shots and is I could have made them with just two simple strobes and without having some heavy studio setup and light.

And as odd as you can imagine... it's possible.

Here goes the things you will be needing:

- a Table to put the things on (I used my wife's iron table :) )
- several Smoke sticks (you can buy them cheap at any Chinese store near you)
- a small plate to put under the Sticks (so it won't burn anything when the ashes are falling)
- black background ( You can use an old Ozzy black t-shirt turned inside out)
- camera with a 24-70mm, a 50mm or 85mm lens on manual focus
- one or two small strobes
(In this examples I used two Nikons SB26 but it can be made with only one)
- Snoots to avoid the light entering the lens and to direct the light more precisely
- Turn the all the lights off
- Patience, Patience, Patience and a lot of Patience...

The setup is very simple and the results are so cool that after you read this you will sure try to do it.



You can see that the strobes (Nikon SB26) are pointing towards the Smoke stick and you should put them as close as possible to the smoke without entering the frame. Leave some space on the photo frame because you never know what side will the smoke turn.

I use a long sheet of black paper (pay some attention on the type of paper in order not to be a brilliant one, choose mate instead or use the T-shirt I talked about. If you do not have the Ozzy one another one ;) ) that I bought for 50 cents on a supermarket and use it to cover the background from the bottom to top.

As you can see I put a small white plate under the burning stick because I did not want the ashes to burn anything.

Then I set the camera focus and the possible smoke catch, with the lights of the room on, and after everything is set turn the lights off.

Light up the Stick and wait a few seconds until the smoke start to arise, you can blow the smoke from different sides to create great effects.

Then shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot... don't mind if you do not know what are you shooting, but if you pay some attention while the flashes are on you can see some of the things generated.

I also find it helpful to have a small lantern light you can point to the smoke stick and try to get some results from it.

Pay attention to from one in a while to open some window or door since the too much smoke you inhale could make your vision to start blurring and you images start to become less sharpened.

Advice do 3 or 4 sticks and stop for 1/2 a hour, then restart the procedure ;)

The flashes were triggered with Pocket Wizards with a sync speed of 250 and use Av 9.0 but you can try with more... the more the better to keep all smoke in focus.

Here are 4 examples of my rainy afternoon:























Well but these are not the final art shots.

Afterwards you open them on Photoshop and crop and clean what you do not like on the shot.

Next do an Invert to the photo so that the background would come up white (Image/Adjustments/Invert or Ctrl+I).

Finally use the Hue/Saturation to change the colors you want on your final image (Image/Adjustments/HueSaturation or Ctrl+U)

And voilá... here are the final images after the Photoshop processing:





Aren't they incredible... so what are you waiting for?

Go make some yourself.

Thanks for reading and see you on the next one.

Rui