C1 Design and Photography: Photography Equipment

Showing posts with label Photography Equipment. Show all posts

April 20, 2010

Architect Portrait Shoot | Dallas, Texas

Just finished a portrait shoot for Architect Josh Nimmo, at his studio in Dallas. These shots will be used for his new venture called "Iron House Studio," which will focus on his individual residential design work. Very talented architect.. for a look at some of his work visit www.bloc-ds.com.

Below are just a few of my favorite shots. First one was done with all natural light, coming through a large window just outside of the frame. The next two were done with a single Alienbee 400 Studio Flash and Beauty Dish with diffuser cover. Loved incorporating the wall textures and shadows in these images!

December 7, 2009

First D700 Shoot

Recently finished my first photoshoot using my new Nikon D700 and new lenses. Love them! Not only is the image quality superior to my old D200 but there are several new features on the D700 that I'm really loving:

• Nikon Picture Control Settings: Advanced color control settings with fine tuning options. I've been using a custom "Neutral" setting for portraits that creates a more natural and even skin tone.
• Active D-Lighting: Captures previously lost details in shadows and highlights while maintaining normalized contrast. I've set this to auto.
• ISO Sensitivity Auto Control: When shooting in Auto Mode this really comes in handy. You set the maximum ISO and minimum Shutter Speed and when this option is turned on the camera will automatically adjust the ISO for the correct exposure.. if it cannot reach the correct exposure with the highest ISO setting it will then drop the Shutter Speed to the lowest preset. My settings are a maximum ISO of 6400 and minimum shutter speed of 100.
• Incredibly Low Noise in High ISO Settings: As mentioned in my initial post about the D700, the broad ISO sensitivity, with incredibly low noise up to 6400, is the most impressive part of the new camera.

Below are a few shots from my shoot with the Blount family using my new D700. I had such a fun time with them! Really looking forward to using this camera in my upcoming shoots as well.

November 20, 2009

New Camera & Lenses

I have finally decided to bite the bullet and upgrade from my Nikon D200 to the full-frame Nikon D700! In a nutshell, the camera offers a much higher level of detail, but most impressive was my testing of the high ISO clarity... I did a test shot at ISO 6400 and the image was incredibly impressive, comparable to shooting at ISO 400-500 on my D200. This will be of enormous value when shooting weddings or events in low light.

So, after much saving, budgeting, and taking on as many extra jobs as I could fit in, I have now placed my order! I've also added two new lenses to my collection, a Nikon 50mm 1.8 lens and a Tamron 90mm 2.8 lens.

Last year I ramped up my computer equipment and upgraded to Adobe CS3 software. This has been my year for adding/upgrading photography equipment and I can definitely say I'm finished for a long time! Photography is way more expensive over the long run than Graphic Design... and to be honest I make far more doing design work than photography. But for me, I enjoy the personal connection with people and families that photography offers. Nothing like hearing a great response to photos you did for a family and it's a lot of fun experimenting with new lighting techniques or interesting locations.

August 4, 2009

AlienBees Test

Tested out the new AlienBees.. really love these things! More more wasting batteries using Nikon SB's for everything, and they have a lot more power.

August 3, 2009

New AlienBees Studio Equipment

I just recently placed an order for my first set of studio strobes and after much research I decided on AlienBees (www.alienbees.com). For the price range I wanted to stay in, these were the best for the money. In all I ordered the following: