janet kwan photography

In an attempt to practice lighting with strobes, I made a simple setup and just trial-and-errored until I got some nice shots. I should’ve taken a shot of the setup…maybe I’ll do that tomorrow.

Let me try to remember what I did…

- Nikon D90, 18-200 @75, f8, 1/200s, ISO100
- 1 SB-800 behind and under the white cloth (i can’t remember what it was set to)…triggered by SB-800 #2 on camera (pointed towards ceiling as you can see in the reflection on the top of the round perfume bottle)

- Nikon D90, 50mm, f9, 1/200s, ISO100
- SB-800 pointing up in a box with a clear side…i’m guessing 1/16 power? triggered by on-camera SB-800 pointing behind me
- blue gel effect created by a blue plastic box lid

It’s one thing to know the theory and to have a lot of head knowledge…it’s another thing to be able to apply it. It’s one thing to buy expensive gear…it’s another to use it to its fullest (or to think outside the box with limited gear).

One of the uncles at church I’ve known since I was a kid is a professional photographer and he decided to start bi-weekly gatherings with photography hobbyists. This week, he set up some lights and let us go to town. It was totally hands on and it let us experiment, make mistakes, then learn to correct those mistakes. Very fun

I usually like to show some of my stuff to a photog friend of mine and let him critique it (thanks A.H.!). He always teaches me something new

Here’s my favourite shot:

This video is not what it seems at first glance.