Pinhole Photos

Midmorning sun from garden room - pinhole, 2 sec; ISO 800

OK, so not much activity on the Lighting Boot Camp idea. How about this one? Zak tells me that the international pinhole camera day is on his birthday this year - April 26. Go to www.pinholeday.org for more information. In an effort to support this idea, here are 4 pics done with a pinhole lens on my digital slr. Also, in the March 8th Press Herald is a description of Chris Pinchbeck's trailer-sized pinhole camera. He has an exhibit at the Farnsworth of his 6 foot creations.

Winslow Park - 1/15th; ISO 400

Nancy's hand: 1/3 second at ISO 800; f ?

Winslow Park again; 1/60th and ISO 800

These photos are dreamy in that their softness and reduced dynamic range helped me to settle in on the composition. Lots of blacks. Because of the smallness of the aperature, the scene thru the viewfinder is very dark. Rather than being a detriment, however, this made it necessary to concentrate on the fundamentals. Your turn now. What are you up to?

New Project/Self Study Opportunity

Anyone interested in doing this lighting " Boot Camp"? It's a project-oriented course. Take a look at http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/06/strobist-boot-camp-rules-guidelines.html and post your thoughts. Seems a good way to learn some essentials. The first project is to create a Headshot. He gives two weeks to do it, but we could compress this and perhaps others to one week. Mark would be twiddling his thumbs, but the rest of us would upgrade. What do you think?

New Project - Creative Lighting

So I've been reading The Strobist to learn more about the subject of lighting. I like the way he suggests techniques and equipment on a budget. One can start with the Lighting 101 Archive and simply read thru the subjects. I’ve ordered and just received the compact kit – umbrella & stand, clamp. Pretty inexpensive way to modify and mold light, and you can use the sun as one of the light sources. My two flashes talk to each other and can be dialed up & down to allow more creative control. Possibilities abound. Add www.strobist.blogspot.com to your blog list and sign up for the newsletter. To see a simple setup using an umbrella, off-camera flash, and multiple viewing angles, go the site and on the right is the On-Assignment Archive. Click on the down arrow and find “Light the Little Stuff” to see what I’m talking about. Pretty cool stuff. And portable. So here’s the project. It’s about using a flash. First, read a bit on the Strobist site. Then, using materials on hand, create a photograph that uses reflectors, cookies, gobos - any or all of the above. Share it on the Yarmouth Photo Group blog. Remember to pat Mel on the back for getting us back in the game. Project: read about lighting, get inspired, shoot using 3 sources of light - the sun, your flash, and a reflector. That's it!