April 2009 Archives

Puppies in Puzzle is a photo taken in part of my makeshift studio here, and was one of my earlier product photography attempts. The puzzle is a creation of my father, who sells them on Etsy.com, who has over a dozen puzzles and other woodcrafts for sale. In order to even shoot these, I needed to create a multi level, back dropped staging area, and then provide enough light to avoid needing the new flash I bought for my camera. I am overall happy with how they turned out, and am sure that when people start to notice my father's woodwork on Etsy, that he will sell many more like this, and the others on display. More can be seen in the Puzzles by Harold gallery, but below you will find one of the highlights of the group.



Puppies in Puzzle, woodcraft by Harold Wallbridge

In deciding this weeks Highlight photo, I went back to look at what I have covered. I have covered cars, skylines, and people, but overall what gets the most comment on the sites I see, is the animals. I first did a photo of an Amur Leopard from the Assiniboine Zoo, then I moved on to my sister's Cocker Spaniel named Misty. Both got me kind and generous comments. This time I decided to go back to the fall of 2006, when I took a trip to a place called Lester Beach, jsut outside of Winnipeg. The visit was to see some friends, but was worthwhile in so many other ways. I got some awesome nature shots, like this weeks highlight, and some great sunset over water photos.

This weeks shot is even more spectacular because it was hand held with no flash, only the sunlight shining in through the tree tops. The dragonfly was just sitting there, on this stalk of grass, and thankfully did not flee as I moved in close enough to get a shot of him with my 55-200 at full zoom. To this day, it's one of my early shots I am most proud of for the skill it took. More can be seen in the Best of the Best Gallery, but below you will find one of the highlights of the group.



No, he's not pinned there, he's just being really cooperative with my needs as a photographer. If only all models had it's capacity for patience!

Sorry for a late posting this week, it's been a busy week. This week I am going back to the old school, and will be highlighting a photo I took a few days after the World of Wheels show of '06 that I broke into DSLR level shooting with my used Canon Digital Rebel. This is a school yard on Beliveau Road in Winnipeg, which had a very flooded field to the side. I was riding my bike by and saw the amazing reflection of water and sky, and knew I had to get the shot. The shot below is the result. The full gallery can be seen here, but below you will find one of the highlights of the group.



Victor Mager School on Beliveau Road in Winnipeg.

Time for another Highlight Photo of the Week, and this time I am bringing it a bit closer to home. My sister went to Mexico for a week, leaving me to watch over her dogs. A few days in I got a new flash, and while the dogs had many downsides, their capacity to be photograph almost made up for it. The full gallery can be seen here, but below you will find one of the highlights of the group.



This here is Misty,

While experiencing an incredibly bored evening at work, I decided to use a bit of scrap paper and tape, as well as my research into diffuser models, to see if I couldn't make my own. While I admit that the first revision is pretty basic, and needs some work, it is a good start from the materials I used. First, there is the Paper version. This is, essentially, a two level box without a lid. The first level, with the 'bottom' of the lidless box, is what your flash would see. The second is what I imagined would be the sleeve or collar of the diffuser, sliding over the edge of the flash. If this was snug it would need no other mechanism to attach to the flash, but an elastic or tape would hold a loose one on mildly well.

The rev 1 I have made for actual use, or at least for trying to use, is not too bad either. The materials were very simple, a well rinsed 4 liter milk jug and some tape. I did my best to measure out the size of the flash head, and proceeded to shape the box to the size of the flash head. Sadly, I only had a single milk jug, so the collar type feature was not feasible on this revision. I still intend to use a non melting clear glue to hole the diffuser together instead of the tape you will see below, since that was always one of those 'in the meantime' solutions for keeping it together. It's also not very sticky tape, meant for baseboards while painting, so I am not sure how long it will keep holding. Now for the pictures.


1. Diffuser Type 1 Paper Mock Up 2. Diffuser Type 2 Paper Mock Up(1) 3. Diffuser Type 2 Paper Mock Up(2) 4. Diffuser Side 5. Diffuser Top 6. Diffuser Inside 7. Diffuser on Flash(1) 8. Diffuser on Flash(2) 9. Diffuser on Flash(3)


Future Plans: Like I said, I plan to use a clear glue to make the Type 1 Rev 1 stay together long term, without the tape it has now getting in the way of spreading the light. Once I can get a sheet of plastic that is more pliable and less restrictive than a milk jug, I will make a version that is all even and more measured than the one in this picture. It is uneven and very much thrown together, and I know there are ways I can improve on it.

Type 2 will be the second project, which I do not think has much hope to be a reality without a plastic sheet to start. I have tried to put a smaller mock up together, but it is poorly created, and I don't know if it will even be able to fit on my current flash. I would like to make a proper mock up that will have most, if not all but the collar as one single piece of plastic. I will be looking soon for a place to buy a sheet or two of plastic. Also, I will be working on this DIY lightbox, since I have at least 2 of the pieces already. I think that project will turn out much better with a guide to start, since I have found no guides to a decent looking DIY diffuser guide. Tune back in soon for more updates on my DIY on the cheap projects.