“This movie was shot in
"This movie was shot in 3B - three beers - and it looks good, eh?"
Where's Waldo? I've been pretty busy with work. Cigars and Guinness with "the guys" at Molly's the other night seems like last night because the last day or so has been a blur. EL made me a custom light box that serves as a diffuser for jewelry photography. It works in a very similar fashion to the trademarked Cocoon or CloudDome, but was hundreds of dollars cheaper. Cotton fabric and half inch PVC plumbing are the main ingredients. The idea is to flood the external surfaces of the box with a constant temperature light. It doesn't matter what bulbs you use really as long as you have the ability to define a custom white balance with your camera body. Halogens and cool whites will be really cold, where daylights should be warmer. Actual daylight (not in the shade or under overcast skies, but in the sun) is about 5500 degrees Kelvin. I've found that even a little cloudiness can cause a great variation in the temperature of the light. For those that don't really get why this is important, not having the white balance set correctly can cause your photos to come out looking tinted. White balance with a color temperature lower than the actual light temperature will result in shots looking bluish, while higher than actual will cause orange tinted shots. To some extent, this can be corrected in post processing... after all, Photoshop is an amazing tool that few on Earth have mastered to it's capability. Anyhoo, I got off track. So you set a custom white balance to match the light now living in the box through the fabric. The cloth box has a circular opening cut in the front face for lens access. I took some test shots last night and discovered a few things to improve upon. I'm hoping to make another test run this evening. These enclosures are pretty much the standard when photographing jewelry because of the technical issues with reflectance in the metal and/or gems. I don't usually photograph jewelry, so I didn't have one handy, but received a request for a commission to shoot a custom piece soon, so it was necessary. I also got a shipment in from the lab yesterday. The Cypresswood Sunrise, Great Blue Gardener, Early Summit Solitude, Sunrise at the Bend, Chapel Hill, Mystic Path, and a nifty flower shot... all in quantity 4x5 or 4x6 to make cards like we did last year for the local craft fair. We thought we'd print some more up since there has been some local interest. I shot a series of engagement photos for some new friends on Sunday. I am waiting on the proofs now. In preparation for our camping trip, I got a new camera bag. I ended up selecting the Lowepro Photo Trekker AW II because I wanted to fit everything in one bag to use as a carry on for the flight. I think it will just barely make it. Continental's policy is no more than 51" for the sum of dimensions (L+W+H) and no more than 40 pounds. I also found out that Henry needs a special "ticket" to fly with us in the cabin... $160.00 round trip for him to sit with EL during the journey. That works out to about $27 per pound. That pup is running the house. Well, I have a bunch of documentation to write this morning and a couple of meetings to attend, so I need to submerge myself in a vat of coffee... drink my way out ala Strange Brew.
Hiccup.
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