Oh great and mystical orb: What is our future? (Self Portraits)

[RustySterling]

I've added one more at the end of this thread.

Yes, I'm still playing with my light sphere. Here are a few shots from today that are self portraits. I used a Canon 580EX II mounted above the camera with my Stroboframe (really nicely gets the flash high and off the camera). I set the flash for Second Shutter and manual power.

I really know I'm starting to get this stuff because I knew exactly how I wanted to set it up before hand. I really thought about this setup a lot, considering how I wanted the lighting and what problems I might encounter -- the biggest being flash reflection off the sphere. Except for crops and the changes I indicated on a couple of shots, these are SOOC.

Shot with flash at 1/8th power


Flash at 1/4 power and color balance adjusted


Flash at 1/16th power


Same as last shot but with color balance adjusted

[RustySterling]

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[beachcomber]

Innovative and creative, there are so many different ways that a man can play with his light sphere. A great selection of pictures Rusty, wonderful detail, focus, light and shadow, good work

[RustySterling]

Originally Posted by beachcomber

Innovative and creative, there are so many different ways that a man can play with his light sphere. A great selection of pictures Rusty, wonderful detail, focus, light and shadow, good work

Steve: Thanks for the kind comments. No kidding. This has been so much fun and the best $2 I ever invested. I was aiming for some whimsy with the shots. But most of all I was going for a vision. This time, instead of shooting tons of shots hoping to get what I wanted, I really thought about how I wanted this to look and what I really needed to do to set it up correctly. I shot fewer than 15 frames to get the look I wanted. And pretty much had it will of all them. The only experimenting I did was setting the flash range from 1/4 power to 1/16th power to see how each setting affected the shots.

[RustySterling]

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[Hadianto Sumantri]

i think i wish had that kind of patience, calculating the flash power, but it's worth it, great shots, thanks for sharing

[RustySterling]

Originally Posted by Hadianto Sumantri

i think i wish had that kind of patience, calculating the flash power, but it's worth it, great shots, thanks for sharing

It wasn't a matter of calculating. I've worked with the flash before on manual mode and pretty much know what it will do. So I just tried an initial shot at what I thought would be correct and then made and adjustment. Then I just shot a series. In the end I played with different manual settings just for some fun.

[pjflan7]

you are having a lot of fun aren't you? I was hoping to see a completely blacked out background as I was scrolling down through the shots and there it was in the 3rd shot....came out just the way I envisioned it......Love them all .....the only thing that I might modify in the future is take your thumbs off so you eliminate those distracting bright spots where they touch......Your eyes are drawn there......Now I need to get one of these!

[RustySterling]

Originally Posted by pjflan7

you are having a lot of fun aren't you? I was hoping to see a completely blacked out background as I was scrolling down through the shots and there it was in the 3rd shot....came out just the way I envisioned it......Love them all .....the only thing that I might modify in the future is take your thumbs off so you eliminate those distracting bright spots where they touch......Your eyes are drawn there......Now I need to get one of these!

I see what you mean about the thumbs. I'll work on it. I'm not done with this thing. Who knew a cheap garage sale toy could bring so much photographic joy.

[samhail]

really nice job. I especially like the first one.