The Unknown Soldier

The Unknown Soldier Non-HDR version

The power of HDR images is sure known by many of you, but I still wonder if this has really much in common with photography, as we know it. Yes, you still have to find a nice composition and framing, the subject must be interesting and you got to know the technique to take so many different exposures, but after that, the software's algorythmics do the rest for you. All right, you have to know how to move the slides, but this is the same in Lightroom or Photoshop so its just part of the game.

The Unknown Soldier HDR version

Five exposures can turn a so and so image into something quite dramatic and eye catching. This is a night shot of the Unknown Soldier in Piazza Venezia in Rome. The Romans call it the Typewriter, because of its shape. I put it together in Photomatix using a quite conservative editing, like many of my HDR, but still the result is quite impressive, un realistic I would say. Here you can compare it with the result I got from just one of the shots, the one that offered the best exposure and that I had to work in Lightroom with some dodging and burning and selective retouching. You can judge yourself and pick the one you like the best.

The silver plated fish

Is not silvery and you know it. The Cubera is red or copper colour but not silver. Thus, with a bit of work in Lightroom you can edit it in black & white and get the shinest result of them all. I think that this is a good looking fish in any colour, from any point of view and with most of the lights available, natural or artificials. I bet I had a spray of flash here as well but I cannot remember now. I like the edit of this image, it makes me love Lightroom more and more.

Oceana

Check this video guys, looks like these people need our help


Oceana Video 2009 from Oceana on Vimeo.

Speedlighting to the extremes

There are things you can do with a bunch of speedlights you would have never imagined... I love what Dave Black does with light&lights

Painting with the flash

Every time I open in Lightroom the Bermuda library I discover some nice shot that I haven't edited yet. I took this image at night and painted the sunbeds with my speedlights. To achieve a nice color contrast I turned the WB to tungsten and put a CTO gel on the speedlights. By doing so the sky turns intense blue and the foreground achieves a warm tone


During the post processing work I had to bring up a bit the sky becaus eit was too dark, and get a dimmer light on the foregrond, too bright and too hot. Some local adjustments have been also done to the land in the horizon, in order not to have a black spot.

Siguenza, Spain. Extreme wide angle view at night of the Santa Maria Cathedral

Wide angles makes things look different, there's no doubt about it and most of all there's no much you can do to avoid it. When shooting architecture, monuments, historical building, being from a lower position the walls will converge, the base will look way bigger and the precise plans of a master builder go to hell. So what ca we do, drop the wide angles at home and shoot only with a 50mm or a tilt&shift lens? No way.
make the flaw bigger, exaggerate the bug and create some super dramatic shots.

For this image I put the camera n the tripod and almost had to sit on the sidewalk to compose through the viewfinder. The 10-20 was with its nose up and everything seem to tumble on top of the viewer. I edited it in Lightorrm and converted in duotone because the full color image was kind of weird, I mean there was a strange mix of colors

New Ezybox Speedlight

You have seen how much I use the Lastolite Ezybox. Here's a smaller and even more versatile version of it, ready for your flash even when is attached to the hot shoe.


The new Ezybox Speed-Lite is a 22cm x 22cm mini softbox which attaches directly onto a flashgun whether it's on or off the camera. The softbox folds in the same way as our other highly successful Ezybox softboxes making it an ultra portable solution for busy photographers. The Ezybox Speed-Lite also features an inner and outer diffusion layer (both removable) which delivers an unrivalled softness of light from such a small softbox. 


Check it out 


http://www.lastolite.com/ezybox-speedlite-softbox.php

Lights and metal

The general opinion is that is very difficult to light metal properly. The light bounces all over the place and highlights can become a nightmare. Anyway, here's the result of my latest studio work with the new Accurate reels that i just received. Many shots of details and some full reel body.
This is the technical list
2 X SB800 speedlights triggered with CLS
One speedlight through Lastolite EzyBox
One Speedlight through Orbis Ring Flash
One white reflector

Nikon D90 with Tokina 100mm f2.8 Macro
Black Vinyl background
Water spray

Detail of the spool and the body of the reel

Detail of the drag lever and drag preset

Side plate with accucast knob

Side plate with strike limit

Side plate with "lefty" sing for reels with left handle

Knob handle

The whole reel

Whole reel sprayed with water and with a Theos jig on one side