28/52 - Oreos... Dunk or Lick??

Oreos - Dunk or Lick??

I wanted to take a photograph that actually highlighted the texture on the face of an Oreo for this weeks entry. To be honest I'm not thrilled about this shot. The glass of milk isn't too obvious as only a small part of it is visible. I didn't want to zoom out as that would have resulted in the cookie being small and less dominant in the frame. The only reason I included the glass of milk is because I thought it balanced the image. Please let me know what you think in the comments.

Lighting setup inside.

Lighting Setup - Oreos... Dunk or Lick??

This was a two light setup, I would have used a light tent but improvised as I don't have one.

I used two white foam-core boards and a white wall around the subject to bounce the light. I placed the cookies and the glass of milk on a white sheet of A4 paper to create the white background.

A Canon 430 EX II was fired at 1/16th and zoomed to 24mm at the white foam core board on the right of the subject.

A Canon 580 EX II was fired at 1/128th and zoomed to 50mm aimed at the cookie and fired form camera left.

Crimson Rosella

Crimson Rosella - Platycercus elegans

The Crimson Rosella, although relatively common, has not been the easiest bird for me to photograph. I had seen them on a number of occasions along the east coast of Australia but hadn't been able to get a clear shot. I found a few of them around where we stayed in the Barrington Tops and was finally able to get some unobstructed photographs of these birds.

More images after the jump.

Crimson Rosella - Platycercus elegans

I found them frequenting a small creek that ran behind the house where we were staying. They would arrive there at roughly the same time each morning which made things a bit easier for me. I was able to photograph them while they were feeding and also while they were cleaning themselves in the stream.

Crimson Rosella - Platycercus elegans

The light wasn't the best as there the creek was in a valley and there was a fairly dense canopy overhead. The birds moved around a lot and I had to use a fast shutter speed to capture these images. In order to get around the problem with the light, I had to bump up the ISO. I generally try to keep the ISO at 100 but the 7D performs pretty well in this regard.

Crimson Rosella - Platycercus elegans

All the images on this post were captured with a Canon 7D and the 100-400mm lens. 

 Crimson Rosella - Platycercus elegans

27/52 - Coke

Coke

I decided to use a can of Coke as this week's entry for the project. I wanted the shot to have a cold feel to it and had visualised the final image fairly quickly. Lighting it was a whole different ball game. I didn't want to photoshop the final image to alter the colours but wanted the ice cubes to be a very specific blue. 

Lighting setup shot and info after the jump.

Lighting Setup- Coke

I tried several shots using a full CTB, a 1/2 CTB and a 1/4 CTB but was not too happy with the results. Shooting through a piece of white A4 paper didn't work either. Changing the white balance on the camera to "tungsten" got me closest to the colour I was after. 

I used a Canon 430 EX II fired at 1/32 from under the can as the primary light for the ice. The light from this flash provided the cool blue tones.

I bounced a Canon 580 EX II, fired at full power through a CTO, off the ceiling for fill light. The CTO gel was used to neutralise the white balance setting on the camera. This light combined with the light from the 430 EX created the exact blue which I was after. The fill light also lit the can itself.

The fact that the ice cubes were melting added to the degree of difficulty for this shot as I had to work fast and think on my feet.  

Wedge-Tailed Eagle

Wedge Tailed Eagle - Aquila audax

The Wedge Tailed Eagle is the largest bird of prey found in Australia. I've been trying to capture a set of decent images of this bird for over 3 years but have had very little luck in terms of good sightings. We spent last weekend (a 5 day long weekend!) in the Barrington Tops region of northern New South Wales. We stayed in a log cabin, which was nestled in a small valley on a 2000 acre property. Most of the property was bush and the terrain was hilly. It was perfect country for seeing Wedge Tailed Eagles.

More images inside.

Wedge Tailed Eagle - Aquila audax

I was fortunate enough to have sightings of the birds on all three mornings. The first morning's sighting wasn't the greatest as the Eagle was quite far away. However, I did manage to get a few shots of it. The second morning's sighting was probably the best. I actually drove past two eagles perched on a fallen log by the side of the road before I realised what they were. I just assumed they were part of the log!

Wedge Tailed Eagle - Aquila audax

Once the car stopped the two Eagles flew off onto separate trees which were close by and were soon joined by a third Eagle. I was able to approach the trees and fire off a number of frames and the birds seemed least interested in my presence.
 

Wedge Tailed Eagle - Aquila audax

I had good sightings of one of the Eagles on the third day as well. It was feeding on a bone (see the first, third and seventh images) at the time and again wasn't bothered by the fact that I was around.

Wedge Tailed Eagle - Aquila audax

The light was best for photography on the third day as I was able to position myself with the sun behind me. Shooting into the sun on the first and second days wasn't the best as the birds are dark and exposing them without blowing the highlights wasn't the easiest.  Fortunately the final images were sharp (although a bit washed out) and that was good enough for me. I'll upload more shots form the trip over the coming weeks.

Wedge Tailed Eagle - Aquila audax

Wedge Tailed Eagle - Aquila audax

Wedge Tailed Eagle - Aquila audax

Wedge Tailed Eagle - Aquila audax

26/52 - Wall-e Sees Red

Wall-e Sees Red

This week's entry for the project was a bit hurried. I just got back to Sydney after a five day long weekend and realised that I hadn't taken a shot for this week. I thought of shooting something relating to Easter but ditched the idea and went for Wall-e instead. I hadn't used the red gels for a while and thought I'd give them ago. I created the bokeh for this shot using marbles.

Setup shots after the jump.

Lighting setup - Wall-e Sees Red

Wall-e was lit using a CTO'd Canon 580 EX shot at 1/128th and zoomed to 105mm. I placed a white book on the left side of Wall-e to bounce the light back onto him from the opposite direction.

A Canon 430 EX II was fired at 1/32 through a Red gel at the black foam-core board to create the red background and light some of the marbles to create bokeh.

Macro Bee

A Bee settled on a Jasmine

I pulled out the macro lens a few days ago to try my hand at photographing live insects. It was interesting to say the least. I had been photographing flowers with the lens earlier and had the extension tubes on. I was lazy and didn't bother taking it out which made photographing insects a bit harder. 

More shots after the jump.

A Bee settled on a Jasmine

I first tried to pre-focus on a flower and wait for the Bees to settle on it. Half an hours wait without a single Bee landing on the flower was quite frustrating. Having got sick of waiting, I changed my approach and decided to move close to the Bees once they settled on a flower. Lighting was a bit more difficult as I had to hand hold the flash ( I didn't want on axis light so couldn't mount the flash on the camera itself).

A Bee settled on a Jasmine

This time I was able to ask my sister-in-law to help me out by holding the flash (she didn't seem to mind). I need to find a long term solution for this as it can become a bit of a problem. My options are getting a macro flash or looking for some sort of bracket to hold the flash.

25/52 - Whisk

Whisk

This weeks subject was a whisk which I found in the kitchen. I wasn't sure how I was going to use it initially and started experimenting with it to create bokeh. After shooting a number of frames with it, I decided to use the whisk itself as the main subject but shoot it with a shallow depth of field to try and make it look a bit "different". I had the macro lens on at the time and this made things a bit easier.

Lighting info after the jump.

 Lighting Setup - Whisk

This was another two light setup.

The Canon 580 EX II was fired at 1/32 at the background from in front of the subject on camera left through a CTB gel. This light bounced off the handle of the whisk to create a bit of blue bokeh.

The Canon 430 EX II was fired at 1/64th through a CTO gel from behind the subject on camera right. this light lit the inside of the whisk and the handle. This flas was zoomed to 105mm.

I used two black foam-core boards for the background and to place the whisk on. I hadn't used black boards to absorb the light before so it turned out to be a good excuse to try it out.

Let me know what you think in the comments.