In a Thousand Words or Less

Holy Boutonnière, Batman.

Um. Today was awesome. I got a hold of some space thanks to the nice people up in conference services and planned out a shoot for this afternoon. Prom style. I can’t show you the images of the main shoot, but the individual pics are preeeeeetty rippin. Update: I’m showing the diptych. I couldn’t resist.

Oh. Also, my friend Meagan was gracious enough to trust me with her D3 – I got my full-frame dream for an afternoon! 50mm on an FX is a dream come true. Thanks Meagan!

Hair was done by Kaylee K. So awesome. Details and makeup were handled beautifully by Laura. And Ashton definitely drove an two hours between classes to pick stuff up. Thanks to everyone for being there and helping out!

Here are the individual shots from after the shoot. Stay tuned and if you’re good maybe you’ll see the finished product of the main shoot.

Here’s the gorgeous part. These all are straight out of the camera (hold for slight levels/color balance, and very light skin touch-up). Belissimo.

Evidence?

Bed time.

::jer::

We’ve all seen it. A child in a store convinced that they need something so terribly that they are willing to make a complete fiddle-faddle of themselves to get it. I’m like that with photo equipment sometimes. There are always new gadgets, new ideas, new technology and new methods. I always think that there will be something that will just make my photos so much more professional, you know, a how-did-I-live-without-that complex. This isn’t one of those things. This isn’t just another Lego set or a dollar store trinket. This, my friends, is my white stag.

(drum roll please…)

The 50mm 1.4G AF-S on a D700. I melt just thinking about it.

The D700 is my next camera purchase for sure. I’m already saving. (They’re so stinking expensive!) It’s a full frame camera, so it acts and looks just like film does through a viewfinder. (The D300, which I shoot with makes everything 1.5x closer, which is good if you’re far away and BAD if you’re close or want to get a wide-angle shot.) The 50mm lens is considered a ‘normal’ lens, meaning it replicates almost exactly what the eye sees, so it’s got a very natural feel to it. Some of the greatest photographers of our time shot with nothing other than their 50mil.

Until I can save enough money to get them, I’ll just have to sit here and dream about them. Or, if anyone has an extra set lying around, I’ll take them off your hands…

Maybe I could get sponsored…

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="576" caption="Taken from www.kenrockwell.com | all rights are his."][/caption]

I was just going back through some old first-photo-class shots and found some that I liked enough to re-edit. I miss thrilling after every shot. I was just so happy to hear the click and I rarely cared what was on the back of the camera. Now I almost edit every shot up as I get it to nail those details. You win some, you lose some.

Here I come big wide world!

::jer::

P.S. Psalm 27.

Hey all!

I’ve been tearing through pages and pages of strobist.com content to try to find someone who has done this already, but haven’t yet been able to.

The idea started when my buddy Scott showed up with a white bowl and a clear cd-spindle cover. He announced that he could make a beauty dish for under twenty dollars. Impressive. He did quite the amazing job, pulling it off with a high degree of professionality. It’s pretty wicked. Check it out.

I wanted something that offered a bit harsher light, similar to the effects of a ring flash, so as any poor college student would do, I went to Wal-Mart. Just so happens that there is a summer sale going on. I bought a 2-for-1 chip dip tray set, foil tape, super glue and a circular mirror.

We glue the mirror atop a small cd-spindle cover after cutting out the center of the dip reservoir and we’re half way there. We finish by taping the entire ‘chip arena’ with foil tape and gluing the cd-spindle onto the center of the dish. Boom baby. We’ve got a ring dish. It’s not pretty, but it works. Ring Dish 2.0 will be much nicer looking.

It works exactly like a ring flash, just without the terrible ‘lens mount only’ option and with more of a nice, direct ring of light feel. It’s pretty fun. OH! And it runs of my SB-600 on commander mode. *does a little jig*

Thanks to Scott for inspiring and the such.

Here’s something that just jumped off the camera.

Last Wednesday, the students and faculty of Indiana Wesleyan University had an opportunity to have a Q&A time with Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. It was an absolutely wonderful chance to ask the person with the answers. Gov. Daniels spoke with confidence and a sense of peace while tackling subjects like job loss and the darker side of public education. I very much enjoyed getting to hear him speak and it was wonderful to be able to put trust in a Governor. (After Blago, Ryan and Walker we Illinoisans are a little on the mistrusting side of them.)

In other news, I just really, really, really like this photo of Laura.

See you soon!

::jer::

Please don’t steal.