$50 16" Ring Light! Brilliant!

Welcome and good day to you. I've been working at this ring light for about a week and have it all finished and taken some awesome photos with it already. You just have to love that massive circular catchlight it creates and the nice soft even lighting. Strobist has been a big influence on me and when I saw an image from the last Seattle meet up I just had to build this. So thank you Strobist and thank you everyone at ACE Hardware here in town for putting up with me and my crazy ideas.

Here is a shot with 5 minutes of photoshop applied to give it that grunge look from the newly constructed ring light and the background was a Pentax AF540 diffused and gelled for visual pop.

So now that you're drolling you'd probably like to hear how I built this and what supplies you need. It's actually really really really simple so bear with me for a little bit and I'll hopefully entertain you on the way.

Supplies needed from the hardware store:
1 40W 16" Circline Fluorescent bulb $14.99
1 40W Ballast for said light bulb $12.99
2 Twist on wire connectors $.29 each
1 3 Prong Plug $1.99
5 Feet of 16 gauge 3 prong cable (I like black so go with black)$.69 a foot
1 2'X3' Sheet metal $10.99
3 U-bolts (fits around the bulb) $1.99 each
2 Short bolts and nuts to attach ballast $.15 a set

Supplies you hopefully have:
Duct Tape
Wire cutters
Tin Snips
Scissors
Box Cutter
Power drill with appropriate drill bits (I believe 5/16's is what I used)
Black sharpie

How to assemble all this... well, it's pretty much one way to do this and most of you have already figured it out, but in case you haven't here is the rundown.

Basically you start with making the plug so you can give this baby the juice it needs to power up. You strip both ends of your electric cable and remember Black = hot, White = cold, and Green = ground. So you take apart your 3 prong plug and attach the bare wires to the appropriate node (ground is always the bottom one so start there). We now use the twist on wire connectors to splice the white cable from the ballast to the white wire of your plug and do the same for the black wires. The green wire is ground so you need to mount that to the metal shell of the ballast.

Ok, now onto the sheet metal. I cut the sheet down to a 24" square with said tin snips. I then measured the exact center of the square and drew in a smaller square, using the sharpie, with a length of 8 inches on each side for my lens to shoot through. Whip out your drill and your ballast and bulb. Basically line everything up where you'd like it to be on the sheet metal, I choose ballast on the bottom and bulb directly in the center. I marked the two holes on the ballast with a sharpie, then where I placed the bulb I laid out two U-bolts at the top for stability and marked the points with the sharpie. Now remember to have the bulb placed so the 4 prong wire can attach to it so don't go building this all upside-down and come hunt me down. Drill all your holes and also the four corners of your smaller square that you'll be shooting and also the very center of that square. Now I also drilled 2 holes at the top center for a third U-bolt to mount to a reflector holder, but your option for mounting the ring light will depend on your needs.

Ok, so now we need to do the hard part and also the time consuming part if you want it too look good. Use your tin snips to cut out square and my technique was to cut from the center hole we drilled to each of the corner holes. This way we cut off four small triangles with room for our snips to wiggle through. The Duct tape comes in handy now because these edges will be very sharp and almost dangerous to a point. I folded the duct tape over every exposed edge that way my model, camera and even myself.

So close now and you know it. Basically mount your ballast to the sheet metal, connect it to the bulb, attach your U-bolts to hold the bulb and your done. Now plug this bad boy in and you have an amazing ring light that will give you that grunge look you've been looking for. For added flavor you can use ultra flat spray paint on the back to make it look more professional, but I'd leave the front the way it is cause it helps reflect some of the wasted light.

Other modifications:
Well, the best one is adding a switch on to your cable so you can turn it on and off instead of having to plug it in and out all the time. You can purchase a switch for about $3.99 and they are simple to install, but remember that black = hot.

To make this sturdier purchase a 4' drilled metal strip in the hardware section. You know it's a flat piece of metal with holes every inch. Well cut that in half and use bolts to attach to the very edge of your ring light assembly to beef it up without a significant weight increase.

Anything else is up to your imagination.

I hope you go out and make one cause I'd love to see everyones results!

How-to: Bar and Nightclub tips and tricks

Well, I spent 5 years of my life shooting in bars and nightclubs and I want to share my tips with you.

I'm diggin this whole online video age so I'll start off with the two part series of video (went over that 10 minute max) and I'll show you some of the results.

Part One:


Part Two:


Some of the results:
16mm; f4.0; 1/40; ISO 200


16mm; f4.0; 1/10; ISO 200


16mm; f4.0; 1/10; ISO 200


16mm; f4.0; 1/8; ISO 200


16mm; f4.0; 1/5; ISO 200


16mm; f4.0; 1/5; ISO 200


16mm; f4.0; 1/6; ISO 200


16mm; f4.0; 1/4; ISO 200


Well I really hope you enjoyed the videos and the list of images. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them!

I finally got YouTube to work and made an easier to view file for everyone who has firefox. This video is much smaller and won't kill a slower internet connection, plus it's on YouTube!

K10D: Whats in your Bag? Codiac2600

Hey everyone, hope you enjoyed the instructional video on how to change your focusing screen. I decided to do a more personal video here just on what I generally carry with me on a typical day. The only other things besides whats in the video that I may swap is if it's a portrait shoot with a model(s) I'd take out the Tamron 70-300 and put in my Pentax DA* 50-135mm 2.8 but I like the reach of the 70-300 for nature work. Please comment me and let me know if these videos are of high enough quality and also what else you'd like to see videos on. I'll hopefully have a whole series of these ready for you all shortly so be ready.

On to the video:

K10D: Changing your focusing screen!

Video Coming Soon!

A Macro Nation... Part one of three

Well, it's been a long time since I posted last and I had some inspiration so I decided to start working on a tutorial or some random tips on Macro photography. I have spent a lot of time working on my macro techniques and have perfected a few areas and hopefully I'm able to explain in enough detail on how I achieve my final result.

First we need to talk about equipment, specifically about the camera and lens used and what settings I tend to be in. You all should know that I shoot Pentax, specifically the Pentax K10D, which is their flagship camera and can handle pretty much anything that confronts you in the realm of photography. The camera is setup very well for this type of shooting as options and settings are easily accessible from the hard buttons on the body as well as being able to take a lot of abuse and the occasional shower won't hurt the camera.

Settings that are great for macro photography have a lot to do with depth of field (DOF), which basically has to do with how much of something is in focus. I always shoot my macro images in Av mode (aperture priority mode) which is wonderful because you plug in the aperture and it makes sure you have the correct shutter speed so you've already made this one step easier by only having to worry about one setting. Also a must for macro photography is a low ISO because detail is very important and something shot at ISO 1600 isn't going to jump off the page as much as something in the 100-400 range. I consider the 100-400iso range perfectly capable to produce stunning results and still allows you a lot of room to crop images without having too much noise. Now we have random personal settings... which are basically all the other settings that I have found really do make a difference out in the field so it's advisable to atleast give a few of them a try.

1. Manual Focus (it's a must and I'll tell you why later)
2. Center AF point only (also a must)
3. Single Shot mode (a personal preference, but weill explain more)
4. Noise reduction off (I find ACR does a better job plus it makes things a little peppier)
5. Center weighted metering (a must on this)
6. Shake Reduction ON (this is why Pentax rules macro people)
7. Set EV to front e-dial (makes things a million times faster)
8. Program Line set to Depth of Field or option 3
9. EV Steps set to 2
10. Sensitivity set to 2
11. Auto EV compensation set to 2
12. Flash in wireless mode set to 2

Those basic setting changes makes for simple easy shooting because you're going to be in places that aren't going to allow you the best opportunity to change them plus these are split second shots people and your speed matters here just as much as your patience and ability.

Manually focusing gives you the highest degree of focus perfection so start practicing folks and yes do use the the beep sound to confirm lock if you're not fully sure of yourself. One thing someone who has no experience with a macro specific lens should know is that they have a huge focus time from infinity to 1:1 so auto focus is going to be slow even with an SDM because it has to jump through hoops to go from one area to another so just don't do it. Yes, you can focus faster than the camera with these lenses so trust yourself and you'll do a better job then letting the camera have its way with you.

Center AF point is set because auto and moving the point around is again too slow period. You're much better off either just focus right in the center and cropping later or focus and compose because you'll have many more successful shots this way and I've got thousands of images as proof.

Single shot mode... I'm only using this setting because if you shoot and hold the shutter I've found that in difficult positions you get WAY too much camera shake so it's better to do it one at a time and go in for another when you're body is stable cause you may be pushing the limits at a shutter speed of about 1/60 or less so relax and fire one instead of machine gun style.

Noise reduction tends to be cleaner in ACR plus I've found that I can fire off 11 shots in continuous mode with it off so it can be helpful.

Center weighted metering is the safest and smartest metering mode because you want your subject to be perfectly exposed and you want less blown highlights. The full meter tends to blow highlights in tough situations while center weighted 99% of the time will underexpose which is awesome because we can always bring that back without loosing detail. My technique goes focus on subject, hit AE-L, compose and if you don't compose then center weighted is so awesome that you don't need to hit AE-L and you cna just focus and shoot and your subject will be awesomely exposed.

Shake reduction is why I purchased a K10D over a Canon 5D folks and trust me I liked what the 5D could do, but it sucks in macro without a flash or tripod or a 1300 lens which takes away from some of the fun and ease of use. With the K10D you can handhold a 1/60 shot two feet in front of you and still come home with a crisp shot and heck even at 1/50 you may be able to pull off the impossible while trying that with a 5D you might as well go home and take pictures for what you're going to sell on ebay for the lens you need to even try this.

The rest of the settings are really personal and have found the results to come out better with them so I keep it that way, but do play around as you may find things that give better results.

The lens is the next big step in macro photography as many of us know shooting with a lens and close up filter doesn't cut it sometimes and the true macro lens is extremely versatile. I prefer the Sigma 105mm 2.8 because of its cost to performance ratio and it's build quality is over the top folks. It's built like a tank and take pictures like a gem with a price $150 less than the Pentax 100mm 2.8 macro which take just as sharp shots, but does beat the Sigma in contrast. Also the fact that it has a focus limiter is awesome and the way it goes from AF to MF is quite excellent. One thing you need to know with this lens... always set your EV +0.3 or 0.7 because it tends to underexpose a great deal and I do not know why.

A flash is also great to help you max out your exposure and I tend to mount my AF360 and lowered to -10 degrees in case I need some extra light on the subject. After playing with different settings I tend to shoot with it in HSS (high speed sync) mode to give an image the extra boost but I also try a diffuser and direct fire it or use it wirelessl at an angle so this is the one area I am lacking the most in so please do experiment with this and find what works for you.

Tripod... I don't use a tripod but with long exposure macro it's a must (anything less than 1/50 but we are really talking like a second or longer) and I myself have never shot anything of that nature, but there could be a day. I tend to shoot in marshes, bogs, swamps, waterways and forests so a tripod would only get in the way so trust your equipment and boost your ISO if you have to and use other tools so you can leave the tripod at home and make your trip that much easier.

Other fun things to carry around:
Bandanna or wristbands... trust me shooting macros is hard work and you will sweat if you work at it for an extended period of time and find myself having to shower after each trip. Having a bandanna or wristband also gives you something to wipe your camera off or just to have in case of emergency so it is a multi purpose tool. I also recommend lots of memory cards, I tend to have 8 gigs on my person at all times and in a handy place because I'm nowhere near a computer nor will I carry one with me because it's just silly so just carry lots of memory it's fairly cheap and is always useful. A long telephoto is also helpful because it may not be a true macro lens but it's ability to get an object to fill the frame can do the job so carry one even the Tamron 70-300mm 4-5.6 DI makes a wonderufl macro lens at times and gives you a wonderful working distance to keep most bugs from running away.

The next installment will contain the actual shooting techniques on how to get close enough to your subject to make it worth while trying this sector of photography and trust me you'll think I'm nuts when you're done reading it, but it does work and WILL work for you if you try it.

What got me started?

There are a lot of reasons I started to take photography seriously, but the biggest had to have been my love for taking pictures at the bar I work at here in Illinois. It's a small but distinguished pub, with a wonderful crowd and even better staff. I used my old Pentax DL to take pictures for them and their website (Oscars Myspace) and to my amazement it was very enjoyable fighting the drunken crowd to snap a few shots. It's much different taking pictures in a bar and enjoying being at a bar, but both experiences are very enjoyable in there own merit. Back to the whole reason this paragraph started and my serious venture in photography spawned because I wasn't satisfied with the pictures I was taking in the harsh conditions of the bar, even though everyone else was all googly over my work. I would look endlessly into the work I'd create and make a scene about how bad it was in my mind and tell myself I can do better. Today I have the tools and the knowledge to take those better shots in the harsh lighting environment that is a bar and have a few shots and the techniques I use to help sift through the crowd and also to get the employees involved.

The first and most important aspect of taking shots for a bar is to know what they want to show and 99% of the time it's the same thing. What is it, well it's best said in the words of my boss, "we need pictures of people having a good time!" Sounds simple right? Not so much when there is 200+ people shoulder to shoulder and at f1.4 the shutter speed is a whopping 1/3 not too mention that white balancing is an art in itself with halogen lightings, christmas lighting, neons, fish tanks, natural light light bulbs, etc. You name it most bars have it for lighting and it can change drastically from one area to another. I myself love a clear shot of my subject and leave everything else out, while others love to mix the ambient light with the strobe they carry and thats fine too until you see how hard it can become. My next experiment is to go out one night and try to mix my lighting with what is available and compare, but for now I bounce flash to keep it simple in such a hectic area.

Getting through the crowd with your gear is quite difficult at times, but I've learned the rule of keeping it simple really helps. I keep a bandanna wrapped around my left wrist to use as a sweat wipe or in super hot bars a headband to keep sweat off my camera and out of the eyes. I also only carry an extra memory card, my sigma 28 1.8 (in crowds this is great and it doesn't have much distortion) and my flash attached with white card extended and flash pointed at 90 degrees. My reason for the 90 degree turn is that I want my light to not distract too many other people and when you shoot in a crowd pointing it right at your subject will also be pointed at the people behind them and to the sides which is quite annoying and have found that the straight up position is best if you don't want to disturb other patrons.

To get those "people enjoying themselves" shots I rely on the staged shot because most people will go, "wow they do look like they are having so much fun being their with their friends." I also try and snag a few people without their knowledge, but it's hard when you are no more than 5 feet away because of traffic so I take what I can get and run. When lighting is really bad and I speed is essential I crank the aperture, boost the flash and set the camera to manual focus and eyeball things as best as I can and hopefully the higher aperture and flash will give me a semi sharp image that looks good medium sized or on the net.



I hope some of these techniques help the aspiring bar photographer out there and believe me I'm no expert, but I've been doing this for about 2 years and have had a lot of compliments on the work and can honestly say that it's no picnic out there some nights.




I'll leave you with the final shot here of two staff members having a great time: