Off-camera flashing

For a few years now, I've been a fan of Strobist.com, David Hobby's web site dedicated to using a flash off-camera as opposed to mounted on top of it.  I'd highly recommend it if you're thinking of getting into the world of semi-pro lighting.

This week, I bought my first proper shoot-thru umbrella and stand.  Although it takes a few minutes to set up, it's an amazing piece of equipment.  It wasn't particularly expensive (£54 delivered) and I know I'm going to get a load of use out of it.

I've been taking pics of our son Samuel for months with a flash now (when he was a very small baby, I used a high ISO and fast lens, the latter of which he is too quick for nowadays), but I've wanted to get into using a shoot-thru umbrella with a speedlight - a Canon 430EX - for a while.  I don't have the space, budget or inclination to buy expensive studio lights at the moment, so the speedlight is fine.

A few years ago I bought some Yongnuo wireless triggers, so I can control the flash when it's not on top of the camera and with a very simple set up, I took the shot of Samuel, above.

At first glance, you might say that it just looks like a shot taken with a flash or with good room lighting, but I think it looks so much better than the flash-on-camera shots I've been taking recently.  The light it balanced across the shot, there aren't any harsh shadows and the quality of the shot overall is much more pleasing.

This was shot #1 taken with the umbrella set-up.  After reading the Strobist Lighting 101 series I was able to set up the shot and get this result (well, an incorrectly white-balanced version of it, until I fixed it in Lightroom).

The next challenge is doing all of this with the Mamiya medium format film camera...

Step back in time... again.

It's mad - I've got a Canon 5D mk II and several fancy lenses, but for some reason, when my Dad gave me his Pentax K1000 which he bought in Boston in 1977, I got more excited than ever.

As a boy, I remember my Dad having this mechanical, complicated looking contraption, snapping away with a shutter which let out a satisfactory 'clunk' when it fired and wind-on crank which now brings back memories of a happy childhood.

He told me that it cost him $25 for the kit, which included a 55mm f/2 lens and a case.  It's still in perfect condition and after I got the light meter working again (it required a 357 battery, whatever that is), I loaded it with a film and started shooting away.  Cautiously.  (I say cautiously because with only 36 frames, you don't want to 'waste' any, right?).

I know that shooting film these days is slightly pointless - the Canon can reproduce shots which look much better than the Pentax results in a matter of seconds.  In fact, in just about the time it takes to shoot off a reel of 35mm film, I can take a shot on the Canon, process it on the computer and print it off on my parents' printer 400 miles away using Google CloudPrint.

But wanting to dip into a piece of nostalgia, I've bridged the gap - our old scanner (which I bought YEARS ago) isn't compatible with Mac OS 10.6 so I've bought a new one which can scan film.  Instead of getting prints, I'm going to get films processed only, then scan them in to be edited digitally.

Watch this space.

Sometimes a DSLR is a burden

I'd LOVE to have the 5D2 with me just now.  Behind me (I really should face the window) is a fabulous view of Paris.


While I'm sitting here waiting for the other people to arrive for the meeting (I arrived an hour early owing to a timezone FAIL), I'd love to be snapping away, taking in the scene which stretches from the Forest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye to Monmartre and Sacre Coeur.  The iPhone doesn't quite cut it.  The Blackberry certainly won't be good enough.  The scale of the scene deserves something like the 17-40mm or - if you have the cash - the 16-35mm.


The sun is out.  Not something I've said in the UK much this year.  Mind you, a colleague here at Logica in France told me earlier on that it was terrible weather yesterday in Paris, so perhaps I've just chosen the right day to visit.


But while I lugged my laptop, notepad, shoes, charger, iPad, mouse and pencil case (!) to Paris, I couldn't quite squeeze the 5D2 into the bag.

Shame - I'd love to have shot off a few frames if the meeting gets boring.

New Year's (Photography) Resolutions

Well, not really. Just a load of things I'd like to achieve in 2012, photographically.

I'm not really into resolutions - they are proven to fail - but apparently they do focus the mind a little bit more and make you more likely to achieve personal goals.

So I've decided to set myself some photographic goals for 2012:

1.) Take a picture of our son, Samuel, every day.

- I started this the day he was born and have posted a photo from every day of his life on Flickr (you'll need to be one of my Friends of Family members to see the photos from this set).  I intend to keep it going until 3rd December 2012 at the very least.

Samuel, taken from the set, SGR on Flickr (permission required to view pics of Samuel)

2.) Take more film

- Last year, for some reason, I decided to invest in medium format and bought a Mamiya 645 Pro TL on eBay.  It's a great piece of kit, but I've put one film through it and that's it (mainly because it's pretty expensive to develop medium format film).  I also bought a Canon EOS 1V-HS, their final 'analog' SLR, but again, I only used it for one film and the results were superb.  I want to use the cameras a bit more, even though with a child, it's simpler to use a digital camera and delete all the blurry ones.  I like a challenge...

- A friend of mine (Rumbers!) asked me why I wanted to buy film cameras when I had a state-of-the-art digital camera.  It's a good question.  The answer is: because I can.

3.) Carry on writing this blog

- Sure, I get about 6 people reading this blog each time I post something new, but it keeps my writing skills fresh.  Writing is part of what I do for a living and I enjoy it.  I hope you enjoy reading it as much.

4.) Learn more about Photoshop/Lightroom

- Photography is one (very important) part of producing a picture; processing the photos is another part, just as darkroom techniques once were.  I use the same techniques in Photoshop/Lightroom most of the time - I'd like to do something more snazzy.

5.) Print more photos

- My Mum likes looking at photos on a computer, but LOVES holding them in her hand and actually seeing them printed out.  So do I.  Whether it's in a photobook or on individually printed photographs, I want to make sure I print more often.

So - any photography resolutions from you six??

THE Hairpin

Hairpin II, originally uploaded by David Romanis.


One of our last holidays before the arrival of our son or daughter was to Cannes. This included an evening trip to Monaco.

There aren't many famous roads in the world, but given that the most famous Grand Prix happens on these streets, this hairpin has its own unique place in history: it's the slowest corner in F1 and requires the teams to have a special steering rack so the cars can get round without having to whack it in reverse and ... oh yeh, that's right, they don't have a reverse gear. Honestly - all that money for a Formula 1 car and it can't go backwards? Rubbish.

The one downside to the evening trip was that by the time we arrived in Monaco, it was already dark (Lou and I went for dinner on the road between Casino and Mirabeau Haute as it was about 8.30pm) so we could only take pictures at about 10.30pm. The only available light was coming from the streetlights.

There's only one thing for it: open the aperture as wide as it'll go and whack the ISO up. Not too far, mind - I haven't got a Nikon, you know...

Yep, high ISO and a steady(ish) hand, a bit of creative tilt and this was the result. I deliberately caught the guys crossing the road to get a bit of context and something other than a kerb, then shot wide open at about 1/15th of a second. This is the result.

I only shot a couple, but this was the best one - I've done very little with it apart from a little bit of a push of contrast.