Well, I took my first shots in my makeshift studio today (well, ok, a spare
bedroom). I get them back in a few hours, so I'll write again with the
actual results and post a few scans on my website. If you remember, I built
two diffusers/stands out of PVC pipe. They're complete stands, base and
all, with 18x24 diffusers. I put a fairly sheer material across the
rectangle, which seemed to work ok. I found a couple mounting shoes built
onto clamps that attach to the stand. Works pretty nice. Both diffusers
have T32 flashes mounted to them, connected to my OM-4T on a tripod between
them (flashes at a 45 degree angle).
I also built a backdrop holder of sorts also from PVC. I got some heavy
material from the fabric store. I tried a light gray and a medium gray. I
also want to try a beige, but they didn't have anything wide enough. I need
to come up with a better solution for mounting the fabric so that I can
easily switch between them. Any suggestions? I was thinking of mounting
them like shower curtains, but that wouldn't leave a smooth background. Is
that a problem?
The beauty of all this was that the total cost was almost nothing. PVC is
very cheap and easy to work with. All the connections are just pushed
tight, so it all breaks down into very small pieces. I bought a bag of play
sand that I was going to pour into the bases, but it's all surprisingly
stable without it. When I get several more backdrop colors, I'll put the
sand in that base, as it will need the extra stability.
I tried three different lenses, the 100/2, 85/2 and the 50/1.2. The last
was an experiment. My 'models' were my two daughters, both 7 (one about to
turn 8, one just turned 7). The interesting part may be their differences
in coloration. My oldest is fair skinned and my youngest is a medium brown
(she's half & half black and white, they're both adopted). I think the
beige might have worked better for her skin tones. I was surprised at the
working distance on the 100/2. I hadn't thought about the fact that I'd nee
d some distance between the camera and subject. For now, I didn't try the
100/2.8 or the 135's. I'm not sure I have the distance to properly use 135s
and since I've heard such raving about the 100/2, I didn't really see the
point in those chocies. The 100 worked better for shots of one girl and the
85 worked better for shots of two girls. They thought the whole thing was
pretty silly, so we'll see how it all turns out.
I shot Superia 100 this time. I also have a roll of Kodak's Royal Gold 100
I'm going to try. Fuji seems to be the consensus on the list, but I want to
try everything. I need to track down some Superia Reala as that seems to be
Fuji's recommendation for portraits as the list the standard Superia as an
outdoor film.
I thought I'd also try some slide film, as slides are actually easier to
work with in the film scanner. That said, I do like to have prints to mail
to the family, but this is fun experimentation. I'm a little confused on
all of Fuji's choices on slide film. Seems like there is Astia and Provia,
both in 100 speed. Their website implies Astia is more for portraits. There
is also Velvia (50). That seems like an interesting choice too.
I'd love various opinions of film. I know this has been hashed and re-hashed
more than once, some probably before my list membership, so if you want to
comment offline, that's fine.
Well, as I said, this was long and rambling. It is fun to focus on the
photos! Yesterdays soccer was rained out, so no new soccer shots.
Oh yes, I posted a few of last weeks soccer shots. They are just so-so. I'm
still getting used to the sport and the various lenses. I should be getting
a 65-200 from Jaap soon, which should be a nice choice. I like the
one-touch.
If you're interested in shots of 7 years olds kicking each other in the
shins, check out:
http://www.scales.tzo.com/hornets - Shannon
http://www.scales.tzo.com/fireflies - Shelby
Thanks for reading to here.
Tom
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