Canon Speedlite meets Profoto

Ever since moving over to the Profoto lighting system i was very unimpressed when using the Canon Speedlite either on or off camera. The quality of light just wasn´t up to my standards. But i wanted to have something light and small. Hence i started another DIY project, the ProLite! It is basically a steel tube that has a Stofen Omnibounce attached. The fantastic Profoto light modifiers clamp onto the steel tube. Now it is possible to mount softboxes, reflectors and the beauty dish on the Speedlite. The most difficult part was finding a tube with the right diameter and cutting the hole out. I use an Avenger D200 head to mount the ProLite on a lightstand, this also allows tilting.

Lightoutput is limited though, so it is not really useful when the sun is out. It gives about f8 at 3m with the Profoto zoomreflector 2. Should i ever upgrade my Skyports to the new Pocketwizzards with TTL capability i might have a chance to battle the sun via HSS but until then i have to bring the big lights.

I am quite amazed with the lightquality though. The Stofen Omnibounce acts like a frosted glasscover like the one on my Profoto ProHeads. This results in really nice light!!!

This image shows the lightfalloff with the zoomreflector 2 (intentionally underexposed to show it better).

Skinretouching

Skinretouching

Tried a new technique to retouch skin, not sure if it am happy with it. how do you like it?

Btw: these are before and after near 100% crops from the Sinar Hy-6 with Sinar eMotion 54LV and the Zeiss 120 Makro.

Werbefotograf in Wien

Chocolate Pralinés

Chocolate Pralinés
Originally uploaded by dergiman8282

Shot these pralinés with the Sinar Hy6 and the Carl Zeiss 120/4 Makro-Planar tethered to my MacBook Pro using Live View. The Camera and Lenses are excellent! This was shot at f4 wide-open!

Fotograf Wien

Time has come!

Time has come!
Originally uploaded by dergiman8282

Took this image of chocolate today and couldn´t believe my eyes! The out-of-focus highlights were turned into stars!

But why is that?

I exposed the image at Iso 50, 1/500th and f4. The camera used was a Sinar Hy6 with a Carl Zeiss 120/f4 PQS Makro-Planar which uses a leaf-shutter. Apparently the shutterspeed was too fast and the shutter already closed while the flash was burning down. The result is that the leaves of the shutter are seen in the highlights. On top of this, the shutterblades act like aperture leaves and closing the effective aperture creating larger depth of field. A teacher in photo-school once mentioned this effect but i thought that it is only theoretical.

Sinar Hy6 arrived !!!

4077.jpg
Originally uploaded by dergiman8282

I longed for this camera from the day it was announced. Thank to the world economic crisis, i was finally able to buy it used at a discount price. Unfortunatly i had so sell a lot of stuff to pay for it. I am really happy about the purchase, it works like a charm. I especially like the large finder, the ability to sync flash at 1/1000sec and the nice german glass the camera accepts. Zeiss is twice as nice!

architekturphoto.at gone live!

In the recent weeks i worked on my new webpage about my architectural photogaphy. please feel free to visit it and give comments! my old website is also due for an update.

http://www.architekturphoto.at

New Gear and Selfportrait

From time to time i take a selfportrait, it has become the most extensive series of mine.

The new ARRI Flood gives nice hard light for some mean facial expressions.

New Portrait

Took this image for a model scout for use on his website and in the
model´s portfolio.

New Architecture Project

One of my latest architecture projects was to take images of the Schützenhof vineyard in Deutschschützen. i have to admit that i was inspired by the Julius Shulman book i reviewed earlier.

Cuba Teaser

Mojito

been very busy lately and didn´t find the time to post anything. the images taken in Cuba are still not prepped to my liking. and there are some other projects ending soon, including some movie footage.

this image was for school, called Mojito. we were supposed to shoot glas and herbs to learn and apply photoshop selecting and masking techniques. turned out to be quite time consuming.

What goes to Cuba