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NATURAL TEXTURE is the topic for Thursday 11 October 2012.

Lots of subjects to choose from today, but this was my final choice. The dahlias are loving the cooler weather and are lasting a lot longer into the season than normal.

The morning sun was just behind this one so it was the chosen one.

A couple of the close seconds are below in the comments section.

Switching Topics by Twang Your Head

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challenge topic- round by thrunance'seyes

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my kids all work in a local pizza shop. Hands down the best in town. Anyway, when I saw today's topic I knew that I had to go shoot something pizza related. Shot balls of dough, pies, pepperonis...you name it...and I ended up going with paper cups. Go figure.

26/365 - DIY Speedlight Grid by .avina.

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January 26, 2010

Light Modifiers, DIY Grid (and Snoot)

One of the topics I included on my 365 calendar was, "Instructional" or more appropriately, "sharing the benefit of my limited experience in the hopes of helping others." A lot of people in our 365 have expressed an interest in expanding their lighting capabilities. There are many great articles and sites available to aid in choosing and purchasing aftermarket lighting equipment so I won't go into those aspects of lighting.

Once you have your starter kit together, you'll quickly realize that basic studio lighting is not rocket science and the real art begins to happen as you branch out and experiment. Seeing as the cost of lighting gear adds up fast many people, myself included, like to use DIY modifiers whenever possible. There are numerous ways to modify your light and one can add a lot of punch to their images with modifiers made from simple, inexpensive items around the house or available at craft stores.

One of my favorite looks is a gradient circle or ellipse on the background behind the subject. This is accomplished with the use of snoots and grids. Snoots and grids have the same basic function, to restrict and direct light. A snoot is simple a tube that goes over the light head to restrict the light. One can buy a "professional" snoot for about $30 (USD) or one can make one with a piece of paper rolled into a tube or frustrum. If you want a fancy DIY snoot, the hot ticket is a piece of black 2 or 4mm craft foam. If you can get the adhesive backed kind, leave the backing paper on and use the white side as the tunnel to better reflect the light. Total cost: $0-$2 USD.

A more complicated version of the snoot is the grid (or gridded snoot) which physically works a little differently and gives a very soft, predictable, light pattern.

I use both, but I use the grid more. In fact the light rig pictured above basically lives on the shelf, set up just like that so I can grab it quickly for use.

A professional grid kit for speedlights ranges from $30-200 USD. but building your own DIY grid is simple and almost free. First build a short snoot from cardboard. The one shown above was made from a long rectangle of matte board cut to fit the dimensions of the light head and scored to make the folds. I taped the open corner to create a square tube then wrapped the exterior with a piece of adhesive-backed 2mm foam which is folded over the rear edge to make a tight, non-slip fit on the light head. The grid itself is simply 8 black straws from IKEA (about $2 USD for a package of 200) cut into 2cm lengths and glued together. A single layer of black gaffers tape locks the straws together and makes a cartridge which is then inserted into the baby snoot. Total cost: $0-4 USD depending on what you have around the house.

The results, shown above, demonstrate how dramatic this little guy can be. Add some colored gels and you just added a lot of value and variety to your studio gear.

Biggify it!

Have a great Tuesday. See you tomorrow. :)

Minibeasts topic by Sunflower Lily

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Fatigue by Louis Vest

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The captain (and I) have been up all night. When there is a maritime accident there is a checklist of questions and topics for the investigators. Fatigue is a central issue. How long had you been on duty? How much rest did you have? When did you sleep last? How long? What was the quality of sleep? Was it a dark room with no sound? Etc, etc.

Well, wake up Coast Guard and NTSB. Shipping is a 24/7, 365 day a year operation. It doesn't matter how much sleep a person has had in the previous 72 hours. That person is going to be sleepy between midnight and 6 am on the dark bridge of a ship. It doesn't matter how good, how long, how often or how comfortably you've slept. If you're a normal human being you've been conditioned by 125,000 years of existence to rest at night. Your whole body chemistry is set up to make you sleepy after midnight.

If there is a genuine reason to think fatigue causes accidents (and there is) then step up to the plate and insist that dangerous operations be scheduled outside those hours. Stop passing the buck to the men and women on the ships. This is an issue that won't go away by blaming the crew.

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