The Angry Sea

My goal was to capture the dramatic, angry, and cold sea this morning.


Camera settings:
ISO100, f/16, 1.6 seconds

Gear used:
5D Mark II with a EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II mounted on a RRS BH-55 Ball Head on a Gitzo GT5541LS Tipod. I also used a Lee .9 Graduated Neutral Density Filter to balance the brighter sky with the darker foreground.

My Gear

Camera Bodies
5D Mark II
7D


Lenses
Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM


Speedlites
Canon 580EX II
Canon 430EX II


Lighting Support
Avenger A2030D C Stand w/ Detachable Base
Avenger D600 Mini Boom Arm


More to come!

I'm now a B&H Affiliate

My exciting new for today is that I am now a B&H Affiliate. I guess they recognized how many times they send me packages and thought "This guy must know something about camera gear." ;)
So, look out for exciting new content on my blog. I'll be adding some behind the scenes shots and videos, my gear recommendations, and some more tutorials. Also, join my page.Facebook page.

The new Einsteins

I got the new Einstein lights from Paul Buff. They're 640WS (comparable to an AB B1600) I got to use them today and they worked great.

They seem better constructed than the Alien Bees though not as well as the White Lightning series. My biggest gripe with Alien Bees are the color of the light was not consistent across the power range. Actually they didn't even seem consistent within a given power setting. This is where the Einsteins shine. I used a gray card to color balance once for each camera I used today (7D & 5D Mark II) and every shot after that looked consistent. The light coming out of these look clean. I don't know how else to describe it. The color that comes out of the Alien Bees seemed to be dingy at times. I haven't played around with all the functions and features of the new lights but I was pleased with their performance today. One huge nitpick that I have is the 4 clips that keep the modifiers on. Let's just say they don't do a great job with keeping them on. The clips need to be a bit longer and bow out more. I found the Alien Bees and White Lightning had the same issue.
Here are 2 shots I took today with the Einsteins.

My recent works

Here are 3 images I've made recently.

This first image was taken at Buckroe Beach for thedaythat.com. The image was made with a Canon 7D and Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens. I also used a Singh Ray 3 Stop Reverse Graduated Neutral Density filter. (ISO100, f11, 5 seconds)
You can check out all the images taken that morning by clicking March 11th on our calendar.




This second image is of Lisa. She is the current Miss Teen Williamsburg. This image was made with a Canon 5D Mark II and the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS. ((ISO160, f/7.1, 1/125) I placed a bare bulb strobe to camera left. I converted the image to black and white and then added warm tones to it in Lightroom 2.





This last image is of a hall way in the Richmond Convention Center. I was there last week to see Ben Willmore for a Photoshop Seminar sponsored by NAPP.

Two Color or Not to Color

These were taken off of Colonial Parkway