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    Sunday 31 October 2010

    strobist double-header!!

    30 October 2010
    Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    simply didn't wanna bring down the whole setup as long as it had the capacity to serve further.... so, the utilisation of Friday wasn't enough, it seems.... got this inspiration from my family and decided not to bring it down.... this is the first time I've kept studio setting intact for so long....

    Lamisa got her new cooking set from one of her grandmas a few days back.... and already those were in the line of fire..... I decided to get some snaps of Lamisa with those stuff before they changed beyond all recognition.... that triggered the first session......














    decided to utilise the black backdrop, rather than anything else.... so, the typical challenges of background darkening and creating separation remained.... the set-up worked fairly well in terms of making the background dark.... the hair-light wasn't really yielding perfect results, but it was working..... I decided to add a third light in the same setting with one SB-600 as a second hair light..... to restrict the light from falling on the lens, I put a DIY snoot on the flash.... the other hair light, an SB-900, had a DIY grid spot on it.... for this particular experiment, the hair light coming from the gridded SB-900 seemed a bit too restricted.... it wasn't covering enough area that I wanted it to..... but I only had one option, making me somewhat crippled.... both the hair lights were on improvised boom stands, getting some overhead position that my other stands were unable to provide.... the SB-600 was on my new improvised boom stand that I made out of my old damaged tripod.... did some repair to it during the day and it worked fine....

    we went out for some shopping and came back with something that could potentially help the makeshift studio..... a stool..... Lamisa pounced on it and I got at least one shot....


    (p.s. she's holding on to the KitKat packs that Rumi Bhai smuggled in for her!!)


    then some happy accident happened..... Rumi Bhai came in to see the intact setting.... and some way, I brought the grid-spot down from the flash..... so, when I was shooting afterward, the flash was bare..... and the hair-illumination was actually better than it was with the grid-spot on..... quite surprisingly, there was no flare because of this.... I was pretty sure that the flash wasn't supposed to miss the lens, yet there was no flare!!..... for the rest of the shoot, I kept the flash bare and forgot about flare....




    this was the last setting used.... changed the aperture a little in some cases though.... but overall, the settings remained the same....

    Saturday 30 October 2010

    day-long strobist........

    29 October 2010
    Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    In recent times my work has almost got into my nerves.... putting enough pressure on me to make a real difference in my day-to-day mood.... but its the survival instinct that keeps me going, actually... the weekend seems so precious, yet so short and even lesser in terms of its effect on the coming week of busy of schedules..... I had planned on a photoshoot on Friday no matter what.... had received all the help from family members and we were rolling by around midday.... we didn’t plan for an all-day session, but as it turned out, that was probably the most feasible if we really wanted to make it count.... and when I say making it count, I mean utilising the whole setup for the shoot.... almost one hour’s effort should not be used to shoot just a couple of frames, I guess.....













    we started in the morning hours; late morning hours to be honest..... Lamisa was as usual in her moody self, providing me with all the unique stuff.... but as always, she also charges premium for it.... hard work for the photographer, that is...... someone who shoots babies frequently, would know what I mean by hard work..... sometimes, one single successful shot is all that you have..... I at least got several!!




    the idea was to use the same white-out once again that I’ve tried out more-or-less successfully couple of days back (see my last blog).... not a lotta changes to the settings, used the same lens too.... Lamisa was in her black dress, which made it imperative to used a white backdrop, rather than dark.... anyway, I had actually planned to utilise the black some time during the day....







    The next shoot came up in the afternoon, after some modifications to the setup..... I used a black fabric to put on the white diffuser that I used as backdrop..... I’ve used this same black fabric quite a few times before, mainly as backdrop..... and it works.... I won’t say perfectly, but it works..... but I usually have to be very careful about light falling on the backdrop.... so, control of light is more important than anything else while would be using a black backdrop..... except for one occasion, I never had the opportunity to setup the black backdrop way behind my subject, which would’ve made my life so much easier to control light spill.... space had always been the concern.... anyway, the panel now seems to be working somewhat with close collaboration of the black fabric, not just as a backdrop, but also as a Gobo.... also one of the newer things I tried out was a hair light on a boom stand, with grid spot.... this worked pretty well, considering my other experiments with hair light.... still, there is room for improvement.... lets see where I can take this....




    there was a long enough pause before we could try out the next thing..... we went out and among other stuff, visited Drik Gallery, where we watched a couple of photography exhibitions..... one was involving some deprived children (age 12-15) who are getting training on photography.... I was really amazed at the quality of work on display there.... some of the shots were outright brilliant!!.... the other exhibition was called Wedding Diary, where wedding photographer Prito Reza tried to show his portfolio..... this was the first time I've seen an exhibition involving wedding photography.... his shots were really good; some of them being unique.... this was a good lesson in terms of how marketing should be done by a professional photographer..... the exhibition was a good lesson in photography, and a great lesson in marketing.....




    anyway, we came back and got prepared for the last shoot..... we knew that it would be late..... there was no Lamisa planned in the frame this time, but she was not possible to keep away..... it was another difficult shoot was Lamisa wanted to be a part of it....... this last setup of the day didn’t change the earlier lighting that much, but it surely changed everything else.... I switched to a wider lens, as this was a whole body portrait with some props..... couldn’t afford to use a shorter focal length to flatten perspective, as I was really short of space..... 50mm was too cramped for my liking and the 35mm was not doing justice at all with wrong exposure.... didn’t want the 24mm either because it would not just be too wide, it would also add some perspective distortion as well.... so, I decided to turn to the old 28-80mm lens... the lens has accumulated some fungus and was not in the best shape..... but this kinda practice, it was probably enough..... and it worked fair enough, though I would’ve liked some sharper images at f6.3.....

    anyway, it was a good exercise..... learnt some lessons regarding control of light and also learnt some lessons on the type of lenses suitable for my work..... I used tethered shooting for more ease of review and thankfully there was no software glitch this time..... I kept the setup intact as it was well beyond midnight.... perhaps the setup has some more life in it.... lets see....

    Wednesday 27 October 2010

    white-out!!

    26 October 2010
    Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    energy is hard to come by after a hectic workday at office.... didn't get any chance during the day to peek in the cyberspace.... my Net buddies went missing from my contact for almost two days..... and the two days seemed almost like a month!!..... yea, thats how cyber-freak I've become in recent times..... and the more pressure I get from my workplace, the higher the urge to become cyber-freak!!...... and also, click-freak!!...... hmm..... it was time to click...... went through all the hassle to setup all those stuff.... took almost 45 minutes and then after a few clicks, load-shedding stepped in!!.. grrrrrrr.......... waited for a full one hour before we could go on once again.... Lamisa was half asleep, as it was already around 11:40:PM!!..... but a few clicks are all that I needed..... it took me another 40 minutes to pack everything up....


























    the geeky stuff as usual........ tried something that I also tried before, but haven't done it in recent times..... high-key lighting with a blown-out background..... previously, I tried in different ways.... sometimes, using a white wall or sometimes using a white fabric screen.... but on both types of experiments, I projected the light on the background..... but this time I decided to make an exception..... projected the light on the backdrop alright, but not from in front of the screen, but rather from behind the screen..... and this was the first time I used the Simpex Prolite 400D strobe as the trigger light for SB-900 units..... the SB-900 was in SU-4 mode, triggered by the light from the 400D strobe..... used to 4'x4' diffusion panels to do the job; one acting as the backdrop and the other working as the key light..... few days back, I used a silver umbrella to use the SB-900 as an indirect light on the 4'x4' panel.... that light was really diffused..... but this time, the SB-900 was firing straight into the panel..... this resulted in the light being somewhat specular..... there were hot-spots and and I could see that in the catchlights..... and the 4'x4' backdrop seemed a little too small for a model like Lamisa..... I could see the edges of the backdrop quite often.... but I was too lazy to remove the edges in PS..... anyway, here is the setup.....

    Friday 22 October 2010

    morning strobist......

    22 October 2010
    Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    after an extremely hectic week, this was a must actually..... the week contained only four days because of Durga Puja holidays on Sunday.... yet, the week seemed so long.... last weekend's Rajshahi tour seems like weeks ago..... its a pity how the hectic city life is making us age so quickly.....we have to find our ways to survive.....

    anyway, Rumi Bhai took the initiative.... we planned to go outside Dhaka on some small strobist effort.... but it didn't materialise as some of us dropped out because of personal engagements..... so, we had to live with something shorter.... much shorter.... we met early in the morning at Mohammadpur and decided to venture to one of our old hunting grounds, Martyred Intellectuals Monument at Rayerbazar..... the idea was to spend some time talking and also to shoot some pictures, as opportunities came by..... we also kept the option of practicing some strobist stuff..... actually that was the most important motivation and we were prepared..... we had quite a few flashes among three of us.....


    the guy was completely insane.... he continued with his fiery speech whether anyone listened to him or not.... and he was breaking the rule just like other "sane" people, so can't blame him for standing and walking on the altar....



    children playing cricket on the historical premises.....
    little do they know that they are the ones expected to create history in the days to come.....


    although we spent some time shooting some available light lifestyle and landscape shots, we soon figured out that our strobes were still in the bag.... the weather was gloomy to start with, as there was the tropical storm Giri looming over the Bay of Bengal..... but the sun did win its place and illuminated the massive Monument with morning lights.... we spent our time under the cool shades of the numerous trees there...

    once we accumulated all our flashes, we came up with the idea of trying to overpower the sun.... or at least, test the potential of speedlites to overpower the sun.... we had five flashes, but to sync them together was something we haven't done before.... two Canon flashes and three Nikon flashes..... how do we do it?..... we had in short of radio triggers..... Rumi Bhai's radio triggers (Yongnou RF 602/C) could trigger only two flashes... I also had Elinchrom Skyport that could trigger only one flash.... I knew that the SB-900s can shoot in SU-4 mode, utilising the light from other flashes as the trigger..... so, thats it.... five flashes...... we tested the flashes and they all synced.... Rumi Bhai was surprised to see his radio triggers working with my D700, as he thought they were only supposed to work with Canon flashes.....

    we used all available resources to mount the flashes in the right places..... to overpower the sun, I had to dial down the aperture to f16 and had to utilise the full power of all the flashes.... the radio trigger seemed quite unreliable, as it regularly decided not to shoot..... but after some random pressing, they somehow worked.....



    Rumi Bhai volunteered to feature in front of the camera and Pervez kept the two SB-900s in his hand behind the single umbrella, which was constantly under thread from the slight breeze..... the edge lighting was provided by a Canon 430EX and an SB-900..... the SB was on the ground, while, to better utilise the 430EX, I had to put it on a higher platform..... a local boy (Ziaur Rahman) was among the substantial crowd of onlookers enjoying our madness..... he helped us keeping the flash away from the floor....

    setup......


    it was by no means a perfect shoot, but it was another step to learning more.... and that was a big enough motivation to do this..... can't wait for the next effort....

    Monday 18 October 2010

    a day of goodbye........

    17 October 2010
    Rajshahi, Bangladesh

    my busy days at Rajshahi were about to end.... a sad time actually, since we had such a wonderful time with the family and the life here in this city is so different from the busy and dirty Dhaka.... would've stayed back if I could.... the hospitality and friendliness of the in-laws were truly amazing.... this tour would surely remain in memory.....

    we didn't have any program for the day, as we were to start our journey by train in the afternoon by around 4:00PM..... I planned some shoots at home with my "available" models.... there were quite a few and they were very much willing to give their time.....

    I made some serious error regarding ISO settings.... the night before, I was shooting at Puja Mandap with available light, using auto ISO.... forgot to change the setting next day for Elinchrom Skyport.... I now know that once the Elinchrom is on top of the camera, the camera doesn't know that flash is being used, thats why the camera starts to set ISO level considering available light only...... a big lesson for me..... of course, with the SU-800 on the camera, the camera shoots at the lowest ISO unless told specifically to change ISO....


    model: bornona
    Camera info:
    Nikon D700 + Nikkor AF 20mm f2.8D + Elincrom Skyport radio trigger
    f18, 1/200sec,ISO6400 (didn't notice it was at that level!! :O)
    Strobist info:
    1 SB-900 with warm gel filter, on improvised boom stand, around 8-9ft high, around 15-20ft away, triggered with Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger


    model: niloy
    Camera info:
    Nikon D700 + Nikkor AF 70-210mm f4-5.6D + Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger
    105mm, f8, 1/200sec. ISO 6400 (didn't notice it was at that level!! :O)
    Strobist info:
    1 SB-900 shooting through a 2'x2' diffusion panel, held overhead with the help of three improvised booms, triggered by Elinchrom Skyport
    1 SB-900 with warm gel, on tripod behind subject, triggered in SU-4 mode (optical trigger from the other strobe)
    1 white reflector held below the subject's face clipped to the boom stand


    the last shot was a group shot..... I had planned so much for this.... the rooftop was a superb place for this.... but the weather simple wasn't helping us..... it rained quite a bit and made me set-up everything indoors..... was quite a bit cramped up within the room, trying to cover so many faces at the same time and getting to light everyone's face properly..... I wish I could be in the group shot, along with my child.... but it wasn't to be..... a better weather might've give this better opportunity....


    Camera info:
    Nikon D700 + Nikkor AF 20mm f2.8D + SU-800 TTL trigger
    f8, 1/125sec, ISO200 (auto ISO chose the lowest setting)
    Strobist info:
    1 SB-900 overhead, shooting through a 4'x4' diffusion panel, all held by three improvised boom stands
    1 SB-900 from right in front, on table, shooting through a 4'x4' diffusion panel, parked on the floor almost vertical
    Editing:
    used the lens correction feature in Photoshop CS3 to correct distortion created by 20mmm wide angle lens


    same setting as above, but no need for perspective correction

    anyway, it was the end of a lovely time...... and it also reminded me of what is to expect within a day..... office, that is!!! :(

    Durga Nobomi.....

    16 October 2010
    Rajshahi, Bangladesh

    was having a very busy day at Rajshahi..... went to the Silk Village during the day and then made it to the Durga Puja celebrations in the evening..... me and my uncle had planned this depending on the info received from priests the day earlier.... we were planning to catch the Arti, which was supposed to happen sometime around 8:00PM.... we also had a dilemma of some sort with the time we could spend there.... we had a family dinner almost coinciding with this event.... so, we had to cut short our venture by some margin...... still managed to get enough time to visit two separate Puja Mandaps....

    had a glimpse of Arti at both the places.... used a flash in one of the Mandaps to accentuate the lighting at the scene a little..... my uncle was to the rescue once again..... a very friendly guy indeed..... and we forgot our age differences for a while.... he also enjoyed the experience, as I guessed.... used the SU-800 as trigger, as I didn't have the choice of changing power in the remote flash..... at the other Mandap, I was relying completely on the ISO performance of my D700....... took as many shots as I could and filled the card..... it was a rather short venture, but an enjoyable one.....





    the silkworms!!

    16 October 2010
    Rajshahi, Bangladesh

    had a nice day at the Silk Village at Rajshahi..... haven't visited the silk producing facilities before.... and I was a bit surprised to see easy access with a camera.... actually they do appreciate documentation there, as it helps to promote the industry....

    its one of those weird, but interesting experiences, seeing all those worms creeping over and under.... I would've loved to have a macro lens with me to do the job.... but in absence of that, I concentrated on some environmental documentation.... wasn't my intention to make a photo-story out of this, but certainly it was an eye-opener in many respects..... something that might just give that push one day.... :)

    learned quite a few things.... its interesting to know that we grow these creepy-crawlies ourselves rather than trying to use some sorta bug-spray!!..... its a weird world!!.... you never know what can give you what.... nothing in this world is without a reason.... they all have their uses.... these bugs come to this world for a mere 45 days!!.... and within these 45 days, they give us 500 yards of silk!!!.... unbelievable, isn't it??.....

    I used a single SB-900 with a shoot-through white umbrella for the shoots.... the light was on VALs (acted by my wife and alternatively my sister-in-law).... trigger was with Elinchrom Skport radio trigger..... didn't want to take any chances with SU-800, in case I ran into some out-of-line-of-sight lighting requirements....

    my thanks goes to Sapura Silk for letting us shoot there and also thanks to the employees there for their generosity.... special thanks to Ms. Naznin for explaining everything in so much detail....


    a very short life they have.... they hatch to mate and produce the eggs..... after that, they die...



    the eggs hatch and produce the worms that take around a month to grow up.....



    a whole garden of plants just to feed the worms.....



    constant monitoring is important to make sure that the worms do not reach their maturity in the inappropriate place....



    their colour says when they are ready to start making their cocoon....



    the worms are then placed in a maze-like place where they cover themselves with the cocoon..... and that where the silk comes from.....



    the worms are then killed and the cocoons boiled to get the silk.....



    then the silk is readied for the next processing.........



    raw silk has quite a colour.......



    the silk then goes through various machines to be ready for commercial use....

    Sunday 17 October 2010

    dragging shutter.........

    15 October 2010
    Rajshahi, Bangladesh

    I actually started to like the city the moment I stepped there..... Rajshahi doesn't have the hustle and bustle of busy and polluted Dhaka.... it may not have all the facilities that you get in Dhaka, but who says you will need all of those there?.... its a much more peaceful city..... and city that makes one from Dhaka stay there.... anyway, I started to plan things right after my arrival there.... even though my arrival was a bit later than we planned, my wife made sure that things went as smoothly as possible..... it was a very hectic first evening at Rajshahi.... but a really enjoyable one....

    we arranged for a sort of a barbecue on the roof at the dead of night.... and while that was going on, we did some sort of a night-time portraiture there.... the idea was to give sort of an environmental feel to the picture, rather than making a bland portrait..... I had quite a few subjects for the night, as my in-laws were really appreciating the slow and geeky effort!!..... they stayed with me even though the last shot was not finished before 2:08 AM!!


    model: proma


    model: upoma


    I dragged shutter to include the lights in the distance and their reflections on the water-tank right beside..... an this long shutter also brought a fluorescent light in the back window come into play..... I also faced a tungsten light on the roof, which showed up as a result of the long exposure... this was adding some ghost to the image.... so, I replaced it with a flash with warm gel..... also added a hair light, which wasn't placed properly enough to really make an impact.... the key light was in an improvised 2'x2' softbox on overhead booms.... the whole setup was clumsy, but it worked..... couldn't get enough space to place a reflector under the subject..... and didn't have a fourth flash to use as fill from below.... relocating the hair light to be used as a fill light didn't really materialize.... anyway, it needs a bit of touching to reduce the shadows now....

    could've done the whole thing through some composite image..... combining several shots..... well, thats not actually my job..... I just want this done in go or I won't do it at all.....

    Camera info:
    Nikon D700 + Nikkor AF 20mm f2.8D + SU-800 TTL trigger; on tripod
    f11, 20sec, ISO200
    Strobist info:
    1 SB-900 in an improvised 2'x2' softbox overhead subject; held with the help of improvised booms.
    1 SB-600 on tripod as hair light behind subject.
    1 SB-900 on tripod with warm gel filter behind subject on camera right

    Saturday 16 October 2010

    calm, but not quiet......

    15 October 2010
    Rajshahi, Bangladesh

    not a stranger to Rajshahi anymore.... just came here and started to rediscover..... always loved the calm nature of the city...... but as usual, this is a city of festivals during Durga Puja.... the Puja is usually celebrated in grand style here, traditionally..... there are celebrations literally on the streets.... I just had a short stroll during the evening with my uncle and was able to visit quite a few Puja Mandap within about one-and-a-half hours..... actually arrived a bit late for the day's (Ashtami) celebrations..... but took the idea of the celebrations on the coming day (Nobomi)..... took a few snaps as a souvenir....

    this was again a strobist effort.... I got great help from my uncle, who's really a great guy and very friendly....


    devotion........ [Rajshahi, Bangladesh]

    some of us never try to find the meaning of devotion in their lives..... on the other hand, some of us spend their whole lives trying to find the meaning of it..... and to the rest, these two groups become the words in the definition of devotion......

    Strobist info: 1 Nikon SB-900 shooting TTL, on camera right, shooting through a white shoot-through umbrella on voice-activated lightstand (my uncle); triggered by SU-800 on camera.

    Wednesday 13 October 2010

    a night of disaster!!

    12 October 2010
    Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    my family being away, I took the chance..... sat down in the evening with some unfinished work that are usually kept on the shelf....... Lamisa is usually too interested in anything that her Dad uses; so, it becomes impossible to work..... anyway, finished some work on the 4'x4' panel..... broke it down to 2ft size pieces for better transportability.... the work went on without a hitch..... until....

    I got a plan.... wanted to have a real feeling with something I have always thought, but never executed..... making a big soft-box..... or at least, making something that would behave like a 4'x4' softbox..... just a day back I bought some black fabric to be use as flags..... I actually cut them in a way that they can cover a whole 4'x4' panel's rim.... that gave me the opportunity to potentially have a 4'x4' softbox.... I also wanted to use the concept of Westcott Apollo 50-inch softbox to make the best use of one light, especially its a small light.....

    used a silver reflector umbrella to act as the reflector for the light.... the light then would fall on the 4'x4' panel..... and the gap between the silver umbrella and the panel would be covered in black fabric..... thats it!!..... sounds simple; yet, its execution was nothing other than trouble.... I learned quite a few things at the end of an exhausting night's effort.....

    the equipment continued to malfunction until I was able to pack the last bit of it..... it was a disastrous night!!..... I thought of making at least one picture that would at least keep a record of what the whole set-up was capable of..... and at point, even that single shot seemed improbable...... anyway, I was able to shoot some example shots...... ahhhhh!!

    almost everything backfired on me..... the silver umbrella fell off with the flash out of the flash holder and got damaged...... I replaced the umbrella with a second one (thanks God, I had two!!)..... need to repair the umbrella..... the whole setup with the three stands and booms almost came down on its own weight..... the addition of the umbrella and the black fabric seemed too much..... the DIY umbrella adapter god damaged and needs a replacement!! .... and lastly, the thread inside the panel pipes malfunctioned!!.... need to do the whole threading again, may be with an elastic this time......

    many many lessons.... I'm still making sense of all those learning..... it was a disaster, but at the same time, it was great lesson..... this would prepare me for the coming shoot....

    the only shot I was able to make...... the results were decent.... a one-light setup that pulled this off only because it turned into a very big light source....



    Camera Info:
    Nikon D700 + Sigma APO 150mm f2.8 EX DG HSM Macro + Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger
    f6.3, 1/125sec, ISO100
    Strobist info:
    1 SB-900 @ 1/4 power; shooting into a silver reflector umbrella, bouncing light into a 4'x4' diffusion panel, skirted by black fabric cutting off light; triggered by Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger; all the things kept over the object to be photographed using three improvised boom stands.
    Object placed on white paper; another white paper on camera right to reduce shadows.