when u have 'available' light.....

04 October 2011
Dhamrai, Dhaka, Bangladesh

I first used flashes on location during a visit to a jute mill about a year ago.... it surely was a big change for me.... from then on, I don't travel anywhere without a flash.... and when I have a flash always available with me, the definiton of available light changes.... I again used such "available" lights during a recent visit to Dhamrai during Durga Puja....

last couple of years I had the privilege to be outside Dhaka during Durga Puja.... I say privilege because its the uniqueness of the experience that we miss if we stay at Dhaka.... celebrations in Dhaka now have a modern touch; utilising all the latest technology and gadgets.... traditional items are there, but in some cases they get overpowered by the conveniences offered by latest inventions..... in 2010 I had been to Rajshahi... and though I found that to be different from that of Dhaka, it still had the urban flavour in it.... the best experience I had was at Chandpur, in 2009, where I actually had a rural feel.... I still have that in my memory as the best experience I had during Durga Puja....

I like Hindu festivals for their colourful nature.... and Durga Puja has its own version of colourfulness.... I also like the celebrations as they show us the devotion of human souls.... I was lucky to experience some of that this year at Dhamrai.... I went there on the 8th day (Ashtami) of Durga Puja celebrations.... it was on an invitation from one of our long-time family friends.... I had been to such a Puja Mandap way back, when I hardly did any photography.... so, the return visit there was a really refreshing experience.... although the overall visit was short and I was able to watch only a small portion of the celebrations, the experience I received from there is definitely long-lasting.....







the most vibrant part of the day's celebration was Arti.... thats when the dances take place with the playing of drums.... a young Purohit started the proceedings with a very energetic dance in front of Durga.... the weather was sultry, and his performance in that weather amazed me....











the drama started when the next session started.... a couple of old fellas took the "dhuup" and went in a frenzy!..... it was a dance to watch really.... and the ambience resulting from the smoke from dhuup created a surreal environment.... I also went crazy with the camera.... I was literally under them when they were circling and dancing.... the couple of guys who performed showed us what energy means.... and one individual, in particualar, showed us what devotion means..... Mongol Das went on an on when others decided to give it a rest.... he was hardly standing and everyone wanted him to rest... he wouldn't..... he fell down.... yet, he wouldn't listen... he still wanted to go on..... he got bathed in sand....

I was totally unprepared for Mongol Das.... I've not seen anyone doing that before.... his colleagues mentioned that Durga had taken over his soul, which is why he wanted to go on....









our amazing experience had to come to an abrupt close... there were more celebration coming up and more people were preparing for the Arti... lots of dhuup were being prepared.... and to add salt, the people who were preparing to dance were the elderly guys.... the advent of such an unusual group of people performing got me excited.... we went there with our family, so, had to make the hard decision.... it was getting late; so, we moved on.....

I decided to use some strobist stuff (my available lights!!) to spice things up.... I knew how amazing Arti looks when the dhuup is in full power.... set up a couple of lights in the arena.... there were a lotta spectators in the place; so, had to be careful with the set-up.... used two YN-560 flashes on light Phottix stands with Elinchrom Skyport radio triggers.... one light was for fill from the left, behind the camera and the other was the backlight, which was more-or-less against of the lens depending on my camera angle.... there were some misfires from one of the triggers.... I'm assuming that it had something to do with the corrugated iron room of a nearby house, under which I setup my flash....

a lot more to come in a hurry....

curtain falls on the shower flick!!

29 September 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

unfortunately this is the end of the boring shower flick!.... it ends with Lamisa getting out of the bathtub and playing the role of female celebrities... not for the sake of selling the branded corporate items, but for the fun alone... yea, thats it folks! bye!!









wait wait.... there's more.... lets not forget the 'exciting' technical stuff that people never read.... well, not a lot to say actually.... this is the exact same setup that I used for the first part of this shoot concept.... the second part had a different setup.... sorry guys, no long description of how some easy stuff got converted into complex setups and those converted to crazy settings....









Lamisa gets all the credit for her expressions.... I only had to make sure that my flashes were coping up with the frantic pressing of the shutter.... some blank frames as mentioned in previous posts.... perhaps some classic misses.... but I'm satisfied with what I got.....

a lot more coming up.....

do u bring the studio to the shower or vice versa??

29 September 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

weird question.... but we did face that question and opted for a weird solution..... we decided to bring the shower to the studio.... well, sort of.... my client (Lamisa) was happy as long as she had her hands and body wet and covered in foam.... we only had to make sure that the whole shoot was done within as little time as possible, so that she doesn't catch cold.... she was already suffering from a little bit of that....







anyway, we did the crazy stuff.... set up the white backdrop to make her float in the frame.... and used the same light setup as the previous shoot.... this made sure that there wasn't any distracting shadow under the bathtub and there was enough DoF to cover Lamisa with the shower bowl....











this time I was using the 70-210mm to be able to compress the frame as much as possible.... I wasn't covering the whole length of the bathtub, so vertical shooting was possible, and so was the use of a tele.... I was facing some problem with the setup, as it was more suited to the earlier shoot, where I was shooting one frame at a time.... but this time, I couldn't afford to lose a frame.... but I did.... hmm..... may be I would have to find another setup for this kind of a shoot....

this was the first part of the shoot.... there's a second part coming up..... and we have a plan to do a third part soon enough, with a little bit of different flavour....

stay tuned for more....

lets do a Halsman in the digital age!

25 September 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

I had always been a great fan of Philippe Halsman's works..... his Dali Atomicus alone stirred my imagination many many times.... I always wanted to do something like that in the real world.... when I say in the real world, I mean achieving something like that without digital manipulation..... Halsman did that one in 28 attempts!.... and he was not sure whether it turned out right, as there was no LCD view available at that time!.... doing this today would be so easy!..... I'm sure that most would like to do this in Photoshop and make it absolutely perfect.... but where's the fun in that?..... where's the experience of achievement in that?

so, there we go..... we decided to do this in our little makeshift studio.... we don't have Dali or his paintings to feature in the shot..... and we also decided not to use water or cats or any other rather ungainly flying objects, as we would be throwing all of that towards Lamisa.... yes, thats right, towards my lovely little daughter Lamisa..... we rather used some of her softest dolls to throw at her.... things that wouldn't even hurt a newborn (well, possibly!).....







a white backdrop was a must to remove clutter.... and it was also much easier to edit out rusty spots on the white backdrop..... two light sources were necessary, as one would cast big shadows on the subject as well as on the backdrop.... small aperture needed to make the flying dolls at least somewhat in focus, otherwise they won't be understood as dolls.... one light source was my Elinchrom Ranger in the "Lazy Light" configuration.... and on the other side, I used three YN-560 flashes shooting through a 4'x4' DIY diffusion panel (gotta find a name for this combo!).... the three lights would ensure enough power to eliminate the shadows even at f11, which was the aperture I was shooting.... each flash was probably at 1/4 power to ensure enough flash duration..... the Ranger had no problem with flash duration either.... so, the flying dolls would experience no motion blur.... the YN flashes were all in optical trigger mode, and the Ranger was triggered by Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger.....



my wife was throwing the dolls from behind me, so all the dolls were going in one direction..... there was no other option..... and the size of my studio forced me to do this in vertical frame..... we attempted a total of 25 attempts before we had to call it a day because of some unavoidable circumstances.... it wasn't perfect, but we knew that it might never be so.... yet, we tried it 25 times.... its that try, that effort, that make is something to remember..... if I had done this in Photoshop, I would never have taken the pleasure of writing a blog on this..... the best part of it was that we had a lotta fun.... :)

much much more to come.....

playing with gels.....

07 September 2011
Rajshahi, Bangladesh


this is the last strobist blog post on the Rajshahi tour.... have tried a lot of things on this tour.... though limited by the things I could carry, I had enough to experiment more than once.... the only thing that I needed was time.... on our last day at Rajshahi, we didn't have a lot of flexibility with time.... it was evening before we could finally make some photos.... Lamisa put on her glittering Jaipuri dress, which brought ideas..... Proma's room was well-decorated and had some traditional stuff.... so, I decided to blend those items with Lamisa's dress.... to achieve that, I needed extreme control of light.... I didn't want a washout.... but at the same time, I wanted some drama to go with the dress and posture..... enter the red gel filter.... I placed an SB-900 with a red gel on it outside the window on a Phottix lightstand, which added some drama and filled up a rather dull portion of the white wall... the main light was a 24" Lastolite Ezybox Hotshoe softbox.... my wife held it for me almost parallel to the ground to reduce light spill..... and finally I held a 34" collapsible reflector in front of me to fill up some of the shadows on Lamisa's face....








the second setup was a bit different and again went with Lamisa's attire.... the bright yellow dress she was wearing, went well with a contrasty blue backdrop.... used a blue gel on an SB-900 to throw light on the back wall.... and changed the direction of the Lastolite softbox.... I didn't want any light from the main light source to ruin the contrast of the background... used a reflector in front to throw back some light, as the softbox was virtually behind the subject.... it was a really difficult shoot as Lamisa became impatient and didn't give us enough time to correct any errors!... used Elinchrom Skyport radio triggers for the shoot, as one of the flashes was outside the room, beyond sight....









thats the last of the blogs from Rajshahi..... but did a lot more shooting during the holidays.... so, more coming up.....

do you think you can make a preschooler pose for you??

01 August 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

I had been shooting Lamisa long enough to learn some basics of photographing a baby, especially a really unstable one.... that told me that photographing a preschooler is one of the hardest things to do... they have a mind of their own and would like to stick to it, whether it goes for you or against... they're mobile, so you may have to wait for a long time before they come back to your preferred location.... but there are some ways you can make progress.... sharing some of my experiences....

1. find her interests.... the faster you can figure this one out, the quicker it would be for you to accomplish this.... you may try to use your setup to get to know the baby.... you can build your relationship with the baby while you do this..... babies do love photographic equipment.... they're just too different from their boring toys!!





2. involve her.... make her feel that she is engaged in the whole process and doing some hard work.... Lamisa has interest in new attires... I try to use that to my advantage... every time I want her to pose in front of the camera, I tell her to get ready.... and she jumps into it!





3. have patience; lots of patience.... babies are restless.... they're very unpredictable and would change mind anytime.... but don't give up.... usually they do lose interest in one thing pretty quick.... and thats a good thing when you want her to come back.... you can never say that you can keep her in front of the lens for an indefinite amount of time.... this simply isn't going to happen....



4. be trigger happy!!...... you'll never get enough time to photograph a baby.... so, make the best use of time..... a frame takes a fraction of a second, so, take as many frames as you can when the baby is in the right place and in the right mood.... mind you, she can change her mind in a fraction of a second!



5. take help..... if you can have someone with you who can keep interest in the baby, do to advantage of that..... there's nothing more frustrating than sitting idle with the camera while the baby pursues something else!



setup for this shoot....


there are many other tips that other photographers have shared online.... but these are my findings regarding making a preschooler pose... I would also like to share some more learning regarding doing an actual shoot after you get the baby to pose in front of the camera....

the pics here are from a long backlog, which I started clearing almost a month back... and I'm glad that I'm almost at the end of it....

more to come soon.....

battle of the boxes…..

30 June 2011

Mohammadpur, Dhaka

just received the Westcott Apollo 28″ softbox…. had been waiting for it to complete the orders that I had placed for in recent times…. after some testing of the Shashinki 24″ and the Lastolite Ezybox 24″, I could get a sense of the difference among those two….. I’ve already posted a blog on the differences between the Shashinki and Ezybox…. that was mainly based on its utility and operations…. no attempt was made to compare the lights coming out of the two…. so, to fill this blank space, I decided to put all the three softboxes side by side and shoot some flashes through them...







with a huge 28″ front, the Apollo is the obvious different one…. its the only one with the ability to receive any kind of flash…. the other two are predominantly hot-shoe flash softboxes…. the next difference lies in the way flashes are places in it…. the Apollo is manly designed as an indirect light source, with the flash shooting away from the subject; into a silver reflective surface…. that makes it possible for the Apollo to be bigger than the other two…. but I’ve noticed a significant amount of light-loss for the Apollo…. its a bigger light source alright, but it requires more power to properly illuminate the subject…. the Ezybox seemed to be the best light source with the most uniform output…. and it also looked the brightest…. its double diffusion proved to be very effective…. I thought there would be some light-loss because of that, but didn’t really see that…. it was in fact, the brightest of the three….

the design of the Apollo makes it more suitable for studio….. it seems like a softbox that wants to sit back and relax, rather than hovering in the air on a hand-held boom…. it can be put on a boom, but I’m not really sure how it would perform that way…. a bit of wind may spoil the party….. and as this is an umbrella design, wind can certainly do damage to its structure….. and I’m not sure how it can be repaired if one of the steel rods inside is broken….. weight isn’t an issue, as it certainly is very light….

the other unique feature of Apollo is that it holds the flash inside the softbox, which makes it almost mandatory to be triggered with a radio trigger…. and it certainly is a pain to remove the diffuser every time you need to change the power settings…. and its design makes it stand more upright, not encouraging bending forward or back, unlike the Shashinki, which has a ball-head, helping to move the softbox on its axis….. Ezybox, on the other hand, will stay straight, no matter what…..you will need a boom to give direction with it….

the Apollo is an umbrella…. its purely an umbrella and works like an umbrella…. it folds like an umbrella…. a BIG umbrella…. while folded, its length comes down to around 3ft1inch…. thats a pain for sure!!…. the thing hardly has a weight, but takes up an odd amount of space…. and it also doesn’t come with any carrying pack, which makes it even more odd for carrying to locations….. I can take the Shashinki or Ezybox anywhere, but not the Apollo…. Shashinki comes with a small bag, in which the softbox can be folded and stored…. but the Ezybox comes with a big triangular bag, where every arm is two feet long…. it can be folded just like the Shashinki, but as it doesn’t come with a small bag, it requires some improvisation to carry it within a small space…. Ezybox is, of course, the lightest softbox…. its speed-ring and holder are made of plastic…. Shashinki’s are made of solid metal…. and the Apollo doesn’t even have a speed-ring…. the version that I ordered, didn’t come with a flash bracket… so, I’m using my umbrella adapter with it…. it would’ve been a pain had I not have this adapter….

none of the softbox is a world winner…. they all have flaws and their own advantages… that makes them suitable for different purposes… knowing their boundaries is critical to utilising their full potential….

for this test, I used a Nikkor 28-80mm lens on D700 with Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger to trigger the YN-560 inside the Apollo, which optically triggered a YN-560 inside the Shashinki and an SB-900 inside the Ezybox…. all were on Phottix lightstands…. all the flashes were fired at 1/32 power, and zoomed at 24mm…. the pics were shot at 1/160sec and ISO 100…. aperture ranged between f7.1 and f4.5….

blue gel fun.....

24 June 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka

just thought about doing something different.... putting some gels on a flash creates a different backdrop.... thats the easiest way to change the backdrop..... I was also thinking of putting the Phottix lightstands to some sort of test.... Lamisa gave me that excuse when she refused to complete her meal.... she got busy with me setting things up..... and by that time, her mother did her job.... anyway, I wasn't gonna pack my stuff just as she finished her meal.... a done setup should be utilised....











put the 24" Shashinki softbox on a lightstand and made it my main light.... as I was looking to create a coloured backdrop with a gel filter, I positioned the softbox in a way so that it doesn't wash out the backdrop light.... the backdrop was illuminated by a flash with blue gel and a 1/4" grid spot.... the grid spot made sure that the blue light wasn't all over the place.... the last thing I would want was to have a blue cast on my subject because of a spill from the background light.... that light was also on a Phottix lightstand.....

the lightstand proved to be sturdy enough with the softbox on it.... I mean up to around 5' height.... once it crossed 5', it began to sway a bit.... and remember, I was within my house.... a location testing would reveal something different.... especially with a softbox on top, which usually catches wind like a sail!!..... beyond 5'6", the lightstand needed support..... and didn't even dare to open the last section, which probably would've taken it beyond 7'..... anyway, its always good to know the limits of your hardware.... they really help in situations....

more to come later.....