Headed out to the city tonight due to boredom. I actually spent a fair whack of time trying to recover images from my CF card after I accidently shift-deleted a whole set accidently (Sandisk RescuePRO is my savior). Here is a quick shot of a friend at Treasury Place on the top of Collins St in Melbourne. A bit of a Dustin Diaz inspiration here with the Bokeh.

Strobist:
430EX camera left 1/8th @ 80mm, triggered by cybersyncs. Placed about 45 degrees and 2m from subject. Camera to subject is about another 3m.

47cm Mixing Bowl = $12
8cm Aluminium Pizza Tray = $7
From London and American Supplies in Elizabeth St, Melbourne

Nuts, Bolts, Spraypaint = $20
Dremel cutting wheel kit = $30
From Bunnings Warehouse – All across australia

Speedlight adapter = $30
From eBay!

Some photos that I’ve shot with this thing:

Playing with some lighting, as you do!

This time I used some flashes to create my own light where neccessary, with some cool results – taking advantage of the smoke machine’s mist. I’d would have liked to stay for Clint and Stu’s Input Output project set, but at 3am..Wasn’t happening that night!

For most of these shots, unfortunately I don’t write down the strobist info for any of them, and i’m amazed people actually remember the details. All I know is that for most I was switching between 1/8 and 1/16 @35mm ..any more than that and it would just overpower the smoke. The 18-200, nifty50,10-20 and 10-17 FE were used for these.

So why did I choose to use remote flashes in a bar/club environment? Well coming from last time, I decided I wanted something a little different..The rays of light the flashes created through the smoke machine was something I didn’t even think of at the time.. until I checked the back of the camera.. Guess you accidently learn something new everyday. It was good not having to rely on the random colourful light as well, and seeing how they could be worked into the images.

Please have a look at the rest of the set here! Don’t forget to hit that like button below if you deem this likable!

If you are interested in having some photos taken of your set at whichever venue (in Melbourne) – Feel free to shoot me an email – aaronactive at gmail.com – Won’t cost you anything, besides getting me + 1 free entry to said venue, and you get a copy of photos from the night for private use..Anything else we can always talk.

Me.

The above shot was from playing around with a white shoot-through umbrella. I’ve read a little bit about using them but decided to wing it. I shot it tethered to my laptop and used my mouse as a shutter trigger. Software is called DSLR Remote Pro.

It’s been a little while since I’ve taken any photos, Rampfest has been a boiler lately and as I haven’t rolled for awhile the camera’s had a rest. I had some new bits and pieces come from MidWest Photo Exchange (MPEX) in the USA too.

2x Westcott 43″ collapsible white umbrella with cover
2x Lumopro LP653 Super clamps
2x Lumopro LP633 umbrella swivels

Really happy with the Lumopro gear. For my photography hobby I think it’s great to start off with without having to shell out for expensive Manfrotto gear. They’re almost exactly the same but made in China and about 1/2 to 1/3 the price.  Definitely worth looking into, exclusive to MPEX. I also have their LP604 light stands too, and they’re awesome.

I must say, compared to the D.I.Y Clamps I made up earlier, the Super-clamps are great. Have tons of grip and with the umbrella swivel you can point the thing everywhere. The D.I.Y’s still come in useful though for other things, and when I need to whack a flash on something large.

Transmitter – CST came with a 2.5mm to PC cord – To trigger the unit while keeping the hotshoe free.

Receiver – CSRB came with a host of cables, 3.5mm to PC, 3.5mm to 3.5mm, 3.5mm to 1/4.

Batteries included in all packages. They have colour boxes and printed manuals now to add a bit of spice to the packaging, and boxes/manuals are all generic to cut down on costs.

There’s no mounting hole on the receivers so I use ball bungee’s (You can get them at Bunnings) to strap them to the lightstand or flash as needed.

The test buttons are recessed into the plastic to stop accidental power ups in your bag. I have read of people gluing a small rubber washer around it just to be really tight ass. I don’t believe it’s necessary though.

The receivers have no OFF switch either. They time out after 1 hour. Every time you trigger them this is reset. I like this as with my last triggers, I left them on most of the time – forgetting to turn them off. They are supposed to have a 200 hour life off the 2x AA batteries they run on. (Update: As of June 2010 they are still on the original batteries)

The transceiver slots straight onto the hotshoe with no locking mechanism. The thought behind this is that if for some reason you knocked it off, the trigger would not tear off the hotshoe with it. (I can’t see that happening anyway) but its very sturdy and I think will last well. Time will tell as to how long it lasts as it wears..

Initial testing shows the units trigger perfectly when my 40D is on 6.3fps. Up to my flashes to keep up.

I’ll be heading out Thursday (12/11/09) to snap up some sequences and put these to work. I’ll post them up tomorrow so come back and check out the results then.

I was lucky enough to have these brought down to me from the US, so all up they cost me less than $250USD. In fact they were free, as I got $250USD from a work award that I won. Score!

Paul C Buff are now available in Australia via their online store – http://www.paulcbuff.com.au/

I’m a big fan of DIY. Especially when it comes to anything photography. I decided to see if I could make my own flash clamp. My criteria? Cheap (Under $10… gotta start somewhere) and simple with no special bits to it. Living in Australia, Bunnings is probably the most widely known home hardware store – So that’s where I plan to get my parts from.

The spigots that are typically used have either a 1/4 thread (same as what is on the bottom of your camera) or a 3/8 thread (the larger one on the top of most light stands, etc) – I didn’t need to screw anything on to the clamp so I didn’t bother getting these thread sizes. If you want to screw on a compact camera or something to your clamp you may want to consider thread size when you purchase your bolts.

Here’s what I found to make my DIY flash clamp.

$4.98 – M8x35mm Nuts and bolts pack (Fittings isle)
M8 is the threadsize, 35mm is the lenngth. Doesn’t need to be high tensile – they just didn’t have the length I wanted the normal cheaper pack

$3.64 – Sonata 200mm nylon spring clamp (Tools section)
It has a relatively good grip (enough for a small flash) and has some teeth on the clamps for extra bite plus adjustable pads at the end of the clamps. Made of plastic which is easy to drill/dremel. A bit bigger than the commonly used metal spring clamps

Total: $8.62 – That’s cheap enough for me. Cheaper still if you just go to a nuts/bolts place and buy them separately.

I made a hole in the center of one of the clamp side arms. Pushed a bolt through it, and then screwed down the 4 nuts in the pack. This was my DIY soultion to those brass spigots that are hard to obtain down here in Australia. The umbrella swivel will just screw onto them, plus theres enough rotation in the flash head/umbrella swivel to negate having a round barrel to lock onto. (The nut only has 6 flat sides which the umbrella swivel will lock onto securely)

So how does it work? Pretty damn good for under something that took 5 minutes to make for under $10.

Something you could do, if you wanted to be totally paranoid about the nuts coming loose over time – Buy some threadlocker. Its in the same isle as the nuts and bolts and its called Loctite. Put a few drops of this on the thread of the bolt and screw the nuts down..They wont move after that.

This is just how I did it, feel free to change whatever you want to suit yourself. Let me know if you found this little tip handy though, I’d appreciate it!

The umbrella stand I used comes with a silver umbrella and is from from DealExtreme for $15 bucks shipped.