Digitography

How to take a self portrait

nbukrey — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:58:07 +0000

I setup a quick and dirty home studio in my office last night. I’ve been wanting to take a quick shot of myself for some business social media sites. This was a two light setup with one umbrella and one diffused flash mounted above the camera. I was then holding a silver reflector to bounce some of that light up under my face to balance everything out.

Behind me was just a doubled thick black bed sheet. The speedlite and umbrella were positioned camera right just behind it. The speedlite that was mounted above the camera was triggering the other via canon’s wireless flash system. The flash was set to use E-TTL metering and set at FEC of -2/3.

Now you might ask how someone might trigger the camera when your taking a self portrait? Canon’s own EOS Utility software to the rescue! This neat little piece of software allows you to essentially control every aspect of your camera without even laying a hand on it. You just turn it on and hook it up to your pc with a usb cable and the software does the rest. Earlier, I mentioned that I set this whole rig up in my office.. now this is where that matters. I have my photo processing pc setup and i just used my mouse with my right hand to trigger the camera. You can even turn the wireless on and off through the speedlite in the software!

Another benefit to the software is you can preview each image in a much larger window than the camera’s lcd window. This means that I could eyeball each image as I take it and make sure the lighting is correct and that I’m centered in the frame.

Below shows the camera mounted on the tripod with the flash connected. Then next to it is shows the flash on the light stand and umbrella.

And here is the final prodcut. The image was taken when my Canon 7D and my trusty 50mm f1.8. The exif info is 1/80sec f8 @ 50mm ISO100.

Michaela

nbukrey — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 01:55:29 +0000

Here is a sneak peek at Michaela’s senior photos. We were able to enjoy an awesome late summer day. The weather and lighting was perfect!

Click each photo for a full size view. Click the back button to return here.

Jocelyn and Andrew

nbukrey — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 03:52:15 +0000

We had a great time at Jocelyn and Andrew’s wedding. Such a cute couple! A quick look at some of the photos. Enjoy!

Click on each image to see full size.

Woodruff Family

nbukrey — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 01:56:04 +0000

I had a great time meeting the Woodruff family and taking their family photos. Such cute kids!!

Say hello to my lil friend..

nbukrey — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 22:56:52 +0000

I just received my latest order of gear.. A Canon 580 EX II Speedlight, Stroboframe, and hot shoe cord. This is completing my wireless flash setup. I’ve been needing a 3 flash setup and decided to pony up for a 580 EX II. Their not cheap but they are pretty much the best flash you can buy for your money right now.

This image was taken in front of a black background with two speedlights. One to camera left (wireless) at an angle to the setup and the other light was on the camera. I used a reflector at a slight angle camera right to reflect some of the light up to the bottom of the camera/lens so that it would prevent some shadows. The image was taken with my XSi and the 50mm at f8.0 1/100sec.

McKennan Park Iris

nbukrey — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 02:44:23 +0000

I took a stroll today in Mckennan Park. Unfortunately it was about mid-day and the lighting was not great. I did manage to catch their Iris’s in full bloom. They were shaded by a large tree so parts of them were lit by the sun and parts in the shade. Here are two that I liked the best.

Kari and Ryan

nbukrey — Mon, 30 May 2011 03:17:27 +0000

I had a great time at Kari and Ryan’s wedding. The couple was great and it was an awesome spring day! Enjoy the photos!

Click each photo for a larger view.

Best of 2010

nbukrey — Thu, 12 May 2011 03:03:06 +0000

I know I know, it’s already 5 months into 2011 but time flies when you’re having fun! 2010 was a great year for me in photography and I’ve wanted to do a wrap up of the year. Last year I officially started Nick Bukrey Photography. It’s been a long time coming and now that it’s a reality I wanted to step back and take a look at some of my better shots from last year. I’ve really worked hard to improve my photography with off camera flash and I think it will be evident with this set of photos. I hope you enjoyed them just as much as I enjoyed capturing them! Without further ado, I give you my best of 2010.

Click on each photo for a full size view, the compression kills the sharpness!

Photo A Day: Lamps and Light – 4

nbukrey — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 02:45:33 +0000

This is the 4th photo in this series of 5 photos. I will name this one – Easter Dinner. The table is set and families have gathered. Enjoy!

Canon 7D - 1/5sec f/4 @44mm - ISO-200

Old Fashioned Egg Dying

nbukrey — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 02:33:48 +0000

Last weekend we dyed eggs with my nephew. He had a blast and I had fun watching!