The Photographic Life of a Video Game Junkie
Cabazon T-Rex Dinosaur © 2009 Michael Kang
If you didn’t know, my wife owns a bead and jewelry business so we get to go to Tuscon every year to see what’s new and restock the store.
On the way there we stopped in Cabazon to see the dinosaurs, do a little shopping and spent the night at Morongo Casino.
The dinosaurs are a little piece of Americana off I-10 that everyone should check out at least once.
First off a big thanks to all the photographers–especially Karen (Mizz Maze) and Andreas (ANMPhotography) who where the source for most of our models, the models, the make-up artists and the guests who came to the meet. And also a big thanks to Robert and his staff at the 533 Studio who made this all possible. It’s great to know we have such a strong community of artists alive and well in L.A.
The 533 Studio
We held our January Los Angeles Strobist meet up at the 533 Studio in downtown L.A. Roll call was 18 photographers, 3 make-up artists and 12 models. We also had about 20 guests come out to help, learn and see what all the fuss is about.
Read More >>
I was lucky enough to start 2009 watching my good friend and fellow photographer Bryan Villarin and his band the Scarlet Paradigm play at a studio/house party in Santa Monica.
© 2009 Michael Kang
© 2009 Michael Kang
Happy 2009 everyone!
In part one, I demonstrated how to add light to reduce the overall dynamic range of a scene. In this part, I’ll try and demonstrate how aperture and shutter speed combine to control exposure of the ambient light and light from the strobe.
Maintaining ambient exposure by changing both aperture and shutter speed.
In the shots above, aperture and shutter speed combine to control the exposure. This is fairly common sense. A wider aperture allows more light to reach the sensor (or film) and a narrower aperture allows less light. The longer the shutter is allowed to remain open, the greater amount of light is allowed in and conversely the shorter the shutter speed, the amount of light is restricted. By adjusting both you can maintain the amount of ambient light but notice how the light from the flash changes.
Taken at a previous Los Angeles Strobist meet-up.
It’s time again for another Los Angeles Strobist meet-up. This time we’ll be on location (i.e. outside) at Cheviot Hills Park.
These meet-ups are an opportunity for photographers to learn from each other, socialize and play with some neat gear.
It is also a great opportunity for experienced models and stylists to update their portfolios with new looks by doing some TF* work and for new models to come out and get some real-world experience.
Details
When: Sunday, December 7th, 1-5pm
Where: Cheviot Hills Park, corner of Pico & Motor on the westside
Who: up to 20 photographers total + 5 models
You can get the down-and-dirty details in the flickr discussion thread here.
One of the problems shooting in broad daylight is having enought dynamic range to capture both the highlights and the shadows in the scene. Unfortunately, our cameras (film or digital) aren’t capable of capturing all that information at once.
Typically, you would decide do you shoot to keep details in the highlight areas, shadow areas, or decide to shoot somewhere inbetween and loose a little at both ends.
Another option is to bracket your shots and combine them into one photograph in the computer or the darkroom.
A third option is to somehow compress the dynamic range of the actual scene by adding light to the shadow areas and darkening the highlight areas so that it falls within the capability of your camera to capture it.
It’s obvious enough that you can add additional light to the dark areas of your scene using strobes, but what isn’t as obvious is how you darken the highlight areas espeically when those areas include the sky or some other object that you wouldn’t easily be able to shade (like a building).
We had a great turnout last night at opening of the Real Untitled (Gallery) group show hosted by Matt Chait, the owner or the Untitled Gallery at 1855 Industrial Ave in downtown Los Angeles.
Photo © Bryan Villarin 2008 (http://allnarfedup.com/)
This show is a culmination of a lot of mystery, foul play, frustration, hard work and generosity.
18 photographers and one gallery owner were unknowingly thrust upon each other when a to-be unnamed con-artist brought all these people together under the guise of a community-driven, collective art gallery. This con-man, using the power of community at flickr, infiltrated the Los Angeles flickr group with ideas about opening a gallery that would be run by the artists. It would be a way for amateurs and pros alike to have a venue to display their work, on a wall, to their family, friends and the general public. Assuming the name “Untitled Gallery” he convinced everyone that he had secured a space, sponsors and marketing for the grand opening. He then conned unsuspecting artists into giving framed artwork and money to him to participate in the “show.” Of course, in the weeks and days before the “opening” was supposed to happen, the charade unravelled and participants were left to wonder what happened (and in many cases out money and artwork).
Read More >>