Category: Photography
Equipment, examples, history – all matters photographic
Toronto cherry blossoms
During the week when I was living with my aunt and uncle, I shot a bunch of RAW files around Toronto.
Here are the first few I have processed and uploaded: daytime photos of the cherry blossoms in High Park.
I will upload some nighttime shots soon, along with some others from that week generally.
2011 Keystone XL photos
After a substantial delay, the full set of my photos from the Keystone XL protests in Washington D.C. in August and September of 2011 are now online.
Massey’s final 2012/13 party
I am frantically packing to move out of Massey College tomorrow (having just returned from Montreal a few hours ago), but I am also uploading some photos from the recent Staff Appreciation BBQ at Massey College.
Illuminated text
New commercial photographic work: manuscript pages from the 12th – 16th centuries
Annoying things about off-camera flash photography
1) Keeping masses of batteries charged
2) The incompatibility of various wireless trigger systems (PocketWizard, Paul C. Buff, the proprietary system in the new Canon 600EX flash)
3) Finicky hotshoe adapters, for the majority of flashes lacking miniphone or PC connection ports
4) The ludicrous expense of cables required to connect radio triggers to flashes
Replacing my second flash
Having been knocked over a few more times during the Winter Ball, my LumoPro LP120 flash is now definitively dead.
I very much need two flashes to do the kind of event photography I have been doing in recent years. I therefore need to decide how to replace it.
One option is to get a new LP160. It isn’t as powerful as my Canon 430EX flash, but it’s a lot cheaper (US$180 compared with about C$350 for a Canon Speedlite 430EX II). The LP flash also has the benefit of a built-in optical slave. The big downside is that the LP flashes are not especially tough.
Another option is to shell out $600 for a Canon 600EX. It would be significantly more powerful than my 430EX, and it would actually be able to drive the other Canon flash in a TTL mode, while sitting on my hotshoe.
If I got another flash without an optical slave, it would probably be a good idea to shell out another $300 for three PocketWizard Plus X transceivers. Then I will be able to reliably drive both flashes off-camera at considerable range.
Corporation Fellows’ Gaudy
Photos from the last Massey College high table dinner of the year: Corporation Fellows’ Gaudy 2013.
Kindly take note of the ice in the pond.
Pre-equinox
There are some new photos of Massey College on the last day of winter in my ‘Massey by Night’ set.
PocketWizard Plus X
Oooh – PocketWizard is now selling radio triggers for less than $100 a piece.
I could definitely use a trio of these, to cut down on flash errors when shooting in large rooms.