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darklighthouse

My old Speed Graphic . . .

Vintage cameras are a passion of mine... This Speed Graphic still works!!!

Vintage cameras are a passion of mine... This Speed Graphic still works!!!
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Jan, 2023

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Winner in Vintage Cameras Photo Challenge

Peer Award

Absolute Masterpiece

Outstanding Creativity

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was take at my home studio.

Time

The image was taken at 7:13pm, but the time of day is not relevant to this image as it was shot in a studio environment, where all light on the image was provided by strobes.

Lighting

This image was lit with two speed lights, each with an umbrella - one camera left and another camera right. Two lights were used to provide a consistent light on the camera, regardless of position.

Equipment

This image was captured with a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, using a Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8 lens. The exposure settings were: aperture f/6.3, 1/60, ISO 100, focal length 70mm. Two Canon 600EX-RT speedlites, each with an umbrella (umbrellas were approximately 35” in diameter). The Camera was in manual mode. I took a couple of initial shots with with the speedlites in TTL mode, then put the speedlites in manual to ensure consistency across multiple images. Lights were paced on small light stands and the camera was mounted on a tripod.

Inspiration

This image is one of several I took at that time. My purpose / inspiration for this shot was to capture images of some of my more interesting old ,film cameras.

Editing

Post processing was done in Adobe Lightroom. Only minor edits and cropping were done on this image.

In my camera bag

For shots like this (i.e., staged and done inside), I typically use a tripod and one or more flashes (I use Canon speedlites or Profoto strobes, but any flashes will work just fine), and some light stands or C-stands for heavier lights. Choice of lenses for this type of shot are not too critical, as I used a mid-range aperture to ensure the whole scene was sharp in focus.

Feedback

This shot is more like a commercial product shot, where you want the lighting to be flat and consistent across the subject of the shot (versus contrasty, with deep shadows, etc.). There are many ways to achieve this, but using two lights, one from the left and one from the right works for most situations. Like any studio image, choice of lights and lens will vary with the room you are shooting in, whether or not you can control the ambient light, etc. For this shot, I was able to completely control the ambient light - i.e., with the flashes turned off, the picture captured is all black (i.e., no ambient light registering on the sensor). If you are shooting inside where you can’t control the lights, then you may need to use a gel on hour lights to match the color temperature to the ambient lighting in the room. For example, if you are shooting in a room with lots of incandescent lights, you might want to put CTO (color temp orange) gels on your lights to more closely match the warm color temp of the incandescent lights. The key here is to assess the lighting situation in the room and adjust your lighting approach accordingly.

See more amazing photos, follow darklighthouse

darklighthouse

darklighthouse

My old Speed Graphic . . .

Vintage cameras are a passion of mine... This Speed Graphic still works!!!

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow darklighthouse

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