ViewBuggin'
Dec, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken on my dining room table one night.Time
This was done around 9:30 at night when everything was quiet at home.Lighting
The lighting for this one was fun as I was experimenting with the flash as well as with photographing a monitor. I had a speedlite set up behind the laptop computer which caused the glow around the monitor and gave just enough light to hint at the lens mug on the right and the camera on the left. I then made the room dark so as to keep the focus on the equipment and mug instead of the surrounding environment.Equipment
For this photo I used my Canon 5D Mark II with the spare camera (Canon Rebel t5i) as a prop on the left. I also used a flash with a radio trigger (can't remember if it was the Canon 580ex or the Photix flash) set up behind the laptop. I had the flash pointing towards the laptop and me in order to get the brighter glow and prevent lighting up the background.Inspiration
Inspiration for this photo was actually a Viewbug contest showing Viewbug! I figured what better than to actually have a computer with Viewbug being viewed and a camera and lens mug to include the whole process: camera to get the photo, the Computer (and something to drink) to process the photo, and then finally, loaded up on Viewbug to share and compete! Most of my processing is done at night when it's quiet and I'm not at work which led to using the flash behind and keeping the light low to indicate evening/night time work.Editing
The only post-processing done on this one was a minimal crop to tighten things up a little and the removal of 1 light streak above the monitor that was too distracting.In my camera bag
My main camera is the Canon 5d MarkII. This is my go to camera for when I'm setting out to do photos. I absolutely love this camera and the kit lens that came with it (the 24-105 f/4L) is always with it. A 2nd or 3rd lens will generally depend on what I'm wanting to photograph (many times the 180 macro or 70-200 will be included). A speedlite is generally available though not used for the majority of my photos. To be honest, as long as I have the 5D and the 24-105 then I'm good to go for randomness! For every day commute and such (when the focus is anything but photography) I carry a 2nd bag that has a Rebel t5i and it's kit lens 18-55 STM and a 70-300 USM. Make s a great runabout bag without the worry of making sure the 5D is safe. Now I'm ready for anything whether it's a planned photo outing with the 5D or some random thing on my way to and from work.Feedback
Advice to others trying for something like this is to have fun and experiment. Try different exposures and different flash settings (definitely use a speedlite). The radio trigger on the speedlite makes things like this a lot more fun as you no longer have to worry about line of sight between the camera and the flash nor do you have to run wires. You can position/hide the flash wherever you need it to give the lighting you want. Play with reflections as well. I did quite a few takes on this with positioning the camera on the left in various ways. Having it set so the flash reflected off the lens really helped show it was there instead of a solid black shadow. Learn what you can about lighting and using speedlites at times. It may seem complicated but it really opens up a lot of options. I still have a lot to learn as I'm still a beginner with the flash but what little I have learned has enabled me to get photos like this.
