Photography Gear Wish List – Off camera lighting

Its been a couple of months now since I decided to take my photography to a another level. And from the things i have learnt so far, I believe there are somethings I need to do to make my pictures look different from any other picture i have ever taken.

Now that I look at every picture from a photographer’s point of view, I now see hard shadows, object growing out of the subject’s head, over exposed subjects and a whole lot more. My picture’s have been a lot better since I have gotten my first DSLR (Nikon D90) and a flash (Nikon SB-600). I have learnt to bounce my flash off the wall (hopefully its white) to create a bigger source of light, because bigger source’s of light casts softer light on the subject.

A gear that would help me with light control is a softbox. A softbox is a box that fits over a flash head or lamp made of black sides, with white, gold or silver interior and a translucent front where light passes through. I currently use a Gary Fong lightsphere, and this seems to do the job so far. To get creative I would have to take the light off the camera. In terms of off-camera light using a softbox, one can make the pictures dramatic or sensual. I will surely blog about this as soon as I get my hands on one.

2 Softboxes and white reflectors.

Photography Projects to keep things fresh

I have barely began my photography journey, and I am finding it hard to pick up the Nikon D90 and go out and shoot on a regular basis. Since I work a full time job as a Software Engineer Monday’s – Friday’s, and on the Saturdays I have my morning run, my daughter’s swimming lessons, do some house work and that basically takes the whole day. And for Sunday’s, I am decompressing getting ready for another week after church. So when do I have time to go out and take pictures?

I got inspired by reading an article on the Digital Photography School website titled 7 Photography Projects to Jumpstart your Creativity, and decided to take on one or two of the projects. Some of the ones I am looking into are 100 Strangers, A-Z, Pick-A-Something and Go Mono.

100 Stranger: With this project, I might have to make it a day’s task to go out to a public place such as the DC monument – Lincoln Memorial where there are hundreds of people walking around and approach them for a photograph.

A-Z: I believe this can be easily done around the home or outside in the yard. This might be a fun one to take on first.

Pick-A-Something: Pick a something that looks like a fun thing to take on probably out of the house and in the yard, can you say B-U-G-S !!!!

Go Mono: With this I would be looking for something abstract that would look good as a black and white picture.

I will be posting updates here and also tweeting about them as I get them done. For updates on the projects you can follow me on Twitter (@shardayyy) and the results of my projects will be posted on Zenfolio (shardayyy @ Zenfolio).