Ooh to Be A Gooner ...

Somebody asked me before what my dream job would be. My reply was quick and simple: in-house photographer for my beloved Arsenal Football Club. I pictured it in my head ... taking photos of new signings, shooting portraits for the Annual, editorial type photos for the magazine and matchday programmes, etc. I was mostly likely smiling during the brief silence when I daydreamed all of that. I was then asked if I orgasmed from thinking about it. Actually, yes ... twice.

I am active member of the L.A. Gooners, which is the Los Angeles Arsenal Supporters club. I was tasked to shoot our initial shirts for the 2010-2011 season. The first shirt is a take on the logo of Arsenal Football Club. The second one features fan favorite, Emmanuel Eboue. There will be more as the season progresses.

You can support the cause and be in style by purchasing a shirt or two at: http://lagooners.bigcartel.com/




The shirts were shot on white seamless with the following lighting set-up:


My key light was a Calumet Travelite 750 with a Calumet Soft-Lite Reflector, on camera axis, and high. My two rim lights were Calumet Travelite 750s with strip softboxes. One was bigger than the other. There was no science to this, it's just that I only have two strip softboxes and they were not of the same size. For the background, I used an Alien Bee AB400 with a 20 degree grid. Camera-wise, it was a Canon EOS 5D Mark II with the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 lens.

This was a quick, simple set-up which provides me with good separation, even with the white shirt on a white backdrop. The lighting was primarily for a portrait. In hindsight, I probably needed an on-axis fill such as a ringflash or a speedlite with an umbrella. The light fall-off is discernible around the chest area.

Anyhow, if you're an Angeleno or visiting Los Angeles and wish to catch a match, visit LAGooners.com or our Facebook page for our match fixtures and venues. You can also follow @LAGooners on Twitter. Enjoy the early morning pint (or two) and sing with us as we cheer on the mighty rip-roaring reds!

You can follow me on:
Twitter - geraldgonz
Flickr - Gerald Gonzales

Or view my work at:
GeraldGonzales.com
or my Wordpress PhotoBlog - GeraldGonz

Questions?

I regularly shoot Marianela for her portfolio. I lit this set of photos with a Calumet Travelite 750 with a large (32" x 40") softbox as my key light from camera right. I cross lit her with another Calumet Travelite 750. The rim light had a strip softbox (9" x 36") with a grid. For the background, I used an Alien Bee AB400 with a 20 degree grid.

This was shot with a Canon 5D Mark II with a Canon EF 85mm f/1.8. Lately, I've only been using the 85mm lens and my Canon EF 35mm f/2. Right now, I feel like all my needs can be met by those two lenses.

Here is the pull-back shot:


And a diagram:


I set up the lights before I knew I was going to shoot her in lingerie. She didn't mention this beforehand. If I knew, I would've set up the lights differently. I would've gone for a darker, more dramatic, and hopefully sexier feel. I don't really know how to handle a situation like that. She takes a bit of time to relax and I didn't want to unsettle her by re-structuring my lighting set-up. I was afraid she might lose confidence in me, so I stuck with this lighting set-up.

Lesson learned: asking thorough questions is part of pre-planning.

5D Mark II Video Test

A few months ago, Canon offered an Instant Rebate of $100 for the purchase of a Canon EOS 5D Mark II. It's not much, but coupled with a Bing! Cashback of 12%, I got a pretty good deal on a the 5D2. I managed to sell my Canon EOS 5D for $1100, so pretty much I upgraded to the 5D2 for about $1000. This upgrade is pretty much for higher ISO capabilities and video. Other than those two, I find nothing else has improved from my old 5D. Anyhow, three months in, I've hardly shot any footage of video.

But earlier today, inspired by the Chase Jarvis' road test of the Nikon D7000, I managed to get off my butt and do something simple. I looked at my camera gear and looked for what has gathered the most dust. I found the Kirk Enterprises Window Mount and a Zenitar 16mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens. This will also give me a chance to test my recently purchased PhotoFast G-Monster 16GB 533x Plus Compact Flash card.

This is what the set-up looked like:

The lens is a Pentax screw-mount lens (M42). I have an adapter that lets you mount M42 lenses to Canon EOS bodies. Since this is a non-Canon EOS lens, there is no auto-focus and the aperture is set using the aperture ring on the lens. For this video, I set the aperture to f/2.8 and focused the lens to infinity. The camera was set to ISO 6400 and the white balance was set to Tungsten.

The movie was "edited" via iMovie. All I did was cut it down to 90 seconds. I have no idea how to post process these video files. Oh ... and I had to remove the audio to hide my road rage and filthy language. Just kidding. I was all smiles throughout this drive. Anxious and excited to see the results.

But alas, the end product ... is less than stellar. Its boring, although the fisheye effect is quite surreal in video.

As far as the equipment goes, I am impressed about the low light capabilities. I figure this is quite difficult for video cameras to achieve. The noise was quite visible though. I thought it would be cleaner. I shot three clips. The first one was a minute long. The second one was almost nine minutes long and the third, which contained the original footage in this movie, was a little over five minutes long. There were no pauses or any lag. I guess that means that the PhotoFast compact flash card also performed admirably. The window mount seemed solid. The Saab did quite well too. I was expecting the footage to have a lot more shake or vibration.

It's a lot better than the garbage that my Sony Webbie PM1 produced:



You can follow me on:
Twitter - geraldgonz
Flickr - Gerald Gonzales

Or view my work at:
GeraldGonzales.com
or my Wordpress PhotoBlog - GeraldGonz

NYC Gear Recap

Here is my report card for the gear that I packed for my New York trip:

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS - This proves my point that f/2.8 will always be better than f/4 + Image Stabilization (IS). It was fine in the daytime, but proved limiting shooting handheld at night. I should've taken a f/2.8 lens. The reach was nice though, but I did carry a longer lens and changing lenses would not have been much of a bother. I might end up selling this lens and just stick to my Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L as my mid-range lens.

Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L - No regrets here. I shot a lot of bridges and it was quite nice having this lens handy. I didn't get a chance to shoot a time-lapse with it though.

Canon EF 17-40 f/4L - I also shot a lot of cityscapes. Always good to have an ultra-wide angle lens around. No complaints here.

Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye - While it is a novelty lens, it never wears off on me. Shot a lot of random fun shots with this - wide open at ISO 800 or 1600. Good Stuff.

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 - I hardly used it, as I opted for the fisheye for shots that I would usually use the 50 for. Still, you can never go wrong with one of these in your bag.

Canon EF 80-200mm f/4-5.6 - As suspected, I wouldn't need it much. I'm glad I took this lens instead of my Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L. Lugging that big white lens around for eight days would not have been fun if I didn't get to use it much. I'm actually tempted not to sell this lens anymore. It fetches around $100, but for that much, I might just keep it for traveling purposes.

Canon EF Extender 1.4x - I actually forgot I took this. I only saw it when I was unpacking. For the size and weight vs. purpose, I think I would bring it on my next trip too.

The speedlight and other things ... didn't see much action either. Batteries on the other hand, were quite useful. With the cold weather dropping down to the 20s (with the wind-chill factor), batteries didn't last long. I'm glad I took four with me.

While I'm at the subject of gear, I paid a visit to the Mecca - B&H. I had no shopping agenda, but I didn't want to walk out empty handed, so I bought a Black Rapid RS5 strap. Its fantastic.

Thanks for reading, my next post will include photos from this trip (other than iPhone photo).

Gearing Up

So, I'm on my way to New York City in about 12 hours. I always pack last minute, be it for clothes, necessities, and/or photo gear. While packing clothes and sundries is almost a brainless matter, photo gear is a one whole different animal.

What do I bring? I WANT to bring it all! I can't. Won't fit. Too Heavy. Will I need this? This would be fun to have. So many decisions and sacrifices to make. Here's an account as I go through these choices.

(For those of you that don't know, I run a small eBay store. This presents a wide array of photography equipment at my disposal, aside from what I own. While I technically own these, I treat them as my eBay store's property. I think of the store as a separate entity.)

First and foremost, the camera. This is an easy one - it will be my Canon 5D (Mark I). Aside from the 30D that I use for my eBay photos, there is no other choice.

Now for the lenses. Starting with the easy one - for low light, I'm taking my Canon EF 50mm f/1.4. The other lenses that came into consideration were: Canon EF 35mm f/2, Canon EF 85mm f/1.8, and a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 Mk II from the store. 35 is too wide, and 85 is too long. The 50/1.8 came into consideration for five seconds, only because it was smaller and lighter than the 50/1.4, but not by much.

An automatic selection would be my favorite lens - Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L. I'd love to be able to go on an elevated area and create a time lapse video.

The toughest decision to make was for my walk-around lens. Usually, I use my Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L for this. But it is heavy and bulky. The alternatives available from the store are:
• Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L - Lighter, longer reach but its not a f/2.8. Hmmm.
• Tamron SP 28-75mm f/2.8 - Lighter, pretty darn sharp. The problem is that it has a 67mm filter ring and I don't own any 67mm filters.
• Tokina AT-X Pro SV 28-70mm f/2.8 - This is almost as big and heavy as the Canon 24-70mm. That alone puts it out of contention already.
Hmm .. I think I'll go back to this later.

For an ultra wide lens, I only have the Canon 17-40mm f/4L. The only other alternative would be my Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye. This is a no contest. For functionality, its the 17-40mm, hands down. Although, I can still take the Fisheye if there's space.

Ever since I bought my Canon 5D, my most used lens has been my Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L. For work and other local events, this is a staple in my bag. But for this trip, I'm on the fence with it. Same reasons as the 24-70mm, its pretty heavy and bulky. I think I'll decide on this together with the mid-range lens last.

Then there's the flash. I have a really good friend over there who is a fellow strobist enthusiast. So if I needed it, I'll have access to some Alien Bees B800s, Alien Bees Cybersyncs, and more Speedlights. For my own, I'll stick to the lighter and smaller one on this. Its the Canon 430EX (Mk I) over my Canon 550EX.

Other necessities in the bag and are getting packed - batteries, compact flash cards, business cards, printed copy of Photographer's Rights, filters, Canon Off-Camera Shoe Cord 2, and Canon TC-80N3 Timer Remote Controller. Since this is the bag that I'm carrying on the plane with me, the front pocket /sleeve of the bag contains my 15" MacBook Pro. Top pouch will carry earphones, iPhone charger and cord, and MacBook Pro charger. Side pocket will carry my small video camera, the Sony MHS-PM1 Webbie HD.

Now for the tough decision, the mid-range lens. Considering this bag will be on my back for the better part of eight days. I've decided to take the 24-105mm. I lose the 2.8, but if ever I need it, I'll just slap on the 50/1.4.

This doesn't leave me any space for the 70-200mm f/2.8L. I can live without it, but I'd rather not. So, I decided to borrow a Canon EF 80-200mm f/4-5.6 from the store. This lens is also called the Pocket Rocket. It looks like a 28-80mm kit lens from Canon film camera bodies. I'm probably not going to need it, but for its size and weight, it doesn't bother me. The 70-200/2.8L will bother me though if I carried it around and not use it much.

Going with the Pocket Rocket, leaves me with a bit of space, so I've also taken my Canon EF Extender 1.4x Mk II and the Fisheye.



For in-flight entertainment, I bought VisionMongers by David duChemin. Thank you for interest. I should be having entries soon for my review of the book and a look back into my trip.

PhotoBlog

I've started a Wordpress photo only blog at http://geraldgonz.wordpress.com. I intend to update it daily on weekdays.

Cheers!

Photographing a Photographer

A few months ago, I assisted for Eugene Biscardi. It was a great learning experience. Most of the knowledge gained from that day was how a fairly large production works. The crew consisted of the photographer, his personal assistant, an assistant, two photo interns (assistants to the assistant?), stand-in model, stylist, and three people for hair and make-up. I've never worked in a crew this big before. That's 10 people to photograph one person!

The shoot encountered some technical problems, and we ended up using my gear. Eugene was very grateful for this and kept saying I saved that shoot. I never saw the end product of this shoot, and I couldn't remember the name of the actress either.

Eugene contacted me last week since he needs a recent photo to be used in a ... I forgot. Somebody else's website. Anyhow, I readily agreed although it was quite intimidating. Photographing a photographer can not be easy. He knows what I'm doing coupled with the fact that I have worked for him before, I did not want him to control the shoot. Upon showing up my fears were confirmed. He already had the shot and location in mind. What I didn't want to do was show up and just press a button. There was a bit of role reversal - I, the photographer, was the stiff one while he, the subject, was relaxed. However, when I started prepping the gear - camera, lens, lights, etc., he eased up on the coaching and let me do my thing. I'm glad he gave me freedom with the lighting, which boosted my confidence.

Since the location required a half a block walk, I decided to use one light. I used the Alien Bees ABR800 Ringflash with the 30" Moon Unit, powered by a Vagabond II. This has been my go-to light as of late. It is compact and light (as opposed to my Calumet Travelites - which ironically, does not travel light) and it gives me two options - use it as a ringflash or as an off-camera flash. Plus, I can use it on a boom. I'm quite fearful about using the Travelite 750 on a boom. The Moon Unit's light has been compared to a beauty dish. I don't use a beauty dish much, so I can't really tell.

Here is the lighting set up:



It was 4pm and we were chasing light, so I decided to go with a natural light look. I learned a lot throughout this shoot in terms of posing and interacting with the subject. Its a great help as I always thought that was my weak point. This was our end product:



He was really happy with the photo ... from a crew of one.

The Fly Pelicans

This newly formed group needed a photo for a promo quickly. I agreed to an impromptu shoot at one of the member's home. It was pretty much a quick set-up using a black velour backdrop created for me by My Friend Glen. I love this "backdrop" - its actually two pieces of 4' wide velour fabric seamed together. It will photograph as black as long as the light/s do not reach it.

Lighting set-up:


The key light was the Calumet Travelite 750 with the medium softbox. The Alien Bees ABR800 Ringflash was the fill light and was set up at a very low power level. The other Travelite 750 with a gridded stripbox provided a little bit of separation from the backdrop.

I shot the members individually as well using almost the same set-up, except that the strip light was moved to camera-left behind the subject/s.

Mr. Hal Bergman

Between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve, I had an opportunity to shoot with Hal Bergman. Hal, a fantastic photographer, does a lot of industrial stock photography.

Hal at work:

Hal was using my Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L, so I had to use another version of a shift camera - camera on a tripod on top of a picnic table.

Hal suggested bracketing, so I did. With three exposures, I dabbled with HDR:


Few other shots from the rest of the night: