Tricky request calls for creative lighting
Posted by Cameron in Newspaper, Photography, Studio on February 2nd, 2010
Today’s assignment was to photograph the new artistic director of Dance North. My brief was to keep it quite plain, maybe even as plain as with a standard white background. Sounds a bit boring? Well – the pic is to be positioned right across the page with text over the plain areas. So, instead of giving only a choice of plain background I threw in a few extras that are a bit more creative. Apart from the wall there was nothing that would help the viewer even identify her surroundings with her profession. I decided to use a glass door that was just next the the exposed bricks to my advantage. Bouncing a 580EXII into white reflector umbrella gave me a nice gentle light on the subject but also had the added advantage of reflecting in the glass door and giving the reader something to identify with. Knowing what many sub-editors are like it will probably get cropped out but what the heck, can’t hurt to get your own gear in the pic every now and then! 
Click to see a larger version
1/200th @ f5.0 ISO640 – Shot on Canon EOS 5DMkII with EF 70-200 f2.8L IS USM. Lighting with 580EXII into white reflector umbrella triggered by PocketWizard PlusII’s.
How the story appeared in The Courier-Mail (click photo for large version)
Too much rain foils angler’s best plans
Posted by Cameron in Personal, Photography, Video on February 1st, 2010
I was asked to photograph the first day of the barramundi season today so I thought I could make a great pic at Townsville’s Aplins Weir where there would normally have been up to 100 fisherman there to celebrate the opening of the season. The recent rains would normally have provided a perfect start to the season as plenty of food was swept down rivers and streams to the waiting barra. The problem however – the dam spill gates had to be opened and therefore instead of a gentle flow, we got 100,000 litres a second over the dam wall.
So, all I ended up shooting was a handful of pics that I got a bit carried way with in Lightroom and a video to show you what the flow was like. [Skip past the gallery for the video]
Got a spare AUS$1,000,000 to splash on an out-of-date camera?
Posted by Cameron in Equipment, Photography on January 31st, 2010
Recently I wrote a column for a magazine about my personal transition from film to digital 11 years ago. In that column I mentioned that the invention of digital photography was the biggest change in the industry since Louis Daguerre’s ‘Daguerreotype’ amazed people in 1835.
Well, only a couple of days after writing this column I spotted the “Giroux Daguerréotype” up for auction at an Austrian auction house.
This camera was designed by Daguerre and his brother-in-law and sold in limited numbers from 1839. To add to the value it features Daguerre’s signature and is in stunning condition.
If you have the time take the opportunity to learn a bit more about Louis Daguerre, one of the ‘fathers’ of photography. It really is fascinating reading (did you know that the first know picture of Abraham Lincoln was a daguerrotype?)
The first know picture of Lincoln was this Daguerrotype
Further reading links – WestLicht Photographica Auction’s page on this camera, Louis Daguerre on Wikipedia, Daguerrotype on Wikipedia, Photograph on Wikipedia
Want a customized iPhone security wallpaper? Let me help with that!
Posted by Cameron in Photography on January 29th, 2010
A while ago I knocked up a custom iPhone security wallpaper that put your contact details on the front page of your iPhone so that if you lost it someone could easily return it. The iPhone has a couple of security settings which are commonly used by people to safeguard their data. First thing is a four digit ‘passcode lock’ which can be set to enable after 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 minutes of inactivity. The second is an ‘erase data’ feature which will thoroughly wipe the phone after 10 passcode lock input errors. Awesome idea, if you phone gets nicked as the thief tries to unlock it then there is no way for them to get to your personal data.
However, what happens if you leave you phone somewhere and an honest soul picks it up and wants to return it to you? Well, if you have your passcode lock enabled then I’m afraid there is nothing you can do. Mr or Mrs Honest can’t do a thing to find out who owns the phone unless you ring it constantly and hope they answer or you plaster the back of your phone with a big ‘contact details’ sticker.
Well, here’s an easy way around that. Stick a custom wallpaper on your iPhone like the one I use below and when someone turns it on they are greeted with your details.
The initial wallpaper when the phone is turned on
The passcode screen, note how the info fits neatly
One tip, make sure the phone number you put in as your contact number isn’t the number of the actual phone! That would be pretty dumb eh? When you get your custom wallpaper just make sure you put it in your iPhone’s photo library and then go into your phone Settings/Wallpaper and then select the appropriate library/album and then your custom wallpaper. Easy.
Now, how to make one…. Well, it is done in Photoshop and I figure many of you don’t have photoshop so I’m going to make it easy. You can email me (to iphonewallpaper@cameronlaird.com) your email address and phone number and I will do it for you and then email it back. You can even send me a pic to put with it, it MUST be 480px x 320px though. Alternatively, if you ‘do’ Photoshop then feel free to ping me an email (to iphonewallpaper@cameronlaird.com) and I’ll shoot you back the PSD file and you can customize it to your hearts content.
If you would like me to do this for you I’d LOVE if and request that you could leave a comment here in the comments and if you are a twitterer then please tweet this by clicking right here on this link
God and I spend an afternoon at the beach
Posted by Cameron in Newspaper, Photography, Sport on January 24th, 2010
Had an assignment for London’s Daily Mail a couple of weeks ago photographing former Brit football legend Robbie “God” Fowler. Fowler is playing for Australian A-League team North Queensland Fury FC as their marquee import and striker. Read Mike Dickson’s story here
Click to read the Daily Mail online story
Robbie Fowler and I during a Daily Mail shoot
Click to see a larger version of the Daily Mail spread
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