Tour de Nez 2009

June 22, 2009 | Category: Photography | Leave a Comment

Here is a small selection of shots from the pro race during the 2009 Tour de Nez in downtown Reno. For lighting, I used a single Quantum Q-flash on the corner of the chicane. I still have a bunch of photos to go through, but these were my initial picks from the most important race.

No Fish Were Harmed in the Making of These Photos!

June 10, 2009 | Category: Photography | Leave a Comment

Here are some from last night’s audio trigger adventures! I’ve had the idea for the fish shot from some time now and I think it turned out pretty well.

The setup for both shots was as follows:

6x Nikon Sb-800s set at 1/128th power 1x audio trigger
.22 cal pistol with “primer only” rounds
audio sensitive flash trigger with programmable delay
Nikon D300
Nikon 80-200mm 2.8

The camera was set to ISO 500 to achieve f/8. By setting the flashes to 1/128th power, the effective duration was around 1/40,000 sec, fast enough to freeze exploding glass.

Thanks to John, Kevin, Fielding and Andy for bringing the extra equipment and ideas. Oh and by the way, NO FISH WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THESE PHOTOS!

Here are some setup shots by Kevin Clifford:

Stairway to….

June 1, 2009 | Category: Photography | 2 Comments

I’m not even going to finish the cliché title. We’ve been getting some beautiful stormy weather this week and today I took advantage of the gorgeous skies.

This was shot with my Infrared converted Nikon D100 + 17-55mm f/2.8 lens @ f/14, ISO 200, 1/40 of a sec.

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Tags: black and white, clouds, converted, Dan Newton, infrared, IR, landscape, nevada, Nikon D100, Nv, photographer, Reno, rocks, stairway, storm, toned

Hey, I Think You Missed a Spot!

May 12, 2009 | Category: Photography | 5 Comments

Camera and mud courtesy of Fielding Cathcart, photo by me.

Oh and by the way, the camera and lens are absolutely fine and functioning PERFECTLY. This is why I shoot Nikon.

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Tags: abuse, abused, Dan Newton, dirty, Fielding Cathcart, Mud, nevada, Nikon D3, Nv, photographer, Photography, Reno

The Art of Cycling – 5 recent photos

May 12, 2009 | Category: Photography | 2 Comments

Here are a few from last week. The street event was a time trial put on by the Reno Wheelmen. You can see the lighting setup that I used on the last photo. The off-road, downhill bikers are friends of Fielding. Both shoots were good times. Click on the photos to see the technical specs.

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Tags: bike, cycling, Dan Newton, daniel newton, downhill, fisheye, Geiger Grade, jumping, nevada, Nv, off-road, photographer, Photography, Reno, Reno Wheelmen, street, strobist, Virginia City

Thank your Lucky Strawberries

April 29, 2009 | Category: Lighting, Photography | 3 Comments

I got lucky trying to time some splash shots with a strawberry and some extra Cristal we happened to have laying around. Rather than using an audio trigger (which would’ve been way easier), Field and I decided to test our hand eye coordination (and patience) by manually timing the shots. The cameras were set to bulb in a completely dark room. I dropped the strawberry in one hand and fired a radio trigger in the other. We did get some splashes, but this was my favorite shot. If you look closely at the top left corner you can see strawberry guts from me “bricking” the shot in the dark.

The lighting was provided using my expertly constructed double flashed grid setup. I ~~gaffers taped the hell out of~~ carefully adjoined two Nikon SB800s together and precisely installed (velcro and a prayer) a honl 1/8” grid to the front. This allowed the enough light to operate at 1/64 power for action freezing flash duration.

Final Specs: Nikon D300, 80-200mm 2.8 @ f/8, ISO 200, bulb.

Lighting: 2x sb800s gridded behind and lower than glass, 2x more sb800s, one on either side though large softboxes. All lights triggered by Skyports.

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Tags: cristal, Dan Newton, daniel newton, DIY, double flash, glass, Honl Grid, nevada, Nikon D300, Nv, photographer, Photography, Reno, sb-800, strawberry, studio, timing

HOW TO: Combine that old TLR with a DSLR for Retro Visual Sensation!

April 28, 2009 | Category: How To...., Photography | 5 Comments

Ingredients:

1- Digital SLR
1- Older Twin Lens Reflex camera (Rollie, Yashica, etc. I used a $5.00 eBay Kodak Duaflex IV)
1- Macro Lens (mine is a 60mm 1:1)
1- Heavy duty cardboard tubing
1- Roll of gaffers tape

Remove the popup shade covering the viewfinder on the top of the Twin Lens camera. Combine ingredients. Enjoy!

What exactly is this going to accomplish?
Nostalgia of coarse! More specifically, your photos should have a distressed border and added textures from the focusing screen on the twin lens camera. Every camera is different and each will give a unique look. I’ve also noticed that by tilting your SLR slightly, you can accomplish partial focus effects similar to that of lensbabies. Welcome to the world of TTV (Through The Viewfinder) photography!

Tips:

Shoot at a super high ISO for that extra “graininess” (I used 1600 for most of these shots).
Keep in mind that the more you stop down, the more imperfections, dust, scratches will show up.
For expired film looking color, experiment with different “incorrect” white-balance settings.
This camera setup makes for great candid shots because the camera doesn’t appear to be pointing at your subject
Don’t permanently attach the D-SLR to the tube. This allows for camera tilting to achieve a partial focus effect.

A few more….

Here’s the setup.

For more on this style of photography, google “through the viewfinder” or “TTV photography.”

5 Comments | Permalink

Tags: Combine, Dan Newton, daniel newton, How To...., look, Nv, old borders, photographer, Photography, Reno, retro, through the viewfinder, TLR, ttv

A Pat on the Back and a New Photo

April 28, 2009 | Category: Photography | 1 Comment

I thought I’d share a photo and give my self a pat on the back (or two). First, the photo:

Fielding and I have been trying to shoot trains for the last few nights. Last night we waited and waited with the disappointment of no train. We occupied our time with this photo. That’s Fielding on the left and me on the right.

The photo made Explore #1 spot on flickr and was featured on the front page. I’m pretty stoked considering the photo was rated #1 (at least for a day) out of the more than TWO BILLION photos on flickr. Here’s the evidence

Photo Specs: Nikon D300, stacking method used with 35 exposure, 30 seconds @ ISO 1000 for fielding and I and 2 mins @ ISO 800 for the rest. Tokina 11-16mm 2.8, f/2.8 and f/4.

In other news…

Recently, one my audio trigger photos won 3rd place in the diyphotography.net D3A contest. The contest had close to ten thousand submissions during 10 month entry period. Thanks to Fielding, Nick and Jon for all the help and I have to admit that any of their photos could have easily won (if they had submitted them). BTW, the prize was a fancy programmable audio/visual timer (similar, but much more sophisticated than the one I used for the glass breaking shots). My next goal is to capture a bullet.

Finally, the scanner camera project has been featured on various tech and photography sites, the largest being CrunchGear.com and CNET Asia:

I have been shooting nonstop for the last few days and I plan on posting more photography soon. Keep checking back.

1 Comment | Permalink

Tags: daniel newton, explore #1, Fielding Cathcart, flickr, long exposure, night, Nv, photographer, Photography, Reno, Star trails, streaks, trains, Verdi

Anger Management

March 26, 2009 | Category: Lighting, Photography | 4 Comments

What do you do when you need an outlet? How about breaking glasses and making a huge mess with food dye all while using guns and hammers! These photos were created using 3x Nikon speedlights (2x SB-800s and an SB-28) at 1/32 output against a white background. The speedlights were triggered by a home-made sound trigger kit (Big thanks to photographer Jon Loder who built the trigger). Three of us were shooting cameras and one was destroying glasses (BB guns and hammers were the weapons of choice). The cameras were set to bulb (with the lights out) and the sound of the glass breaking triggered the speedlights creating the images below.