In preparation for shooting some images for dojo advertising, I figured it was about time to lay down some bread and get some gear. So I laid down about 1.7k over the weekend. Whee! Here’s the what and why.
2 AlienBees Flash Heads: I shoot with these at work. They are reasonably priced, and plenty bright for what I’ll be doing with them (portrait).
10 foot and 13 foot light stands: Off e-bay. Everyone charges way too much money for these things. It’s retarded. These obviously hold the lights. I’m also considering getting a boom stand.
24″x36″ Softbox and umbrellas: Again off e-bay. Again, these are retardedly over-priced from most places. Softboxes make pretty light.
36″ reflector: for bouncing light to fill in shadows.
Sigma 70-200 f2.8 Lens: Since switching to full frame digital, my 24-70 is far too wide angle for shooting portraits. I’ve needed a long lens for a while now, finally time to buy it. $900 on this bad boy after shipping. Could have paid $30 less while giving up the 4 year american warranty. Not worth it. I’ll need this for the Alaska trip in Sept.
Beside the lens and lights, for which I paid retail, I got some pretty good deals. I spent around $100 on light stands, softbox and modifiers which would have cost around $300 otherwise.
Really only about $700 of this spending was dedicated to lighting, which will primarily be used for portrait work. I’ve got a couple of people interested in having shots done, which won’t recoup the cost by themselves, but I’m sure I’ll see some more work from having the lights.
I’ve been a little stressed at work recently, so I thought now would be a good time to get out and do some shooting. I was thinking it would be nice to escape the heat and head north. So I decided to hike a little further up red tank draw and see what I could find. There were some nice storm clouds, so I was hoping for some interesting skies. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, things were pretty overcast. There were breaks, but it was just much too hot to wait for light changes. I couldn’t believe how hot it was for being that far north.
Both shots are nice, but lack interesting, contrasty light. I was focusing on shooting from about 3 feet off the ground, and doing lots of bracketing for later dynamic range work. I really need a cable release BTW since I seem to be moving the camera enough by just hitting the shutter release to throw off registration.
It’s really too hot right now to shoot anywhere below 6000 feet in AZ. Which makes me sad, because monsoon season is upon us and there’s such interesting light. I might make another trip to the painted desert soon, and should really get up to the pariah wilderness as well. Must… Get…. More….. Free….. Time.