The Backdoorhippie Six Sets of Sixty-One for '16

BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Roy1961 said:
i dont think you are on your own in the flash dept. Jake :confused: i am slowly getting the shadows down when i try using mine.
Click to expand...

For me it goes beyond the shadows thing, it's a near complete inability to think through an exposure when using flashes. I've watched videos and had amazing "Aha!!" moments, but while the theory sticks (I know what everything does and how it's supposed to work) the practical methodology doesn't. I know that has more to do with an utter lack of practice than anything else. Unless you're savant-like nothing is going to stick until you drill it in, and that's what I'm aiming to do this winter. So, I hope y'all will excuse me if I splash my naivete all over this thread for a while. If I'm going to have to shoot something once a day it might as well serve some practical use as well, right?! LOL
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Flash is something I definitely need to learn. I have a couple books by Neil van Niekerk but need to spend more time learning, too. FWIW, you are way ahead me when it comes to flash. ;)
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
hark said:
Flash is something I definitely need to learn. I have a couple books by Neil van Niekerk but need to spend more time learning, too. FWIW, you are way ahead me when it comes to flash. ;)
Click to expand...

You don't know just how wrong you could possibly be. If every journey starts with a single step then I cannot possibly be any more than 1 or 2 steps ahead of you. :shame:
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
BackdoorHippie said:
You don't know just how wrong you could possibly be. If every journey starts with a single step then I cannot possibly be any more than 1 or 2 steps ahead of you. :shame:
Click to expand...

Yeah, right. I saw your chess board photo from a while back, remember that one? ;) You are several steps ahead of me, my friend. :encouragement:
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
hark said:
Yeah, right. I saw your chess board photo from a while back, remember that one? ;) You are several steps ahead of me, my friend. :encouragement:
Click to expand...

That was 2 hours of try this, try that, try something else. It better I know there's an element to that in studio photography but not 2 hours worth. The thing is, I can do that kind of stuff because flash is an element in the shot. Shooting with artificial light and making it look natural? That's what I can't do at the moment.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
January 19

Playing with a little masking and background replacement for a project I'm working on. Need more practice with Refine Edge in Ps.

20160119.jpg
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
BackdoorHippie said:
January 19

Playing with a little masking and background replacement for a project I'm working on. Need more practice with Refine Edge in Ps.
Click to expand...
Have you tried Topaz Remask? I'm not recommending it per se because I haven't really used it much but I thought I'd toss it out there for your consideration. I wound up with a free copy somehow and, while I've rarely used it, it did seem stupid simple to use effectively the couple times I took it out for a spin.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Horoscope Fish said:
Have you tried Topaz Remask? I'm not recommending it per se because I haven't really used it much but I thought I'd toss it out there for your consideration. I wound up with a free copy somehow and, while I've rarely used it, it did seem stupid simple to use effectively the couple times I took it out for a spin.
Click to expand...

I've got Remask and also onOne Perfect Mask (which apparently no longer wants to work with CC 2015), though I haven't used them much. I did a quick run with Remask on the same image and, to be honest, it wasn't any better than what I got. I suspect that really learning the tool would help, but I don't like how it returns the selection in a new layer and not as an actual selection. Sure, I can make one fairly easily from that, but it would be nice if it did it for you. I know, I'm a complainer. LOL
 
Dawg Pics

Dawg Pics

Senior Member
BackdoorHippie said:
...... Shooting with artificial light and making it look natural? That's what I can't do at the moment.
Click to expand...

I am in the same boat, so we can paddle together. I have a flash meter on the way, and I have a couple books. I haven't had time to sit and learn, so I do the "try this, try that" method as well. It gets frustrating quickly.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
January 20

With snow coming this weekend I went to move the garbage cans off the driveway. It's amazing the amount of water that can get through a hole smaller than one inch in the top of your spare recycle trash can, particularly when you don't open it for 4 or 5 months. Almost threw my back out when I went to grab it.

20160120.jpg
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
BackdoorHippie said:
January 20

With snow coming this weekend I went to move the garbage cans off the driveway. It's amazing the amount of water that can get through a hole smaller than one inch in the top of your spare recycle trash can, particularly when you don't open it for 4 or 5 months. Almost threw my back out when I went to grab it.
Click to expand...

We have township issued recycle containers which come with four holes 1/2" in diameter already drilled through the bottom. I sure wouldn't want to lift that monstrosity like you had to do! ;)
 
M

Moab Man

Senior Member
I was reading your post on flash, and it's not as bad as you may feel. I would suggest maybe deciding that the month of February will all be flash photography. Just like the 366, if you force yourself to do it everyday you're going to get your brain wrapped around it.

Love the Jan 21 picture. Beautiful separation of the birds from the sky.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Moab Man said:
I was reading your post on flash, and it's not as bad as you may feel. I would suggest maybe deciding that the month of February will all be flash photography. Just like the 366, if you force yourself to do it everyday you're going to get your brain wrapped around it.

Love the Jan 21 picture. Beautiful separation of the birds from the sky.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Got a bunch of shots of these guys (there were easily 1000 in the field I could get to and at least 5-10 times that many in the field behind them), I just need to weed through them.

Yeah, my flash chops come purely from a lack of practice. I can do studio style stuff with a little bit of thought and prep without much of an issue, but strobist type flash use is currently beyond me. I'd dedicate a month to it if it didn't trigger migraines in the Mrs. and given the fact that I work at home she's already an unwilling participant in my photographic projects. I might have come up with something the other night but as I turned to get a prop I see her with her head down on the kitchen table. God bless her for not saying anything other than, "Are you done?", when she heard me stop.
 
Top