Dominique’s old stones (mostly)

[Blue439]

Hello all,

I only recently joined this forum because I was drawn here by a Google search about, of all unlikely things, Peak Design’s oval split rings (see here). Almost each and every internet forum, regardless of its main subject, does things differently, and so I learned that here, one is welcome to post one photo per day to annoy their fellow forum members. I will do my best to uphold that tradition.

I do not know what sort of caption is expected (or not!) to accompany the photo. I’ve looked at the way others do it, and I’ve seen that, apparently, in terms of words, the fewer the better. So, I will only tell you what it is you’re looking at, without the lengthy and slightly boring art history captions I usually bestow upon my powerless followers on Flickr.

The Saint Michael of Aiguilhe chapel in the city of Le Puy-en-Velay (Auvergne, central France). Built following instructions from Bishop Godescalc (the first pilgrim ever to go to Compostela), completed in 962 and enlarged around 1100.

 

[Clovishound]

First of all, great image.

I don't know about everyone else, but I appreciate some info about either the subject, and/or the taking of the picture. If I'm not in the mood for that, I can just look at the pretty pictures and ignore the text.

But that's just me.

 

[Blue439]

Thank you for your kind words. Regarding the technical data, this was taken with a Z7 II and a 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S lens at 180mm focal length on a tripod (my medium-sized Gitzo which is a Series 2 [GT 2530]). The head I mostly use on that tripod is a Benro geared head GD3WH, very reliable, been using it for several years. It’s much lighter than the Arca-Swiss Cube I have on the “big” Gitzo tripod and it doesn’t matter so much if it should get damaged, while the Cube is very expensive and I do not use it very frequently outdoors.

 

[Blue439]

Today’s photo is a still life I took in the studio back when I loved to experiment with flashes (September 2019). This is entirely flash-lit, no natural light. Those are old leather-bound books from the 19th century. The shot was taken with a Z7 and a 35mm f/1.8 S lens. I have tons of very detailed (and boring) technical data on the setup and the lighting that are probably of no interest to anyone but true aficionados and buyers of the book I regard as my lighting Bible, Light: Science and Magic, but do let me know if you’re interested!

Dominique

 

[Clovishound]

I'm still in the honeymoon phase with my Z7ii. I wasn't planning on upgrading my Z5, but earlier this year they put it on sale for 1/3 off. I looked to my daughter for support to stand firm against an unnecessary purchase. Instead, she offered to give me some early Father's Day funds to help ease the sting.

I've been very happy with it, although the AF took a little time getting used to. I was hoping it was going to be a huge jump in AF from the 5 to be used on birds in flight. I was a little disappointed in that aspect, but perhaps it's just me.

I really love the 45 MP sensor.

I appreciate a good still life, but have no talent in that area myself. I'll stick to what I know best. Right now that is macro, and to a lesser degree, birds. I used to enjoy portrait work back in my film days. These days all my friends aren't much interested in having pictures taken of them.

 

[BF Hammer]

Today’s photo is a still life I took in the studio back when I loved to experiment with flashes (September 2019). This is entirely flash-lit, no natural light. Those are old leather-bound books from the 19th century. The shot was taken with a Z7 and a 35mm f/1.8 S lens. I have tons of very detailed (and boring) technical data on the setup and the lighting that are probably of no interest to anyone but true aficionados and buyers of the book I regard as my lighting Bible, Light: Science and Magic, but do let me know if you’re interested!

Dominique

View attachment 408236

I believe I see at least 3 off-camera light sources based on the shadows and the bit of glare on he lower book. Nicely done.

And please go on with stories to go with your photos. I know I try to tell a little about my experience as I photographed a scene. A great photo will tell it's own story, but it's all better with more story to go with it. Not to forget you have photo subjects in locations we won't know so well in the USA.

 

[Blue439]

Thank you both for your feedback, it is good to know what fellow forum members like so that one can try to provide it.

Regarding the books photo, I must admit with great shame that I could not find the setup info. I see from my tags on Flickr that I used my pair of Indra500 studio strobes (monolights), one with a 110-cm Luna octabox, the other with a 150-cm Raja deep parabolic softbox. A Mitros+ cobra flash was also involved, all of them controlled by an Odin II controller on the Z7 —all of the above products by Phottix. I must have, of course, used my Sekonic light meter to balance the three light sources but I do not know more, except that it was a 14-shot focus-stacked composite assembled in Helicon Focus software. Cardboard reflectors must have been used, too, but I’ll be damned if I can remember how and where (this photo is from September 2019).

There was a 2½ years period during which I had just retired but my wife was still working, and while I was alone at home during the day, I passionately took to exploring tabletop photography in the studio and lighting by flash. As I already mentioned, I found the Light: Science & Magic book by Hunter, Biver and Fuqua to be extremely helpful (interested people will find it on Amazon, and I’m sure in any good photo bookstore). There are also tons of tutorials on Youtube, some not as good as others... I obtained results which I thought were quite satisfactory (one always thinks one’s children are the most beautiful and intelligent, of course), which helped me tremendously when I took up serious museum work later, on behalf of my heritage foundations.

This is an example of “museum work” I did at home as a training exercise on a mid–19th century wakizashi (a shorter version of the Japanese katana saber) in ivory and gold. This museum-caliber antique was brought back from Japan by an American soldier at the end of WW II (God only knows how he procured it) and given by him to my father, who had joined the US Army as well, although how that GI in the Pacific region in 1945 came to be in late-war or post-war contact with my Dad who had joined in France at age 22 in 1944 always remained a mystery...

That photograph was taken with the Nikkor 50mm ƒ/1.8 S lens and is also a focus-stacked composite of 14 exposures stitched with Helicon Focus. No info on the lighting beyond what I already mentioned above for the books photo.

 

[Blue439]

Today’s photo shows the nave of the abbey church of Pontigny, the largest Cistercian abbey church that ever was. Built between 1137 and 1150, it is an enormous church that stands today almost alone in the middle of the countryside, as most of the abbey’s outbuildings have been destroyed during the French Revolution of 1789 (I will show another photo of it tomorrow). Stylistically, it heralds the transition between Romanesque and Gothic. Beware, however: even though the “pointy arches” are a telltale sign of the so-called Gothic style, pointy arches were indeed invented by Romanesque architects a long time before the advent of Gothic. Those arches were perfected in the Cluny III church built between 1088 and 1130. That Benedictine abbey church remained, for five centuries, the largest church in the whole of Christendom, until the completion of the Saint Peter in Vatican basilica in Rome, in 1626.

This photo was taken with a Nikon Z7 II and a 19mm ƒ/4 tilt-shift Nikkor lens on a Gitzo tripod with a Benro geared head. Natural light.

 

[TwistedThrottle]

Very interesting stuff, here. Fantastic photos and stories to go along with them. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Blue439]

Thank you very much for your visit and your kind words.

As announced yesterday, my photo for today will be another one of Pontigny, placing it in its current setting of fields and woods, and giving a better idea of its dimensions (120 meters long!). The abbey of Pontigny is historically very important (well, at least to Mediævalists!) but that enormous church is entirely (and blessedly?) ignored by mass tourism, which means you usually have it all to yourself when you visit. For those of you interested, there is an excellent, very lengthy and detailed notice on Wikipedia in French here, and a much shorter one in English here.

This photo was taken with a Z7 II and an F-mount 45mm ƒ/2.8 D tilt-shift Nikkor lens with an FTZ II adapter, handheld —can’t wait for Nikon to roll out the great Z-mount tilt-shifts that, according to Thom Hogan and some others, seem to be in the works...

 

[Blue439]

Hello everyone,

Back in the studio today for this macro shot of a Leofoto VH30–R tripod head. I chose it because I have kept the full technical and lighting information as is demanded by the Strobist group on Flickr, so here goes and don’t hate me for that big dump of mumbo-jumbo! I’ll be happy to explain and clarify, should anyone care. The setup was quite simple in fact, just two lights. Of course larger scenes are more complex to light and require more gear.

One Phottix Pro Indra500 monolight on a Profoto light stand in Rembrandt position to camera left, 1.5 meters from subject and 1.3 meters above it, firing at 1/8 power through a Phottix Pro 150–cm Raja parabolic softbox with double diffuser; and another Indra500 studio strobe on a Profoto light stand in lateral position to camera right, 1.5 meters from subject and 1.5 meters above it, firing at 1/8 power through a Phottix Pro 80–cm Raja Deep parabolic softbox with double diffuser.
Strobes set and triggered via Phottix Pro Odin II radio controller on the camera’s hot shoe, manual mode. Sekonic L–858D light meter used to balance light sources. Gitzo GT3543XLS tripod with Arca–Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Nikon Z7 camera body, Micro–Nikkor Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S macro lens.

 

[Blue439]

When Year 1000 collides with Year 2000...

Formerly part of a priory of which nothing else is left above ground, this lovely little Romanesque church was built around Year 1000. It is spectacularly well preserved. Of course, the striking contrast with the enormous and somewhat menacing cooling towers of the nearby nuclear power plant makes it a photo to remember...

Saint-Blaise church, village of Marcilleux, southeastern France.
Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 50mm ƒ/1.8 S lens, handheld.

 

[Needa]

When Year 1000 collides with Year 2000...

Formerly part of a priory of which nothing else is left above ground, this lovely little Romanesque church was built around Year 1000. It is spectacularly well preserved. Of course, the striking contrast with the enormous and somewhat menacing cooling towers of the nearby nuclear power plant makes it a photo to remember...

Saint-Blaise church, village of Marcilleux, southeastern France.
Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 50mm ƒ/1.8 S lens, handheld.

View attachment 408372

What a contrast!

 

[Blue439]

I am kept too busy these days by the “Heritage” photography that takes up most of my time, but I often wish I had time to practice again tabletop photography, or “pack shot” or product photography, whatever you want to call it. It was so much fun thinking about those shots, setting them up, trying for effect and failing and trying again... The Wounded Cabbage below was taken for some sort of challenge on Flickr, like “Crime Scenes” or something... The camera was a Z7 with a manual-focus Voigtländer Nokton 58mm ƒ/1.4 lens.

 

[Blue439]

The Mediæval fortress of Chalençon and its Romanesque chapel. Auvergne, central France. Nikon D810, Nikkor 85mm ƒ/1.4 lens.

 

[Blue439]

It was not long until my interest for tabletop photography branched off into food photography. I suppose it is built into every Frenchman’s gene pool to “be into food” —although being half-Scot and half-Breton, I’m not exactly sure just how “French” that makes me... Anyway, I like to cook, although I have never ventured beyond the basics, but my problem with pro-looking food photography is that I can never wait long enough to shoot the food before I want to eat it...! Genuine food photographers (eat first, although few will ever admit it, then) spend hours “dressing up” the food, using a myriad of tricks you don’t want to know about, and by the time they finally take the hero shot, the food is utterly inedible —not to mention often unsafe to eat because of all the chemicals they... but here we come again to what it is that you don’t want to know.

So, given all of the above, I figured the safest foods for me to practice on were cold ones, and I learned to work fast, or use “stand-ins” for the hero food, just like they do in the movies. This slice of pâté en croûte from the Mère Brazier catering shop in Lyon was one of my first tries, and I had to eat one before I started working on the other... Oh, and the baby pickles were crunchy and delicious, too!

Strangely enough, I have no usable EXIF information about lens, but it must have been an autofocus Z-mount one, because I see from the original caption that this was a 14-exposure composite shot using the built-in focus stacking function on the Z7. The photos were stacked with Helicon Focus.

Bon appétit !

 

[Blue439]

A few years ago, one of the groups I then belonged to on Flickr had the great idea to propose a themed challenge comprised of a series of three photos and called “Autobiography”. In three photos, posted one week after the other, you were supposed to describe your life, first as a child, then as a teenager or young adult, finally as a fully grown-up human being. I found this extremely entertaining, although it was also challenging beyond anything I could have suspected when I decided to participate.

This was the third photo, and it proved to be both the easiest and the most difficult to compose. The easiest because it being about the most recent part of my life, I could most easily put together some “documentation” to describe it; and most difficult because, for the professional side of my life, there really wasn’t much I could show: being a lawyer then, most of what I did was covered by confidentiality...

For the non-professional side of things, I chose to illustrate prominently my sailing activities, first on small dinghies from when I was 8, then on as a qualified sailing instructor at Club Med at age 14 (things were different back then, I’m talking about the mid- to late-1970s), then onto bigger boats in the world of bluewater competitive sailing. I was the navigator on those big boats, at a time when satnavs did not exist, that’s why you can see charts, rulers, calculators, slide rules and dividers... It was loads of fun, gave me opportunities to travel the world, not to mention to sleep right next to Jane Fonda in a bunk on board #6998 Tenacious. For the professional side of my life, I had to make do with the official photo of the day I was sworn in, my lawyer’s robes, a windshield badge for the car and a professional ID.

I uploaded quite a large version to Flickr (5,000 pixels in its largest dimension), so that people could zoom in and have fun trying to decipher and find some clues... A few did surprisingly well at identifying the items and the reasons they were included.

As an exception to the one-photo-per-day rule, I also upload a small iPhone snap of the setup I used to shoot it. It was a focus-stacked shot, 12 exposures.

Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 35mm ƒ/1.8 S lens. I won’t bore you with the technical and strobist info, unless someone specifically wants it, as you already have the small behind-the-scenes snapshot below.

 

[Dawg Pics]

What a contrast!

Indeed. Fantastic image.

 

[Clovishound]

Slide rule.

You're telling your age.

 

[Dawg Pics]

I am jealous of your access to those wonderful old buildings. Everything around me is so darned new. There are only a few buildings left in this town that date back to the 1800s.