..MONEY EYES (formerly MOUTH)

The below left is just another photo result of me playing around with the flash lighting studio equipment. Tell me what you think, guys. I was trying to achieve a photo effect that I saw on a Tutorial Video : episode 15 , studio lighting basics for shiny metal & reflections; at prophotolife.com like on the right photo. I must admit that I did not quite get the desired effect.

More so, the dude in the video was using a wide lens & I used a normal 14-42mm lens on my DSLR which is the main reason why the photo above is missing the magic touch to transcend itself to the amazing photos level. Either that or his cheese grater is of a better make than mine & he uses a darker background.

*chuckle* )))))

Well, I don’t care much about the missing ingredient (wide angle lens) because at least I picked up a trick or two about using white boards to reflect light, camera position, & background lighting. Photography activities like in studio shooting is fun & interesting as an extra curricular activity for me. No plans to go pro; I can’t see myself as a professional photographer but it’s sure a fun hobby to tinker around with once in a while.

The above picture is one taken without any studio lighting & only a diffused on camera flash from my DSLR. Basically, I was bored & having one of those days where you run out of ideas for photo subject material. The above picture is I think, not one of the best of the Mysterious Ball series. Nonetheless, the use of only a flash diffuser provides a subtle glow for setting a centrally focused sunset mood. Oh, who am I kidding?

I just post the picture to show you readers some of the extra photos I took for stock selling online. I only select the photos which I think are the best for stock photography sales. Touching it up would not be worth my while it in my opinion because the lighting is not conceptual enough to bring out the subject matter commercially. Whoops, I’m blabbing again. Sorry. Anyway, one copy of the above subject matter did sell over at Shutterstock & it was a well lighted one.

The flash trigger that I use in my photo studio is of a China brand called Dison. You probably have not heard of it unlike PocketWizard from the USA. Neither did I hear of the brand when I first bought it. Since the photo studio lighting retailer included it into my purchase of a 3 kit mono light flash studio, I was more than eager to give the Dison brand a try. It worked like it should when I started using it in my photo studio. Well, at least for the first three weeks. Less than a month of using the flash trigger on a daily basis, the thing died on me.

I was swearing like a mad man for the next few weeks. Yes, I did not immediately take it to the shop although the salesperson told me that I can exchange it with a new replacement because the problem occurred within three months of use. Nonetheless, I finally had it exchanged for a new set. One of the sales men informed me that even with a PocketWizard brand, one might be simply unfortunate to have bought a defective unit. He added that there is usually at least one unit in a box of 100 units that is defective.