Karl @ Play

Strangler in the toilet

2012-01-27T06:02:00.001-06:00

Listening to Hanging Around in the bogs at work. It helps coax the little brown buggers out !

Hair cut for The Bonzo Boys

2011-12-17T06:16:00.001-06:00

It that time of year again- the pre Christmas chop!

Nyarlathotep

2010-07-07T16:47:00.001-05:00

Nyarlathotep
Originally uploaded by kraalomega

hungry ?

Product Review 3. Nikon AF 28 mm f2.8 lens

2009-09-26T16:26:00.000-05:00

I was expecting to pay around £240 for this lens and so was happily surprised when I purchased this new on Ebay for £150. I immediately registered with Nikon, just to check it was OK and it went through fine. I’d financed this lens by selling my Sigma 24-70 f2.8, a good lens, but I found it focus sloppy while doing Carly and Lyns wedding on 22nd August 2009 and wanted something more consistent. I also wanted a prime that I would really make me work and think better. I find zooms make me lazy. As I’m currently shooting with the D200 (next upgrade will be the the D300) the 28 mm gives me approximately 42 mm and I have to say it’s a great size. Handy for most close work and indoor work. Here are a few example:

From Drop Box">The back room Westbourne Place

From Drop Box">Hand held lighting experiment in the back yard

From Drop Box">A close up of the Jasper

I find it a great general focal length; It small and light and can be easily manually focused, which I like to be able to do for certain shot. I think for the DX sensor camera, slightly preferable (and about the same cost) to the 35mm f2. Obviously the 35mm will give a better portrait image than the 28mm; but for the sort of wedding work I do, this is a great overall lens.

My next review will take a bit longer to post as I intend to do a large piece on my SU800 and the Nikon CLS and I want to do it in more depth.

Da Da for now xxx

Product review 2 - The Kinesis X-Harness

2009-09-17T05:48:00.000-05:00

With the wedding of Carly and Lyn on the 22nd of August, came a raft of on the spot equipment test. The main one being my use of the Nikon Creative Lighting System or CLS for short and my Kinesis X-Harness http://www.kgear.com/index.html.

I’m going to cover my experiment with Nikon’s CLS at a later date, suffice it to say it went well and I have already expanded my system with an additional SB800 and an SU 800.

So, the harness. My main reason for going with a harness for my main kit support was because I had a notion to shoot entirely manual, metering with my Sekonic L-408 as I went along, so I wanted my hands free to meter, then step back and shoot. The second reason came when I finally came to put all of my kit together:

Nikon D200
Power Pack (not Nikon)
Stroboframe Press-T Flash bracket
Nikon SB-800
Nikon SC-29 (connecting cable)
Sigma 24-70 f2.8

That’s a lot of kit and the D200’s own strap really didn’t cut it, hence the harness decision. And it turned out to be a good decision.

First, I have to say the Kinesis harness looks very good in a somewhat special forces kind of way, but it doesn’t just look good it feels good.

It’s light
It doesn’t move about much
it looks good.
It feels good
It doesn’t impede your own movement.
It doesn’t get in the way of your pint (should you choose to have one) (or two)

It’s really a matter of comfort, and on the whole it worked well. I did, later in the day (and it was a long day) lose both the battery pack and the Stroboframe, mainly to lighten the load, but also I was using the Lumiquest 80-20, which I have discovered doesn’t work well with the flip top flash bracket.

From desktop folder">here's a pick

My only negative feedback isn’t an issue with Kinesis per say; it’s just I was hoping to wear a light jacket (open) to cover the harness and look less like a SWAT team sniper; this is possible, however, you’ll look like a hunch back. I opted instead for a black shirt. It was a warm day. If it wasn’t for the fact their web site is so hard to navigate and order from and that they have no U.K. distributor (I’d be up for the job !!!) I’d give it 10 out of 10, but they’ll have to live with 9 out of 10.

Here’s are pictures from their web link: http://www.kgear.com/h/H717.html#intro

Next Product Update: The Nikon 28mm f2.8

Carly and Lyns Wedding

2009-09-03T12:41:00.012-05:00

From 05">Confetti

Well, my first wedding in a while and hopefully not the last. Had a great time with Carly and her new husband Lyn; they are a great couple and it was a great day despite my kidney stones causing me merry hell, the worst thing is because I had to drive to Carly's hair dressers, then to her home for the make up and then to The Grove, I couldn't take any pain killers until the ceremony.

From 04">The Look

We'd discussed the sort of look they were wanting. Mainly relaxed, more repotage type work; it's what I specialize in, but as with all wedding photography, there were a few exception, a few posed shots, and a lot of groups in the end. I don't mind groups, in fact I enjoy them - it gives me great excuse to shout at people, hahaha.

From 04">That magic moment

For me the most telling part of the post wedding analysis has been the sheer volume of picture I took. That last wedding I photographed I shot six rolls of 36. This time round I shot 1249 shot. Now, I've learnt my craft with the discipline of film, and have been fully digital since 2002, and I don't over shoot, but my first digital wedding and I seem to have gone crazy. Next time round - a tad more conservative me thinks. Still, I've managed to edit it down to 250 images and am happy with the results.

From 05">First Dance

I'll be posting some more from this shoot later with some more detailed strobist information. In the mean time the list of items up for review is growing and I need to pile in on that.

I've posted more images from this wedding on my web site or my flickr pages for those that are interested. (Links at the bottom of page and here)

Da Da for now

K
xxx

PORTFOLIO07013

2009-07-28T02:47:00.003-05:00

PORTFOLIO07013
Originally uploaded by kraalomega

Strobist info: Nikon D2X can't remember the lens, probably the Sigma 28-70. 2 x Brocolor Grafit A2 powering three PulsoG heads with soft boxes.

I love this shot, it was a great session.

warm-glow

2009-07-28T02:41:00.002-05:00

warm-glow
Originally uploaded by kraalomega

Jasper lit with SB800 with CTO
D200 set to tungsten.
SB800 mounted on Stroboframe PressT Flash braket.

devil-in-my-car

2009-07-28T02:40:00.002-05:00

devil-in-my-car
Originally uploaded by kraalomega

My eldest son Oskar playing in our back yard. Strobist info: D200, SB 800 CTO off camera. WB set to tungsten.

Sadly getting expression like this, is not difficult, more a permanent feature of his face.

Product Overview 1.

2009-07-24T15:54:00.012-05:00

Product Overview 1.

Yongnuo Digital External Battery Pack SF-X

Yes, the Ebay cheap external battery pack for my SB-800 has turned up (very quickly I may add) from Hong Kong via Ebay.co.uk for the comparative cheap price of £27.77 + free postage. I say comparatively because Park Cameras sell the actual Nikon SD-8A for £140.99 which is quite a difference. So I thought I'd post a quick review for those like me, wary of taking the plunge with non-Nikon branded products, especially those from the far east.

First impressions are it's very light and plastic, though apparently so is the official Nikon product (hopefully someone can fill me in with more details of the official product as I've never seen one in the flesh). It has a nice case, but no shoulder strap, only a belt loop at the back. The case hides the operating indicator lamp which is a minor bug I guess.

It can be attached to the base of the camera with a tripod plug supplied. The instructions are a simple A4 sheet, English one side, Chinese the other, with simple diagrams telling you how to put batteries into it. Clever stuff.

The set up is easy, simply open the external power connecting cover (located beneath the wide area Af-assist illuminator panel) and connect the connecting cord. There is also a connector for the sync terminal on the side of the SB-800.

Initial testing shows it works (hooray I haven't been conned (again) )
I put the Sb-800 on manual 1/8th power and let it rip and wham bang thank you mam. I feel it's important to point out that my main purpose in buying the pack was for the extended life it gives the flash and for those few shot moments when I need rapid fire shooting when capturing weddings. I feel confident if you required more from it, it would give more; dependant on flash out put and drive rate.

my main bug bear with it is that the operating indicator lamp isn't on all the time, it only flashes when you fire the camera, so you're not sure if it's working or not unless you watch the lamp while your firing, which would make for some interesting framing. Overall I'd have to give it 9/10.

I hope this post has been of some use to anyone thinking about investing in a third party product and I look forward to hearing other peoples' experiences.

Next Up ... Interfit Strobies STR118 Flexi Adapter Arm with Hotshoe Adapter

About me .....

2009-07-21T13:16:00.003-05:00

Hello and welcome,
this blog will be a commentary on some of the photographic work I do here at Play-Light. I hope to give a diary on the work I do, a platform for technical reviews and hopefully share some of my photographic practices and to get feed back from others out there.

I have been a professional photographer since 1996. After leaving University with a Degree in Media Production, I worked as a Director of Photography on several Pop promos, before moving into studio based portraiture, where I learned the ins and outs working with families, children, pets and models. I specialize in getting spontaneous and natural images even out of teenagers. During this time I also trained in computer art and design at night school and became a master in the developing dark arts of computer image manipulation.

In 1996 I joined Image Photo Services of Miami and began working on Royal Caribbean Cruise Ships for nearly four years doing wedding, portrait and social photography as well as colour processing and printing. The work was hard but rewarding

From 2002 to 2005 I was head hunted by the Venture group and became a franchisee with the most cutting edge photographic portrait studios in the world.

I now freelance and work for myself and the results are modern, creative, relaxed and fun.

Karl Robertson BA(hons)