CCC Forum

davidc wrote:S................ I forgot the tripod/camera locking plate so had to use the camera handheld.

Yep, got the t-shirt on that one. So small, yet so vital a piece of equipment. It probably does explain the expression, though.

Wanted to do a shot like this for ages but couldn't figure out how to get the focus on my eye. Cracked it tonight

Really fun playing with this in Photoshop and I ended up with some truly bizarre shots - considered going for purple irises at one point and it was tempting to go "FULL DUNE WARRIOR". In the end I decided not to muck about. Converted to mono, masked out the iris then selectively increased the brightness and contrast of just the iris itself but opted not to change the colour.

Tweaked the curve a bit to make the mono punchier.

Strobist - YN490 about 15cm from my face camera left on full power through umbrella. Ring light on lowest power (it has no markings, it was £20!).


My Eye - 22/365 by cedarsphoto, on Flickr

http://500px.com/photo/23879421

I quite like this, but there is also something disturbing about that eye staring out. Was that the intention?

Cheers and yep, intentional to be a bit mean looking. Actually because the flash/ring light were so bright I had to open my eye as bright as possible knowing it'd close slightly on reflex when the flash fired. Actually wanted to go even tighter in but it looked "wrong" without a bit of face to go with it.

Mucking about with different colour versions now and I've got some comedy shots of me trying to look mean, might revisit this setup sometime to do a "badass" self portrait.

Wondering about doing a series of these, it should be much easier to setup and frame when I'm behind the camera and I've got friends with pretty eyes.

davidc wrote:Wanted to do a shot like this for ages but couldn't figure out how to get the focus on my eye. Cracked it tonight

Are you going to let on?

Sure, there are a couple of ways depending on what lighting you're using.

#1 - in brighter conditions where you aren't using flash or worried about extraneous light sources place a point light source (something that won't overpower the scene) BEHIND your viewfinder. Then, look through the lens as you stand in front and line it up such that you see the light source through the lens.

#2 - can be used in conjunction with #1, but doesn't need to be, but if you can see your own reflection, make sure the part you want in focus (such as the pupil) is centered on the light coming through from the viewfinder.

Last night was trickier as the room was totally dark bar the ring light. The ring light did help in providing the contrast needed for the AF but I noticed that when the flash triggered too the sensor in the camera would flash red. I simply repositioned my eye such that the sensor was as flat/plainly rectangular as possible and the hit rate for in-focus, centered shots rocketed.

I found a bridge over the train tracks I'd never seen before today which let me look back into East Croydon station. Stood a while in the freezing cold before I got the shot I wanted, multiple trains on multiple tracks.

It serves a dual purpose as this week's entry into my work weekly photo challenge on the theme of Transport.

Quite a nice spot, I think I might go back in the blue hour with my tripod. And when it's not snowing



http://500px.com/photo/23959559

Good one. How long was the exposure to get the light trails?

30 seconds. It's hit popular on 500px too, only my second pic so far to do so!

Nice one David Interesting that the red lines stop on the right hand side. Was a train parked there for a while ?