Cool Cars, cooler Models

Driven-1, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

The Driven auto show was happening in Winnipeg yesterday afternoon in the convention center. You could find it upstairs, past the Anime convention on floors one and two.
I got to work with a load of new models for the event, and lots of owners. I expect my inbox to be overflowing soon.
This shoot went particularly well thanks to some new ultra portable hot shoe softboxes I recently purchased. If you're doing off camera flash gun lighting, I highly recommend them. They soften the light nicely like an umbrella, but without that nasty spill around the edges. They're also slightly smaller , so they are easier to carry around, but they are heavier, so you have to take that into account. Also, because the lining is silver coated, they give a slightly creamy quality to the light too, so it seems to wrap a little nicer.
I tested them with both my radio trigger set, and with a Nikon CLS TTL setup thanks to Trevor Johnson (can't wait to see his photos, we had some serious Mojo going on)
The models I got to work with were all amateur, like Cathy here, this was her first car show. Cool ladies, all of them, and very confident because when you shoot at an auto show, you don't just shoot with the photographer you're working with, but with everyone else that sees the lights popping off and attractive ladies in bikini's draped over a performance vehicle. Like I said to Andrew, who got concerned about the crowd we were gathering, it means we're doing it right.
That's about all for today, I've got a BBQ to plan for, so I have to do some running amock and pick up ice, drinks, and the lot yet today.
Cheers!

8:28 AM

8:28 AM, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

I was almost at work, with a couple minutes to spare, when I look across the street and see this old building lit up by the reflections off the glass of a new building, giving this old building this weird blue and gold light paint job.
Hmmm...be on time, or get this shot....
Anyway, I took one frame, and played with it a little. The result was weird and kinda abstract, the bricks, depending on how much light fell on them, almost seemed to fade in and out of focus, which was needless to say, really weird.
The point here, if there is a point, is that my new habit of carrying a camera almost all the time does have it's benefits. I walk by this building 5 times a week, and although I've seen this pattern before, it never really registered with me. Now that I carry my little camera (that is, my original dslr, I've done some upgradification) I have the tool to take a pretty neat shot whenever and wherever they happen.
Heck, I've almost convinced myself to do a 365 project, but I'm not sure if I'm disciplined enough for that.
There's about 9 or 10 readers a day that hit this site, sound off for me, you can be anonymous but let me know, should I try a 365 Project (that is, take at least one original photo, every day, for a full year)

Topaz Adjust

Topaz Adjust, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

Hey, how would you like HDR type photos without having to spend all that time mucking about with HDR?
Better yet, how about some very cool and dramatic enhancements on action shots? Kinda hard to get the whole world to stop while you bracket 3 images.
Topaz labs has a stopgap, a plugin called Topaz Adjust that nicely fits that bill.
I've been using the trial version for a month, and decided it was worth the 50 USD to get a liscence key to call it my very own.
Topaz is easy to use, and pulls a lot of detail out on raw files, not so awesome with JPG, but I tend to shoot almost everything raw anyway, even with my "little" camera which is my K110d with the kit lens on it that I have taken to dragging around with me pretty much everywhere I go.
Granted, I can be known to let the saturation get a little out of hand but it's hard to resist those candy-bright colours and electric skies. Sometimes, though, that's what you want, the world of photography is about making people see things the way you want them to see them.
Topaz adjust is just part of a whole suite of plugins available, and I may go back and get more, but for now I've come to rely like the looks I can get out of adjust, especially when I want emerald green cotton candy grass and leaves like this.
Adjust is only 50 USD, and the whole suite is a very affordable 135 USD, plus the trial version is completely functional and free for 30 days, so it's worth a bash.
Available for Photoshop on both Windows (32 and 64 bit) and Mac.

Ahh...unity!

Stobist Boot Camp II Assignment 2

For years I have referred to technology in casual conversations with my peers as "Amish Porn", as electronic blinky things are forbidden by that particular community.
David has served up, to turn a phrase, what I would like to think of as "Dietitian Porn" for the second assignment within the Strobist Boot Camp II exercise for this summer.
I get to play around with two of my favorite things, cameras and food to enter this one, and my idea hamster has been spinning the wheel for a couple days now trying to figure out exactly what I should shoot.
Of course, my first instinct roars in my belly, literally, a single word that carries so much passion, so much love that it is almost deafening, "Pizza". However, because it's summer, and I'm coming off a week of holidays with my kids, I think I'm going to do something a wee bit more emotional.
For the sake of nostalgia, I'm going to find, and shoot one of my favorite treats from childhood, something that I still enjoy as an adult, but was a really big deal when it hit a the table when I was growing up; Watermelon. I used to be absolutely bonkers about it as a kid, would burrow into huge slice after huge slice while my parents would bark something about leaving something for someone else. I'm also going to do it for the sake of my middle boy, who has taken up the flag of watermelon fiend and was so horribly wronged last week at dinner when the server removed his plate of 2 precious pieces when a bathroom break called him from the table, resulting in a look of pure sadness that nearly broke my heart.
So now I get to find a suitable candidate melon, one with a rich pink flesh and dark black seeds to serve two roles: model for my project and prey for my kids.
Be vewy, vewy, quiet...I'm hunting mewons.