Exhibition Submmissions Update

I'm pleased to record that my submissions (detailed in the previous post) for the NZFM Passion Exhibition have all been accepted. Woo hoo !

My Exhibition Submissions

I am a member of the NZ Flickr Meetup Group an internet based group of photographers who meet up from time to time for the purpose of photography. The group is planning an exhibition as part of the Auckland Festival of Photography and were recently accepting submissions from the members. Judging for acceptance into the exhibition will be taking place tonight - or at least starting tonight.

Full details can be found here, but in short the brief was:

We want you to show us your passion; what makes you a photographer? What makes you a part of this group? Show us your passion and what it means to be a photographer as a part of NZFM. It’ll be a very personal experience for each of us and what’s important to you may well vary from everyone else.... That’s precisely what we want to capture.
The exhibition brief comprises two parts; your image or images as well as a written statement.

I submitted one image for the print category:

“Theatre photography holds a special place in my heart and this image is one of my favourites. A candid shot taken backstage during a performance of "La Cage Aux Folles", which I had a part in, it shows an actor preparing for their next scene.
In some ways this is simply a documentary recording of a particular person, time and place, but for me it is, at the same time, a representation of any actor, it could be any theatre anywhere and at any time. It is an intimate view into a world that I enjoy and which, through my photography, I would like to share with others.”

And three in the digital category:

“Theatre photography holds a special place in my heart. Capturing a live performance (these are all taken during dress rehearsals) presents a particular set of technical challenges. While there is often a huge contrast range, the light can change in an instant and the overall illumination levels are often quite low. Technicalities aside, capturing the right moment is critical, a fraction of a second often means the difference between a hit and a miss. But every now and then you get one where the lighting, the performer, your inputs and the moment come together and catch a little bit of the magic and wonder of theatre. These three images, from three different shows, are ones that I was thrilled to have captured.”

I don’t know yet whether they will be accepted or not, but you can be sure that the blog will be updated once the results are in.

V-Cards - DIY Light Modifiers

V-Cards are free standing diffuse reflectors. In this post I will tell you how I made mine (it’s real easy), why you might want to use them and show you a few examples where they were used.

I went to a local stationery store and picked up four pieces of 3mm white coreflute (a sort of corrugated plastic board), enough to make two v-cards. Each sheet is about 100cm x 60cm in size. Next I taped each pair together along one of their long edges with transparent duct tape. The edges were taped so that they can hinge at the join like a book so that you can stand them up by themselves. Each sheet measures roughly 1000 mm x 600 mm, so when the two taped pieces are standing opened almost all the way out you get roughly a square metre of white that you can use to bounce diffuse light off.

The photo to the right shows one of the v-cards being illuminated by a Nikon SB-800. The point of the exercise is to turn the small hard light of the  bare flash into a larger and softer light source, or simply to use as a free standing diffuse reflector.

So how do the results look? Well I moved around this setup about 90° to the right of this camera position to take a picture of the lemon you can see in the foreground. I took a couple of shots of the lemon, one on the black background and another with the same setup on a white background. The results:

and

As you can see the light is quite soft.

Next, how do they fare when used to light a portrait? I grabbed the nearest available non-complaining and very patient subject and proceeded to try a few different light setups using the v-cards in combination with a couple of remote flashes. The results, including a brief summary of the setup, are summarised in the picture below. (Click for a larger version).

 

So there you have it -- v-cards.

Advantages

• Inexpensive and easy to make
• Fold up flat for storage
• Provide a good sized bounce surface.
• Free standing (as long as it’s not windy).

Disadvantages

• Although they take up almost no space in one dimension they are still quite large in the other two which could be a problem.
• They will probably blow over in anything more than the gentlest zephyr.