All posts by Passy

Special Events

Johnny’s Christening

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This was the first Baptism we have ever photographed, and overall it went quite well.

It was not easy getting Family Shots in the Church, and in hindsight I should have changed lenses at some stage and used my larger 24-70mm low light zoom lens; rather than just using the 17-50mm F2.l8 lens for the entire shoot.

Apart from the Church Ceremony, there was also an afterwards luncheon at a Winery, which required lots of “People Pictures” to be taken.

A full Flickr Gallery of Photos can be viewed here:

Flickr Photo Gallery of Johnny’s Christening

 
 

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 Camera
Tamron 17-50mm F2.8
Sony HVL-F43M Flash
Gary Fong Gamma Flat Blade Diffuser

I needed to travel as light as possible for this shoot, as I was wearing a suit to the function. The flat Blade Diffuser was great and easily fitted in my pocket, with the Flash in the other inside suit jacket pocket.

The lighting in the church was excellent, as in the early afternoon there was great filtered sunlight streaming in, and there was no need to use any flash.

Shots inside the Church were taken at ISOs of 800 and 1250. Any over exposure was then corrected in Photoshop.

Generally we are finding that over exposure is not a huge problem, as the camera catches the detail, and it is then just a matter of toning it all down using Photoshop.

However, under exposure is a problem, as less detail seems to have been captured by the camera sensor. These shots do not brighten up so well in Photoshop.

However, we are doing all of our shots in JPEG format. My friend Scotty advises me that if you shoot in Raw, there is in fact more detail that is captured; even if the shot is under exposed. Now that we are getting our head around shooting fully in manual mode; the next step will be to learn all about shooting in Raw format. We need to get Adobe Lightroom, and then shoot an event in both Raw and Jpeg; and then compare the results. This is definitely on the 2014 To Do List.

For the after function, the Flash was used indoors with the Gamma Diffuser and worked well.

Daylight shots of people outside were taken at ISO 100 to ISO 400.

There was a bit of a problem with large Group Shots having some people, especially those on the ends out of focus. I was using apertures of 4.0 to 5.0, but maybe I even need to go higher for large groups.

Overall the shoot went well, and people were happy with the online photo album which was produced.

 

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Enjoy,
Passy

Cover Bands

Munster Terrace – May 23

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This was our first photoshoot of Munster Terrace playing at Beaches of Mornington.

These guys are all seasoned veterans, and it really showed in their slick performance of popular covers from the eighties.

Best of all they played some Angels and Deep Purple numbers, which were superbly executed, and thoroughly enjoyed by the enthusiastic crowd.

A full Flickr Gallery of Photos can be viewed here:

Flickr Photo Gallery of Munster Terrace Band May 23rd 2014

Further information about Single Income can be found at their Web Page:

Munster Terrace Website

 
 

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 Camera
Tamron 24-70mm F2.8
Sony 35mm F1.8
Sony HVL-F43M Flash
Gary Fong Gamma Blade Diffuser
Panasonic Lumix LX7 Compact Camera

On this shoot I used the Lumix LX7 for the Non-Flash Shots of the Band with the crowd, and it is a great compact camera for low light.

However for the Band shots without flash I used the Sony F1.8 35mm Portrait Lens, and got some great shots of the drummer like the one shown at the beginning of this write up.

Flash Photography was done using a Gary Fong Blade Diffuser. It looks like a triangular cheese grater, but does a great job for Party People shots, and it is becoming my “Go To” diffuser.

I think the Blade type diffuser is slightly better than the Gary Fong Lightsphere Diffuser, but both do a great job on Party People shots.

This was a really fun shoot because there was a good crowd at the venue, and lots of people were jumping in straight away wanting their picture taken.

All shots were done with the A-77 in “M” fully manual mode, and the Sony Flash also in Manual Mode and set to “50mm” for flash beam width.

 

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Enjoy,
Passy

Fundraising Events

Luke Batty Fundraiser

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This event was a great day at the “Beaches of Mornington” venue, with Charity Auctions, Peninsula Band Host Musicians, Face Painters, and others including myself from PBP Photos, who all willingly donated their time for a very worthy cause.

A full Flickr Gallery of Photos can be viewed here:

Flickr Photo Gallery of Luke Batty Fundraiser Day

 
 

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 Camera
Tamron 24-70mm F2.8
Sony HVL-FM43 Flash
Gary Fong Gamma Flash Diffuser
Panasonic Lumix LX7

This shoot was done free of charge for the Luke Batty Foundation, in addition to a cash donation which was made by Photos By Passy.

It was a challenging four hour shoot as it covered doing photos of Bands, People, and Children in daylight conditions, and then in low light conditions indoors and outdoors towards the end of the event. All shots were done in Manual Mode, and so there was a lot of changing of settings throughout the event.

This all resulted in nearly 100 images making their way into the final Flickr Photo Album of the event.

 

Children wiggle around an incredible amount while having their photo taken, and so I set the Sony A-77 to Multiple Shots mode, where it would take four shots at a time for each picture.

This meant that there were a lot more shots to go through after the event, and it also used up a lot of battery power during the event, and I was down to 3% battery power by the end of it.

However, having the four images for every shot I took was fabulous for the children photos, as I was able to pick the image where everything was right, and I would have missed out on a lot of shots had I not used the multiple shot function.

I am really liking the Gary Fong Flat Blade “Cheese Grater” styled Gamma Diffuser. It was designed especially for the Sony A-77, and it works really well. It is also very easy to carry around in a jacket pocket. I am starting to prefer it to the Gary Fong Collapsible Light Sphere, but both Fong Diffusers seem to do a much better job than a normal Stofen Diffuser.

 

One problem I am noticing in Photoshop, is that when smart sharpening is applied to a flash image where there are the nice little white “catch lights” in a person’s eyes, it tends to make these white catch light dots far too intense. I think in future I am going to have to use the oval selection tool to select both eyeballs, and then somehow select the inverse of this, so that the eyeballs and catch lights are totally excluded from sharpening.

 

The shots from the Lumix LX7 Low Light Compact Camera, which were taken while there was some daylight coming into the venue, were very disappointing. None of these LX7 shots made it into the final album. I am not sure whether or not I had some settings incorrect, but the focusing on them was not good, as well as the exposure being unsuitable.

However once it got darker, and the musicians were playing under colored lights; the LX7 shots came up really well, and these are the shots near the very end of the album.

 

Overall the shoot was a great learning experience, and I feel very happy to have contributed my time and energy to such a marvelous fundraising event.

 

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Enjoy,
Passy

Cover Bands

Single Income – May 16th

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Here is another Photoshoot of one of my favorite Cover Bands, “Single Income” playing at Beaches of Mornington.

On this shoot I used the Lumix LX7 for the Non-Flash Shots of the Band, which is a great compact camera for low light.

A full Flickr Gallery of Photos can be viewed here:

Flickr Photo Gallery of Single Income Band May 16th 2014

Further information about Single Income can be found at their Facebook Page:

Single Income Facebook Page

 

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 Camera
Tamron 24-70mm F2.8
Sony HVL-F43M Flash
Gary Fong Collapsible Lightsphere Diffuser
Panasonic Lumix LX7 Compact Camera

This shoot was the first time we have done Flash Photography using the Gary Fong Lightsphere Diffuser.

This diffuser is a largeish Tupperware Bowl apparatus which is semi-transparent, but seems to work reasonably well. It definitely gives better results than a standard Stofen Diffuser.

The following video gives a run down of this lightsphere device.

We used the collapsible lightsphere with its white dome turned down into the bowl to give more forward power, as the ceiling in the venue is high up and will not give any reflected light.

The collapsible version can easily be carried in a coat pocket, and is not overly huge to have on a camera while walking around a venue, with the pull tight velcro attaching system being very secure.

All of the Party People shots, as well as the Flash Band shots, were taken with this Lightsphere Diffuser attached to the Flash, and all shots were done with the A-77 camera in full manual mode.

On this shoot we also used our Low Light Compact Camera, the Panasonic Lumix LX7, for all of the Non-Flash Band Shots.

Panasonic LX7 White Top & Front

The LX7 is a great little camera and seems to give better results than putting an F1.8 35mm Portrait Lens on the Sony A-77, which we have tried previously.

The main way it is better is not so much in its focussing and clarity, but in that way it creates an overall ambient low light in the photo, which is not dark or full of stark contrasts in each picture.

All shots with the LX7 were done in manual mode at F1.4 Aperture, Shutter Speed of 1/60 to 1/125, and ISO settings of 400 and 800.

To see pictures taken with the F1.8 35mm Portrait lens for comparison, see our previous Flickr Album of Single Income at the following link:

Flickr Photo Gallery of Single Income at Beaches in April

The Lumix LX7 was the first camera we ever used to shoot bands in low light, and it is definitely going to be in our kit bag for upcoming live band shoots.

 

Last but not least, I encountered my first on the job painful injury during this shoot.

ChowieShirtWEB

The two impromptu models were supposed to pose with me, with them pointing at the Band Photos T-Shirt in amazement. This T-Shirt was designed by my photographer friend Eric Chowie. However the women decided to play a nasty trick afterwards, and they both bit me very hard on the chest, immediately after this photo was taken. It really really hurt!  (Luckily there was no damage done to the designer T-Shirt.)

 

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Enjoy,
Passy

Cover Bands

Size Matters at One Fourteen

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Size Matters are one of my Favorite Cover Bands, with two vocalists, brilliant keyboards, and great everything else.

They play songs from the 80’s and elsewhere, and everything is done to perfection.

They also have awesome stage presence and are a great band to photograph.

One Fourteen is a great band venue in Mentone, with reasonable lighting and a good crowd of well to do Melbourne bayside residents.

I have been looking forward to doing my first shoot there with the Sony A-77 camera, but found that the pictures were not as light and bright as previous photos I had done with the A-55 of another band called “Takin’ Cover”.

The main reason for this is that Takin Cover bring their own additional lighting to their shows, and this really makes a difference to the brightness and clarity of the resulting photos.

 

A full Flickr Gallery of Photos of Size Matters can be viewed here:

Flickr Photo Gallery of Size Matters at One Fourteen

 

Further information about Size Matters can be found at their Facebook Page:

Size Matters Facebook Page

 

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77
Tamron 24-70mm F2.8
Tamron 17-50mm F2.8
Sony HVL-FM43 Flash
Gary Fong Gamma Flash Diffuser

For this shoot I took along both of my Tamron lenses to do a comparison of picture quality.

For the low light conditions, the 24-70mm lens which is bigger and much more expensive than the 17-50mm lens, only produced photos that were perhaps 10 to 15% better in quality.

This just proves again what great bang for buck the Tamron 17-50mm lens provides.

Band shots were done with no flash, in Manual at ISO 1600, Apertures between 2.8 and 3.2, and shutter speeds of 1/60th to 1/125.

Party People shots were also done at ISO 1600, as well as ISO 1250, and this meant that the band was quite visible in the background.

The Gamma Diffuser seems to do a good job of focussing the light onto the people, without overly lighting up the surrounding background, and this was a pleasing result.

Due to its flat profile, it is very easy to carry in a cargo pants pocket, and move around the venue with once connected to the flash. The velcro fastening system is great and there is no chance of the diffuser coming off the flash.

This diffuser is only $30 to buy on the Internet, but then cost another $30 in postage and handling.

The Gary Fong Gamma Diffuser is made especially for the Sony A-77, as demonstrated in this video by its creator: Gary Fong.

(Note that there are similar “Blade” / “Cheese-Grater” diffusers available for non Sony cameras as well).

 

Subscribe

If you enjoy visiting Photos By Passy, why not get a free subscription to the website.

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Go to the subscribe area on the left hand sidebar, (or down the bottom of the page if using a mobile phone), fill in your email address and then click the “Subscribe” button.

Enjoy,
Passy