My Daughter up in a Cherry tree in High park during the Cherry Blossom festival.

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Well it wasn’t the most productive of years for me coming off 2010 if you look at the business side of things, but as a dad, a whole different story of trials and tribulations.

As the little ones grow and gain a bit more self sufficiency I can slowly drift back towards photography.  Don’t get me wrong.. I’m not complaining, especially since if it weren’t for my children I wouldn’t have even discovered photography.

I got into the world of photography later than I would have liked in hindsight. My parent’s never really were much into photography, we had a family camera, some boxy Kodak thing, the equivalent of today’s point and shoot, only with less function and quality… They did try to offer photography to me as an option, but their offering of choice was a Kodak Disc 4000. I guess it could be compared to a camera phone in some ways..  It was small and easy to use, but the film was tiny and brand limited, so it didn’t appeal to my interests in making things work differently, it merely had a power switch and a shutter button.

Canon EOS Rebel 300d vs Canon 40d

So here’s to 2011, and my Christmas purchase from e-bay on Christmas morning (literally hunched over my iPod Christmas morning much to my wife’s dismay) to replace the over used and suffering 300d, it’s got a big brother now! Additionally, thanks to the generosity of friends and family, I’ve got a 35mm Film Camera and a Medium Format 6×6 film camera to play with, expanding the range of both skill and product available.

Moving forward into 2011 I’m hoping to broaden my work with people, probably offering some great deals on portraiture, as well as further connecting with groups such as Toronto’s newest Roller Derby Team “The Chrome Molly’s” and interacting with other artists in the area for collaborative works.  Let’s see what else the year will bring.. and make the most of whatever comes our way!

As one final note, I’m hoping to clean up the look of the site over the next little bit.. I’m just searching for a theme/look that fits my wants a bit more than the current one, so stop by now and then or keep track at http://www.twitter.com/@darkelflx

Cheers,

Sean

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Sensors and Bunnies!

This is a BASIC intro to give people an idea about how the size of the little electronic thingy in their camera effects how they take pictures. A sensor, is the digital equivalent to a bit of chemical film in a film camera. it receives light from the lens and converts it into an image (OK, so there’s a LOT of software and hardware between sensor and image, but we’re gonna keep that in a black box because it doesn’t matter right now.) The lens on a camera collects light, and shines it into the camera. The same lens, will shine the same amount of light in the same way regardless of what camera its attached to.

So we have an image from a lens shining into your camera. Now take a moment, and think about a lens, what should be the first thing you notice? Glass, cost ITS ROUND!!! Your pictures on the other hand, are not… Your pictures are made up of only a portion of the round image of light that the lens shines into the camera.

Think now, about a rectangle placed inside of a circle. You can change that rectangle to all sorts of sizes and orientations, and as long as you stay inside the circle, you still get a pretty picture, but what picture you get changes based on what part of the circular image the rectangle covers.

Full frame (35mm equiv): This is a sensor the size of an old piece of 35mm film, combined with the lenses intended, it’s rectangle fills the circle to the edges, maximizing usable image space in the circle.

Crop factor: on many dSLRs you see what is called a crop factor. These represent sensors (and films) smaller than a full frame of 35mm film. (APS-C for instance, which is the Canon Rebel sensor size, is the same as the old Kodak Discman film size) These, when used with a full frame lens, “crop” the image as compared to the full frame camera, and result in using a narrower portion of the full image projected in the camera.

The above examples apply to dSLR cameras, and I start with these because that’s where we get our focal length math from. All our standardized lens measurements (50mm, 100mm, 24-70mm etc.) are based on the 35mm film size. When we get into point and shoot cameras, cell phones and others, we start using customized lenses for those cameras, and customized sensors to match. These take full advantage of the circle rectangle fit, but are (usually) necessarily smaller than even the smallest dSLR sensors to fit in the tiny camera bodies.

There will be more articles to follow on this topic, this is a version of a similar lesson I gave on Flickr.

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Windsor Gaming Resource

This just in Now being announced, with more info to follow in the coming days, A joint venture between Windsor Gaming Resource (@WindsorGaming) and Eastern Front Studios, and Hugin & Munin, with participation from Yours Truly, Dark Elf Productions, on site to capture the event in action and the incredible miniature paint jobs surely to be shown off.  This event is for amateurs, pros and folks who are just interested in taking a look.

On October 16th, 2010, Our First Official Miniature Painting event. @

Hugin and Munin

More details as events unfold and the full advertising package is released.

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It all started off well, I stopped by the Humber Bay park near the foot of Park Lawn and drove out to the point for a few long exposure cityscapes, matching the dawn cityscapes I’d taken last week..

The Toronto Skyline At Dawn

The shoot went alright, but as I decided to do some long exposure water shots with multiple flash light painting, I got two pops off before my flash batteries went kaput. Now I did have a spare flash with me, but there were some sketchy folks around, and I didn’t really feel like displaying more gear, or even spending THAT much longer hanging around, So I merely chose to move on to location 2 and settled for what I HAD gotten.

Reflections on Toronto

That all being done, I headed downtown as I’d had it in my mind to shoot from a top the Eaton’s Center Parking Garage.

I hadn’t been up there in years, and with all the development and the growth of Yonge-Dundas Square, I thought there might be some opportunities. Not so much…

Firstly, the parking garage is under construction, so there was a bit of snow fence jumping to be done to explore my angles.

Several of the “perches” I chose allowed me intriguing views of the street, but alas, the low light quality of the EOS Rebel is not renowned, and little was even salvageable (we’ll see what Lightroom 3 can do with this old Camera noise once its out of beta, but I’m not expecting miracles.)

Still, I wasn’t disheartened, as I’d a final plan that would have me driving back down Queen St, through the trendy areas, with a window down and my camera on a tripod shooting out a window at the action with a remote shutter release. (Note: This is probably illegal under the new hands free laws, but I hope to never find out.)  Unfortunately, as I was switching lenses and futzing with my tripod to get it stable in the back of the mini van, I discovered it no longer wanted to turn on…

Swapped batteries, reseated lens, reseated CF card.. Changed lenses… *Sigh* No luck, retried a few previous things, just in case.. *sigh* A short drive home later, batteries in the charger, CF card dumped and remounted, coffee (decaf) in hand, and the camera works…

The moral of the story is, Not only should you carry your spares with you, but REMEMBER you’re carrying them and where they are.

As an aside, I realize I’ve been horribly under utilizing this website, and I do hope to correct that, For those who would like to hear more and keep up when I DO managed to update, you can also keep track of me as Darkelflx @  Twitter & Flickr

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Officer: “Do you have any paper in there?”
Me: “Yes”
Officer: “Then you’ll need to check one of them”
Me: dumbstruck stare

Now, in the man’s defense he then told me I could just move the paper from bag A(with laptop) to bag B (without laptop), but really. Suddenly paper is the defining line between personal and non-personal items?

What security measures can justify determining bag type by paper content????

I’ll be kind and not submit readers to my furious thoughts about seeing the full body scanner in action.

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What concerns me is the fact that this camera is actually only expected to live less than 50,000 shutter actuations. In 7 years, that’s NOT a lot of pictures.

I’d love to hear how many shots people have had on their cameras, any shocking numbers out there? Horror stories of failure?

In the past two weeks the camera has shown signs of imminent failure, one time I was arriving at the canon service depot before the mirror dropped back down.

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I own an iPod touch. I rarely miss flash… If I want multi-tasking, I’ll use an actual computer.

That being said, I question some [Photographers] out there that are singing it’s praises. “It will be fantastic for portfolio showing they say.” Yes, yes it will.  If I’m going somewhere specifically to show my portfolio, then I want an iPad!

But, what if I’m going on a trip somewhere with my camera, well then I need my laptop, because my iPad isn’t a backup solution, and I need an external hard drive, because it isn’t a photo unless it exists in 3 places. And well I need my smart phone, regardless of who makes it, because who travels without a phone.
Now, since I’ve got all my apps on my phone, and I’ve got an actual computer with me, why do I need my iPad? Well for reading books of course.. Oh, but you say my iPhone and laptop can do that? true.. and Audio books are actually better for flying anyways? Some might agree with that. So really, I don’t my iPad at all on this trip. Exactly.  I can save space and NOT bring it, it’s charger, it’s keyboard, it’s case, it’s adapters and stands and do-dads… Hey maybe I can even save money on luggage.. Nah.. but it’s nice to dream!

Ok, we leave it at home on those big shooting trips, no problem, what about just heading out for a coffee? Well I suppose it would be like slinging a $600 newspaper under your arm to walk down the street for some people, perhaps a new fashion for man purses? I sure don’t have a pocket to hold it. Why not just read the news on my iPod touch like I have been for the last year? Ok, I admit it, I’m still young enough to pull this off, but I definitely see the advantages of a larger screen in the future.. just not right now.. Of course in the future I’m hoping I don’t have to settle for a 4:3 aspect ration either..
Again, I’m not bashing the tech, If we had one or two, around the house, my wife and I would use them even more than we already use our iPod touches I’m sure. But we already have iPods, so why by something else? (I’m also betting it would be harder to breastfeed and use an iPad than it is with an iPod Touch, but that’s purely speculation.)

I don’t actually have a “smart” phone yet I’ve been fighting it tooth and nail, but odds are good I’ll buy an iPhone next time around because of my experience with the iPod touch. (us canadians don’t have the AT&T problem our friends down south do)

I want to like the iPad, the geek in me is clawing at it. I just can’t find any reasonable justification to buy it yet. For me, it’s a device without a reason and without a space in my already over laden luggage.

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Look into the light...

I got done writing up a few cable lists for a show in South Carolina next month, and was struck by inspiration, thanks to a pod cast I was listening to yesterday. (An interview with Mark Halper) I wanted to try a little something down in my dungeon of a studio to play with wrapping light from a large source close to the subject. The results follow.

This was shot hand-held with a 70-300mm @ 300mm ISO100  f 5.0 with a shutter of 1/160.

Canon 580 EX II triggered with my “Ebay Special” radio remotes firing at 1/8 power into a shoot through umbrella about 6″ away from the model’s face. Behind the model (off Camera left) was a custom 4′ x 6′ rip-stock nylon bounce.

The model, of course, is my favorite of all to shoot, My precocious daughter.

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So once again, Welcome!
Many changes are sure to be in the works over the next few weeks as the look and feel, especially the galleries get ironed out, but what we have here, is a success in communication.

Do drop by or add us to your feeds and see what’s up our sleeves as we continue to grow.  Better yet, add us on the twitters @darkelflx and follow our updates there.

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