Getting back, again :D

Haven't been very active here lately. I've had some photoshoots, but was too lazy posting anything. I'll give it a new go. Let's see where I get with this :)
 I have had some photoshoots with my friends. Took some photos of their cars, and parties I went to. Also went on a vocation trip and took some photos there. So, I haven't totally been away from photography like the last time I stopped posting. 

 My life has taken a turn for better. I have done a lot of outdoor activities during the summer. Went on a vocation trip, chilled with my friends a lot, had a summer job, and now I started school. Everything is great! There is just this one thing that's not that good though. Currently I'm unemployed, and I don't have any stable money coming in. It's kinda bad, but it also helped me. Thanks to that, I thought that I should try and make my own photography business and start to offer my services. I'm trying to get some work on some smaller events like birthdays, small reunions etc. I already might have 1 gig coming up soon, but nothing is too certain. I also have few shoots coming up with my friends that I will do for free. It's great, because I made a facebook page, and I can get more images out there like this, and my friends get new photos for themselves. I hope this thing gets me somewhere and that I can earn some money, because I really do need it :D

And here're some images I've taken this year:

Portrature

Yesterday, I did a small photoshoot with my brother in law. He needed some profile photos that would look nice and not too formal. So I set up my gear, and darkened the room.

 I used both of my studio lights(Walimex VE-200 and VE-400), Nikon D7100, Tamron SP 24-70 f/2.8 VR, and SB-700 flash to trigger the lights. I do have some wireless triggers, but I was having trouble triggering the lights with them. Probably because they are cheap and I was doing 1/2000th of a second shutterspeed and the triggers just couldn't keep up. We were in a small room and wanted the background to be really dark or even black. Since I had to trigger the lights with SB-700, I couldn't get the background as I wanted, because I had to use my flash at almost 1/8th power to trigger both lights. Any lower power and one of the lights wouldn't trigger. So, I kinda had too much light I think. But still, I'm very pleased with the images I got, and maybe this background even works for these photos.

 The setup was simple. I had my subject sitting on a small stool, as far away from the back wall as I could get. I darkened the room by putting some blanket on the window, since there was still some light outside. And I closed the door. I put my studio lights fairly close to him, left a tiny path in the middle, where I could shoot through. The VE-200 was left of me and VE-400 on the right side. I played around with the settings of the lights a bit, and finally put them on 1.5 power, so it was pretty low. If I had put the power any lower, I would have needed to get the lights even closer to him, and I wouldn't have had any space to shoot through. Only win about lower power would have been, that it wouldn't have lit the background as much. 

As I already said, I had my camera set on 1/2000th of a sec. Aperture was on 2.8 and ISO 100. I mostly tried shooting at around 50mm(around 70mm because of crop sensor), because I didn't want to stretch my subject too much, and I found that it was looking pretty nice at that focal length.

 Overall, I have been super pleased with the D7100 and Tamron SP24-70mm f/2.8 VR. And, also with the Walimex lights :) They were really a great buy!

Here's some images :)

D7100 and Tamron SP 24-70 f/2.8

 So, I finally got the D7100 and Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 :D They are very awesome !! :)

 I have to say that it was really easy for me to go from D3100 to D7100. When I turned on the camera, I found the settings I wanted for it pretty fast. I have tried some other brands before, but I find D7100 to be easier to use. Still, there are new things I need to learn :)

 I'm not going to make a long post about the camera and lens today, but in the future I'm sure I will.

I'll just throw in some images instead :)

Birthday photoshoot

On Saturday I did a photoshoot for my sisters friends 25th birthday. I didn't do anything special, just a quick shoot of everyone who wanted their picture taken. Since the room was kinda small, I didn't have much space to play around with the lights, but I think I did get some decent images and I hope the people who attended are happy with the photos.

 My setup was pretty simple. I used 2 studio lights and a speedlight for triggering. One light was set up right hand side of the subjects and the other was in front. The speedlight was on top of the camera, pointing to the ceiling. I used my Nikon 18-105mm VR since the room was kinda small. Otherwise, I would have used 50mm 1.8G, because I think it gives so much better looking images.

 I said on Friday that I might post some images on Sunday, but I just didn't have the time to process all the photos that fast. Now I'm finished processing, so here's some of them :) 2 of the photos here are actually made with 50mm 1.8G before the party.

Lowepro fastpack 350AW

 Fastpack 350AW is a great backpack for traveling if you need to carry a lot of equipment. It's pretty big. It fits nicely all your first needed photography equipment(camera, lenses, flashes...). It also has a pocket for a 17" laptop and space for personal items(or whatever else you need to carry). You can also attach a tripod to the side of the bag with some straps. It's really awesome.
 Furthermore, this bag can be used in all weather. If it's really pouring, you can just pull out the bag cover from a small pocket underneath the bag, making it waterproof.

 I just got this bag today and it is even bigger than I imagined. I needed something where I could carry my photography stuff and personal items all in one bag when traveling. I looked around for some time and since I had heard good stuff about Lowepro before, I decided to get this one. It's my first camera backpack, so I really can't compare it with others. But what I have read elsewhere, it has served many people well, and they have been really glad to have this bag.

 Anyway, I'm sure I'll have many great trips with it, and I think that I won't run out of room too soon. :)

Here's some images I took of it

Tomorrow I'll have a small photoshoot for my sisters friends birthday. I will set up a small photo corner and then I can test out my studio lights :) I think you might see some images on Sunday.

Just a little longer

So here's a quick update. I ordered the D7100 in the end of last month with Tamron 24-70mm f2.8. I know my order has already arrived in Finland, and they tried to deliver it, but my relative is on a vocation right now :) So I'll get them on 1st or 2nd of March. Can't wait :D

 What I didn't say before is that, I also ordered a set of studio lights from Amazon. They have already arrived and I did a quick test with them. The lights are from a company called Walimex. In the set there was one 200W and a 400W light, 2x softboxes and 2x lightstands. I tested them to be sure everything was working and in order. I didn't know much about this set because there weren't any reviews about these products. But as much as I read about these lights on their site and compared to others out there, I thought these were the best for the money. First quick test showed me that I did a great purchase. But I think I still need to further test these out to get to really know them.

 First, the lightstands are pretty great, sturdy and heavy. They also have springs inside, so if I accidentally open the screw that holds the barrel up, it wont come down too hard and break my lights.
 The softboxes are also great. It was little hard to put together the first time, but I think I'm good now. The material seems very strong.
 The lights are made of rubbery plastic(felt a little like rubber when I held it). The modeling lights have 6 adjustable levels and are 150W. The flashes themselves go from 1/1 to 1/32. It can be set as a slave, so you can use other flashes to trigger it. It came with a long power cable and a flash sync cable. Also if you don't like it to beep every time you shoot, there is an option to turn it off.
 As i said, I still have to further test them. I'll post some images too when I do :)

Here's a link if anyone is interested: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walimex-Pro-VE-200-Studioset-Softbox/dp/B004YITYJ2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392574063&sr=8-1&keywords=walimex+ve200

And couple of images of the lights and a test shot:

Still waiting for my new stuff to arrive :) In the meanwhile working on my lightroom skills and learning new techniques.