Day... 12 and er, 19.

So I got this wonderful thing called a Trojan on my PC. Think Trojan horse. It was called H8RST and sadly im not sure how it got there and dont care... it took me several days and many searches to get rid of it. Constant pop-up's, slow buggy computer and then, for the last two days WinXP decides I dont need a mouse any more. Thanks. May or may not have been related to the Trojan but dont know. Never the less, here we go again many days behind schedule.

Day 12 Details: 50mm f/1.4 lens / ISO:100 / f3.4 @ 1/250sec with 1 580exII @ 1/16 power shot into a 45" Westcott silver umbrella. PP in LR3beta.

This was the last picture I took before the PC got infested. Yes, the sweater is tucked in. I was desperate to shoot something, I was still in my work clothes and it was late. This was all I could come up with before bed. Its also the first time I tried to setup a shot and then step in front of the lens with it pre-focused. I dont think it totally sucked but my left hand is a bit fuzzy... aside from the hair. I should have taken a picture of the setup because it was rediculous.

 Since I didnt have my wireless triggers AND I didnt want to bounce the flash off the ceiling I improvised. I kept the flash on the camera and pointed it backwards into my silver 45" umbrella that was sitting on a seperate stand.

Day 19 Details: 50mm f/1.4 lens / ISO:100 / f1.8 @ 1/250sec with 1 580exII @ 1/16 power. Bare flash on stand behind me pointed at the ceiling. 45" Silver reflector in my hands for face fill. PP in LR3beta.

So now I have right sync cable thanks to Lon at FlashZebra.com and now I can use my flash off camera, as Zach Arias says, "The way God intended it to be". Flash in general is tricky although things like TTL for film SLRs and ETTL for digital SLR's have made things much, much simpler for proper flash exposure. The problem is this only works off camera if you want to a) spend tons of money on wireless triggers that will send the TTL info to the flash no matter where you put it or b) spend money on really long hot shoe cables that limit your range of motion and how far you can be from the flash. ETTL is also not that consistent. The other option is to set everything manually on the camera and flash and use a dumb trigger like the basic PocketWizards or the RadioPopper JRx that I have. I went with the RP triggers for price. They are half the cost of the PW's and have, at this point, proven just as reliable in the field based on reviews. So back to my point... flash is tricky, off camera flash is really, really tricky. Especially when its late, your tired and your stuck in your basement to shoot.

So, the shot. I took many, many pictures. Silver umbrella, white umbrella, from the right, with a reflector without a reflector. Happy face, sad face, serious face. Turn this way turn that way. Didnt like any of them. Last attempt was this. Bare flash on the stand behind me pointed at the ceiling with me holding the silver reflector for face fill. I was trying to look intimidating more than creepy but I like it over all.When I saw the picture Devil Inside by INXS was the first thing that came to my mind so I went with it.