Techy3 Design Studios Blog

Cooking Light: Lighting 102.1

james — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 19:59:31 +0000

Strobist rocks. Generous detailed lessons in dealing with light and a very helpful active community make it better than any photography class I could attend.

“Cooking Light” is the first assignment in the new Lighting 102 online “course”. The task seems easy at first — photograph a kitchen utensil. The hard part? Making a simple object look like fine art.

So, I figured I’d use one of the original Hawaiian kitchen utensils, the poi pounder! I didn’t have one though, but I was lucky enough to know someone who knows someone that does. Foliage was from my backyard.

This was actually light painted with a mini maglite snooted with my hand, 30 second exposure.

Check out the other great looking submissions too! I had a lot of fun with this one.

Shot my first wedding (strobist style!)

james — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 23:21:10 +0000

My friend Sunny got married this pass 7/7/7 on Coconut Island… and I offered to help take photos along with the professional photogs while trying not to get in their way (he hired two for the day). I was happy to do it to practice my strobist techniques especially since I didn’t have to worry about missing shots since the pros would get them.

vivitar 285hv on tree behind bride

"abetterbouncecard.com" for quick candids

direct vivitar285hv camera left - the "pros" tried taking photos facing the sun, but said the sun was "too bright" not for a strobist!

direct vivitar285hv camera left

this was their first dance…long exposure… no flash..

Looking back I really wish I spent more time planning a shot than worrying about where to put the light and what exposure, etc… can’t wait till the technical stuff becomes second nature. I really respect wedding photogs… the pressure is tremendous, and I’m not sure if I’d like to get into this field.

I also must note that the "professionals" doing the real job were both using on camera direct flash… for everything!…but I don’t want to judge their work without seeing their photos.

See the whole set here.

Congrats Sunny!

Happy Summer!

Kevin — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 08:29:47 +0000

Aloha All! It’s officially the first day of summer! This only means one thing…Fun in the sun! It’s been a while since my last post so I’ll brief you all with whats been going on. As James had mentioned I have recently made the decision to take my obsession of photography to the next level and invested in a Canon EOS 30D digital camera! Unlike James, who is currently working on various flash lighting techniques by Strobist, I need to rely mostly on natural lighting only due to the fact that I lack the luxury of owning a flash. But as you all know now, We just ordered more and I’ll be getting my hands on one soon! Yippee!

For someone who has been using a point and shoot camera, upgrading to a SLR has been a whirlwind of fun! So many possibilities and even more to learn! Here’s some samples of what I have been doing so far with just natural lighting:

You can see more at Techy3’s very own Flickr page! Have a Happy and Fun Summer everyone!

Wootoo! More flashes and goodies make a happy strobist

james — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 21:31:54 +0000

I’ve been playing around a lot with Strobist techniques in the last couple of months, sadly using only one lonely strobe. This will all change, though! Yes, we at Techy3 will have 2 more flashes *and* a 2 umbrella kit coming in soon. Kevin and I will be sharing them. So what does that mean for our clients? Professional studio lighting - on the go, anywhere you like, at anytime of the day! Even at high-noon!

One flash has been loads of fun to play with and two more will really open up the possibilities. Here are some samples of what I’ve been doing so far.

Great Site For FCP users

patrick — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 07:53:22 +0000

Ken Stone’s Site is awesome for anyone wanting to learn more about Final Cut Pro…check it out Ken Stone

Kung Hee Fat Choy!

james — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 21:36:15 +0000

Happy Chinese New Year from Techy3! These are photos were taken in Downtown Hilo and Kalakaua Park.

Da Grinds was mean! More photos at Big Island Grinds and my flickr.

Creating Custom Illustrator Brushes

james — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:24:53 +0000

Is a lot of fun!

I gave up trying to paint the actual shapes we needed for a current project, so I thought, why not just make them Illustrator brushes? I’ll post a step-by-step tutorial on how to import real brush strokes into Illustrator soon. It’s really simple with Illustrator CS2’s new features.

Pana’ewa Zoo

james — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:54:10 +0000

Techy3’s new lens needed a little test run, so I brought it along to the Pana’ewa Zoo. All of these are unretouched except for the blue frog and some minor cropping.

The Sigma 18-50mm 2.8 EX Macro Lens is a wonderful walk-around lens, and the added macro feature is a great addition! See more photos at my Pana’ewa Zoo Flickr Set.

Video Resources For The Novice part 2

patrick — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 07:49:55 +0000

Like I said, I am going to work hard at trying to equip others with what I feel are valuable resources that have truly helped me to grow in the art of videographer. One resource in particular is a subscription to Videomaker magazine; this is a great resource at any skill level, and how’s this, they even have a free pod-cast that is out of this world…you can find more information at Videomaker

Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 DC Macro lens

james — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 02:36:06 +0000

Yes, it’s ordered and shipped 2nd day air, and I can’t wait to screw this on to my Canon. F2.8 throughout the entire zoom range, plus macro features! This will be one very versatile lens and will truly benefit techy3, I’m sure.

Sigma launched this lens just late last year.