Detroit Tattoo Expo Fri/Sat/Sun Mar 2-4

I'm going down to visit, sensing a photo op. Tattoos and those who wear them

are interesting anyway, and Suicide Girls will apparently have a booth there as

well. At the Marriott Ren Center, and I guess $20 to get in. Just thought I'd

pass it along for those who might be in the area and casting about for something

photographic to do.

A photog friend got some excellent pix at a local tattoo expo. Not my cuppa tea, but for some it's interesting stuff, and the expos provide lots of variety and willing subjects.

<Chas>

I am hoping it will be fun - tattoos these days have lots of bright colors - but there are some intresting B&W tribal things being done too. So good for color and B&W type work.

Also, as a bonus for the shy who are not up to street photography yet, places like this attract extroverts - those who are tattooed and at an expo generally want to pose and have their photo taken.

I don't know what the lighting will be like, so I am not doing film this time (if I was, I'd do B&W to avoid potential wonky lighting).

I'm taking the dSLR with a decent TTL flash, omnibounce, and an expodisc to set WB. I have plenty of memory cards so I will probably shoot RAW quite a bit. Conversion will suck but there you go. I was thinking of taking manual focus lenses, but I think AF might be better if it is crowded and people are moving quickly - no time to set up a shot, etc. Grab and go.

My wife and I are going tomorrow, but we're not taking cameras this time.

A polarizer will help greatly. Especially with fresh work, which is typically coated with antibiotic. The omnibounce will do you little good, there's not much to bounce off of (and no, it doesn't "diffuse" light on a path from the flash to the camera).

One year, my wife volunteered for "light stand" duty, and we wandered the show, stopping interesting people. She held a 24 inch shoot through umbrella about 18 inches from the tats, which made for some great soft light. Two SC-17 coil cords, Nikon TTL flash. People thought we were shooting for one of the tattoo magazines, but we told anyone who asked it was just for our own enjoyment. Now, we could do the same thing wireless with iTTL. You're right about "grab and go", even if they think you're with a publication, they don't stop for long. Compliments help. "Wow, who did that one" tends to work well (but not if there's an artist obviously working on the person at the time).

Do try to get some closeups of gun to skin.

Thanks for the advice, Joseph! I know the omnibounce doesn't bounce off thin air, but it does something - I use it a lot and like it. I can take it off and see if it makes a difference, my mind is open.

As far as the rest of your tips, thanks very much! I was debating on lenses. I am shooting a Pentax *ist DS. I have the choice of 18-55 kit lens - light and wide, but slow f/4.5 at the fastest. Or, a Sigma 28-105 'Aspherical' that sports a fast f/2.8 at the wide end and f/4 at the long end. Or, I could go longer with a Pentax Takumar-F 70-210 f/4 to f/5.6. I have polarizers for all of them, but the Sigma takes a 72mm filter, all I have is a Moose's warming polarizer.

Or, I could shoot oddball. Pentax SMC 50mm f/1.7 or a strange Spiratone 85mm f/1.9 on a T2->P/K adapter. It's relatively sharp wide open, which is how I'd use it. Both manual focus.

Right now, I am leaning towards the Sigma 28-105 and the Pentax 50mm f/1.7.

I don't have anyone to hold reflectors for me, and don't have any with me anyway. I live in NC and sojourn in Detroit. I've got the nice Sigma EF-500DG ST flash for the Pentax is all. I'm more of a people shooter instead of looking specifically for 'product' type tat shots, but I'll go for what looks best at the time, I'm flexible.

Sounds like a polarizer is a go, do you have any other advice you wouldn't mind sharing?

Thanks!

Here are the photos, for anyone interested:

http://www.cameramentor.com/12th_annual_motor_city_tattoo_expo