markus maurer Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>When the evil time bandit "Schabernack" manipulates all the watches in "Tick Tack" town to run way too fast, only Kaspar and the snail can help. The photos where made with my Pentax K10D & Pentax F-50mm macro, a Osram 440 hammerhead flash and two spotlights and black velvet for the background. Flash and camera on manual settings around F5.6-7.1, 1/50, ISO 100, flash 90% bounced. The puppet theater will use my photos for the advertisement in the theater in Lucerne, Switzerland :-) </p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus maurer Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>mice and men</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus maurer Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>The pasta cook</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus maurer Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>at the market</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus maurer Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>wanna buy a watch?</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus maurer Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>me and my new hat</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus maurer Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>the evil "Schabernack" meets Kaspar</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus maurer Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>the snail adjusts the time</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus maurer Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>baby mouse says goodbye :-)</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noah_maier Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>Well done! I love the details...</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim_mulholland Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>Very nice lighting!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewg_ny Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>Nice, great job!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john carter Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>So well done!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john carter Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>Bounce with the Hammerhead: off the ceiling or reflector? And the spots; where were they placed?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael_kuhne Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>Superb work, Markus- and congratulations!!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shots worth sharing Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>Bravo! The snail is my hero!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus maurer Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>Thanks alot for looking and commenting Noah, Tim, Andrew, John, Michael and Dave!<br> Regarding your question John: The flash was needed because the puppet player moved the puppets professionally while I took the photos to make them look as alive as possible. Different poses and actions or even the camera angle change the impression you get from a puppet or even its character dramatically, that is the hardest part, because as a professional, the puppet player saw bad posing immediately on the photo.<br> I could use her 2 professional and dimmable theater spots on stands at a height of about 2 meters and a distance of around 2.5 meters from the puppets from the left and right side as main lights. The flash was mainly used to get minimal shutter times of 1/50 at ISO 100 and some catchlights. The Osram was bounced 90% to the ceiling and only a small part of the flash was directed onto the faces through the build in diffuser/reflector of the Osram Studio 44 . The flash sits to the left above camera at a slight angle due to it's construction. With static objects I could have used a tripod or monopod instead of flash as well, but working without for around 3 hours nonstop and around 40 keepers was much faster :-)<br> Last time I used the spots and a weaker but nice Pentax Flash AF280T on the Pentax flash grip and bounced all of the light directly up to the ceiling just to get fast shutter times again . That worked as well but I had to raise ISO to 200 then. The (white) ceiling is around 2.80m high inside this old garage. <br> The black velvet was around 2 meters away (as far as possible) from the puppets, a 90mm prime like the Tamron macro I used during the first session some weeks ago made it's details invisible at F5.6-6.3 but with the Pentax 50mm macro I had to burn some disturbing background details in postprocessing but got a bit more DOF in return. <br> 1 main flash from left above camera on a grip and a slave on a tripod from the right and a distance for the shadows would have worked also, but then you really have to take care to avoid light spill onto the background when you diffuse & bounce the flash and of unwanted reflections. With the light spots I could see the results before I took the photo, that and the light quality helped a lot of course. I used 2 flashes in manual mode for an easily portable and inexpensive solution at (paid) portrait sessions before :-)</p> <p> </p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_jackson4 Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>The snail is the coolest/creepiest thing I've seen in ages... I wish I could touch its stalks (and stroke and sniff its shell...) but I think I'd be kinda scared that its owner/maker would act very defensively if I did...</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus maurer Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>Paul I imagine it smells like an old sock and tastes like chicken :-)</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john carter Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 <p>Markus, thanks for your very detailed answer, I am just beginning to learn Flash Photography after 50 years of mostly available light. It was very informative. Great work, be sure to post some more sessions. </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus maurer Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 <p>your welcome John. The beauty of digital photography is free trials with flash and a nice histogram for easy adjustments. Beside pnet please have a look at <a href="http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/">http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/</a> for excellent advice on manual flash use.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hagar Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 <p>Superb captures Markus! I am sure the theatre will be extremely pleased to have those shots..</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garry_young1 Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 <p>Truly stunning stuff Markus - I am most impressed!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmanamey Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 <p>Markus - they came out wonderfully, and I really liked knowing your light set up. Congrats on the gig, you did great work.<br> The pasta chef still cracks me up. :-D</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus maurer Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 <p>Thanks Haig, Garry and Maria. Nowadays "macro with extension tubes" seems to be en vogue here in the forum, time to test drive my so far unused KENKO Unitube 25mm with AF support for Pentax with the Pentax F-50mm macro at > 1:1 for some real closeups :-)</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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