Nicola Zingarelli: Fishing & Photography

Putting the lights within the frame. Sculpo crankbait by Molix, studio shot

2011-12-12T07:10:00.002+01:00

One of the simple rules I have understood in this photography business is that eventually there are NO RULES!

I have seen some cool images of guys putting their lights within the frame and for this reason I decided to try the same in one of my studio shots. What I wanted to reply, in a way more reduced scale, were the stadium or stage lights, all pointed to the subject that is the center of attention.

To achieve that I had to work on a table longer than usual and using a wider lens, otherwise I would have either missed the two SB800 that you can see in the frame, or too close to the subject with serious problems, at least for me, to control the light. In my first attempts I only used the two visible light, but even though the lure is translucent I was missing a good deal of light on it. After several try with reflectors I had to pick up a third light, Metz 58, and use it at its lowest power with a tight zoom and a grid to make the Sculpo pop up.

The result is in front of your eyes, I love the lights in the background even though I would have love them showing a "star" instead of the rectangular shape of the SB800, and I would have loved the product to be a bit bigger but I think I can work that out a bit.

If anybody has an idea of how to improve this kind of images please feel free to drop a comment either in the blog or in Flickr, I'd highly apreciate.

Special feature: Deep Trouble, the article that appeared in Sport Fishing December 2011 issue

2011-11-30T19:23:00.002+01:00

Doug Olander, chief editor of Sport Fishing Magazine has given me the permission to post in the blog "Deep Trouble", the article that appears in the latest edition of SF in December. Is quite a complete feature with lots of information for the jigging enthusiasts and I'm honoured to have participated in it. To read it just follow the link: ARTICLE

Have a look at the Sport Fishing Magazine web site as well.

Thanks a lot to Doug, Sport Fishing Magazine and Bonnier Corporation

Here's an interesting video about lighting with mirrors

2011-11-25T11:40:00.000+01:00

Main light? A mirror!

2011-11-22T22:13:00.000+01:00

That's right, the main light I have used for this shot is a circular mirror where I bounced the light of an SB800. The reason for this is because the snoot that I have doesn't give me a perfect circular rim of light and most of all because not long ago I watched an interesting video about lighting a product with mirrors and it looked pretty interesting to me. Interesting and challenging I add, in fact it is all about studying the angle of the light, a study that I believe most studio photographers had to go through at one point in their career. Since I don't use continuous lights, I had some trouble in finding the right angle to achieve the shot I wanted, it costed me a bit of batteries life through a bunch of test bursts until I figured out where the circle was going to sit for my shot. Hence, contrary to the appearences the speedlight is on camera right gridded it with a Honlphoto grid to control the light spill as much as possible, and it bounces the shaft against a circular mirror that becomes the main light and lit the three lures. Everything has been controlled with the Nikon CLS system. Camera Nikon D7000 with Nikkor 60mm f2.8 micro lens.

Composing a landscape shot

2011-11-15T00:00:00.002+01:00

When composing a seascape photo there are some elements that we want to combine in order to achieve a better shot. Having a nice scenary in front of your lens sure helps, but it might not be enough. A dull sky could kill our best intentions or a harsh directional light, can bury the image in a blink of an eye. Those fantastic sunsets don't go any further than the simple snapshot if we don't have a foreground that helps the composition, and this photo here might give an idea of what use can we make of any subject to strengthen the image.

Another important point to stress out is where to place the horizon. When we start moving our first steps in the magic world of photography we take specific care to put subjects and horizon exactly in the middle of the frame, something that could work for a very specific image, one in a hundred maybe... To give more strength to our photo we should try to move that thing to a different level, maybe higher, maybe lower, left or right, away from the dead center anyway. This is called rule of thirds and has been created by painters in the previous centuries, we are only borrowing it from them. The more extreme the latitude of the horizon, the more dramatic is the shot, even without a predominant foreground, like in this case.

We also need lines, straight or curved, that can somehow guide the view through the image, or to a specific point that we consider to be the most important of the image. A pinnacle of rocks that comes from one side of the image and slowly dives into the hot spot of the photo, will help the viewer scanning the frame and hitting the target, the dramatic stormy sky like in this shot for example.

Remember that we are on the coast; there are rocks, sand, stones, old logs, rippling water, many different elements with something in common: texture. This is an element that could create a shot on its own, it really depends how we are able to grab the light hitting the texture and what kind of editing we apply in post production. Even a gloomy sky has its own texture, and again it will help creating a dramatic atmosphere that looks so good on seascape shots. Black & white edit sometimes helps.

Last but not least, in fact is probably the most important thing of the whole creative process, the light. I'm not going to be the first one to tell you that a sidelight or backlight (when the sun is facing you) is the ideal one for your best image, but I'll be the millionth and one to repeate it because it really is the heart of the matter here. For several different reasons backlight is my favourite, but is also the more complicated to handle, in fact you will need grad filters (I used a tobacco grad here) to control it and even so, nailing the exposure and keeping the highlights under control will not be very easy. Pick up the sun when is low on the horizon, either at sunrise or sunset and your photo will gain some amazing long shadows and if you are lucky to have a cloudy sky with the red ball filtering through it, you're in photographer's heaven.

Molix Vario crank. Fake HDR studio shot

2011-11-10T22:03:00.002+01:00

Molix Vario crank. Fake HDR studio shot, a photo by Nicola Zingarelli on Flickr.

There are millions of things you can do in a studio and another million you can do when you finally open your image in Lightroom, or any editing software for that matter. One day, bored to death, I decided to try a fake HDR of one of my lures shots: this is how I worked it out.
First I made two copies of the shot (virtual copies in Lightroom) at + 1 1/2 EV and - 1 1/2 EV, then I opened them together with the original shot in Photomatix. Here I edited the blended image with a bit of a not too realistic processing and the result is in front of your nose. Brighter colors, and more details, something that pops out of the screen, almost 3D, but probably too unrealistic to be taken into consideration. Good fun though!

www.nicolazingarelli.com
www.caranx.net

2011-10-22T18:41:00.002+02:00

Flowers make for beautiful and very patient subject for your studio photo sessions. They don't move and have that inner (and outer) beauty that just need a bit of sensibility to come out and fill the frame. Thing is that I’m not a flower photographer, at least not one of those that ravenously search fields and botanical gardens, I’m rather one of those that when there’s a flower at home grabs it and put it in front of the camera. I’m also the one who usually brings the floral gifts so at least I can pick those I think can make a nice subject too.

Photographing flowers for me means soft light, soft images, and mostly a low key shot, well at least now, maybe tomorrow I’ll go hard and high key, truly don’t know… My set for this session was based in two lights, one for the flower and the other for the background. I didn’t use any reflector pursuing my quest of a light gradually fading and leaving an area into a certain degree of darkness. The light for the background carried a blue gel, in order to create a color contrast with the subject and also because I love blue background, they’re way classy!

The main light for all shots was one of my SB800 through a Lastolite EzyBox on camera left, while the other SB800 was gridded with a Honlphoto grid pointing at the black background. For each one of these three shots I was looking for something different and I hope it shows. Details, lighting, point of view and depth of field and of course, there has been a bit of work in Lightroom to come up with the final image. Water spray was used to enhance reflections and textures in a couple of flowers, and I think it is a good plus. Hope you like them, if you need any further information please drop a comment

Lures diving in the water, studio shot with two lights on a blackbackground

2011-10-15T11:02:00.002+02:00

Yesterday a friend showed me an image of a lure swimming in the water on a black background. This was some sort of relief because when I did my first test, I had to quit the idea of using a black background because reflections flare and light spills were everywhere. So yesterday, with renewed energies I set up my studio and the first thing I did, in addiction of putting my black vinyl background, was to cover 2 sides of the tank with black cardboard.
I also got rid of the large lights, any umbrella or softbox would send too much light out of control so I decided to go hard and small. One SB800 was set with its dome and the other with a Honlphoto Grid one of each of the narrow side of the tank, power settings changed a lot during the session so is hard to tell which has been the most commonly used. I also switched the main light from one speedlight to the other, again hard to tell some sort of rules.
Once everything was set the first test shots were suggesting a decently dark background that could be easily manipulated in Lightroom, giving me the proper black I needed. Now I needed to find a way to focus on the lures, so I put one in the middle of the tank, same distance from the two longest walls, and hoped for the best. I obviously took the focus with the lure under the water, I have read somewhere that the liquid element not only increase the magnification of the objects but also swift the focus point.
Since I was on my own I needed something that could help me moving the lures, for this reason I tied them to a thin fishing line of the length of the longest side, with a weight on the other end. I could pull the lure to one end of the tank, the weight would lift up to the opposite edge and once I released the lure the weight would pull it to the other side … gravity!

I shot with the camera parallel to the wall of the tank, with a bit of angle from above, a pretty high angle, and a very low one and achieved different results. Parallel or with a small angle worked fine, the images are sharp when the focus is on the money, but from a very high or very low angle, like in this image, sharpness and focus became an issue and I believe that is because of the thickness of the glass, that would create refraction and a bit of distortion. I’m not an expert on this matter but I believe I’m not far from the scientific explanation.
I made so many shots that my D7000 was smoking, well at least it was very hot and sometimes needed a break to process the files. The SB800 showed how good they are for the hard work, not a single complain, never stopped, always recycling fast and with just one set of batteries. Some intensive processing in Lightroom followed, I needed the blacks to be black, and the lures to be sharp and well exposed. It has sure been a challenging experience, I have made an unlimited number of mistakes and probably none of the images is really good, but it has been my first step, hopefully I’ll do it better next time.

Fishermen ... and friends! Small group portrait shot in Green Harbour, Massachussets

2011-10-12T22:21:00.001+02:00

Fishermen ... and friends! Small group portrait shot in Green Harbour, Massachussets, a photo by Nicola Zingarelli on Flickr.

This is one of those shots you keep in your library for a while, until you realize that is something you really like. I do love it, as simple as that, I think is really good, and even if is not humble or politically correct to say that you like something you have done, I don't care, I honestly believe is a good shot. It's got the colors, orange is a great to have in a photo, it's got the sunstar sneaking between two of the guys, which is, let me say it, way cool, and it's got a decent light on the subjectsagainst the backlit sunset. It took me a century to be able to focus on these guys because of the sun sneaking in, but I think it was 100% worth it. Figure this out, even my buddies were having fun !

Molix Vario lure shot in a tank with splashing water and two lights

2011-10-10T10:40:00.001+02:00

Molix Vario lure shot in a tank with splashing water and two lights, a photo by Nicola Zingarelli on Flickr.

Yesterday, strongly pushed by my 7 years old daughter I finally filled up the fish tank and set my home studio. I really wanted to try to make the photos that I have seen done by other guys in Flickr, so I did. First mistake was to try using a black background, is my favorite but I soon discovered that with the set up I was using wouldn't work. The tank was reflecting everything like a mirror and couldn't get a decent transparent view of the glass. Off the black goes, in the white comes: problem solved.

Once I had everything settled I soon found myself looking around for something that would keep the front glass of the fish tank clean from the water drops. It is ridiculous because every time you drop the lure it would splash it again, but it felt more professional doing so.

I had two lights, both SB800 triggered with Nikon CLS; one on the left side through a transparent umbrella at the same height of the water surface, the other on camera right through another umbrella, facing down to the tank slightly angled to the background. The left speedlights was in charge of the main light and the right one would also take care of the background, trying to keep it as white as possible. Thinking it back, I believe that next time I will change this light setting, more in another post.

I tied a thin fluorocarbon trace to the upper section of a fishing rod and the lure on the other end, handed to my daughter and with the lure sitting in the middle of the tank I manually focused at that distance with a Nikkor 60mm f2.8 Micro and the D7000 on a tripod.

Then we started shooting, first with my daughter working the lure, until I decided to make a change, and put her at the shutter button, and me at the rod. This worked way better because I could tell her when to press the button and I could play the lure the way I knew it would have worked better.

We worked with 4 different lures, for at least a couple of hours, deleted at least 70% of the takes and saved the decent ones. Another good hour was needed in Lightroom to clean up things.
The result is in front of you, far from being perfect yet is a start, I have learn few important things and most of all, I have found another way to enjoy my studio work, which I love.

Orbis Ring Flash for macro shots

2011-10-04T11:08:00.000+02:00

The guys at Orbis Ring Flash have been so kind to post an article about my product photos using the Orbis Ring Flash, you can find it by clicking here

Thanks!

Costa Rica, Fisherman with a Broomtail Grouper (Mycteroperca xenarcha)lit with an SB800 off camera flash and edited in black and white

2011-09-23T20:56:00.002+02:00

Costa Rica, Fisherman with a Broomtail Grouper (Mycteroperca xenarcha) lit with an SB800 off camera flash and edited in black and white, a photo by Nicola Zingarelli on Flickr.

I was in Costa Rica in March and apparently it wasn't the right moment, in fact it was a very wrong one. Thus, even though the fishing was as slow as a dead snail, we enjoyed our stay in that wonderful country, together with our hosts: a french gentleman and a Tica guapa y simpática, who took care of us as they would have done with their own family. Eventually, during the last day we also made contact with a lot of fish, once a part of our group decided to use bait instead of lures.... This Broomtail Grouper was caught on a bucktail jig though, I lit it with an SB800 through a Lumiquest Softbox III
www.pechesportivecostarica.com

Dubai, large yacht moored at the dock with the city behind it. Fake HDR, 3 exposures +2 and - 2ev

2011-09-21T17:49:00.001+02:00

Dubai, large yacht moored at the dock with the city behind it. Fake HDR, 3 exposures +2 and - 2ev, a photo by Nicola Zingarelli on Flickr.

This image has been sitting there for a couple of years now and when I saw it yesterday I thought it was sure worth a try. I edited in Lightroom and couldn't get where I wanted so I made a couple of virtual copies, at +2 and - 2ev and tone mapped them in Photomatix. I wanted details and contrast, and eventually I managed to get both of them. In my humble opinion is quite a well balanced image, with a lot of interesting elements to keep your eyes scanning it for a while.

www.nicolazingarelli.com
www.caranx.net

Sunset on the spanish fields.

2011-09-13T13:47:00.002+02:00

Sunset on the spanish fields., a photo by Nicola Zingarelli on Flickr.

I didn't have much time on a late Saturday afternoon, we were playing cards until 6:00pm and with the summer days getting short couldn't scout too many places. I wanted to go back to a lake I have photographed a couple of years ago but eventually I got lost and couldn't find it. So I took an anonymus dirt road and looked around for a nice place to photograph. To be very honest with you, I didn't find anything interesting so I took some average photos waiting for a better light to come. When the sun disappeared behind the horizon, the sky started to turn into a deeper blue and the puffs of clouds picking up the colors of sunset. Here's what I got for you today, nothing to rave about, yet a serene sunset on the spanish fields. Life's good!

The Spanish meseta. Dark sky, bright field

2011-09-11T13:48:00.003+02:00

The Spanish meseta. Dark sky, bright field, a photo by Nicola Zingarelli on Flickr.

Sometimes thinks cannot go any better than this. The sky is dark, gloomy and menacing and the sun sneaking from under the clouds, around sunset time. The light is almost perfect, and the whole atmosphere is pretty dramatic. The converging lines bring the attention of the viewer to the dark sky that for me is the most important subject of the image, together with the color contrast. I worked hard on Lightroom to enhance the colors, clarity and contrast of the image and make it look the way I saw it. Sometimes, things don't get any better that this...

Bijagos islands, Guinea Bissau. The boats ready to leave for the day's fishing

2011-09-04T16:25:00.004+02:00

Bijagos islands, Guinea Bissau. The boats ready to leave for the day's fishing, a photo by Nicola Zingarelli on Flickr.

Nice memories of a fishing trip not so successfull in terms of fishing, yet beautiful as far as scenery, wildlife and photography is concerned.

For this shot I had to be in the water with the camera, something I'm more and more afraid to do nowdays... Anyway, the sun was coming up fast, as it happens in the tropics, and the fishermen all excited and getting ready to leave. For someone who love the sport is one of the best moments of the day.

www.caranx.net
www.nicolazingarelli.com

Iguela, Gabon. Surf fishing at sunset

2011-09-03T12:15:00.002+02:00

Iguela, Gabon. Surf fishing at sunset, a photo by Nicola Zingarelli on Flickr.

If you notice, this image has been cropped on the horizontal side. The reason is that I didn't have a tripod with me on that trip, and had to put the camera on top of the cooler, and a corner of it was visible in the shot. The sunset on the western coast of Africa is pretty dramatic, and even though the colors have been saturated they're not far from what we could see every evening.

www.nicolazingarelli.com
www.caranx.net

Andaman Islands, India. Red Snapper (Lutjanus bohar) caught with a stickbait. SB800 through Orbis Ring Flash

2011-09-02T11:40:00.002+02:00

Andaman Islands, India. Red Snapper (Lutjanus bohar) caught with a stickbait. SB800 through Orbis Ring Flash, a photo by Nicola Zingarelli on Flickr.

The Orbis Ring Flash sure is a great light modifier for my fishing portraits, is just a tad bulky to carry on a suitcase full of lures, reels and all kind of tackle. Fort this reason I not always bring it with me, but when I do I never regret. She is pretty, has a gorgeous smile and can perfectly hold a fish, a great plus for a fishing photo. I love the specular ring on her sunglasses, is a kind of brand signature of the Orbis.

SB800 through Orbis Ring Flash triggered with Nikon CLS

Dead turtle edited in HDR with high contrast

2011-08-30T10:39:00.002+02:00

le, de
Dead turtle edited in HDR with high contrast, a photo by Nicola Zingarelli on Flickr.

My vision of this image wasn't clear to me until the other night, when I thought that a 3 exposures HDR could give me an edge on the editing. Said that I created two virtual copies in Lightroom one at +2 and the other at -2 EV and put them together in Photomatix with the original one. I pushed the cursor to create the creepiest look I could and then returned to Lightroom for the final touch, with more contrast and clarity. The doubt is if I should have had more vignetting or not...

Back to the Andamans

2011-02-02T08:00:00.002+01:00

That is guys, when this post will pop up I'll be in Port Blair, with my friends at Gamefishing India, chasing GTs, Snappers, Groupers and hopefully a big and ugly Doggie
I travel with few spaniards and I will finally meet a group of crazy Italians I have always been in contact with and never met, I believe it is going to be great fun
I hope I will be able to post some sort of live report, it all depends on the Internet and my will to edit the images fast and do some work after a long fishing day.... We'll see. A full report will be available as soon as I come back

The Unknown Soldier

2011-01-27T08:00:00.008+01:00

The Unknown Soldier Non-HDR version

The power of HDR images is sure known by many of you, but I still wonder if this has really much in common with photography, as we know it. Yes, you still have to find a nice composition and framing, the subject must be interesting and you got to know the technique to take so many different exposures, but after that, the software's algorythmics do the rest for you. All right, you have to know how to move the slides, but this is the same in Lightroom or Photoshop so its just part of the game.

The Unknown Soldier HDR version

Five exposures can turn a so and so image into something quite dramatic and eye catching. This is a night shot of the Unknown Soldier in Piazza Venezia in Rome. The Romans call it the Typewriter, because of its shape. I put it together in Photomatix using a quite conservative editing, like many of my HDR, but still the result is quite impressive, un realistic I would say. Here you can compare it with the result I got from just one of the shots, the one that offered the best exposure and that I had to work in Lightroom with some dodging and burning and selective retouching. You can judge yourself and pick the one you like the best.

The silver plated fish

2011-01-24T11:56:00.002+01:00

Is not silvery and you know it. The Cubera is red or copper colour but not silver. Thus, with a bit of work in Lightroom you can edit it in black & white and get the shinest result of them all. I think that this is a good looking fish in any colour, from any point of view and with most of the lights available, natural or artificials. I bet I had a spray of flash here as well but I cannot remember now. I like the edit of this image, it makes me love Lightroom more and more.

Oceana

2011-01-19T11:19:00.001+01:00

Check this video guys, looks like these people need our help

Oceana Video 2009 from Oceana on Vimeo.

Speedlighting to the extremes

2011-01-17T08:00:00.000+01:00

There are things you can do with a bunch of speedlights you would have never imagined... I love what Dave Black does with light&lights

Painting with the flash

2011-01-13T17:43:00.002+01:00

Every time I open in Lightroom the Bermuda library I discover some nice shot that I haven't edited yet. I took this image at night and painted the sunbeds with my speedlights. To achieve a nice color contrast I turned the WB to tungsten and put a CTO gel on the speedlights. By doing so the sky turns intense blue and the foreground achieves a warm tone

During the post processing work I had to bring up a bit the sky becaus eit was too dark, and get a dimmer light on the foregrond, too bright and too hot. Some local adjustments have been also done to the land in the horizon, in order not to have a black spot.

Siguenza, Spain. Extreme wide angle view at night of the Santa Maria Cathedral

2011-01-10T23:03:00.002+01:00

Wide angles makes things look different, there's no doubt about it and most of all there's no much you can do to avoid it. When shooting architecture, monuments, historical building, being from a lower position the walls will converge, the base will look way bigger and the precise plans of a master builder go to hell. So what ca we do, drop the wide angles at home and shoot only with a 50mm or a tilt&shift lens? No way.
make the flaw bigger, exaggerate the bug and create some super dramatic shots.

For this image I put the camera n the tripod and almost had to sit on the sidewalk to compose through the viewfinder. The 10-20 was with its nose up and everything seem to tumble on top of the viewer. I edited it in Lightorrm and converted in duotone because the full color image was kind of weird, I mean there was a strange mix of colors

New Ezybox Speedlight

2011-01-05T08:00:00.000+01:00

You have seen how much I use the Lastolite Ezybox. Here's a smaller and even more versatile version of it, ready for your flash even when is attached to the hot shoe.

The new Ezybox Speed-Lite is a 22cm x 22cm mini softbox which attaches directly onto a flashgun whether it's on or off the camera. The softbox folds in the same way as our other highly successful Ezybox softboxes making it an ultra portable solution for busy photographers. The Ezybox Speed-Lite also features an inner and outer diffusion layer (both removable) which delivers an unrivalled softness of light from such a small softbox.

Check it out

http://www.lastolite.com/ezybox-speedlite-softbox.php

Lights and metal

2011-01-02T08:00:00.000+01:00

The general opinion is that is very difficult to light metal properly. The light bounces all over the place and highlights can become a nightmare. Anyway, here's the result of my latest studio work with the new Accurate reels that i just received. Many shots of details and some full reel body.
This is the technical list
2 X SB800 speedlights triggered with CLS
One speedlight through Lastolite EzyBox
One Speedlight through Orbis Ring Flash
One white reflector

Nikon D90 with Tokina 100mm f2.8 Macro
Black Vinyl background
Water spray


Detail of the spool and the body of the reel


Detail of the drag lever and drag preset

Side plate with accucast knob

Side plate with strike limit

Side plate with "lefty" sing for reels with left handle

Knob handle


The whole reel

Whole reel sprayed with water and with a Theos jig on one side

Port Blair. Andaman islands. India. Black and White and Duotone images

2010-12-28T20:07:00.002+01:00

I have a couple of shots of this man and his buffalos that I like better but, for some strange reason I shot them at 1/15sec at f22 and they are blurred and obviously unsharp... Misteries of the photographic world. This one has been cropped a bit to improve the composition and edited into B&W, in fact the color of the water was not very appealing and this kind of vintage looks suits the image better. It is some sort of photo reportage from a country that offers to the photographer able to grab them, continous and repeated chances for memorable shots.

Check this other photo, a wrecked house in Port Blair again. I took it from the van while driving around the city, and edited in duotone because it looked better to me. Things like this are all over the place, on every corner, some are fully colored some are grey and dusty. I'll be back to the Andaman in one month, and I wonder what i will shoot this time. I'm a tad shy to steal people's images but I will probably make good use of the 70-200 to do a bit of portraiture

Macro shots of products with a Fisheye lens

2010-12-20T00:19:00.001+01:00

I’ve been thinking for a while about doing some macro stuff with the fisheye, and today I finally gave it a try. I have a Nikkor 10.fmm f2.8 fisheye lens that I really love. I don’t use it as much as I would because it the pictures tend to get tiring, but every once in a while it comes handy when doing some fishing portraits or landscapes.

This is quite an interesting result.

Not many people know that this lens can focus at a distance of…. I don’t know exactly but basically, you can rub the lens against the subject, as I proved once again today. You can then imagine how special of a macro lens can be. Everything is dramatically distorted; distance between foreground and background absolutely exaggerated, and quite some problems not get in between the light and what you are shooting

Still something that at least will make you smile

Well, if I can be let's say at 2cm from the subject, and have a softbox on top of me or slightly facing towards me, I will have to do some magic trick not to have the shadow of the camera, or my head, covering half of my product. Another issue is how to trigger the flash with the CLS. If I’m under the softbox, it is quite difficult that the sparkle of the pop up on my Nikon can be seen by the SB800 remote unit that is covered by the softbox itself. I leant it today the hard way.

Here we are getting worst, nothing really interesting about it

To find a solution I had to pull the good old’ remote cable and trigger the flash with that one, while putting the other flash in slave. Too bad my chord is so short that the softbox, most of the times, was falling on top of myself and the product.

Anyway, when I started shooting the lure I had the confirmation that another of my fear was being confirmed. The background, for as wide and tall as it could be, was not enough to cover the 180º vision of the lens. Fortunately is not big deal because the light was quite dim and at 1/200sec and f9 everything turned almost dark (and I had room to further darken it in Lightroom).

Help me say: UGLY!

So I had my happy shooting with the 10.5mm Fisheye, and the results can be seen here, some fun even interesting, some plain awful. I will give it a try again in the future, but I have to work a bit on some details, especially lighting, which can be tricky. For these shots I had my two SB800 through a Lastolite Softbox III on camera left, and an Orbis Ring Flash on camera right

Yellow daisy shot using a Orbis Ring Flash in the background and a Lumiquest Softbox III as main light

2010-12-13T20:29:00.008+01:00

Today I had to take some studio shots and at the end of the session I stole one of my wife's flowers and had some fun. While taking some pictures of it with the Orbis Ring Flash I had the idea of using that very light modifier as a background, centering the flower in the black hole that is commonly used to stick the lens.

The how-to... Lumiquest Softbox III
on camera left, Orbis Ring Flash
as background

I adjusted the camera on the tripod to have the flower exactly in the middle of the black hole and did few test shots. The ide was cool but I needed an extra light to bring up the flower a bit. All that backlight couldn't do it by itself.

So I added an extra SB800 with a Lumiquest Softbox III and..voilá

Too funny...

2010-12-12T08:00:00.000+01:00

Check this out folks, is jusy hilarious!

Surrounded by mythology

2010-12-09T08:00:00.041+01:00

When you venture on a trip to the wildest places of Egypt, legends, mystery and myths are all around you. We went there in search of a legendary freshwater predator, one of the mightiest of them all. The biggest ever recorded topped the scale at 516lb in Lake Victoria, while Nasser’s record is a “humble” 329lb….

Yet the Perch was not the only fabled subject of the trip, we really wanted to take advantage of the visit to see some of the temples that have been disassembled from the valley, and reassembled on the highest hills, before the dam was finished and Lake Nasser was created.

We did all this travelling with the Nubiana MV, operated by the guys at www.lakenasseradventures.com, perfectly organized. Simple yet tidy and comfy. The silence of the lake was our travel companion, adding an incredible atmosphere to the trip.

Fishing was average, nothing spectacular but we had our chances and landed some decent fish. Yet, I believe that my friends and I had a truly enjoyable trip, one to be remembered or repeated

Dekka temple

Sunset fishing on the lake

Small Nile Perch

The mother vessel, Nubiana

One of the biggest Nile Perch

Releasing a small fish caught from shore

The hike

Sphinx' Avenue. Es-Subu temple

View of the lake at sunset

Save Our Sharks

2010-12-06T08:00:00.000+01:00

I'd apreciate if you could watch this video. Is quite dramatic and for the faint of heart, but is truly worth a considerate look

Front cover shot for the magazines: Voyages de Pêche, Mundo Pesca and Pesca&Barcos. Sb800 through Orbisflash

2010-12-04T16:22:00.002+01:00

This image has already become the front cover for three different magazines: Pesca&Barcos in Spain, Mundo Pesca in Portugal and Voyages de Pêche in France. Is a shot that I love, perfect timing around sunset, great smile and amazing Sea Bass. I lit it with the SB800 through the Orbis Ring Flash, a wonderful combo for my fishing portraits

The end of the line movie

2010-12-02T08:00:00.000+01:00

Where is the truth about Bluefin Tuna
overfishing?

The work in progress

2010-11-29T08:00:00.001+01:00

Sometimes, when I shoot I'm not sure of what I want to achieve, but when I see the image in Lightroom I start thinking about it and the ideas start flowing to my mind while I play with the software. Thus, there are other situations when by the moment I glue my eye to the visor that I know what I want to say, what the image means to me or what I can do with it during the editing process.

This image, when it happened, it was quite clear, even though I understand it can give room to many different interpretations. The simple and plain idea was: a lonely man walking away from the camera in a sad and moody autumn’s afternoon. If you give it a deeper look, you will notice that at the end of the walk is not exactly clear what he will find. The trees are quite thick and apparently there’s no sign of another track going anywhere else. Is he about to get lost in the park or swallowed by the dark trees? This uncertainty probably adds a bit more of pathos to the frame, but the main thing, if we don’t want to get too far and clever in the interpretation is that is sad and moody.

This is the key scheme of the shot but to achieve that I had to work on the best composition, even before the man arrived. I had the camera on the tripod because I was working on a slow shutter speed (1/4 sec) and had to wait until the man was a tad farther from me, right in the place where I wanted him to be. At home, later, I had to convert the shot to black and white, quite gloomy and blue, while it was originally a decent afternoon with the sun setting nicely.

Not every time I have the chance to think so much about a photo and to be able to explain it decently, as I hope I did here. Usually is my gut that keeps me pushing the shutter button, and the brain start working later, especially when I’m on the “reporter” mood. Every once in a while I will post some “image with a thought” and comment it for those willing to read about it.

Another great fly fishing video from NZ

2010-11-25T08:00:00.000+01:00

Fly Fishing New Zealand DVD Video Trailer. what can I say... I want to visit New Zealand and I want to fish for those huge Brown Trouts, even though I have never been a Trout fisherman... The scenary is just stunning, NZ must be a photographic heaven, I cannot believ I haven't bene there yet. A terrible mistake I have to fix asap

Check this out folks...

Lumiquest Softbox LTp

2010-11-22T08:00:00.002+01:00

Lumiquest has another cool light modifier for us, chek this video, it looks like a pretty darn good idea

Fall and the light

2010-11-18T08:00:00.001+01:00

Fall is here, this week we had the first severe whip of the season after some beautiful days around 21C. My daughter came back home with a bunch of fallen leaves and she is pretty serious about painting them: “Before you paint them – I asked her – wouldn’t you like to take some photos of it?” She happily accepted and helped me setting up a transparent tray with a flash underneath it. To get a more even spread of the light, I put a Lumiquest Softbox III and on top of the flash a white piece of paper on top of the diffuser.

Nothing especially fancy of complicated, a very basic backlit studio set, just what I needed. I took the D90 with the Tokina 100mm f2.8 A-TX Macro and a small ladder and started playing with the light power on my CLS control. My daughter eventually lost interest in what I was doing and anyway had to do her homework, and the little old kid started shooting. The result is here, a “group” shot and a lone leaf, enough before we had a blackout and had to light up some candles to fix dinner….

Light trails

2010-11-14T08:00:00.002+01:00

There are amazing things that can be done using your camera’s slow shutter speed properly; one of them is taking pictures of car light trails. What you need is pretty basic: camera, lens, tripod, maybe a graduate filter and a remote control to release your shutter when you are in “bulb” mode, or at least you need it if you own a Nikon. I like these images especially when is not 100% dark, in fact at twilight you get the best colour of the sky, far from being black it turns into an amazing blue. Put your camera on the tripod and secure it properly, compose your scene. Take an exposure reading of the ambient light; let not the car’s lights fool your meter into underexposing the scene. The light will be burned anyway, and that’s what it is, just light that will decorate your scene.

If you need to balance the sky use a grad filter but I don’t think you will need it unless you have a strong backlit image with the sun too high. Now, I assume that if you are like me you are in manual exposure; if not maybe you should try. A (aperture) is ok too, but you will need to compensate the exposure through the exposure compensation button, hence in manual will probably be faster. If your shutter speed is within the 30 you will probably be able to use the self timer to trigger the camera, but if you have very little light and need to go over 30” you will need to put your shutter speed to “bulb” and then you will only be able to take the shot using the remote control (no worries, is not an expensive gimmick).

When everything is set, with your ISO as low as you can, the lens clean to reduce the problems with flare, and the tripod well set you start shooting, Most of the times is a trial and error business, until you find the right light and the right “traffic” to get the image you need.

Retiro Park, Madrid

2010-11-10T08:00:00.004+01:00

For somedody who live sin Madrid and loves photography paying a visit to this beautiful park is almot a duty, or at least it should be. During my stay in this city, now since 1995 I have been to the Retiro several time, yen never with my camera. I fixed this obscene issue last week, a short visit during abeautiful fall's afternoon: my D90, the Tokina 100 f.28, the Nikkor 18-70 f3.5-4.5 and the tripod, here to follow the result of the visit

Backlit iamegs are my favourite, and if there's a human being in the shot much better

Fall is quite a romantic or depressing season, is just a matter of taste. For me is the "Antipasto" of the winter, which I hate... The lone man walking on the park adds something to the shot

Sidelight, almost backlit I should say. Warm and beautiful

Light and water, a combination that always attracts me

The "classic" Retiro shot, the pond and the monument to Alfonso the XII

Slow shutter speed maybe... ?

2010-11-07T21:09:00.000+01:00

No way, it wasn’t necessary at all. Usually to get an image like this you need to put your camera on a tripod and go for the slowest shutter speed you need in order to achieve the effect you need. In this case the wind was so strong that I managed to shot hand held with the Nikkor 70-200VR at… 1/2000sec

This is just weeds, ready to dry and fall under the winter freeze. I could barely stand and my Nikon was shaking like a leaf, this is why I wanted to use such high shutter speed, but is not the only reason. I also wanted to have quite a narrow depth of field using a very wide aperture, I shot at f2.8 and that gave the extra boost to the shutter.

The whole idea was to make an image with not many defined shapes, where personal interpretation could play an important role. In Lightroom the main job was to put the white balance at 10750kto add warmth, play with the blacks, whites, and contrast, boost the saturation and most of all bring the clarity down to -100. A bit of vignetting added the final touch.

The result, a very high….slow shutter speed image

First test of the 70-200VR I and Kenko 1.4 extender

2010-10-29T08:00:00.000+02:00

I recently got myself a second hand 70-200VR I f2.8, the "old" version of this famed lens. Since I sold my 18-200 I was a bit lost on the long distance stuff and I needed to find a replacement. As soon as I could I went for a short test in a park near home, not far from sunset hor the light was not so strong and I had the chance to concentrate on what interestd me the most, the VR system. Being a used lens I just wanted to make sure it worked properly.

In the following images, not fancy, not nice, just plain ugly (but the subject was in the right place) you will be able to see the difference between the shots with th VR on and off, and those with the Kenko 1.4 converter. I took all these shots sitting on a bench to help me support the camera at 1/8 sec. The distance between me and the subject is always the same and the exposure too.

Nothing new, I know, just a reminder for those who are still confused when it comes to buy a new or used lens: VR or not VR?

Nikkor 70-200 without VR

Nikkor 70-200 with VR

Nikkor 70-200 with kenlo 1.4X and VR off

Nikkor 70-200 with Kenko 1.4X and VR on

Using 2 Lastolite Ezybox Hotshoe's and a TriFlector

2010-10-26T08:00:00.001+02:00

There are videos around who are good enough to explain how to work with certain tools, and show how effective they are. For the little strobes lovers the Lastolite EzyBox is a great light diffuser, that should be in our bag all the time. I use it a lot for my products stuff because is easy to set up, fast to use and delivers a great light. Here's Mark Cleghorn at work showing how to properly use it fo a double portrait session.

A top ten Olive Oil

2010-10-19T21:43:00.002+02:00

I have friends working on many different things, and I’m fascinated by the fact that some of them have developed qualities and skills to create something different. Among them my friend Vicky, pure Tuscan breed, wonderful woman and energetic person.

She lives in a beautiful farm on the Tuscan hills, her husband takes care of the day to day business with agriculture, hunting and livestock and she pulled up her chemistry skills to create something pretty unique and ultimately extremely valuable, olive oil. Not the regular greenish liquid we use day after day. She created something special, THE olive oil, winner of many different award and most likely than not, one of the 10 best olive oil available in this planet.

I love olive oil; I use it a lot and appreciate a good one, even though I’m not an expert. Before opening the half litre bottle that Vicky gave me, I took my time to shoot some photos of it, trying to figure out all the things I have learnt from the book Light science & Magic.

One SB800 went behind a white translucent plastic panel and the other on top of the bottle through a Lastolite 40” Umbrella box. Two white reflectors helped distributing the light evenly and in Lightroom I just whitened the white and added a bit of contrast and sharpening.

I finally tried the oil with some good friends at home. It gave life to a good Turbot and Tuna Carpaccio, but to get the pure taste we had to put it as it is on fresh bread…. Is not cheap stuff, as you can imagine, but is truly worth a try. You can find it here Fattoria di Monti, and by the way, is a magnificent place to stay if you want to visit Tuscany; they rent a very nice house.

Macro Photography, a .... sparkling idea from Bryan Peterson

2010-10-15T14:53:00.000+02:00

That is, a sparkling idea, and is easy to understand why. Check this video from Bryan Peterson, who's books really opened up my mind as a photographer, and see what you can do with some very basic stuff.

The Lamiglas Tropic Pro Evo TP5660 meets the Bluefins

2010-10-09T15:27:00.000+02:00

In the Cantabric Sea things have been a bit hectic lately. Every two days I was receiving an e-mail or an sms with images or stories of large tunas hooked on popping or jigging tackle. Some of them didn't even got a chance to smell the boat's hull, breaking off with smoking runs, but few have been landed and they were well over 200lb. Is a tough deal because you're fishing in 3000ft of water, and pulling such beasts with that kind of tackle is a hell of a tug-of-war.

One large Bluefin in the 78" range (ext. 270lb) have been landed by a friend of mine on one of the new Lamiglas Tropic Pro EVO rods, the TP5660SJ. The guys started with an 18lb drag to increasinghly get o to 26lb, hard to handle both for the fishermen and the rod. It took the crew three hours to land the fish, and they had to pass the rod to withstand such pressure. I'm glad to see that the new series is being successfull, especially after the problems we had in the past with a couple of batches. The blank has been re-designed, or better say that layers of material have been put together in a different manner. The guides are the Fuji Alconite with chrome foot, new color for the blank too and a thin modern handle complete the make up.

Tokina AF100mm f2.8 AT-X Pro D Macro

2010-10-05T11:34:00.000+02:00

Today I had a bit of fun with my new macro lens, the Tokina 100 f2.8 AT-X Pro D. It feels good in your hands, sturdy and with a professional finish, I like the lens hood too, looks pretty cool when mounted, I left it on all the time.

The lens is a joy to use, the autofocus system is ok, a tad slow but I mostly shot in manual while doing the extreme close ups. As usual, wide open is quite difficult to find the right focusing spot, especially if you are a dork like me and don’t use the tripod, but his is truly not an issue, is normal.

As far as Photozone concerns, probably among the most qualified sources on the internet for camera lens reviews, the resolution is excellent from wide open up to f11, it is ok at f16 and goes down dramatically due to diffraction at very small apertures. Today I used it between f2.8 and f14, and the out of focus area you get at f2.8 is very nice, in fact I’m very much looking forward to use this lens for my next portrait session.

Here’s few images of today’s session: being able to stay as close as 30cm from the subject with an effective 150mm lens can deliver pretty impressive close ups, you will tell me if you like the result

Already available the # 3 issue of Flymage.net

2010-10-01T21:56:00.001+02:00

My friend Pepe Weigand already released the third issue of his on-line fly fishing and photo magazine Flymage

This month there's a special guest whom you might know :-)

The Magic Strait

2010-09-27T22:10:00.000+02:00

Truly magic, and I really mean it. How many times in your life the stars are aligned to the point that everything, and I really mean EVERYTHING goes well ? Such it was for us last week and if you care to listen, here's the real story.

Two entire days of fishing in the Strait of Gibraltar, a bit of jigging (almost nothing) and a lot of popping, so the Master Paquito decided for us. he knows his home turf (and surf). Two smal boats left the harbour Monday morning, 12 meters the pair, you don't need a yacht for this kind of fishing. 4 fishermen, Paquito and Nelson (well his name is Félix but we have re-baptized him Nelson, the Cuban skipper, but this is too hard to explain) at the helm and Vincenzo and myself, pretty much looking forward to see what the Strait of Gibraltar was going to deliver. Dani and Fran, the cameramen, with as much expectation as the rest of us.

The one who's writing this report has been the first to cast. the first to have a strike, right on cast one. And it never stopped! Two days in a row of non-stop fishing, cast after cast until the sun, too high in the sky called for the quits. Lunch break, a little siesta and back to the battlefield for more hours of amazing action. I have fished few and far remote seas all over this darn planet and believe me, very few times I have seen anything like that!

We landed four different kind of fish, Barracuda, Bonito, Amberjack and Sea Bass. Most of them on top water and few with swimming plugs and minnows. We used the magic Habano for the top water action and it killed the Sea Bass, the Brugas again for the Bass in the foam from as well as the T-jerk and Finder Jerk this time for Barracuda and Bonitos, Surface Cruiser and Roosta Poppers completed the arsenal and as wild card the Trairao, Imakatzu top water star, that landed the big Amberjack.

I used my Lamiglas travel rods, the 7025 up to 1 1/2oz, both for casting and spinning. They worked wonder, casted flawlessly, fought like Spartans and handled the roughest situation at the best. Three pieces, lightweight and just perfect, a lot of fun to fish with them. Two daiwa reels completed the tackle department, both rigged with 30lb Tuf Line, always MY line of choice. We rigged a good deal of lures with single hooks, and they worked wonder. In fact, Vincenzo landed the Amberjack only because he had a Decoy Sergean' in the rear, the belly treble just opened up like a banana skin...

Paquito told us it was probably going to be good but he didn't say it was going to be THAT GOOD1 Awesome. Amazing! Just one (or two) of those days. I will never forget it.

Gregory Heisler whiteboards his Rudy Giuliani Time Magazine cover

2010-09-23T08:00:00.001+02:00

Now, if you think that shooting Bruce Sprinsteen sitting on a stool was an easy task, check this one. Rudolph Giuliani 65 stories up, with Heisner making it look as if he is lit by the New York lights instead of a complicated Prophoto set of artificial lights.

I'm amazed looking at the image and thinking of what has been put in the making of it. Incredibly smart and somehow logical. These videos are of much help for someone who is trying to learn how to deal with lights, thus the creativity must be there, for any different situation that might arise. That one, either you have it or not.

Gregory Heisler whiteboards his Bruce Springsteen Time Magazine cover

2010-09-20T08:00:00.002+02:00

Gregory Heisler is one of those photographers that can make look simple the most difficult shootings. He's a regular on the Time Magazine cover, and in this short video he explains his set up for the session with Bruce Springsteen. You listen, you follow his sketch and you think is easy, then you try do do the same and it sucks...

Have a look at the video and take notes :-)

Palio di Siena

2010-09-16T08:00:00.019+02:00

One of my highest wishes, since I started spending more and more time behind the camera, has always been to be a photographer at the Palio, Siena’s and one of Italy’s most beautiful tradition. For those who don’t know what it is shame on you, Google it a bit and you will find tons of valuable information. For those who haven’t been there, I strongly recommend you to go. If you manage to understand what’s behind it and how deeply is in the heart of the “Sienesi” (the citizens of Siena), you will just love it to death. If you have been there already, you know what I’m talking about, and if you didn’t like it, too bad, I’m sure you missed the plot.

Anyway, thanks to my collaboration with the Spanish monthly magazine SuperFoto, this year I managed to get my photo pass and what a day I experienced! From my humble point of view, getting the job done at the Palio requires a lot of experience, and I mean experience of the Palio itself. Having been there as a visitor helps, but is not enough, really not. Having a couple of days to dedicate to the before-during-after event helps a lot, and I didn’t have those at all. Having a guy from Siena guiding you, and he must be one who is truly from there and belongs to a “Contrada”, is a sure bet, and I have friends there but there was no time for me to get them involved finding one fit enough and willing to spend the whole day with a crazy photographer. Anyway, you always pay a price for being a rookie, and I’m no exception.

Before the start of the parade I met with an old friend from Florence who now lives in Siena for a quick lunch and then it was all running. Run to get your photo pass done, to go to the press office, to shoot the atmosphere of the city, and get a grasp of what the heck is going on that crazy day. Is a flood of people roaming from one place to another, following the parade that swarms up in the streets, slowly filling the Piazza del Campo, the square where everything takes place. Locals and a lot of tourists; not so hard to distinguish ones from the others. The poor, the mid class and the rich; the latter easy to spot at the most exclusive balconies of the ancient buildings facing the square.

At 16:00 is time to get into your assigned area, and mine was both a very good and bad one, as I will soon learn. Few meters from “La Mossa”, the starting point, I had the parade slowly moving in front of me at close distance, with the sun sneaking between two buildings and few chances for some backlit images when the clouds would allow me to. This was the good part; not many odds to shot images with a long depth, as you can see from these photos, but close enough to allow me to work with the longest lens I had, the 24-70 f2.8. So far so good, I even grabbed some decent details and boy, that lens rocks!

Thus, once the Carabinieri started galloping for their opening charge, I realized that I was in trouble for the race. On my left hand, about 10/12 meters I had a blind turn hence I could only see the horses when they were already on my face, and on top of that, they would run SO CLOSE to the fence that it was EXTREMELY dangerous to lean, as it proved later. No mean to complain, it was my first time at the Palio with a photo pass and I got that spot, again great for 3 hours and quite odd for 5 minutes, respectively the duration of the parade and the race.

Anyway, at 7 pm the horses showed up from “Il Comune”, the building of the county and started the alignment for the start. This is one of the most exciting moments of the day because there are many things going on between those two ropes. There’s always somebody among the jockeys creating trouble, moving from one place to another, bugging his most direct enemies, trying to mess everything up. This is part of the game, is allowed, and the director of the race only has the chance to try to calm the spirits down or finally send everybody out to start the alignment from scratch. Finally the ropes go down, the horses stretch into a wild gallop on the compact dirt and everything goes ballistic! Now, your photog is well behind the fence, trying to guess when the horses show up behind the blind turn and shooting in continuous like a mad man. Three turns and is done, there’s a winner (Tartuca, on the Palio dell’Assunta August 16th 2010) and no seconds or thirds, everybody else looses.

The crowd swarm into the track when the horses are still running and from now on is hell on earth. On my side one of the crew is on the floor trembling in convulsions. She leaned too much off the fence and a horse (or a jockey’s knee) hit her in the face. Doctors everywhere, is quite a dramatic moment, the girl looks like is in real pain. I become a reporter, grab few images and finally, knocked down I leave my position and head top some friend’s house to pick up my family.

The Palio is now over, at least the one going on in the square, people slowly leave, happy, sad, sweating, crying, yelling and mostly tired. There’s a big party at the Contrada of la Tartuca, the winner. It will go on all night long, a major celebration. People said it was easy to predict, they had the best horse and the best rider, but they had to run the race, and in the track of “La Piazza del Campo” everything can happen, is a very hard game. Looking at my LCD I can see no decent images of the race, just the start, then for me it was all chaos. Again, you need a lot of experience to do a good job at the Palio, I have jumped the rookie step, now I’m only thinking of the next one, either July or August 2011.

Special thanks to Isabella Neri of the Press Office of Il Comune di Siena

Lari, small town in Tuscany

2010-09-13T08:00:00.001+02:00

A scooter parked in front of the door, a beautiful house, three men talking outside the homemade pasta local shop and the street paved with carved stones. A typical image of

Italy

, of those you can especially find in a small and charming town in Tuscany, as there are many. In this case we are in Lari, not far from Pisa, up on the hills. We were visiting the castle, which may not entirely deserves it, but the town was very neat indeed

I realize that when I'm wondering somewhere in the world with camera in hand, I almost instinctively attempt to freeze situations that represent the lifestyle of the place I'm visiting, rather than the monuments and historical pieces. I get more and more attracted into the details, and a detail for me is a window, a door or a lamp that stick out form a corner.
Tuscany for this kind of photography is full of high quality opportunity. A true paradise for those who love this art

Aranjuez, Royal Palace, a lucky moment

2010-09-09T12:19:00.000+02:00

In this photographic business the lucky factor is quite important, and being in the right place at the right time with the camera in the hand can make the difference. So I learned once again few days ago.

On a short tourist trip to Aranjuez with some relatives, I took my Nikon with me. I had few things in the vest like a replacement lens, a flash, gels and optical cleaning paper, in order to travel as light as I could, no heavy bag this time. The tripod stayed at home too, it was just a tourist trip and there was no time to use it.

After walking around town and enjoying its monuments and gardens we went back to the Royal Palace. The sun, at about 7PM was low on the horizon and together with strong winds, a storm threatened from the sky. I stood in front of the entrance with the sun almost on my back (unfortunately) and in front of me one of the most amazing shows a photographer could aim for, unveiled. The Palace was shining and perfectly lit against the gloomiest and darkest sky. There’s enough light so I expose for the palace and let the cloud get darker. I’m also looking for the best composition I can get out of the lens I’m using, the modest yet decent 18-70 f3.5-4.5. At f13 I can still get 1/320s.

During this moment of ecstasy, a couple of strong gusts of wind offered me a new opportunity. A cloud of dust appeared and pushed by the breeze dimmed the left hand side of the building. Even though the current of air shoved me quite hard such that I could barely keep my balance, I still managed a couple of shots of that moment as well. Right after, I picked up my things and headed back to the car, as happy as a kid.

The Italian lure company Molix debuts in Japan

2010-09-02T12:39:00.000+02:00

The Italian lure company Molix is proud to announce a new partner for the distribution of his products in Japan. Since August 20th Paolo Cartocci Uchida
(cannot hide the Italian origins) has decided to share the journey of Molix,
taking on distribution and promotion of Molix products in the country of the
Rising Sun.

Molix staff, who have always been paying special attention to the Japanese quality and creativity in lures design, has finally reached its goal which is part of a process that includes a broader proposal of Molix products and business alliances, in order to make these items available to a large audience of enthusiasts.

The cooperation Molix-Uchida will also be an incentive towards continued innovation and development of products for the Japanese market.
Paolo Cartocci Uchida - Molix is based in Hiroshima, a place of spirituality and memory. A city evoking dramatic events, but at the same time representing a
symbol of rebirth.

The percentage of Italian blood that flows in Uchida’s veins will help him convey to the Japanese Molix’ values and style, for sure not too far away from Japanese’s’ own.

We will keep you updated on the news. In the meantime we suggest you often visit the Website:

Molix Japan

How can you give life to a block of marble?

2010-08-31T08:00:00.001+02:00

How can you give life to a block of marble? Well, sculptors do. They know how to make a 2 tons piece of unanimated rock turn into something alive. Michelangelo fired his hammer against his Moses once it was finished asking ”Perché non parli?” (Why don’t you talk?), and if you are like me and like sculptures, you will be probably staring at a statue in awe mouth open and with your head going blank.

I’m not a great fan of paintings, or I should better say not as much as I am of sculptures. Classic sculptures are my favorites, from the ancient Greeks and Romans masterpieces to Donatello. Funny to admit it; being a photographer or at least someone who is in love with photography and working on his learning process, painting should be the thing to look at with more attention. The use of light, then rule of thirds, the search for the third dimension, all valuable inputs any photog should grab from the master painters. Yet it is harder for me to understand how a man can sculpt the body of The David and Goliath, than painting The Last Supper. Probably I have the wrong concept that if you make a mistake while working on your canvas you can go back and somehow fix it, but if the scalpel knocks out too much marble your work has gone for good.

Now, just to make something clear I’m not an educated lover of sculpture, paintings or art in general. Yet I grew up in a city like Rome and spent long summer holydays in Tuscany, hence art and architectural beauties where around me all the time. I’m pretty sure that my small brain and my short sighted eyes absorbed all that beauty like sponges, and stored it somewhere. Now it floats to the surface and every once in a while, when I have the chance to witness shows of manmade wonders I breath it deeply, and if I have the camera with me I grab my vision of it.

Wandering around the Vatican Museums for a whole day has been such a grateful experience that I almost thanked my wife for dragging me there. I was scared to go, mid August, crowded with people, sticky hot… not a great plan. My longing to see the museum was being beaten by my laziness, but thank God I was not alone. To my surprise, once inside the Museum I was alone. Not that the thousands of people grazing around have gone at once, just that when I put my eye behind the viewfinder of my Nikon everything softened out and quieted down.

My wife had her ear glued to the audio guide and never interrupted me in my inspired journey through those wonders. I was literally absent, walking on a cloud and filling GB of images. Thus, I wasn’t shooting like a madman; neither was I looking for the most famous statues or masterpieces. I mostly shot what I liked, the way I liked it and using the available light as much as I could. Looking back at the images I have the exact proof of what I’m now stating so confidently. The only real good images I have are those I shot with the most passionate feeling, being attracted by the details or the rim of light coming through the windows, or the composition I managed to get by moving around it and profoundly looking for the best possible angle (at least for me).

Last but not least I shall not forget the editing work in Lightroom. I couldn’t be happier of my reading of David duChemin book “Vision & Voice”. His work is having a profound influence in the developing of my images and especially for things like sculptures, I believe that the editing process is utterly important and I tried to take care of it the best I could. I hope that they manage to convey what I want them to, and the way I felt about them.

There’s still a long way to go but we’re working hard J

Three from Rome

2010-08-26T08:00:00.000+02:00

I have been few days in Italy visiting the family and enjoying my vacations; needless to say I had an amazing time. Few days in Rome and few others in Tuscany allowed me to grab quite a few Gigabytes of images with my D90. For these two weeks I borrowed a Nikkor 24-70 f2.8 that I have used a lot. Is not a lens designed for an APS sensor but I must say that was tough for me to unscrew it from the camera. What a superb piece of engineering! What a sharpness! It has been an unfortunate move to carry it with me, now I brutally raised my quality demand, and in addiction to that I also put my eye on the 70-200 f2.8VR to replace the already sold 18-200VR. I’m longing for a fast bankruptcy because they would both work well with a FX body…..

Anyway, back to Rome for the moment. I took my wife for some brief sightseeing visits and collected most of the shots during a late afternoon one that eventually stretched into the night. Being together with someone who wants to see things and walk around at a different pace than yours is not the best option to do the things properly but she’s patient and I had my share of time. As a matter of fact I also carried my tripod, which is not known for being a tool that fastens things up.

The Gianicolo is one of those spots you must visit. Is one of the roman hills and the view you get from there is quite staggering. Rome spreads in front of your eyes like a renaissance painting, the old mixes with the new and the churches’ domes scratch the polluted sky. The sky was dark but the sun was finding its way through the clouds giving me the chance to grab at least a dramatic light. For this image I did a bit of work in Lightroom, transforming it in a duotone and pumping up the contrast. For the original shot I used a ND Grad filter but I enhanced a bit more the sky with an additional grad filter in post.

Then it got dark and it was that magical hour when the tungsten lit buildings create that amazing contrast against the dark blue sky. I love this time of the day, even an average image collects few extra points, and most of them are quite elegant to say at least. Doesn’t last for too long though, so you have to work pretty fast to seize the moment. In this case I had a problem with quite a bulky and dark object in the foreground, name it statue: Marco Aurelio’s. I took a first shot, and it was quite poor. With a 30 seconds exposure I had the sky well exposed as well as part of the building, but the statue was pitch dark and the lights burned out. So I took a different approach; slowed the exposure to 20 seconds and pulled the SB800 out of the waist jacket. I don’t know how many times I have used the speedlight so far to dramatically change the result of an image, being this animated or not, this for sure has been one of those. With the camera on the tripod, during the whole length of the exposure I painted the statue with the flash and pulled out most of the details not long before hidden in dark shadows.

When the sky turned black I was still around Piazza Venezia trying to figure out how to make a decent image with so many people around, work in progress, cars and bad lights. Finally I decided to go for the Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Maria, in front of the Foro Traiano including the famed Colonna Traiana. There’s nothing really special in this image, but I had a ball working on the HSL in Lightroom retouching saturation, luminance and hue in most of the colors.

Obviously there’s much more photos in the laptop’s hard disk but either I had not much time to edit them, or they were not worth it. Soon more stuff about Rome though, maybe some museum….

The Habano now available in three sizes

2010-08-23T08:00:00.001+02:00

We finally have three different sizes of the Habano, one of the stickbaits that excited me the most during the last season. A superb design by Alle's lures

The 20cm came first, a lure designed for GT, Cuberas, Tunas and big animals in general. Now we have added a 16cm X 70g and a 13cm X 45g, more appropriate for smaller fish, like Bluefish, Leerfish, Snappers, Barracuda, Kingfish and also again for some big pelagic, like a Tuna that is more interested in smaller offerings.

As always the construction is very meticulous, the wood is deeply impregnated with protective resins to avoid water absorption when bitten by a toothed critter. Six layers of paint that stick chemically to prevent peeling, and three layers of epoxy especially developed for the tropical treatment complete the armour. All lures have a sturdy wire-thru construction and carry oversized swivels of the highest quality

So far available in two colours but later we will have more. Soon available the 11cm X 30g size, a beast for the Sea Bass.

Molix T-Jerk, amazing Sea Bass lure

2010-08-19T08:00:00.001+02:00

After the fabulous fishing that has given me in Cork I doubt I will take too long to put it in the store. The Molix T-Jerk Suspending 11.7 cm has really surprised. First, it casts very well, the ball bearings in the body do their job perfectly and the small bib is not so much of an aerodynamic issue. But what has impressed me, especially considering that I'm not a fan of this type of lures who travel below the surface, is the action it has.

I tried several different kind of retrieve, slow and even, slow jerks and pauses, fast jerks and stops, fast and steady with no pauses, and finally very quickly paying with the rod tip up and down, producing violent jerks. The T-Jerk responds perfectly to each one of these actions, and never fails or starts swimming in a weird manner. Being suspended as well, during pauses and stops it stands still, and has been precisely during these moments I've had most of the strikes, until I finally managed to smash the bib against the bridge’s pylons.

Let's say that somehow this lure made me come to terms with the family of the "swimmers”. Two strikes few feet from the boat were as good as those I had on top water, and I have learnt something new

Fox introduces the first twin speed fixed spool reel

2010-08-12T08:00:00.001+02:00

Check out this novelty, I have red about it in a forum and really caught my attention. Not that I'm a big fan of two speed reels but this onesure marks a new level as far as fixed spools is concerned. read the Fox press release

Stratos 20000 TS

Introducing the new Stratos 20000 TS Twin Speed Spinning Reel. The first reel of its kind to be specifically designed for high speed jigging in deep water. The unique gearbox of the 20000 TS allows you to change seamlessly, with the flick of a switch, from a high 6.1 to 1 ratio, to a low 2.1 to 1 ratio to cope with the demands of high speed jigging.

At 6.1:1 the retrieve speed is perfect for working large deep water jigs to induce the best action and increase the strike ratio. Once you have hooked up on a large Amberjack or GT you can then reduce the retrieve ratio to 2.1:1 to help you crank your specimen up from the depths. We have all suffered from dreaded lock up on fast retrieve reels and the stalemate situation that then follows; this reel makes that a thing of the past!

Our two speed gear box has taken three years to perfect and is protected by a worldwide patent. The high torque gearbox runs on stainless steel gears for maximum strength and is supported by 16 top quality stainless steel bearings.

The drag system is not only smooth but also immensely powerful and may be adjusted to a maximum of 35 lb of pressure. The inertia start up is absolutely minimal ensuring an ultra smooth operation. The drag itself is fabricated from high quality carbon lubricated with our own special oil. The design of the system has resulted from thousands of hours of testing in a vast range of temperature and climatic conditions. Once you have set your drag there is a secondary locking knob to ensure that it does not back off or tighten during a long battle with a heavy fish.

The ultra-strong body is made from top quality machined aluminum for lightness and integral strength. All body parts have also been specially treated to ensure a high corrosive resistance.

The line capacity is enormous allowing you to use in excess of 300 yards of 80 lb braided line. As well as being ultra-strong this is a stunning looking piece of kit and comes in at just under 40 oz in weight.

The Stratos 20000 TS will allow you to get the utmost out of high speed jigging as well as similar big fish disciplines that require speed, strength and cranking power.

LumiQuest Softbox III for fishing portraits

2010-08-09T08:00:00.001+02:00

At last I could use the Lumiquest Softbox III for my fishing photos. I took it to Ireland and to be honest it really worked wonder. Compared to the sort of light I can get from a bare speedlight, this small softbox delivers a fairly radical change, providing a much softer light with less harsh shadows and certainly a way more interesting atmosphere.

It's compact, lightweight and foldable; it only takes less than a minute to mount it on the flash, quite some advantages when handling a fish on one side and the camera in the other, well quite literally.

From the pictures I've done in Kerry and Cork there is one that I favour over the others, and for one simple reason. Apart from the light which is nice, what strikes me is the reflection of the small softbox in the fish's eye, something, in my humble opinion, which works pretty well and is way cool.

On the next trip I will try to bring the Orbis Flash too, this time it wasn’t possible due to luggage overweight problems. I’m very curious to see what kind of reflection will leave in the fish’ eye.

The end is not too far....

2010-08-08T01:06:00.000+02:00

Ireland, July 2010. Can life be better ?

2010-08-05T08:00:00.013+02:00

Don’t really know where to start from, the country, the people, the fishing…. Have you ever had that kind of feeling that EVERYTHING has been perfect or nearly so? Well, this is the taste my latest Irish trip had; one week spent filming two fishing documentaries for Sky TV in Italy.

I spent a jolly good afternoon roaming around Dublin waiting form my friends to come, and had the chance to take some photos of this beautiful city. I missed Dublin since mid nineties and I was very happy to be there again. At nigh an enjoyable dinner and some pubbing and clubbing completed the day. Travelling with me Boris Salnikoff, the director of the show, and Vania Corá the cameraman, both great guys to travel with. The plan was to film fishing for Sea Bass and Pollock both on flies and lures, from shore as well as from the boat. The shore fishing was in Kerry again, with John Quinlan, and the bay of Cork was our scenario for the boat fishing, with guide Kevin Murphy.

This is a blog so I won’t make it too long; I think that the photos will speak mostly for themselves. The first two fishing days in Kerry have been a tad slower than usual. We had to work a bit harder to find the fish and due to a severe change of weather happened the week before our arrival; the Sea Bass wouldn’t cooperate too much. I managed to land 5 fish mostly on softies and Boris had none, fighting against the wind and with fish swimming too far for his fly rod. Fishing for Pollock has been another story altogether. We found them good, in a place with not such difficult access and caught a good deal of them. Boris with an ultra fast sinking line had 4 and I hooked the same on soft plastics and landed 3. John, our guide I think had more that any of us, even though he fished for a shorter time. As usual great food and relaxed atmosphere at the Thatch cottage lodge. (John just dropped me an e-mail 5 minutes ago: Suprise, suprise the bass have turned up in numbers not long after you left. Two of us have had about 40 in the last 3 days up to 7lbs. All were caugh early in the morning on the beaches. Its a pity we did not find them when you were here but I suppose that's fishing)

In Cobh we found a different environment, and a whole new experience was waiting for us. Kevin Murphy had put us on a nice non stop fishing plan, and boy, was it good or what? We arrived at the Bellavista hotel, had a chance for a brief chat and a tea with Kevin and Michael Hennessy, and hopped on the boat for our first afternoon of fishing. For some reason we couldn’t find the Sea Bass willing to snack on our candies but the Pollock were just swarming all over the place. Probably Boris caught 20 plus while I was skimming the surface in search for Bass, and three of those hit my walking the dog without being hooked. Eventually, when the sun went down the Pollock came up and hit the surface lure ravenously, and I had my share of fish too.

Next two days in the Cork Bay have been nothing short of amazing. The Bass showed up, in numbers and in size. Boris lost his virginity on the Irish Labrax and managed to land 5 of them on small gurgles and streamers and I had 9 fish up to 7lb on quite a big walking the dog, (Habano by Alle’s Lures) and on a Molix T-Jerk chartreuse that nailed 3 fish, including the biggest of the week, in less than half an hour fishing downcurrent a large pylons bridge.

Ok, if you like fishing light tackle, if you are a fly fisherman, if you love Sea Bass, enjoy being in a nice place with nicer people, drink good Guinness or Murphy beer and have a jolly good time, go to Ireland and fish with my friends. They will not only put you on fish, in the best spots, at the right time, but also make you laugh and feel at home.

There are few sincere thanks I’d like to put on writing. Fabiana Marraccini and Orla Woods at Fâilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority, you girls are just great! Lynn & John Quinlan at Thatch Cottage Ireland in Kerry, Kevin Murphy at Bass Fishing Ireland and Michael Hennessy of the South Western Fishery Board. Knowing you and being with you has been a true enjoyable experience I’m very much willing to repeat as soon as possible. Thanks for everything!

Is the Euro still floating ?

2010-08-03T08:00:00.000+02:00

A concept more than a photo. 5 cents floating on a thin layer of water poured on a black vinyl background. A side light provided by an SB800 through a Lastolite EzyBox to enhance the texture of the coin yet not reflect on the background, trying to keep it as black as possible.

Is our currency still floating? The Dollar is coming back strong and we are loosing power with the major international currencies. Maybe is good for the Euro zone export economy, but sure is not for those who import a lot of goods from non Euro countries.

The Flash tree.....

2010-07-30T08:00:00.001+02:00

A brief video to see what you need to overpower the desert sun.... Joe McNally shows what you can do with a bunch of speedlights properly used and packed together. If I had all those SB800s to use I would be a photographer in heaven, so much I love those little lights...

Lastolite EzyBox

2010-07-27T08:00:00.000+02:00

A couple of videos for you to watch. Is an interesting lesson of how to set your Lastolite EzyBox and then how to use it. I got mine a while ago and I'm sure happy with it. Is lightweight, portable, and delivers a terrific light. The image here on the left has been taken with an SB800 through it. Check them out and then maybe you will want to get one yourselves

Dpreview.com tests the new Nikkor 16-35mm 1:4G ED VR

2010-07-24T08:00:00.002+02:00

This is how the review of this new Nikon lens starts in Dpreview, probably the best web page about digital photography in the net:

Our lens review starring the world's first optically-stabilized ultra-wide zoom: the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 16-35mm 1:4G ED VR. Conceived as a relatively inexpensive alternative to the highly-regarded AF-S 14-24mm 1:2.8G, this lens features Nikon's latest 'VR II' stabilization unit in a high quality magnesium alloy body. We've put it through our usual battery of tests to see how it performs.

Read the whole review in this link

Orbisflash for still life

2010-07-22T08:00:00.004+02:00

For this test we found quite an unusual subject for the Orbisflash, a still life. I’m pretty sure that this ring flash was not designed for anything like that, but we had fun for half an hour trying different angles, and finally comparing it with a Lumiquest Softbox III, a Lumiquest Snoot and finally a bare SB800.

In this first image we have the Orbisflash on axis with the lens. That is, the lens goes through the hole :-) . The light gently wraps the whole subject

Now we moved the Orbisflash from the lens to camera left. The light is still nice and wrapping, we have more shadows and probably a more interesting picture

The Orbisflash is on top of the subject. This is the option I like the least, the light is a bit dull and there’s quite a loss of contrast and details.

Here we have the Lumiquest Softbox III right on top of the lens, trying to mimic the direction of light of the Orbisflash. The result is quite similar to that of image one, thus the light is not as wrapping and creates more edges

Lumiquest Softbox III on camera left. Compared to the second image we have more contrast here, darker shadows and stronger highlights. Is more contrasty

Softbox III on top of our garlic. The result is not too different from the one we made with the Orbisflash with the same settings.

Here we go for a very hard and narrow beam of light. The Lumiquest Snoot creates some kind of bad chiaroscuro, with very harsh and unflattering shadows.

Another hard light configuration. The SB800 is now bare, and the light again very unflattering. Lots of unpleasant contrast, same as in the previous example, yet we have a wider beam of light and it spreads more around the subject.

Orbisflash for macro work

2010-07-19T08:00:00.002+02:00

I’m slowly getting familiar with the Orbisflash and this time I gave it a try with a macro subject. Working with the 60mm Micro Nikkor stuck at a mere 10cm from the lure, I did some fun testing

For works of this kind there is no other option but to place the camera on a tripod. Otherwise we would have the Orbis on the left hand and the camera in the other with both hands shaking and major focusing problems. Still, a sharp focus with a macro lens so close to the subject is extremely complicated. If you pay attention, even at f16 the depth of field is so limited that the metallic paint is not as focused as the eye, and I think the difference in depth between the two certainly cannot be spotted without a magnifying glass.

The Orbisflash, as many ring flash used in fashion photography, it gets reflected in a very unique way in the subject’s pupil. It is true that in the human eye is quite pleasing, very cool I’d say, I wanted to see if it would work as well on a plastic one, and to be very honest I believe it does. From the first to the second picture you can see we have slightly moved the Orbisflash from the lens axis to an off-camera position, and the reflection moved as well.

The light that provides such peculiar flash will sure have critics and devotee; I personally find it very cool. It wraps the subject in a very uniform shadowless way, yet not flat or dull, and delivers enough contrast to the image.

When I received it from the shop I thought it was a darn bulky monster, but now, after very little use I handle it with the same ease I handle my SB800 alone, and I am finding many and different applications for it.

Colours and smiles

2010-07-14T08:00:00.000+02:00

There are a few things, among many, dramatically affecting a fishing portrait: colors, or rather the contrast between them and the attitude of the fisherman. That man that holds the fish and that despite not being the main subject is very important just because is a bulky thing in the middle of the frame.

Pictures in marine environments, from boat or from shore, have a backgound that more than often is blue. A blue of various shades, sometimes dull and sometimes with an intensity almost cobalt. In both cases, having in front a subject whose overall color contrasts with the background, will result in a more powerful and successful image. Especially in the tropics, we find fish that have bright colors that help a lot. I think about the Cuberas and the Snappers, Groupers and of course the Dorado.

If we stop to think for a second about the species we have just mentioned they all have in common fewf colors: red and yellow or a reddish brown. Now if you look at the image of the color spectrum you can see that exactly on the other side of the blues are the yellows, oranges and reds, which means that these colors are opposites. This is exactly what we want; these are the tones that will create the necessary contrast in order to achieve a photo that will pop up, with major depth and strong personality.

Thus not always we have colorful fish in our hands hence, I humbly believe that it is the fisherman who has to add a drop of brightness to the image providing clothing that stands out. An orange, yellow or red shirt will surely strengthen the shot even with a gray sky behind, and obviously even more with a strong deep blue one that we can even improve with the use of a polarizer.

The attitude of the fisherman is another important element and I say this knowing well that I often forget about it either when I make the photos or the few times that I am the subject. A fisherman with a serious face simply doesn’t work. It seems that the guy instead of having fun is upset with something, and conveys a sense that is absolutely antithetical to what the reader expects. Something does not fit the image, and does not work. I can understand that you can be tired after a struggling tug-of-war with a strong fish, or with strong seas for that matter, once again we're having fun, and somehow it has to show!

Finally we have the casual fisherman who enjoys it a lot and you can see in the photo. It’s brightening. It gives off positive energy, he’s happy and it shows and his attitude is highly contagious. This man will have a much better chance of ending up in a two spread in a magazine or in the front cover, than any other moody or grumpy guy that may have taken a bigger fish.
Small details matter!

Molix, Italian design for lures

2010-07-09T10:00:00.003+02:00

Let’s put it this way, if Italians are famous around the globe for their magnificent styling, design and architecture, why they cannot become the best lure designers in the planet?
I guess you guys are familiar with Ferrari, Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo, Armani, Versace, Scavolini and many other famous names and brands born and developed in my country. It’s something that we, as Italians are pretty proud of, can’t hide that.

Now, a group of crazy fishermen decided that it was about time to do something with a very high standard in the lure design field.

This is how and why Molix was born. Produce the best lures with original designs, no copycat or stolen ideas, with the best possible quality. So good they can rival the highest Japanese standards, and if possible, beat them. Molix Lures come for 100% Italian ideas, design and investments, mixed with Asian high tech quality manufacturing.

One of the owners of the company one day told me: “A Japanese guy said to us that we had a crazy idea - “The Italians are good at making ledgering and Bolognese rods, but they will never make good artificial lures, this is Japan’s business.” I couldn’t disagree more and we have hundreds of examples that show exactly the opposite. If we can build a Ducati we can sure make a 15€ plastic lure that fishermen will enjoy using and that will catch fish for them.

Nothing is impossible 

Metal Still Life

2010-07-05T11:00:00.000+02:00

I studied THE BOOK “Light, Science and Magic” trying to understand the big deal of the Family of angles. Reflected and diffused light and did a bit of experiments

Using a black vinyl background and a metal lure can be a dangerous combination. I needed to keep the background black and make the lures shine, with a bit of reflection on the glossy plastic.

To achieve such result I used a combination of two lights, SB800 of course. One is bouncing the light off a big Lastolite 40” Umbrella box and the other one has an Orbis Ring Flash with it. Both light triggered with Nikon CLS.

First of all I made a sticky ball with duct tape to lift the jigs from the bottom. I put it in the back in order to achieve a bit of angle, reflect the light and show the length, height and width. Then I poured few drops of water to get more reflecting surface and decorate the image.

The Umbrella Box was placed 90º with the table. By doing so I had the light reflecting against the jigs but not the background that remained black. On the back of the jigs I had the other flash with the Orbis Ring to bring up the shadows a bit

Honestly, I love these still lives and will keep experimenting

Carpe diem!

2010-07-01T19:33:00.000+02:00

Grab de moment, freeze it, steal that image that only lasts for a second and disappears in the past. This is war reporters business, photojournalists, sport photogs, not mine for sure. Though, there are times when you are in the right place at the right moment and things just happen.

The following images are not new; I took them at the

Maldives

in November 2008 when we visited an atoll south of Male. I dropped the rod for a second, grabbed the Nikon and went to the bow, to shoot my friend Eugeni who was casting his large poppers.

Just to give you an idea of the action here to follow you will find a sequence of 4 images, while for me the real /carpe diem” image is the third one. Not only it perfectly froze the moment of the strike but also shows a good deal of body language and a precise moment of the action that speaks for itself.

Even though I spend a lot of time on a boat with the camera in my hand, I don’t have too many images like this. Carpe diem, that is!

Philothamnus thomensis, Sâo Tomé Green Snake

2010-05-21T10:00:00.001+02:00

I’m not a nature photographer. Never approached any kind of wildlife and to be very honest I don’t even have the tools for the business. Thus, I’d love to be good at that, even though I think is a very complicated technique because you not only have to be a good photog, but also have a good knowledge of the wildlife, their behaviour and move your fat ass a lot to find them.

Another major issue is the lenses you need to capture such distant subjects but hey, if this is really what you like, instead of spending money like me in 20 different wide angle you just save the $$$ and get yourself a nice 200-400mm and off you go to the bush. Nevertheless, one day I’d love to treat myself to a nice trip just for this purpose, I’ll swap the fish for the land based critters.

Anyway, there are times when things just happen in front of your face and you can grab the chance and do some “wildlife” work. One afternoon, back from fishing, when I returned to my room at the hotel I saw a little Green Snake jumping from somewhere around me and hiding in a little bush nearby. I got closer and saw this little nice fellow sticking its head right out of the foliage apparently curious about me. I dropped my stuff, headed for the camera rigged with the 18-200mm, grabbed the SB800 with a Lastolite Pocket Bouncer and went back.

After few shots, with the snake absolutely unmolested and comfortable during the photo session, I went back to the room to change the lens. The Nikon 18-200 (the first image as been taken with this lens, the other two with the 60mm) is probably not the sharpest lens around hence I decided to go for the Nikkor 60mm micro, and what a difference it makes. Thus, with that lens I had to get closer, something that didn’t make me feel too comfortable, not knowing what kind of snake I had in front. Eventually everything run smooth and I had my shots, some good some not, but I was pretty excited about my vis a vis with the little green snake. Back to Madrid I did a little bit of investigation and discovered that it was absolutely harmless. Glad to know that I didn’t risk loosing my nose on that shot

Large diffusers, one more try

2010-05-18T10:00:00.014+02:00

Today I wanted to give it a try to a new combo that I bought a while ago. Is a very large reflector, the Lastolite TriGrip and its specific bracket, that not only can support the diffuser but it also has an articulated arm to hold a flash to bounce the light off the diffuser.

It started as a stand alone test but whilst trying I decided to compare the results with another big Lastolite light modifier I got myself, the 1m Umbrella Box with 7mm shaft. They both are quite large light modifiers, at least for my minimalistic studio, among the largest I can deal with my small speed light.

The distance of the light from the subject is always the same. The shutter speed and f stop too, what I had to change a bit was the flash power rating in order to compensate the light absorption by each combination. For the sake of a comparison I also put a third image shot with a small LumiQuest Softobox III, of course the difference is staggering and is not fair to the little guy, but this is not what I wanted to prove, just to show how soft the light can be with a very large diffuser.

The fist image is shot with an SB800 at ¼ power bounced off a 1,20m Lastolite TriGrip on the Softsilver side (the other side is sunlite). As you can notice the light is extremely soft yet very scattered, with much diffused shadows, but quite poor in contrast. No reflector was used on the other side and in Lightroom I adjusted a bit the contrast, clarity and sharpening (the editing of the other image shave been synchronized with this on)

For this second take I used the Lastolite Umbrella Box. Same ratings as the previous image. The light is still soft and wrapping and the shadows less diffused. Due to the lesser spill of light the image is also a bit more contrast which I like a bit more. Being much closer to a softbox, with the Umbrella you have a better control over the light and it doesn’t scatter everywhere. I like this diffuser more and more

The third image shows how the light works when diffused by a small softbox. Imagine the difference in size from a 1,2 meters TriGrip, a 1 meter Umbrella and a 20cm softbox… Too much to handle.

In this final image you can see the TriGrip and the Umbrella Box together. Remember that the TriGrip is 1,2 meters, quite a huge thing, not too easy to handle and waaaaaay shaky on a light stand. I can see myself using it during one of my fishing trip and flying away with it like a kite surf at the first breeze. Thus, it can bounce the light over a standing subject and perfectly work as a fill light.

My Favourite Stickbait

2010-05-15T10:00:00.003+02:00

Without a doubt this has been my favourite stickbait of the last season. I have used and abused it mercilessly trip after trip and for some strange reason, when most of the other lures went lost, this one always made it back home. Is a lucky guy, and it now deserves some rest in the museum of the great survivors

It can work as a walking the dog, is this was the right way to use it, but is when it gets speedy that it shows its potential. I managed to sink a bit its nose in order to play it under the water making its belly shine, but this is not the easiest way to work with it. To take advantage of its real potential you have to think like playing with a pencil popper, just a tad slower, with more stops and more rod tip action. This is how it worked for me with almost any kind of predator.

I managed that the guy who makes it builds few for me; they will be available at the shop in two nice colours. But what I’m truly looking for is to have it build in several different sizes to use it with every kind of predators. We are looking for a name, even though “El Habano” is gathering quite some consensus

Three Books for the Lighting enthusiasts

2010-05-13T12:51:00.004+02:00

If you're a lighting fanatic I got three books to suggest you. I red them all, they are quite easy to understand, bring a lot of solutions, ideas and practical tips, and sure teach you one thing or two about lights. Any kind of light. The author is Kirk Tuck, a photographer based in Austin, Texas, who has a great degrees of knowledge about what he does: working with lights.

Have a good reading!

Lastolite Umbrella Box 40"

2010-05-10T19:48:00.001+02:00

Lately I have red many good things about the Umbrellas with Diffusers so I decided to treat me to a brand new 40” Lastolite Umbrella Box. I had the choice for a larger one but I knew I couldn’t use it with small speed lights so I had to quit on the megalomaniac idea.

Kirk Tuck, in his latest book mentions a lot the Photek Umbrellas with diffusers, he suggest they can deliver a light almost as soft as a very expensive Octabank and uses a lot the 60” with Alien Bees or Profoto 600W lights. This is where I got the inspiration for my purchase and decided to give it a try the minimalistic way.

It would not be fair to say that I run a very extensive test, in fact I didn’t. Just put together a background, two stands and the D90 on a tripod to take some shots at my new baby reel, a Team Daiwa Bradia 2000, a tiny little jewel. I left the diffuser dome in the SB800 and had to pump it to ¼ power in manual and 200 ISO to achieve this f11 at 1/200 seconds. The Lastolite Umbrella Box was positioned right on top of the reel. The second light is an SB800 with diffuser dome on through a LumiQuest Softbox III, a small yet powerful light diffuser. This was feathered a bit towards the background and flagged with a small gobo to avoid light spill on the reel. The power of this light was set at 1/32. Both flashes have been triggered with Nikon CLS in separate groups

For the sake of it also have a look at how the light works with different modifiers. For the following images we got rid of the second light and just used the SB800 on top of the reel, see the difference:

SB800 with diffuser dome only

SB800 through LumiQuest Softbox III

SB800 through Lastolite Umbrella Box

Lumiquest Softbox III

2010-05-04T19:55:00.002+02:00

A couple of hours ago I received the prizes of my March win of the LumiQuest contest. The parcel, which arrived in 48hrs since I choose my goods, included one Softbox III, a ProMax System and two cinch straps.

Didn’t really wanted to wait too much to test it, so I quickly unpacked it and put it on my SB800 on a stand. I choose one jaws of my collection and made few test shots.

Camera settings: D90 with Nikkor 35mm f2. F9 at 1/200 sec at ISO 100. Flash in Manual 1/10 when using the sole flash with diffuser and 1/8 when using the Softbox III still with diffuser. The light was at around 45º camera left and the reflector is a white cardboard placed on the right of the jaw, slightly behind it.

Here is the sequence of the images:

Only SB800 with diffuser. Harsh, harsh lights

Only SB800 with diffuser and reflector. The light bounced by the reflector smoothens a bit the shadows but yet they are unpleasant

SB800 with diffuser and Lumiquest Softbox III. The shadows are way smoother compared with the first image

SB800 with diffuser and LumiQuest SoftboxIII with reflector. we have quite an even light and reasonably soft shadows.

"The rig"

Quite a great result for a 22X19cm softbox. I think it will be my "secret" weapon when doing the fishing portraits. It doesn't get on the way of the CLS and is very light, so hand helding the SB800 with the Softbox III mounted will never be a problem.

Thanks you guys at Lumiquest for giving me the chance to try this cool diffuser, now we just have to wait for the Grand Prize :-)

Back from the Queen's Gardens in Cuba. Just spectacular!

2010-04-27T22:30:00.005+02:00

I have just come back from Cuba. The location is the same, the Queen’s Gardens, thus this time we explored an area I have never been before, and this is something because I have already fished the place 12 times…. Our route was heading east, towards the Cabo Cabeza del Este, on the very other end of the area I know. Quite a chellenging trip, nothing we knew about the area, the fish we could find and the environment. I just knew it couldn’t have been bad.

We left the jigging rods at home. The boats there have no sounder and to be very honest with you, my friend and I just wanted to use top water lures, both on light and heavy tackle. I had 5 rods with me: 1 heavy popping rod the Daiwa Saltiga GT86, 2 medium spinning rods, one built casting and one built spinning. Same blank, the good ol’ TP7030SP better known as Caranx Medium by Lamiglas. Las but not least, I carried in the suitcase 2 light Lamiglas Travel, XTC7025 casting up to 1 1/2oz and XTS704 spinning, up to 3/4oz. Eventually, the latter two became my favourite together with the heavy popping rod. The very light one was with me for the Bonefish. Small jig heads, tiny grubs and good sight needed. Thus, I used it a lot with offset hooks and weightless soft plastics, like the Super Fluke, an all time favourite. I matched the rod with a tiny Daiwa Bradia and Tuf Line XP 10lb line with a 15lb fluorocarbon leader. Incredible good fun! Amazing fishing! I landed a couple of Snappers in the 10lb range in less than 10ft of water. Fought hard, digged the rocks, got stuck and finally hopped into the boat.

The 7025 was the walking the dog stick. Rigged with a Daiwa Fuego low profle baitcasting reel and 20lb braid, handled pretty well the majority of the mid size fish, including several snappers, Cudas and Tarpon. Had is rought moment when fighting a very large Cubera in 20ft of water: almost managed to turn its head to finally give up on a big rock where the leader parted. Twice it happened, not much to do about it… Didn’t use much the Caranx Medium rods, either I wanted to fish lighter or heavier, I wasn’t a trip for grey tones, mostly black and white. The Daiwa GT86 showed everything it can do and pulled hard on the big fish. Hooked three Cuberas and landed them all on 80lb braid and 130lb wind on leaders (I’m making them pretty decent now…) . The rod is a beauty to use, not the best for popping thus a great pole for stickbaits.

To make a long story short the 5 days of fishing have been nothing short of sensational. Between the two we counted more than 120 fish landed with probably as many strikes of fish we hooked and lost. Best day topped almost at 50 fish, most of them in the 4 to 10lb range because we really wanted to fish light tackle in the small pass and canals among the mangroves and the shallow reefs. Mutton Snappers, Dog Snappers, Jack Crevalle, Yellow Jack, Barracuda, Groupers, and then Bonefish and Tarpon, the ultimate gamefish of the flats. Our skipper, Vicente, an old fried, sure is the major responsible of our success, in fact nobody know the place for top water fishing as he does. The guy holding the Cubera is him :-)

I have been to this place many times as I said at the beginning, 13 now if I’m not wrong, and for some reasons I haven’t been back since 2005 but, I promise you, as soon as the skiff started crusing among the calm lagoons, running between the mangroves I asked myself.” Why on heart did I take so long to come back?” This is the place where I have learnt most of the things I know about saltwater spinning and tropical popping. I think I have lost some great years of amazing fishing in one of the best places I have ever had the pleasure to visit.

The Queen’s Gardens is one of the lost paradise of this poor planet. The nature is untouched, the fishing nothing short of amazing and the people the best you can find ever. The whole crew we had on the boat was amazing. Great guys, right attitude, good food, excellent service and total dedication. If you don’t want to go there is because you are either crazy or maybe … crazy! For me it sits among the Top 3 fishing spot around the globe. I have been away for too long, not going to do the same mistake again.

Check the web site here: Cuban Fishing Centers

The "perfect models": The deep water Jobfish family

2010-04-22T11:20:00.000+02:00

Many tropical jiggers hate this fish; I don’t even dare to repeat the names they call it or how disappointed they are when they land one. Is pretty easy to catch and its average size is not so exciting thus, to its detractors I like to point out a couple of things.

First of all I show them the size of the tail of the fish. Is just huge. This is a strong swimmer, fast and powerful. Then I tell’em that if this fish would grow in excess of 30 or 40 kilos nobody would be chasing Dogtooth Tunas anymore, because the Rusties pull way hard. When you catch eight kilos Jobfish you find yourself with your hands full, I promise. You start thinking you have a nice Doggie , or a medium Amberjack for that matter.

But my love for this fish doesn’t ends to its sport value. For me is the perfect subject for my distorted, over exaggerated, ultra wide angle photos. His mouth to me is as beautiful as the best mannequin’s face to a fashion photographer. The texture of its skin (scales) is just perfect for side lighting, and its colour a real plus when working against a blue sky. Is also easy to handle and to hold for the fisherman, which makes things better and most of the time is among the favourite choices for dinner, so there’s no hurry to release it.

Well, so much for those who don’t like it. I’m Rusty’s # 1 fan, bring’em in and I’ll shoot’em. You’ll probably ask me for the photo later 

Some good readings

2010-04-19T10:38:00.000+02:00

As many of you I have been reading tons of fishing books, some good, some bad, some horrible. Among the good ones there are few that I'd like to share with you. We might not have the same taste but at least you have somebody to blame if you don't like the book....

The first one is such a great book. Looking at the title looks not so appealing yet, once you start reading it gets more and more interesting. I highly recommend it

My second pick is The Fisherman's Ocean, by Dr. David A. Ross. Is the view of an oceanographer who is an avid fly fisherman and he is able to explain in a simple way the environment and behaviour the most popular of game-fish.

Last but not least for today, is Bluewater Fly Fishing, by Trey Combs. I'm not a fly fisherman myself but this book is very interesting. Trey Combs picks his favourite game-fish and dedicates a chapter to each one of them.

Ringflash Vs Rayflash

2010-04-16T13:00:00.002+02:00

This toy makes me look at my Visa with evil eyes. I've been about to buy one already three times, and I don't know for how long I will be able to resist. I don't know how it would work for my fishing photos, but is sure interesting for general portraits

Have a look at this video, is quite interesting

And the winner is....

2010-04-15T19:13:00.001+02:00

Just got the news that one of my images has won the march contest of the Lumiquest group in Flickr. Thanks a lot guys, I very much apreciate

Lumiquest web page

Video information about Nikon CLS

2010-04-12T21:36:00.000+02:00

Since it took me a bit to understand how the Nikon CLS system worked, I think it could be of some use for those willing to master this powerful tool to watch these videos

The "Commander" use is for me the #1 choice both when I'm indoor and outdoor, especially when using the SB600 or the SB800, very reliable and powerful units. You can trigger your flashes either with the pop up flash of your Nikon or using the SU800 commander. The important thing is that the receiver, which normally is on the lower right end of your flash, can actually see the light from the pop up or receive the infrared signal from the SU800.

These videos are not new, they've been out for a while, as well as the CLS, but they are still of much use.

Vision Mongers by David duChemin, a truly good reading

2010-04-08T16:53:00.001+02:00

There's an intersting book I recently red and that I feel like reccomending to anyone either simply interested in photography or seriously determined into turning it into his business.

This is not a know-how book. Nothing to do with exposure, composition or alike. Is a book that helps you putting together a plan to make a living in this business. Is about motivations, dedication, strenght, marketing and general ideas that will sure help the reader desing his own path (or giving up)

I enjoyed the reading, duChemin is a goor writer and is quite fun too, but most of all, even though the subject could be boring, it never gets to that point, is always alive, sparkling and uttely interesting.

Vision Mongers by David duChemin

Jig colors? Do you really care?

2010-04-04T12:00:00.005+02:00

Lately, I have developed an idea about colours, shape and size of the jigs that is pretty close to the one a Neanderthal could have thought of. Yet, again and again, there are examples that keep me thinking that maybe, we should stop for a second and weight our established theories. Should we eventually put in rewind and get rid of some truths that maybe, are not so truthful?

During my latest trip to the Tropics, the Andamans to be precise, everybody spent a lot of time jigging. Different places, different species, depths and tides. Every one worked with his favourite jig, included myself, and I picked a few. The reason for every lure I choose was different, yet most of them were simple, rusted, or paintless pieces of lead with zero appeal whatsoever. My main goal was to test, once again, what would make the difference and what would not.

I thought about my crappy jigs as soulless particles of metal, puppets maybe, and that I was their Mangiafuoco, the puppeteer. Without me, they had no chance to come back to life and draw the attention of any kind of predator. I worked hard for the money, fishing was quite good on day one to three but after that the tide changed and the action slowed down big time. So it was the moment to show all the tricks and turn a dead situation into some lively action.

Well, it was a tough deal, those animals don’t like very much any kind of slow retrieve (apart from GTs), and hence keeping a faster pace kind of tired me down. Thus, my crippled jigs, with no eyes, no paint and no sex appeal made some serious damage, even when the other guys, with good looking stuff would see no action.

I sell lures, have an internet shop and stock many different kind of lures with several different colours. None of them catch MORE fish, not a single one is miraculous yet there’s a jig that will catch more fish that any other: is the one that we will drop most of the time and that suits our style better.

Jigging the Andaman

2010-03-31T13:49:00.002+02:00

I have just come back from the Andaman and I must say that it has been a very surprising trip. I knew that Akshay and Darran had been working hard on the jigging side, but until I could figure out myself I didn’t know what to really expect.

I must admit that the results have been quite spectacular, not only in term of fish landed or size, but in the map that these two guys have been able to design in the last two years. During our week we fished areas that are probably untouched as far as jigging is concerned, and the long trip to Invisible Bank, once the Mecca for the vertical style, is no longer necessary.

In fact we visited the Bank on a beautiful day, blessed with a flat calm sea and fast run, and we landed a massive amount of fish. Thus, the majority was GT and apart from one decent animal, most of them were medium to small size. It was also more difficult to find the right places, the area is indeed very big and scouting the places is not something that can be done on a daily basis, and we hopped on the biggest school of fish by chance, moving from one place to another.

So the right places are not too far away from the dock, well at least as far as Andaman is concerned, and the marks on the plotter are growing by the day. We landed a very interesting variety of fish, from GT to Doggies, Snappers, Ajs, you name it. And the funny thing is that in certain areas you can have two guys tossing poppers and one jigging and they all will catch fish.

I have to say bravo to my Indian friends, they worked hard to develop a brand new fishery, and it will sure payback in then future giving more opportunities to their costumers. Check their web at: Game Fishing India

Haven't been around for a while. My apologies

2010-03-24T23:21:00.000+01:00

Sorry guys, this has been quite a long winter and I found myself working on various and different projects. For example I have changed the look of www.caranx.net my fishing web page. Had to learn how to work with WordPress and suit the design to my needs. I also changed the www.nicolazingarelli.com site, and turned it into a photography only blog, in spanish.

This blog will be the sole english "speaking" I will take care of, and it will include both my photografic efforts and fishing stuff. Still have quite some things to bring forward but once I'm kind of settled down I will re-activate my writings here.
Thanks for your patience, I hope this break is for good and we'll catch up here again soon
ciao

Nicola

Back to the Tropics

2010-02-08T23:07:00.000+01:00

Off I go my friends, back to the tropics. It is going to be a humid and sweaty week, sounds awful yet is great, I missed it big time.

4 guys plus myself, fishing unknown waters, with not a single clue about what we can expect even though, expectations, as usual, are pretty high. Fishbase made us droll with all the sport fish available, and if only 50% of what they say is true and those species are available in decent numbers we're set.

This is an exploratory trip, probably will be mostly dedicated to jigging but we will carry popping gear too, just in case. We have 5 days to scout the waters around the island, not much time, yet enough to get an idea.

I hope I will come back with some good pictures and a decent story for the blog, keep posted !

Lightroom 2.6.

2010-01-12T20:30:00.005+01:00

Since my Photoshop copy doesn't want to work properly, yesterday I downloaded the trial version of Lightroom 2.6. My friend Jorge, the director of the photo magazine I write for, always insist on how good this program is for my kind of editing so I decided to give it a better try. This is my second attempt to use this software, I have already tried a couple of years ago but couldn't get used to the interface, hence I skipped it.

Yesterday I shoot some product images in the studio so I had quite some editing to do, and eventually, I found Lightroom quite improved, easier to use and probably, because it was my second try anyway, everything went smoother. I have also received some instructions from my friend so haven't had those difficult times in exporting the images, and handling them properly.

Funny enough, the biggest problem I had came when I had to resize the image you will see here. I have moved the original folder from the desk to my main disk and Lightroom couldn't find its way to it. Once I put the folder back to where it was before everything worked again.

I do have to put a lot of hours on the software to understand all its tricks and potential, but so far so good...

Good Intentions

2009-12-24T15:22:00.002+01:00

We are very close to the end of this dreadful year, and full of hopes for the forthcoming 2010. For some funny reasons when a year ends we expect the new one to be much more favourable, like there was a net separation between December 31^st and January 1^st. A borderline. An abyss with no links whatsoever.

Amazing how the human being is. This is like believing in superstitions (I’m Italian, I do). Is like thinking that a politician is different from another. A democrat is better than a republican or vice versa. We’re like little kids, that’s what we are.

Anyway, after such philosophical introduction, and among us, absolutely out of context in a fishing, travel and photography blog, I’d like to spit my good intentions for the so much awaited 2010, and these are fishing, travelling and photography related.

Good intention for fishing: run away from the tackle fashion. Become a better fisherman, not a tackle expert. Use what I have and concentrate on the technique, not the latest lure. Develop my instinct and make good use of my experience.

Good intention for travelling: Travel less, travel better. Discover new places, take time for fishing, photography and actually know the place better. The people. The culture. Become a better traveller.

Good intention for photography: Know my camera better. Is what I got and I have to get the best out of it. Study the lights and improve my lighting, again with the tools I have. Think out of the box and vice versa, you never know. Work out “new” compositions. Move a step forward.

It IS going to be an amazing year.

Ciao

Nicola

Drew Gardner - An "Epic" photographer

2009-12-22T16:52:00.005+01:00

I admire photographers who are good with lights. I also admire photographers who are creative. Hence, I guess, I have at least a couple of very good reasons to admire this guy, who not only knows how to light a scene, but is also able to create such an amazing image with this incredible atmosphere. His name is Drew Gardner. He's got a DVD available, check is web site www.thedarkart.com to find where is available. This video is a trailer of the above mentioned DVD, Epic Location Photography

The Dark Session

2009-12-19T17:41:00.002+01:00

The use of artificial light is, as the followers of this blog know, very high on my list. I got absolutely hooked by the use of strobes, speed lights and studio light, especially after becoming a follower of the Strobist community myself.

The problem is to find models, I mean, patient people who don’t mind being around with an obsessed guy who take strange pictures of them. Randomly, a member of the family gets involved in the task. Poor soul, he knows when we start but never knows when it all finish. This time it was my nephew’s time. 18 years old, rock music lover and with a light beard showing in his chin, perfectly matched with a dark hooded sweater.

We did the session inside a house in construction. We started close to sunset and finished when it was dark and I had to work my way through things with a portable lamp. Three lights: two Metz and one Nikon SB800. Elinchrom Skyport triggers. Manfrotto Nano Stands, translucent umbrella and a Honlphoto grid. These are my tools, together with the Nikon D90 and the 18-200VR lens.

We worked around different kind of situations, mostly based around the idea of the dark warrior or something alike. One light was taking care of the background, both from a bare Metz 48 or through a translucent umbrella. The kicker light, that for me somehow is the main light, or at least the one that takes care of giving the image “that feeling”, is on camera left coming from a SB800 gelled blue or red with a Honlphoto grid. On camera right we have a Metz 58 through a translucent umbrella.

The result is mixed. There’s so much to learn about lights and their fine tuning that I can’t expect major improvement overnight, yet a couple of these images make me happy and proud. The most disappointing is probably the third one, where the light coming from the umbrella is too strong and kills a bit of the atmosphere.

If you need any info about the setup don’t hesitate to contact me.