365/12 - Day 1

Just under two years ago, I started reading David Hobby a.k.a Strobist, who in turn had me stumble upon a 365 project by Dustin Diaz.

My girlfriend at the time was going away for a month to Uganda and on the first day she was away I set about occupying myself with a bit of Photography so that I could send her a photo each day. I really didn't have a clue what I was doing but I set about it with the Lighting 101 tutorials whirling around my head.

I sat and stared at the room, nothing. But the I realised staring back at me was Gerald the Giraffe, from Africa.... There was my idea, a nice shot of the two of us, well lit.


As the first attempt at "Strobist" shots it all seemed relatively straightforward with a simple setup:

• Reflected white umbrella for the rim/fill light from 45degrees left maybe 3ft out and 1 ft up.
• Canon 580ExII with a Sto-fen diffuser head height off to the right as a key.
• Close enough to light the wall with some fall off.
• Giraffe acting as a physical marker of the focal point.
• Total Time: 10/15 mins
• This shot: 1 of 10.
  

As this was my first attempt I didn't make notes or take a setup shot, but at a guess I'd say I was at f/8 and 1/64.

It took me about six or seven shots to get the lighting "o.k" then another ten for the actual posing (the Giraffe kept blinking). This was actually the first posed shot.
The only post processing was to add the black borders top and bottom and the "tagline" which for the first one was easy.

It would be great to hear your thoughts.

D