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The Gridspot Project
Not long ago, I wrote about Saxon PC Gridspots. If you are saying "Hey! What's a PC has to do with gridspots?" you'd like to read this article about using PC Chassis air flow control honeycombs as great light modifiers.
It gets better.
The guys at SaxonPC asked what they can do for DIYP readers. Can we have some gridspots? Sure! That was it, so there are 5 of those gridspots up for grabs.
So, here is how it's gonna go. If you want one of those cool gridspots use the comments section below to let us know what you are going to shoot with it. Yes it is that easy:
1. Decide what you are going to shoot.
2. Make a comment telling the world about it. Please include your Flickr account / mail address or any other way that will make it possible for me to contact you. Since there are only five of those to give out. Please be sure that you can make the final image in time. If you can not, you can add a comment with something fun to shoot, but tell that you are not here for the gridspot.
3. If you are selected, get ready to get a SaxonPC gridspot in about one week after the selection is made.
4. Take the image you planned and post it in DIYP.
In two weeks from today - that is November first, we will ship five gridspots to the readers with the best five shooting ideas. I am going to the sole judge for this. Two weeks later, we will post those five images here on DIYP.
The idea here is to go though an exercise in planning a shot and making it happen. I will not throw you in the deep water without some help:
- Building a Black Straw Gridspot and Portrait Ideas
- Film Noir Assignment @ Strobist
The other idea is to give away a few gridspots, so the two best shoots will also receive the gridspot mutipack.
There is no restriction on subject, number of flashes or special techniques. You can use an additional DIY gridspot, Gels, and other flashes, and light modifiers. Portraiture, still life and actions shots are all welcomed.
UPDATE: project is no longer taking submissions. Notification mails were sent to the winners. keep watching for final image.
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Great contest
Sounds like a fun contest. Thanks udijw for putting the fun back in the internet.
Although I cannot be an entry, or have the skills, I took some shots at the graveyard for the season with these grid items.
1872 gravestone with full on flash:
With 3/4" grid
and with 1.5" grid:
It was a fun trip to the graveyard. Not quite as old of headstones as the east coast, but interesting.
One of my favorites I have taken with grid is this glass globe, taken with a on camera flash filter.
Thanks to everyone who participates. And good luck.
grid photo project
A local park here in central NJ is having an Astronomy club set up scopes for a night viewing session open to the public. I've been asked to come and shoot some photos. I've been thinking of some strobist-like ways to put some supplementary lighting on the scopes and some grid spots look like a good possibility. Some tentative ideas:
- hidden backlight to create a "glow" outlining a scope.
- grid spot on faces around the eyepiece.
- grid spot shining down the telescope barrel
- overhead grid spot lighting a scope surrounded by darkness
Couple city grunge shoot
My wife and I have talked about getting our photos taken as it is our 1 year anniversary. We were thinking about ideas and would like to get an urban grungy kind of feel for the photo, something with a brick wall and some graffiti. This is tough to do with a straight flash so I was thinking that a snoot would be great. I am looking for a beam of light to add some dramatic lighting to the photo and concentrate on our faces.
I plan on underexposing the ambient scene by a couple of stops to give drama and using a grid spot snoot on the off camera flash to brighten up our faces and make us pop. Ill have her look directly into the flash lens through the snoot to ensure it is positioned correctly, set the time and join her in the frame.
Thanks,
Tyson
I am planning on doing a
I am planning on doing a fashion shoot for Shei Magazine. We are a student run fashion magazine and produce some amazing stuff. Gridspots would be great for a new look for an upcoming shoot.
My flickr is http://www.flickr.com/people/benjid/
Spot On
Hey all! Well I am working on a high speed stop motion project. I am using flash to freeze the subject in a long exposure. These are for an up coming art exhibit on the Army base I am at. I think by gridding the lights down that will add an interesting effect to the low light long exposure shots. Well good luck to all who enter!!
really heroic strawberry
My shoot will be heroic on the floating-strawberry-sized level.
Set: A DIY strawberry-holding "invisible" boom made of dowel rods and toothpicks will project from the background and hold the fruit in place while a turkey baster and string create swirling vortexes of water around the strawberry. It'll be shot on some sort of either seamless or patterned paper; I'll probably try out several backgrounds.
Lighting: a gridspot will go behind the paper to create a glowing halo around the strawberry, then a DIY striplight, about a stop hot, will illuminate the strawberry from one side while mirrors on the other side and below kick in fill. An alternative front lighting setup will be a a DIY ringflash with no kicker, just mirrors on either side.
marcia [at] marciadefiore.com / http://flickr.com/photos/iore
Chromed motorcycle accessories
I'm going to see how the grid affects shooting product images of my chromed accessories that I sell for British Triumph motorcycles. Its going to great to see how reflections in the chrome react to dark surroundings and a directed lightsource. All my chromed products really needs new photoage...
See example: http://www.bonneville.se/img/monza_tanklock.gif
Chrome photos
Great ideas on here:
Chrome seems to work well with this application,
I have some demo shots of (plastic) chrome here:
cycle demo
There are more demos in the customer gallery , although most of them show the vignetting of the light.
A vendor who sells taranchulas online took some really great pics, and he was impressed how much truer color the grids brought out and they did not show the vignetting.
Here are also a few pics a customer took of a bike:
With flash:
With grid:
Leather and chrome are difficult to photograph. I really like how it took the reflection off the saddlebags.
Cool idea! How long time for
Cool idea! How long time for the photographs?
re: time for the images
Hi Flyer,
once winners are announced, it will be about a week for the gridspots to arrive. Then another week to complete the picture
What I would like to do...
My husband and I will be making a trip to Russia in November. My idea for my project that I have is to take a picture of him in front of St. Vassili's Cathedral.
Why would this be so special?
How many tourists get to have their picture in front of the cathedral without the sky getting blown out and have their face lit up as the main focal point? That would be my goal, to take a unique tourist picture of my husband (My Beloved) in front of the cathedral.
How I would do it?
I do not have a pocket wizard. But I do have a cheap Cactus trigger that only works on my Phoenix flash. I would use the Phoenix flash to trigger my Promaster flash (which would have the gridspot on it) and fire the Promaster onto my husbands face. The rest of his body should be darker, but I should get the ambient light in the background. This will help tell the story of a man who traveled to Russia.A sweet simple story by using the power of photography... and... a gridspot.
Some Challenges:
1) It rains often in Russia in November
2) I cannot bring my lightstand, so I need to find a trustworthy person to hold my $200 flash
3) It would be really nice to do it in the morning, but if I am stuck in the middle of the day, I hope it is cloudy!
My Diagram:
http://www.stonecafecreations.com/Pictures/random/gridspotchallenge.jpg
What would I do?
I'd use it for my upcoming shoot of Symbiote Studio's Sam and Max Statue. I plan to shoot it in a dark alley and I'll need to get one of these (or something close) anyways.
I'd apply better light control to a current shoot
I've had a fun time experimenting with the RPT function of the Nikon speedlights and I have a very vivid shot in my in my mind that I'm trying to create. This is my best attempt so far:
My biggest problem has been light spillage. When too much light gets behind the ball, you can't see it that well. Zooming the flash hasn't done the trick, but a grid spot would be extremely helpful, as well as directing the light solely on the person shooting the basket. If I only had one gridspot, I'd use it on a flash angled toward the shooter so the light would hit the shooter and then hit the wall out of the picture. Then I'd use a large GOBO on the right side of the flashes lighting the ball.
Jacob Vorpahl - OneBrightSpot
Here are my two attempts. :)
So I decided to think on how to work out this image and idea.. And This is what I managed to come up with.
here is one with a bit of a more conventional use.
Spookey shot
A shot I want to shoot is a long exposure shot similar to this shot, except putting a spectral head in the bottle.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zuikomike/2868893926/
The plan is to use a geled grid to highlight just the subjects head and shoulders, then use a diffuser in front of the second flash to give a more even light spread.
My Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15062694@N00/
Traffic cones
A grid such as this would be most helpful for illuminating that most under-recognized of public servants: the traffic cone, as naturally found in urban landscapes.
Though I have worked with cones for some time, I find that their natural fluorescence only occasionally serves to attract the pants-wetting caution that they crave, and a half-stop or so of extra snooty/gridded light would do wonders for bringing the great concerns of the traffic cone to the nation's forefront once again. As long as no-one steps on my Speedlight in the process.
Shoot the Muso!
Hi, Thanks for posting on the DPS forum That's how I found my way here!...
I've started shooting musicians and bands in London and would love to try something different with lighting. With most gigs, I'm not allowed to use light of any sort, but the local "pub gigs" could be real fun with a bit of gridness!..
See you in the forums!
Sime™
OOoHH oooH , I wanna grid spot !!
I love grids and snoots, and try to make one to keep in each bag. my homemade straw one always loses straws and is about done *dead* I have a pin-up style shoot with classic car comig up. and some grid stuff would be very cool for interior stuff and emphasising legs without too much glare onthe car.
waterdrop
i want to shoot a waterdrop as it rebounds back from the initial impact, as the original drop stays intact.
i've done this with green ink in blue liquid, but i've found it very difficult to highlight the green drop as its rebounded back out of the blue.
I want to be able to highlight the drop more., and have less emphasis on the fluid below.
Waterdrop example
heres what i did with the waterdrop, i'd like to highlight the green drip even more via the gridspot.
cheers,
Jared
Jewelry Showcase
I have some very good (original) traditional pieces of jewelry and have access to some friends who own similar items. For a very long time I've been wanting to create an album/book of these masterpieces. I'm somewhat envisioning coffee-table book, rich in color, innovative designs and intricate details of this magnificient pieces of art. With a gridspot I can only see how much better and richer are gems are going to look, simply brilliant.
Love Them Grids
Grids are photog best friends - just my opinion. I feel so naked shooting with no grid on. With grids, I can cover up parts of the image I like to protect or shield.
I've been watching lots of Halloween movies lately and are fascinated by the plays between light and dark. So, I am planning a Halloween project - shooting kids in scary costumes with various grids and gels.
I am planning to use various blue/green/red/yellow/orange gel to create the "scary" mood. Simply flash them with softbox aint gonna scare nobody.
Here is my first victim
http://lightshaper.wordpress.com/2008/10/24/its-halloween/
I can't wait to get my hands on them grids.
gridspot
Well, i want reshoot my Beer cans session (http://www.flickr.com/photos/30190486@N07/2955545367/), but with better control over light sources, especially background lite.
gridspot
I have been tossing around the idea of a baseball photoshoot, with the whole asterick theme. I think this would be great for it. I would use a white baseball, with a black background and a single light. I think this would work out amazing to do so.
gridspot
I will go back to the M.A.S.H movie site.
http://flickr.com/photos/fpajonk/394752303/in/set-72157603352268672/
Big Polish girl
My wife big Polish girl.
Pump iron home gym 3 times week.
I shoot already headshot use one YID (yourself I do) gridspot.
Need 2 more gridspot hair light and muscle. Then good shot.
Hope we win.
gridspot
I live in Granada, Spain, home to the famous Moorish castle, the Alhambra. I want to shoot a low ISO high f-stop portrait with the castle as a background using a gridded flash to beat beat back the sunlight into a usable range. I want to try for a very deep DOF, using the gridded flash as a key and a separate backlight flash to separate the subject from the background.
Vendors Choice
I like all the entries, such noble causes and even public safety.
My vote is for BonneSwe and newPerspective:
BonneSwe because he is selling motorcycle parts, Triumph no less, and I love motorcycles and the 80's band Triumph.
And newPerspective for the idea of jewlery. Some of the photos I like best with grids are overhead lighting of small items (like jewlery).
Please BonneSwe and newPerspective give udijw your contact info , or send it to me at saxonpc@yahoo.com to claim your prize.
Thanks to all the entries.
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