special edition

I guess it was special once…

Sometimes you turn around

…and you see something you weren’t looking for.

I was photographing a list of items in the Governor’s Mansion, including the chandeliers in the ballroom, and after setting up and photographing one of them I turned around and saw this reflection in the mirror of the room.

You see two fixtures in the ballroom, plus one through the doorway into the dining room. Unfortunately, just because you can see it doesn’t mean you can photograph it. I needed to get some light on the far wall in the dining room, plus some light on the near wall with the mirror on it, but let the chandeliers glow as the light sources they are. I was photographing using small Vivitar strobes (on manual power) on lightstands, fired by a set of Cactus radio slaves, so I fired one through a white umbrella at the near wall, and put another in the dining room, around the corner, with a simple bounce card to light that wall. I used a slow shutter so that the chandeliers glow.

I had to move my lights around a bit to keep them from making the chandeliers cast a shadow across the ceiling, and in the end, I chose a pleasing mix on the light balance, keeping the room warm and inviting.

I’m really liking my low-priced Cactus V4 slaves from Midwest Photo. 🙂

Chapel interior

Photographed this small chapel interior at Jackson’s Mill 4H camp in West Virginia. First I tried a straight tripod exposure.

Of course, I can never leave well enough alone. Here’s my HDR image from seven exposures.

I find the warmth of the first inviting, but I like the clarity of the second. Of course, the color can be fixed.