Dustin Diaz Photography

356/365. The commute — join me on a walk

Yesterday I did a shoot for a friend in the evening, but realized I didn't request permission ahead of time to post any... so that's where that day went.

Anyway, I've had Sublime's Don't push on repeat for what seems like 5 days straight (It's even playing as I type this). Not entirely sure why.... but it's fun to quote it randomly.

In other news, 9 days left. Hell yes.

And if you're wondering what I'm going to do on the 365th day... I still haven't a clue... only in that I've been thinking about it every day since day 1.

Moving right along.... to the important stuff. This shot was a simple setup (all things considered).

setup, camera, strobist info: see here

246/365. King without a crown ~ Matisyahu — free your beatboxing soul

This is Matisyahu. Definitely worth checking out if you haven't.

He is one of the few people I've seen live that can beatbox as well as I can... had only there been an extra mic, we could have jammed.

strobist: SB-900 tucked up in the far corner @ 1/16 @ 50mm — via PW2's

201/365. Amanda Palmer is dead ~ Who killed Amanda... reading — solve the mystery.

So... as-is the nature of Twitter, people come by. This time, Amanda Palmer. Albeit spending 20 minutes during a missed lunch to do the shoot, it was well worth it.

Also, the high-resolution photos were sent directly too her, but be sure to check out the sneak peak thumbnails

Last but not least, I got to really put my new Lastolite Triflash Bracket to good use. see why below...

setup, camera, strobist info: see here

168/365. I can't stop raving... I can't stop raving... I can't stop... ~ Dune — have some ecstasy

So... I've never personally done ecstasy, but good 'ol Flat Eric here seems to be havin' a blast. Oh, and if you curious about the tie in to Dune, have a throw back and watch the rave video.

Tonight started off with me wanting to take a photo of our new wedding rings... but then... somehow... it turned into this.

Ok, time for some more Q & A pulled from the most common questions I get from y'alls emails

Q: "How do you get such perfect focus on your self portraits?"

A: Well, perfect is debatable, but my technique is simply and works "most of the time" and with patience.

First, use your AF to lock onto something near by where you will be standing. Notice in near all my shots I'm near "something". Lock on those things. Then swap your camera back to manual focus, then start firing away with your remotes, timers, intervals, tourists... who/whatever fires it, your chances are now much greater. Even in this shot where I had a tourist press the shutter, I disabled the AF on them so they wouldn't have the option to mess it up. I knew "exactly" where to walk and stayed directly on that focal plane.

Secondly, use "spot focusing". You Nikon folk, it looks like this as explained by Rockwell (ignore what he says about it — it's still useful).

The "big dumb rectangle" is given too many options and doesn't know where to focus.... especially at night in busy settings like... oh I don't know... a city!

Q: I've been thinking about by *brand x* flash. What do you think?

A: If you haven't read this article I wrote on Flash Photography and pwning the inverse square law, do that now... and there's a section at the bottom which discusses a bit about "what flash do I buy?"

Personally, I LOVE the SB-900, but it's understood that for most folks it's a big commitment. The way I see it, it's like buying a new lens... except most great lenses can cost $1,000+. And in my world, my flashes are far more important and an influence in my photography than a pile of lenses.

Q: "Would you ever consider making a book with all these setup shots?"

A: Don't think it hasn't crossed my mind, but that's time I don't have right now. One day I'd love to throw together some of my most unique shots along with outtakes, alternate takes, and of course some extra commentary on how I arrived at each shot.

But you know... not now.

And finally, that link that usually ends up at the bottom....

setup, camera, strobist info: see here (pssst... 4 light setup!)

167/365. Cat Lady, the Band — Become a groupie

A day late in posting this — it was a great birthday. I was quite impressed with Spork last night. It's not common to have a restaurant make a custom menu for your birthday. It may have been the highest form of V.I.P I've ever had at any business.

Anyhow, this shot was taken immediately after closing time and happened all within a few minutes (it's all a blur now). Braden helped put together the lights, Ario held another. I dialed in the power settings, then Erin orchestrated the rest. I still barely remember this even happening — but it was great!

setup geeks keep on clickin'

setup, camera, strobist info: see here

146/365. Everybody's doin' the fish... yeah, yeah, yeah! ~ Reel Big Fish
(Rock out back stage)

Imagine yourself at this concert... which by the way, I saw these guys live a few times, once in particular about 10 years ago and I got in a wrestling match with a 350 pound dude over a drum stick that was thrown into the crowd.... I won.

Anyhow, this is another special edition photo with an accompanying "strobist info video" since it was so well received last time. It is truly a challenge jamming in all that info into 90 seconds when there is so much to talk about!

So this leaves everyone here with only one thing left to do — check out the setup, camera, & strobist info video. Cheers

137/365. The stale taste of recycled air ~ The Postal Service

Today Erin and I did a photo shoot of a graduation at UC Berkeley. I gotta admit, I really like this D3. The smaller form factor and thick grip makes it comfortable to hold (compared to D700 + MB-D10).

Anyhow, this shot was taken much later in the night after sun has passed and the air was finally chilled. It even fulfills my weird photo fettish of fire hydrants (except calling it a fettish sounds gross). One small note that you might find funny — Erin pointed out that she found out where my inspiration comes from: Chuck! Go ahead and watch a brief recap of season 1 to get a good idea of where the influence comes from (especially the night scenes). A common pair of lights you'll see is CTO fill, and bare bulb (blue w/ cool white balance) for rim. One could even call it the "two light pony". It's 'very' common, but more importantly, makes a huge difference in the "rad" department.

For those interested in the rest, read on...

camera, setup, strobist info: see here

127/365. 2 legit 2 quit ~ MC Hammer

It's not every day you get to hang out with MC Hammer. But today it happened at the Twitter HQ. Oh, yeah, and the guy on the right, that's Britt... he's been around since Twitter was like 5 guys.

Anyhow, I may have been the only person in the office that at one point in time memorized every single word from his Please, Hammer, Don't hurt 'em album.... and then went on to do family dance offs to Too Legit to Quit (hey, I was eleven).

Regarding this particular photo, if you ever have the chance to shoot a celebrity (with a camera), you do not want to waste time baffling with settings. Therefore I dialed in to what I was hoping to be a perfect exposure... and I came pretty damn near close (considering I shoot full manual across the board (shutter, aperture, iso, WB, flash — JPEG)... and on that note, strobist setup junkaholics read on...

camera, setup, strobist info: see here

120/365. Are you trying to say I don't know how to play?

I've had this trumpet sitting in my closet for 12 years, I'm pretty sure I still know how to play it... or at least hold it correctly.... is this right? Hehe. Thanks to Erin, I almost gave this up to good will, but she said it would make a fun prop. She was right.

One more thing, this is my first photo from our new studio setup. It's totally awesome. Erin made the big investment :)

Nevertheless, here's that 'ol setup stroby diagramer. cheers!

camera, setup, strobist info: see here

134/365. A Fine Frenzy

So despite yesterday's words, Erin played the role of the awesome wife (as usual) and let me borrow her 5Dmk2 to take to work with me since A Fine Frenzy (Alison) visited the Twoffice.

As you can see here, Britt made a reintroduction to my stream after being featured with MC Hammer... I can see a trend starting here.

Regarding all your awesome comments yesterday and today of my Nikon camera fail... to answer a few questions:

1) "You should use your old D300 or D40"
- I don't have either of those cameras anymore. I sold each one to buy the next.

2) "You should just use your iPhone"
- No. I refuse to after the last time. The D700 is barely able to keep up with my imagination let alone a camera phone.

3) "At least you didn't drop the stubby"
- actually, yes I did. That too is going back to Nikon for repair.

4) "You should buy a cheap film camera"
- nothing against film. I love it. But I don't have that amount of time.

5) "could you at least rent in the meantime"
- I may end up doing this because, more importantly, we have a few photoshoots coming up, and I can't be without a camera.

Finally, regarding the 365, I'm still figuring that part out — consider it still in flux.

strobist info:
SB-900 @ 1/8 @ 17mm w/ warm gel into 60" soft reflective umbrella, high camera left
SB-900 @ 1/32 @ 20mm into 43" shoot thru white satin umbrella behind britt
triggered via pocket wizard ii's

camera info: Nikon D... er.. I mean Canon 5Dmk2 | 135mm(ƒ/2.0L) | ƒ/2.0 | ISO 100 | 1/125s — Handheld