Dustin Diaz Photography

353/365. Free Mickey — and let him fly

Everyone, this is George, Sherry, and...well... Mickey.

George and Sherry are recently engaged, and they thought they should bring their best pal Mickey to Aquatic Park with them.

In other news. 12 days left!

strobist info:
SB-900 @ 1/1/ @ 35mm into 43" reflective camera right
SB-900 @ 1/1 @ 35mm into 43" white shoot-thru camera left.

camera info: Nikon D3 | 14-24mm(ƒ/2.8G)@14mm | ƒ/8.0 | ISO 320 | 1/250s — via pocket wizard ii's

312/365. And then the aliens showed up — experience the abduction

There I was minding my own business strolling around in my cart, and then all the sudden, wouldn't you know it. Aliens!!?

I know, right!?!!

Anyhow, it was a lazy Sunday, as all Sundays should be.

On the book front, I may end up going with Peach Pit Press. I am, nevertheless, still putting together a decent TOC that makes enough sense. My hope is to bring in some old content and introduce some new unseen content exclusively for the book.

And of course, for the here and now — here's the stuff you're looking for.

setup, camera, strobist info: see here

302/365. Resting. In Peace. — Come relax

So you thought I had left. Wrong. I was just resting. And awaiting that big, beatiful, Mama. Yep. 50 inches of big, gimassive light.

Yeah. It arrived this afternoon.

Yeah.

I was able to rush out to the Bay by 6:30 and managed to put together this shot in roughly 5 minutes before all hope was lost and my pink sky vanished.

Anyhow, be sure to check out the info on this shot - it makes me laugh everytime I look at it because the softbox is bigger than me!

setup, camera, strobist info: see here

220/365. Skate or look stupid — or do both at the same time

It was only a month ago that I took a skater shot (even included a strobist video). This time I had to do one that was a little less serious. Slightly different setup to suit the framing, but all flashes still at full power to combat the severe brightness. Maybe one in a few years I'll actually invest in one of those "big flashes" I keep hearing about.

Regarding post-production: some minor color adjustments, tone mapping, and spot removal (there's a spot on my 14-24 that just won't go away no matter how many times I wipe it down).

setup, camera, strobist info: I recommend just watching the previously linked video.

186/365. Skate or Die — become a skater

Today was quite a bit different than usual. I managed to mount 3 x SB-900's to a single umbrella shaft. It worked. Since it's the weekend, I had a bit of time on my hands to go out during the day, however, the problem is that you need a lot of power to combat... the day.

On a separate note, this photo is straight out of the camera....

Yeah...

Wha? You don't believe me?

Haha, ok, so it's slightly photoshopped ;) However, I've been inspired to do this for a long time but never had the time to put this much effort into post-production.

Furthermore, on the flashes themselves, they went into thermal shutdown because I was blasting them at full power... several.times.in.a.row.

K. if you liked this shot, it's definitely worth checking out the strobist info video taken with my new iPhone 3Gs

setup, camera, strobist info: see the video

156/365. You can't front on that ~ Beastie Boys (What'cha want)

Feels good to be back in the flow of things — took out the D3 to break it in, and was surprisingly (although not "too" surprisingly) introduced to teenagers of the Mission District. They thought I was filming a movie at first (I'm sure they haven't seen real video cameras), then they thought I was a photographer for the local news after I asked them if they would like to be in the photo...

There is however an unseen aspect of this photo, and it's the other 10 kids (their friends) watching as I take this shot. I reviewed the photo with them afterward on the LCD screen and they were of course excited and amazed.

But alas, to finally come back from strobist-info-free vacation... we can continue our addictions

setup, camera, strobist info: see here

143/365. And then God said... ~ Genesis 1:3
(let there be light)

After yesterdays photo, I often forget what it's like using wide angle lenses for more than just documenting my single focus telephoto strobist shots. Not only that, we get some nice looking skies when the fog rolls in at night.

For this shot I left the shutter open for a just a tad over a second so I could get a little bit of motion blur with my hands since I wanted them to look semi-translucent as if I were whipping up light commanding the two light poles to shine upon the building... as if I had these awesome Godly powers.

On another note, so far the D3 has been treating me well. I am considering selling my D700 once it comes back from Nikon. I love the compact (yet full-sized body) of it, which makes for some good ergo. And I say screw the D3Axe! That's way too many megapixels jammed into the same sized FX sensor. No thanks.

Finally, strobist camera nerds... keep on keepin' on.

setup, camera, strobist info: see here

129/365. Happy 5th birthday, Flickr

do this photo justice by seeing it large

What a crazy night being in a room filled with more cameras than you could imagine. Today marked a belated 5th birthday (5.25 to be exact) for Flickr. In celebration, there was a party downtown in San Francisco. And as you could imagine, we packed light. Unfortunately I don't have a complimentary setup photo since this was more or less a "one-time-only" shot that we either got it right, or not at all. Not to mention, this may be the only time in my life that I will ever have an entire room looking at me while I stand on top of a bar (although no sexy dance proceded).

Cheers to flickr, and thank you for continuing to be awesome.

camera, setup, strobist junkies... you can keep reading the giant chuck of text that ensues...

camera info: Nikon D700 | 14-24mm(ƒ/2.8G)@15mm | ƒ/4.0 | ISO 640 | 1/50s

strobist:
SB-900 @ 1/8 @ 14mm thru 1/8 CTO camera left
SB-900 @ 1/8 @ 14mm thru 1/8 CTO camera right
SB-900 @ 1/4 @ 20mm into 43" silver umbrella high center behind me standing on top of the bar. triggered via pocket wizard ii's

setup: it took near 30 minutes of coordinating this photo, from pulling my gear out of my bag, putting it together, talking to people, drinking my margarita, having Erin project manage the crowd as to where to stand and when to throw the balls, then splitting up the crowd into blues & pinks.. then lastly a small countdown... and a quick "boom, boom, boom" (three frames (this was the middle frame)). Cheers.

[UPDATE] this photo was blogged on Yodel Anecdotal! :)
[UPDATE2] Stephen Garcia managed to get a photo of me taking this picture
[UPDATE3] Apparently there was a vide of this shot! :)

123/365. Weird ~ Of a strikingly odd or unusual character. Strange.

Ok, I'll be honest, sometimes I just grab a few lights, some lightstands, PW's, and whatever random props, then head out the door. I had no idea what I was going for... so in the end you get... weird!

The best part is the expressions on people as they walk by. I also had two conversations with people and had to remember to take off the glasses.

Anyhow, tomorrow I finally start my first day on the job at Twitter. Exciting new opportunities await.

Lastly, for all folks that sent Flickrmails... I'm still getting to them! I have not forgot about you.

The rest of you lighting nuts... yeah. read the stuffs

camera, setup, strobist info: see here

80/365. Queen of Apocalypse

Today we (Erin and Dave and myself) went on a day trip for Dim sum, then to the Santa Cruz mountains for wine tasting, a brief stop for coffee and tea, then lastly the beach for a mini photoshoot. In the end, it was quite an awesome day.

This photo is a combination of vivid Nikon colors and a vibrant flash. Extra contrast was added in post-production.

strobist info: see here

camera info: Nikon D700 | 14-24mm(ƒ/2.8G)@14mm | ƒ/3.5 | ISO 400 | 1/50s