I loaned him the telephoto. His own is a 15 mm...

George, I did NOT take this shot anticipating Phallic for a theme, as I just found out how you suggest and vote for them yesterday! I had this idea the whole time and wanted to do it when we were all suppose to gather in your neck of the woods, but I got sick. I wanted to shoot all of you to reflect my view of your personalities.

King is such a personality that it was hard for me to decide how to set him up. He's such a good sport, I thought he'd be amiable to the shot and of course he was.

The thing I'm so please over is the flash lesson I was taught by my pal Chris worked. Really high speed shutter overcomes the natural light giving this a HDR affect. Anyway, thanks for being a good sport King. It was even better that all the boys were there to see me shoot this.

Oh and mtmartini, it didn't come out quite as I had conceived. If it had, there would be NO doubt that King is a dirty old man in the photo! But it's a fun shot nonetheless.

Would you have rated it the same if I let you use your own 15mm?

This comment is on behalf of King. He can't hit the WS site right now:

"So I fly to San Francisco at my expense, rent a car, drive into the city and Mark drags me into an alley, has me put on a trenchcoat four sizes two small and makes me hold this lens beause mine, as he put it, "just isn't big enough," and takes my picture. I'm only just now beginning to understand that this was no simple, b/w character study that Mark is famous for."

Well, this is what I have to say to that:
http://photos.kitaoka.us/about%20me.htm

:)

And there we have it ;) Well done Mark.

Oh, damn, why didn't you all wait for me??? I insist on additionally scors this one and add my 25 points allocated!!!

I love this one :)))

Please do share the flash trick with the rest of us. I have much to learn about effective use of flash.

Jack,

You just stand there in your trenchcoat, then, when the time is ripe, you flash!

the thumb, right?

;)

kadenjack, are you willing to share Anna? ;-)

So here's how it goes. Annie Leibovitz is the one who actually pioneered the technique. You use a low ISO setting 50-200 at the most. Set your flash to high speed, your shutter speed to anything over 1/250 and this ALL depends on the ambient lighting. If you are in bright direct sunlight, you will need to lower your ISO, increase your shutter speed to overcome the natural light.

This is NOT an exact science or can you meter for it. It will also not work well with a built in on camera flash. agi was very astute in his observation that King's hand and wrist is overexposed, but I could not take enough time to properly expose the entire scene in the short period we had.

It's a cool effect and can add lots of drama to a shot if you're in direct or bright sunlight. But you must have a good flash that is both powerful and capable of syncing at high shutter speed. Hope this helps.

Here's the EXIF data that may help you. I used a Canon EX580 flash off camera at King's feet at about a 2:00 position. The flash was remotely triggered by a Canon ST-E2 infared remote unit that allows E-TTL exposure. But like I said, you can't meter for this type of shot, or at least I'm not good enough to know how to do that. I'm just a raw beginner in using this technique.

Shooting Date/Time: 4/7/2007 2:26:33 PM
Shooting Mode: Manual Exposure
Shutter Speed: 1/400
Aperture Value: 3.2
Metering Mode: Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: 28.0 - 70.0 mm
Focal Length: 28.0 mm
Flash: On
Flash Type: External E-TTL

Love it! I think I really needed this laugh today. I read all the replies and I my sides hurt now from laughing.

I just wish I'd been here in time to rate this because it would be 25 for sure.

pursang...

the appropriate question is whether Anna is willing to allow herself be shared. :>)

The flash technique you described was widely used when I was shooting in the 60's. I used a very nice Rollei portable flash unit. You couldn't use the technique with the leaf shutter in the typical 35mm camera, but you could using a Hasselblad, a view camera or any camera with a diaphragm shutter in the lens. You can meter it if you know how--you have to make a small computation in your head for the final exposure adjustment.

Sigma 28-70mm for Canon: $329.00
Trench coat from vintage shop: $50.00
King Flashing in the alleyway: Priceless.

Oh, man I laughed at this one. One hell of a capture Mark!! Congrats. Hats off to the Kings as well.

You should be facing the other way!

Sorry gentlemen, you can't have Anna. I'll try to get a shot of her from time to time and share her online though.

Thanks for the flash tip pursang. When I own a separate flash unit for my rebel xt, I'll try that out.

eggplant...are you addressing the photographer? or the model?

Jack,
Yes, please do post a link to some photos of Anna. She's a cutie all right. I mean this only in the most innocent fashion as I am a happily married man.

"Trench coat from vintage shop: $50.00"

:DDDDDDDDDD

"eggplant...are you addressing the photographer? or the model? "

Both, I guess :)))

Hey you guys. That trench coat is MINE and I am NOT from a vintage store dammit!

Hehe, the only piece of info you didn't rush to deny is the price :DDD

What I was implying by setting that price for the coat was that Mark is clearly a man of taste and couture ;-)

... and a hard-to-explain inclination for offsize garment :D

King, I'm thinking of a certain album cover that gave me great amusement in my youth.
Who's next?

I have waited for for a while to comment.... but pursang, I must say that of all the images, I think this one is still the best... it captures the theme so well in a way that is actually NOT EVEN REMOTELY graphic.... and is funny and well captured. This shows exceptionally strong photographic skills in my opinion.

Lange, thank you for such a grand compliment. It is much appreciated.