Cross-lighting
I've had a set of Cactus V4s for a while now and while I was initially stoked to be free of cables, I didn't end up using them much due to their unreliability and my sheer laziness.
So I finally decided to get out and try my hand at cross-lighting using the setting sun as one light source and a 430EX on a tripod, camera right. I dragged my significant other into it as both cat and dog would probably have turned tail and Bosley, the modelling teddy bear, just isn't tall enough. Needless to say, I think she did a great job, but she'd call me biased.
The pics didn't turn out that great. I don't have any brollies, which I think would help get that wrap-around effect that I'm aiming for, so I had to make do. The V4s frustrated me to no end. I was barely 5-10m away from my flash and it would quite frequently not fire, or worse, fire after the shutter had closed. I ended up dropping my shutter speed down to give it a larger time-frame to fire, but strangely enough I would sometimes get a different exposure even though I hadn't changed any settings.
On the upside, I've put through an order for a 580EX II, which should allow me to fall back to Canon's wireless E-TTL system.
Oh and just for fun, here's also some monkeys.
An absence of two wheels
You may be wondering why I haven't posted much about the Spada (or bikes in general for that matter).
The Spada has been a bit hit and miss the past month or so. Basically, I did an oil change a little while back and cross threaded the drain bolt. I've been having a mini-BP everywhere I go. Not only is it embarrassing to have little patches of oil everywhere I park, but as it's just in front of the rear tyre it's downright dangerous to ride on.
So I've been riding quite carefully and it wasn't until a day or two ago that I finally got the darn thing plugged up. I just got my new riding boots also and I haven't had a chance to go up Old Road in the longest time.
Here's the thing - I'm probably going to quit riding for a while. When my rego comes up for renewal, or even earlier, I'm going to try and sell her. When I factor in the cost of insurance and registration, it's more economical to take public transport, and while that is a nightmare for me, time are getting pretty tough. (Incidentally, if you want to help out, I do get paid a tiny fraction of a dollar for each advert that is clicked on this site.)
So all in all I am in a bit of a love/hate relationship with my bike. I need her to work so I can get to work, and of course riding is a lot of fun, but at the same time she's costing me more than I need to. I'd much rather be putting that money towards camera equipment or alleviating debt.
Given that pouring money into a bike (Spada or an upgrade) doesn't generate any income, but photography work does, logically the best thing to do is to invest in something that will actually generate some sort of income rather than being a money sink-hole.
Calendar
Twitter (mukimu)
- Clocking off this arvo with a #technolatte podcast -- Facebook's IPO, Optus TV Now and cyber crooks' tips and tricks. http://t.co/7upIRDEw 2 days ago
- http://t.co/MbDSdFG4 My SO: "went to make tea, came back to this" 2 days ago
- Saw Tower Heist last night. My fav line: You've only been a lawyer for 3 days and you're trying to bribe the FBI? / Sharks are born swimming 2 days ago
- Love it when peeps let me know they got my enquiry and are on it. Prevents that limbo-ness of not knowing if anything is actually happening. 2 days ago
- Do you think it's time we did more about mobile malware? Commentary: http://t.co/CuUSwPgM 3 days ago
