Peter's Photo Blog

Peter Tsai Photography Blog

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 08:52:06 -0600

This blog is no longer in use - If you want to read about the photographic adventures of Peter Tsai, please go to http://www.petertsaiphotography.com/blog

Texas Bluebonnets

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:17:48 -0600

Texas Bluebonnet and wildflower season is here! I did a session last weekend and the results were great. I had If you have any friends that are interested in a photo shoot, let me know - I will charge a very reasonable rate.

Blog, I've ignored you

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:33:55 -0600

Dear blog, I'm sorry that I haven't written any entries in you in over 2 months. The fact is that I've been busy with photography classes, homework, a fulltime job, travel, and photo shoots almost every weekend. But I must admit too that I've been cheating on you with another website... Flickr. Flickr is the ultimate social networking site for photographers and it makes it easy for you to share your work with photographers from all over the world, trade advice with local photogs, and make lots of friends. Flickr also provides tons of inspiration by letting you check out what the best photogs in the world are doing as well. I've learned so much from my new Flickr friends and Flickr clubs like Strobist: AUSTIN and the Austin Flickr group. In the future I think that this blog will be limited to posts about things that won't fit well into a Flickr format such as equipment reviews, and longer entries like trip reports or tutorials. I plan to write an Asia trip report (Cambodia, Vietnam, Taiwan) and write some reviews about new equipment that I got (Canon 70-200mm F4, Sigma 15-30mm) soon. Sorry, blog - I'll be back soon though!

Canon EF 100mm Macro Entry part 3

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 22:59:20 -0600

These will probably be the the last photos I post from my beloved 300D - it lasted me for 4 long years but it was time to move on. I've owned the 100mm Macro Lens for a long time and I'm just now starting to fully appreciate it. It's hard to get really sharp macro photos unless you have a great flash setup. After getting into Strobist stuff, it's taken my Macro images to a new level of clarity. Here are a few Macro + Strobist shots I took a few months ago. I know it's been a while. See if you can guess what they are. I believe that I only had one strobe up and to the left on all of these shots.

Home Depot Double Strobe Umbrella Mount Hack

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 20:08:00 -0600

Last week I posted about how to make your own L bracket for a portable Strobist style flash unit. That allows the photographer to shoot strobe directly into the center of an umbrella mounted on an umbrella bracket. (link is here) These work great, but sometimes the sun is so bright that you really need 2 strobes to overpower the sun. There are some solutions like bungee cording the 2nd strobe to the light stand, but do you really want to do that with a $350 flash unit? Also, you could set up another light stand to fire into the same umbrella, but who wants to carry around 10 light stands at all times? Keeping in the DIY spirit of the strobist and of the Home depot posts I knew I could manufacture a replacement that was sturdy, lightweight, compact, and inexpensive. I simply needed a way to attach 2 of the same L brackets I manufactured. All I needed was a piece of metal with 3 holes in it that was small and sturdy. The solution is kind of suprising but I found it in a metal door hinge that only cost $3 or so. The double bracket is made from the same parts as the original L bracket that I made. One of these days i'm going to borrow someone's chisel and knock off the extra half of the door hinge that I don't need The parts you need are: One door hinge Two 1 1/2" Corner Braces One 1/4" - 20 Wingnut Two 1/4" - 20 x 1/2" Machine screws (and the nuts that go with them) Ten 1/4" Cut Washers (3 on the back of each hotshoe mount and 2 on the back of the door hinge w/ the nut) Tools you need: Phillips and Flat head screwdrivers A Socket wrench with a 1/4 bit pliers The holes are a tight fit so you might want to use some gloves too b/c brute strength might be necessary Enjoy!

Home Depot Umbrella Bracket Mount Hack

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 21:23:50 -0600

One problem I've had with the Strobist stuff over the past few months is getting the mount on my umbrella softboxes to work correctly in the field. Umbrella Softboxes pose a problem because umbrella mount on for light stands doesn't allow you to point the strobe to the middle of the umbrella, and the opening for the umbrella softboxes is directly in the middle of the umbrella. I already had one hack for this situation that involves hooking up 2 umbrella mounts together, but I've found that this setup cannot support heavier loads and if the wind blows hard, the entire setup will twist apart resulting in disaster. Having recently bought a 60" Softlighter II, there is no way that the old hack would work on that HUGE and HEAVY 60" Softlighter. Above: My original dual umbrella adapter hack Later, I came across a post by Flickr user Luzer about the hack he came up with to get around the problem. His solution was to purchase a Smith Victor Stand Flash Stand Shoe from B&H photo and it looks like he had to hack that up a little as well. Above: Luzer's umbrella softbox hack - See his entire post here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigluzer/500249073/ I went to Home depot to try to duplicate Luzer's hack because I didn't feel like ordering the part from B&H, paying shipping, and waiting for 2 weeks. Also, I have 3 light stands and I didn't want to pay ~$25 + shipping for all 3 stands. Today I was able to come out of Home Depot with an elegant solution that cost my less than $8.50 including tax (and no shipping) for total for 3 sets of 90 degree adapters. Above: the finished product - a "supertsai" 90 degree adapter for an Umbrella Bracket Above: the finished product in use with a Softlighter II Finished product once again and the materials needed to construct it. Equipment needed for 1 adapter hack: 1-1/2" Corner Brace 1/4" - 20 Wingnut 1/4" - 20 x 1/2" Machine screw(I think a 1/4" long one would have been ideal but I couldn't find any) 1/4" Cut Washers (I used 3 because my screws were a bit too long) I found all of these items in the same aisle at Home Depot. The wingnut, screw, and washers were right next to each other in the screw aisle. The corner brace was almost directly behind the other items next to the door hinges and door bolts. Everything pretty much screws together pretty easily. You will need either a screwdriver or a penny to use as a tool. UPDATE 1-05-08 (changing some instructions to make it easier) Instructions: Tools you need: Phillips and Flat head screwdrivers A Socket wrench with a 1/4 bit pliers The holes are a tight fit so you might want to use some gloves too b/c brute strength might be necessary 1. Remove the hotshoe mount from your umbrella bracket first (it's the silver thing that attaches to the strobe. 2. Use the machine screw to attach the hotshoe mount to one of the lower holes of the 90 degree corner bracket using your screwdriver or penny (use washers as spacers if the screw is too long). If the fit is too tight, get some pliers and an old sock to hole the hotshoe mount in place while you turn the machine screw. 3. Finally, attach the 90 degree corner brace to the thread coming out of the umbrella bracket where the hotshoe mount used to be using the wingnut you bought. Viola! you are done. Some things that I noticed you could do to improve the design after I took the first photo are mounting the hotshoe bracket sideways on the corner bracket so that the ridge of the hotshoe bracket supports some weight. Also, you can mount the umbrella bracket on the lower of the 2 holes on the corner brace. You can also use washers on the wingnut\umbrella mount contact point to distribute the weight a little better. Here's a link to my second DIY umbrella mount - this one holds 2 strobes.

My New Toy - 5D time

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 23:42:29 -0600

Sweeeeeeeeeet. I got an awesome deal on a 5D and it just got in yesterday. It's built like a tank and the image quality is way better than my old 300D. Best of all, the low light performance is amazing and it's a full frame sensor. There's tons more features too and it's 12.8 megapixels. Time to buy a new hard drive. Good stuff... it's kind of hard to use right now, but I'll get used to the new controls soon. I'm excited to have better pictures from here on out. Helllo! From the back crazy different controls more features this thing weighs a ton too

HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography pt 3

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 03:08:39 -0600

I've had some more time to work on my HDR photos lately. I've learned a thing or two about HDR since my first attempts. HDR Post #1 HDR Post #2 Mainly, the more contrast there is in a scene, the better the image is going to look. If the image was flat to begin with, HDR isn't going to add that much to the photo. All three of the images below have a large exposure range and the results are better than my first attempts. This first shot was taken out of my window (the same shot I did in my original HDR post).

Above you can see the top the 3 JPG images that were merged to form the final image. Either the skyline is very dark in these images, or the sky is blown out. This is the photo that the camera metered for me and how a conventional shot would have come out. This is the final HDR image. I ran the 3 files through photomatix, then did some minor clone brushing and levels in Photoshop. Compare this image to the image I took 3 months ago of the same scene. There was less contrast in this scene when I originally took it, and somehow the colors look a bit unnatural.

The next two images were taken on a trail at the bottom of Enchanted Rock. Notice in all of the original photos how either the forest is underexposed or the sky is over exposed. These are the perfect conditions to get a good image out of HDR (a lot of range in the exposure). Notice how there is a lot of detail in the sky and the forest in both of the next images.

This second shot was actually taken hand held without a tripod. You can still do HDR w/o a tripod if you can hold the camera extremely steady. For the first image I set the camera down on my camera bag instead of mounting the camera on tripod as well.

Bgirl City 2 pt2 - Austin, TX

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 23:16:19 -0600

Part 2 of my Bgirl City photos. They've really upped the game at the Bboy \ Bgirl City events with these lights - it makes it a whole lot easier for me as a photographer to get some good shots. They had 3 big, bright lights for me at this event. I was able to get some good side and rim lighting in the shots. Bgirl Shamrock doing some toprock Bboy Elusive (Riptide Crew) getting down in the footwork battle. Elusive has some crazy power. Footwork 7 to smoke battle. Chilli Dawg in the bboy footwork battle. Curly Fries from Masters of Mayhem in the cipher as Lil John, Goblin, and Kirk look on. Goblin and Elmo in an uprock battle. AB Girl killing it with a no hands head freeze. Part one of Bgirl City 2 photos are here Bgirl City - Austin, TX

Bgirl City 2 - Austin, Texas

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 23:41:56 -0600

A few from the Bgirl City event that happened this weekend. I've been shooting bboys for a few years now, and this might have been the best event yet. The lighting was pretty awesome, and the event went off without a hitch. Congrats to AB Girl, who's the best bgirl I've ever seen dance (3 times now). She won the bgirl event this year. Also, congrats to Zeshen - who is a really sick bboy from Austin. Bboy Elmo gets down inside the circle. Zeshen warming up before the event. Marlon in the middle of performing one of his signature moves Zeshun getting down in his first battle of the night. AB girl takes on 7 other bgirls at once. AB Girl signature freeze Bboy Beast in the footwork battle (that Zeshen eventually won) Part 2 of Bgirl City photos are here Bgirl City Photos pt 2

My 3rd trip to Seattle

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 08:27:40 -0600

I just got back from a business trip to Seattle last night. Didn't have too much time to shoot photos, but I got a few good ones. The leaves are turning in Seattle - lots of yellow, orange, and red out there. It's the cloudy season out there right now - It was only sunny for one of the 5 days I was out there (the first 5 photos are from the first day). Food was awesome there - Went to Ivar's Salmon House and had the best salmon of my life. Mount Rainer from the airplane. We got a pretty good view - flew around a couple of times while we were waiting to land.

A closeup view of Seattle's skyline. On the left you can see the Safeco stadium and the space needle.

The view from our hotel in Bellevue, WA (about 20 mins away from downtown). You can see the seattle skyline in the distance. Also, you can see lake Washington in front of the skyline too.

View of Bellevue from my hotel window

My hotel room. Microsoft hooked it up.

Museum of Flight - I think this is a 737. They also had Eisenhower's Air Force One and a Concorde

Museum of Flight main exhibition hall

WWII exhibit - this is P-40 fighter from the Flying Tigers. My dad said he saw some of these planes when he was a little kid

Microsoft Museum in Redmond.

Bboy circle at The War Room - Circle of Fire and about 20 other bboys were there that night.

A piece of the Berlin Wall on Microsoft Campus. This thing is huge - 12 feet tall. Check out the vintage graffiti too!

Pecha Kucha Austin Slideshow

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 12:57:26 -0600

As promised I've posted the slides from my Pecha Kucha Night Austin Presentation (October 27th, 2007). Click the link below to see all 20 slides from my presentation, plus extra commentary. Peter Tsai's Pecha Kucha Presentation on Bboying My original post about the Pecha Kucha experience: http://www.supertsai.com/photo/2007/10/pecha_kucha_austin_1.html

Pecha Kucha Night Austin

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 22:49:52 -0600

Last Thursday, October 25th I had the honor of participating in Pecha Kucha night Austin. It was awesome - the audience was truely appreciative and we got lots of positive feedback. I think we were the hit of the night and we dropped some knowledge as well. I estimate that 200+ people were listening to our presentation - the largest public speaking gig I've ever done in a long time. Pecha Kucha is essentially a digital art night where multiple presenters show 20 powerpoint slides for 20 seconds each on any topic. Each presentation only lasts 6 minutes and 40 seconds so everything is quick and to the point because slides roll by fast. I enjoyed the format because the quick pace keeps things lively and the large number of presenters keeps things eclectic and varied. Pecha Kucha started in Tokyo, Japan and has spread around the world as a kind of underground movement. More Pecha Kucha info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecha_Kucha http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-09/st_pechakucha This time around in the Austin Pecha Kucha, the presenters were mostly architects and designers, but they had an embroiderer and musicians as well. My presentation was about bboying (aka breakdance) and was based on my bboy photos from the past 3-4 years with a live performance by the bboys of Bboy City. I wrote up a script and timed the presentation so that the dancers would be doing moves similar to the moves captured in the photos of each slide throughout the presentation. I also gave an intro to bboying and hip hop culture which was well recieved but I had to raise my voice over the screams and cheers the dancers were getting. It was crazy fun. Be sure to check out the videos at the bottom of this entry. I'll be posting the script and photos from the presentation sometime soon. UPDATE 11-4-07 - Presentation is posted here: http://www.supertsai.com/photo/PKN/PKN00.html For now, enjoy photos from the night of the presentation: Me giving the history of bboying at the beginning of the presentation. The image on screen is of a hip hop culture stamp from the US Postal Service. The Bboy City Bboys - Denise and Santos. The image on the screen is of powermoves, specifically airflares. D-nice doing some footwork. Santos demonstrating some awesome freezes. The crowd that night - it was pretty packed! The event was at Design Within Reach - a furniture studio. It was very modern inside. Explaining and demonstrating Toprock to the crowd. demonstrating some freezes.

Fall \ Autumn \ Halloween

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 06:58:54 -0600

It's that time of year again... Leaves beginning to fall off of trees in NY Central Park. They aren't quite ready to come off completely though. Various pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns in Chelsea Market NYC. I'm guessing the face is of Herman Munster? Also the pumpkin with a carving of another pumpkin on it probably disturbs the fabric of space-time is some weird way. Autumn themed decorations in Lockhart, Texas. The building in the back is the historic courthouse. Lockhart has the best BBQ I've ever had - I've been to Black's and to Smitty's. Both BBQ joints were excellent. Yes - it's a Jack-o-lantern made of cases of soda. The orange is Fanta, the black is Coke Zero, and the green is Sprite. Employees at the HEB in Lockhart are pretty bored :) This photo reminds me of Halloween. I bet there will be a lot of little Sponge Bobs, Doras, Elmos, and Big Birds running around on Halloween night. I'm quite impressed with the Spongebob Square Cake. Fun to look at, I don't know if I would eat any of this stuff though... found in NYC Chelsea Market.

Art Guitars of Austin part 2

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 10:25:28 -0600

The Guitartown Austin exhibit recently came down and they will be auctioning off all of the guitars for charity. It's kind of a shame because I thought having all of these guitars around was really cool and it brought a lot of character to the city. In honor of the art guitars, I'm posting the rest of my photos. They are from the downtown and South Congress areas of town. If you missed the first set of Art Guitars I posted, they are here Austin - City Hall Art Guitar. Stock image available here. City Hall Art Guitar Closeup. Stock image available here. 2nd street area art guitar with a Southwestern theme. Stock image available here. AMOR! South Congress Art Guitar. Stock image available here. AMOR guitar closeup. Stock image available here. Skeleton art guitar on South Congress. Stock image available here. Spanish flash card themed art guitar on South Congress. Stock image available here. Blanton Museum art guitar. Stock image available here.