Flower photgrophy with Lights

Maureen wrote a story outlined today for the tv series which has to do with the old Finian movement and terrorism 1895 style. We hope they bite because it is good. No, it is great, sort of 24 circa 1895. Fingers crossed that Cal, the exec writer, likes it. I shot flowers in the shower with multiple lighting set ups. Enjoy

Casa Loma HDR shots

I learned how to layer 3 or more shots in something called HDR in Photoshop. I took a tripod out and shot some stuff in mutliple exposures. And then layered them all to get this effect. Cool Stuff!!

Outer Hebrides

Maureen is off to give a talk tonight on her book Does Your Mother Know. I printed a few shots for her to take, these are the ones I liked for her talk.

Basketball shots

I had an assignment from Strobist to shoot a basketball in an interesting manner. I don't have one, but my dog does and he has a net as well. So I borrowed his toys.

One more

I was going through my noir shots and decided that this was diffrent so I processed it. I have another of Rod that I will do.

More from yesterday

I converted two of the glasses shots to black and white and I like them, clean and dirty eh?. More of Maureen's books are processed here as well. Feeling a bit better, was up at 1 am coughing steady for 1/2 hour.

New script chief on Murdoch

Cal Coons, who wrote the script for Poor Tom Is Cold, and has written the script for Let Loose the Dogs, has been appointed the head of the scriptwriting team for the Murdoch series, which is being cast as of this week. We start filming at the end of May. There are three acceptable scripts written. The man who headed up the team previously, was let go las as he was not delivering the goods. We are happy and releived that Cal is in charge. He is a great writer and we will have a great show now.
I did some product photography today and these are some of the shots. Was fun, I can improve and I need another light to do that. So I will order another light on Monday from Alien Bees.

more noir

My best photo is the top one

One more for today

I am working my way through the noir shots and taking my time to get them right. Here is another one I did today

Oh I missed posting - Noir for you

Sashka with the ring light

I was going to shoot more flowers today, but we were having our house cleaned and Susan brought her daughter Sashka who is on March break this week, So I happily pulled out the ring light and shot her in our front room. She just turned 16. She was a fun subject. More flowers tomorrow and my noir shoot. I went to Malabars to get props today. Oh yeah, I heard that the call backs for Murdoch are next Thursday. We should have tapes to look at on Friday.

Shooting with Lumisphere through the Vase

Went down to Shaftesbury Films today to sign the final contract for Does Your Mother Know. Casting decisions on the series will be next week. We are holding our breath. I know think that Murdoch has to be an actor who is slighlty flawed and a bit dark, as well as a likeable guy. Peter Outerbridge played Murdoch this way, and I think it is a trait that has to be inherant in and to the personality of the actor. Look at Keifer Sutherland, flawed but brilliant. A nice guy just does not cut it with viewers if you want a big hit show. Nice with a few warts and a few dark secrets creates an interesting character study. Then the characters who play off the main actor can be extra nice at times. Look how Keeley Hawes played Ogden vs Peter Outerbidge and how he played Murdoch. Conflicted as hell, full of guilt, remorse, and a past, but likeable enough that we were able to sympatize with him and root for him. We hope we get someone who can do that.

The Dave Hill effect

Dave Hill is an extraordinary photographer who creates a certain effect with all his work. He does it in photoshop. I took this photo awhile ago of Maureen and Christina Jennings, our producer, in Muncie during a crime writers conference we all attended last year. Unusual surreal effect.

A few more from yesterday

Better work today

My wife absolutely loves this shot of the cat, I do too. I am very happy with the other two as well which I used multiple lights to create.

Sillohuette's today

There was an exercise posted on a website on shooting Sillohuettes. So I gave it a go with our Cat and a bust, one of which I shot with a snooted flash off camera for a contest. Here is my work.

Isabella in Black and White

With the release of Adobe Lightroom, photographers will be able to do things in minutes that used to take painstaking hours. Here is a black and white of Isabella that I converted from the colour shot I posted earlier. I am happy with this result. Her sister Olivia (Livie) will be posted next.

Drip tap in black and white

Just got back from class where we studied black and white conversion. I hated this photo in colour because of the rust marks. In black and white you cannot really tell. Will do more. No casting news yet, hope to know something early next week. I am tired and looking forward to a break.

A Deal is Done!! Finally

I am happy to announce that a contract has been finalized in the sale of the film and television rights to Maureen's (Jennings) new series featuring Forensic Profiler Christine Morris. Does Your Mother Know? is the first book in a series, the second of which is being written by Maureen at the moment and is entitled The K Hand Shape. Shaftesbury Films is currently producing a television series for Granada International UK, and CHUM television in Canada of The Murdoch Mysteries, a 13 episode television series based on Detective Murdoch and the characters from the novels. Their interest in the Christine series started last summer and we have been negotiating for the past five months though the publisher Dundurn Press. Does Your Mother Know is based in the outer Hebrides, Scotland, but features a Canadian profiler. The second book is set in and around the Ontario Provincial Police profiling centre based in Orillia Ont. We are very happy that Shaftesbury Films have purchased the rights as they only obtain property that goes into production, as has been the case with the Murdoch series, also books by Gail Bowen, Margaret Atwood, and Carol Shields to name a few well know Canadian writers.

Marble Delight

More strobist experiments with my sb800 camera top flash mounted not on the camera, but in various places to create an alternate lighting effect. Oh yeah, we think we know who the new Detective Murdoch is. Secret for now

The K Handshape . . . . . .

. . . . is the name of Maureen's next book. It is the second in the Christine Morris series, the first of which was just published under the title of "Does Your Mother Know". This new book takes place around the Forensic Profiling centre, a division of the OPP, and is set in Orillia, Ontario. The link to the Hebrides, Scotland, her mother, and Gillies, the police officer who helped Christine find her mother in Lews, are still in the story. But she (Christine) had to come back home to help with a murder investigation. Looks like this series is about to be sold to television as well for another series. Amazing but true. In the meantime I was doing more lighting tests, which created two effects that I wanted. One looks like there is no lighting, just the skylight that lights Maureen, and the other was catching a drip. You can enlarge these photos by just clicking on them.

Sla'in

Off Camera Flash test

These shots I took of my wife while she was finalizing her choices as a judge in the new author contest sponsored by the Crime writers of Canada. She, Marian Misters and Lousie Penny had to sift through 100 entries and choose five, which are being referred to another jury who will now read the full manuscripts and choose a winner. This round only required reading three chapters and the synopsis. Maureen really liked about 20 of the entries, all judges were pretty close on their top ten, and there were no conflicts. The shortlist consists of stories set all over North America, not just Canada. Anyway, aside from the shadow that bounces off the wall, I was happy with the lighting of these shots.