A Crummy Photo

A couple of weeks ago I made the trip across town to my brother's house so as to shoot a bunch of photos for his new website ZZakk's Lab as well as various online discussions he might be involved in.
This caboose is the first one I worked on, and I liked it enough to show here before he even got a chance to use it.

It's G scale (Garden?) so it's the biggest size of model train you can't ride upon--around a foot long, I think.
Ken put working red and green LEDs in the marker lamp on the left side as well as interior lighting.
He added the chain (used for dragging stuff) as well as the leaf springs in the trucks.
And he scratch-built the grade crossing from wood.
Oh--and the roofwalk because he lost the original.

For my part, I used two flashes--umbrella'd main from the front/left and a splash of light from above on the background.
But the photo didn't really do it for me until I added an LED flashlight to the mix coming from far right--this opened up the shadowed end as well as throwing a shadow of the smokestack on the cupola and a bit of blue to the window frames.
Made all the difference for me--now it's a favorite.


Crummy is railroad slang for caboose.

Bass Portraits

A lot of work went into getting her cleaned-up.
I didn't remove the neck, but all else was fair game down to screws and springs.
Boiled the strings with a little baking soda to get the gunk out of the windings and bring back some brightness and sustain.
Adjusted the neck's truss-rod to get it straight and at the same time lower the action.
After that you have to re-do the intonation unless you like to play out of tune.


Installed StrapLocks so she doesn't ever leave me before I decide to let her go...

After all that work I spent only a few minutes gazing at her with lust before pulling out the camera gear and going to work capturing how I felt--while she was still fresh and clean.

Before I got my hand around that slender neck and used her.


It's a shame we can't stay together forever.
But she isn't truly mine, except in my heart.

Modelling Light Test

I've had this LG phone for 26 months and it has done all of it's jobs well.
But I'm overdue for a new one (FREE!) and am looking forward to it.
During gigs I text home a lot because of the volume at work, so I really want a qwerty keyboard.
My old LCD sceen wasn't bad for it's era, but the bigger new ones have finer resolution and your viewing-angle is less critical.

This photo was merely a test of the modelling light I added to my main flash/umbrella stand.
I built a lightweight bracket system that puts a standard light bulb near my flash head, for several reasons.

A) By shining a "hot light" at my umbrella I can easily see if it will be reflected anywhere on my subject. As soon as I started shooting this scene, a reflection of the umbrella showed up on the phone's screen and I was able to adjust my camera angle to eliminate it.
B) With the extra light close to the subject in my dimly-lit "studio" (it's a 75 watt standard bulb) autofocus was instantaneous, which is a big improvement compared to shining a flashlight on whatever I'm shooting to help the camera find focus in the dark. I'm able to use both hands on the camera, which can be important whether you're using a tripod or not.
This shot was handheld, and I really appreciated the added freedom.
C) I can actually see an approximation of what my flash will do, as far as angle and softness and placement of shadows. This is also a big help.

You might notice an orange-ish tint in the supposed-to-be-black background.
When I made the shutter speed long enough to get the phone's screen bright enough to suit my tastes it also allowed my new modelling light to affect the exposure's color-cast. My camera was white balanced for flash, and incandescent bulbs will appear very orange-ish at that setting.
Not a problem.
I have an on/off switch in-line with the light socket for master control, but digging into my supply of band lighting toys I can add ultimate convenience by also turning it on/off using a wired momentary button under my foot or employing a wireless system with a little keychain remote.

What I like best is that this whole project cost me zero dollars and does the job well.
Boxes of crap and parts come in handy sometimes.

More to come.....

Men Do NOT Grow Up (Neither Do Women)

This is the Air Hogs™ remote-controlled helicopter I asked Santa to bring me.
Actually, I asked Sylvia when they went on sale for half price.
$15 is about right for a toy that is not going to last a year due to it's ultra-light construction.
$30--No Way!
We got a raincheck because the other men bought them all, then Sylvia went to another Target 3 days later and chose my favorite version because she's so smart.


I love my combat boots and flash umbrella and other neat stuff, but this present is the most fun.
The transmitter/charger takes 6 AA batteries--I use the cheap ones from Dollar Tree--and it communicates with the copter via infrared like a TV remote.
You have a throttle, a left/right spin/turn control, and a LR trim.
Forward/back would require another channel and those models cost twice as much, but I rather enjoy the unpredictable nature of these simpler copter's flight characteristics.


The tail rotor is driven by what looks suspiciously like a pager or cellphone vibrator motor. For their intended use an offset weight on the shaft causes the wobble that at high speed equals a buzz in your pocket.


Photographing this thing in the air is a challenge to say the least.
I tried to do it myself but the frustration level went into the red zone very quickly.
Luckily, Sylvia already has her wings and offered to pilot the Apache while I took pictures. Trying to get it high enough (but not TOO high or it'll crash into the flash I had on a stand overhead) while keeping it between me and the black background was a real challenge, but she did great.
Out of 33 exposures, these were the only ones I liked.

Check the boxes carefully if you plan on buying more than one.
They come in three channels (A, B, & C) so each copter in the same room has to be a different one. The transmitters have a switch that lets you use them with any copter, but unfortunately you can't buy just the helo separately.
You can fly them outdoors, but any breeze at all will cause problems.
They're only 7 inches long and maybe 10 grams: The middle photo is very close to actual size on my 17" 1024x768 monitor.

As a kid I would have killed for a toy this cool, but since men don't grow up it doesn't bother me at all to play with one now.
Scientists have long maintained that the more intelligent a person is, the more likely they are to need childish play time to keep their brain happy and healthy.
I agree.