A new e-book cover designed for George Straatman.

A community logo designed for a home builder in Markham, ON.

And…

It didn’t stop there. Here’s another sketch for one of the clients of Inkit. This haida sketch contains elements that represent northern symbols such as the dene drum, caribou and land of the midnight sun. A hand shake to represent a unity of two groups. A hand pick was also added to represent the client.

See more of these northern lights in my flickr page.

And so these what I gathered.

• plastic chip and dip bowl (2 bucks from Canadian Tire)
• fine sandpaper
• course sandpaper
• Vinyl shower curtain liner (Walmart)
• Silver duct tape
• Cheap Rotary tool kit (15 bucks from Canadian Tire)

On to the project. The plastic chip and dip bowl saved me from adding something in the middle.  I cut the side first for my flash tube. Measurements were based from my SB700.

Then, I made a hole in the middle to fit any of my lenses.

Sanded it and covered the inside with the silver duct tape.

Then, I covered it with the vinyl shower curtain liner and use two thick rubber bands to hold it in place.

I don’t have flash cable so I had to make some kind of tube that fits into the hole and my SB700. My apologies as I forgot to take a photo of the tube, but it is similar to the shape of this one here.

Here’s the finish product. This diffuser took me an hour. Having this plastic bowl instead of a stainless steel bowl, cutting and sanding was easy.

Here’s a self-portrait shot with it.

Here’s a test shot with my son as my model. Pardon the mess on his face. He just ate a yummy spaghetti. Shot at 50mm f5.0, ISO200

This DIY ring flash diffuser was used in the recent Photo Contest called “Face-Off” here in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. You can check my winning entry here.

Feel free to send in comments or questions if I miss anything.

ISO 400, 50mm at  f1.4/2 flash fired (SB700 remotely triggered with ring flash diffuser/1 built-in).

This is my winning entry (1st runner-up) from the Face Off Competition held here in Yellowknife on November 4, 2012. Full details of the contest are here.

How did I come up with this concept? With no knowledge of the models, the location and the time of shooting, I had to be prepared in any situation, whether it be a low-light or well lit environment. With a 20 minutes time limit to shoot, I knew there would not be enough time to think. So I did some research and sketches. Scroll down to see my sketches.

The ones that were checked are the ones I ended up doing. Below were my 2 entries.

With regards to the lighting, I used a DIY ring flash diffuser. I’ve search online how to make one and made my own version. Click here to see the steps on how I did the diffuser.

Northern Lights by the bay

This was my winning photo.

Although, I had a second choice, where YK Astronaut Justin sits on a small rock and reading a newspaper, my wife didn’t think it’s showing more of the GNWT. The newspaper “NEWS NORTH” kinda gets in the way. I know it’s my Yellowknife, but “We need to show more of the GNWT”. I also like the background. Too bad, wifey didn’t like the whole composition. In the end, we agreed on the photo above showing the GNWT logo on the helmet and chest, a hint of the GNWT flag on the side shoulder and Canada flag on the other side.

Behind the scenes.

Middle of September. I started constructing the helmet. Went to google some DIY astronaut helmet. I was torn between doing a DIY HALO Master Chief helmet or just a simple helmet. Figured it’ll take me more time to do it. So, I went with the simpler one.

Here are some of the photos my wife took while making the helmet.

After layers of paper mache, I used wood filler to add some durability.

After drying the wood filler, I sanded it and painted it with a glossy enamel spray paint.

It took 3 coats of paint to get a nice glossy helmet.

Then I added those foam insulation bought from Home Depot for head cushions inside the helmet and around the edge of the helmet.

We did the photoshoot for 2 days, we waited until dawn at Yellowknife sandpits. Weather was a bit cold, but didn’t stop us from doing it. A few passer by and some in their ATVs where looking at us, wondering, what the heck we are doing with a kid on an astronaut suit.

I promised my son, if we win the contest (and we did!), he’ll get the $100 prize and he can buy whatever he wants. He said he’s buying more Lego!

Yay! Lego!

Back when I’m noob to the world of Adobe, painting is my hobby.