PhotographyBanzai.com

Earlier in the year, my friend Chris of Simply Photo Studio asked me if I was interested in being a second photographer for one of his weddings. His usual second had a higher paying event to cover. While I’ve taken photos at other weddings before, this is the first time that I’ve photographed a wedding for people I don’t know. Plus, I was going to be paid. I wanted to try it out and had an intent to make some type of video for the YouTube channel about it.  Links are potentially affiliated in this article, I earn from qualifying purchases!  Check out the companion video on YouTube for this article. We started out the day with a gear check after meeting up at the ceremony location. Initially he had wanted me to take photos of the groom group at their hotel, but that didn’t work out. Apparently the hotel rooms were really bad and cramped. It would have been a lot more effort for me in driving around, so I’m glad how things turned out. The actual wedding location was really nice...

Hey, it’s been a while! I’ve still been taking photos as usual, but this website hasn’t seen updates in a long time. A lot of my photo updates go on my Cosplay Banzai Facebook page (recently rebranded) due to convenience. Personal websites, in my experience, don’t get much traffic with articles like this. Most of this site’s traffic are my old Pentax equipment reviews. Here are a few photos I took at a local cosplay photography meetup. The meetup is usually centered around photos with horses that we have available, but we still mostly just take photos of the cosplayers by themselves. It’s really just a big group of friends hanging out and enjoying a mutual hobby (while we also eat, drink, and have a bonfire). Stuff like this is what it’s all about! Now on to the equipment talk. The equipment I pull out when I’m serious is still Nikon DSLRs. Cameras and Lenses (use both at once most of the time): Nikon D600 with a 50mm f1.8g lens: This was attached to my backpack’s strap lugs directly ...

I attended an event hosted by my convention/photographer/cosplayer friends “ Cosplayer With A Camera ” and Hikikomori Sama at the Chicago Botanic Gardens .  They have had the event there for a number of years, but this might be the last. The garden has some pretty restrictive policies on photography, which makes things difficult for us.  This year they tightened the policies even more and we had some aggressive staff on carts show up toward the end of the night. The garden itself is really large and beautiful, which is of course great for the pictures we take. Here are a few highlight photos from the event:  All I brought for the event was the Nikon D600 and 50mm f1.8g lens. It’s a nice combination that allows you do a decent amount without the extra bulk and hassles. Along with that, the overcast skies helped a lot with getting nice photos. Shade and uniform outdoor light are great for simple natural photos that don’t need much editing afterward.

My friend and fellow photographer Kings Cosplay set up a photoshoot at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, IL. Though we had our fair share of issues such as part of the park flooding, we did manage to get a decent amount of time to take photos. Besides getting some photography in, I enjoyed the exercise and scenic views! I brought a pretty simple camera kit. The Nikon D600 along with a 28mm f1.8 and 70-210mm f4 lens. I also brought a single flash, but only used that for around 5 photos. My go-to for most of the event was the telephoto. I like the photos out of that ~$200 old used 1980s telephoto lens just as much as anything else. The lens is weirdly shaped, ugly, and with old school screw-drive AF, but does the job well. 

I recently joined in on a two-day photoshoot Kings Cosplay had scheduled with the local model Ari Jade. The theme was race queen with most of the secondary subject being motorcycles. Here are a few highlight photos: Day one equipment: Nikon 28mm f/1.8g lens Two flash with a stand, umbrella, and a 6×8″ diffuser. The first day was a bit rough photo wise. All we initially had to work with was a home garage and by the time we got out to a downtown parking garage later in the day it was really dark, so the background wasn’t usable.  The main issue I didn’t properly compensate for was the sodium vapor lamps the parking garage used, which produces monochromatic light. I also tried gels on my flash, which didn’t have a strong enough orange to match the garage lamps. The parking garage photos were best in monochrome. The garage lighting didn't work out well.  Day two equipment: 28mm f1.8 lens 70-210mm f4 lens Two flash with a stand and large 42″ brolly box softbox umbrella. I also had...

The Pentax WG-2 has a special macro configuration that allows some unique images. In addition to the lens being capable of a 1cm macro mode, the camera comes with 6 while LED lights that surround the front element of the lens. This allows these extreme close ups to have sufficient light.  Here is a picture of the camera’s lens and macro lights: The white circles surrounding the lens glass are the LED lights. This function can be turned on or off at will. Getting a photo of your own eye isn’t the easiest thing to do. Especially with large cameras that are more capable of doing that from a technical standpoint. DSLRs are heavy and macro lenses on DSLRs are not always the best at auto-focus. With the WG-2, it’s pretty simple. Get the lens as close to your eye as possible and take a picture. There is some trial and error involved, but keepers are easily possible. Results are very impressive considering the equipment being used. Here are a few examples: The best photo of the set...

Before Comic Con, I attended a small meetup at Cantigny Gardens in Wheaton Illinois. It is a large park with a lot of green space, flowering gardens, buildings, a tank park (yes, military tanks), and other various structures.  The equipment used: Pentax K-01 with the Pentax FA* 85mm f1.4 lens Pentax K-5 with the Pentax FA* 24mm f2 lens and Sigma flash. The LCD screen is a lot more vibrant on the K-01, so I had thought I was having issues with the K-5. In retrospect, both sets of photos turned out nice, although I did have a higher percentage of junked photos from the K-5 setup. Mostly from focus errors and not getting settings correct. Properly mixing flash and ambient was somewhat of a pain because lighting conditions were changing from minute to minute. Overall, I’m happy with the results.

A friend of mine set up a meetup at Anderson Gardens. We had initially intended to have this meetup focus on cosplay photography, but as things work out often in Rockford, only one cosplayer was able to make it. The largest issue being that most people in the convention scene live in the Chicago area.  EDIT: If you have plans to visit this garden, please respect their policies regarding photography. Groups would need permission or more likely paying for access after hours. They've had issues with cosplayers and photographers over the years, so be someone that sets a good example instead!  A pathway of the garden. The garden has a lot of chipmunks!  I’ll admit it is difficult sometimes making the 90 mile trip to the Chicago area for conventions and other events, so it’s understandable. The girl cosplaying is a character from the popular Sailor Moon (a show and manga target toward girls and women). EDIT: Dani, Rest in peace. :( Here are a few highlights of the excursion: ...