It Came Upon A Midnight Clear -The Gingerbread Monolith

12/25/20: Read the original article by clicking here.

December 25, 2020 will always be remembered by San Franciscans as the day we were visited by aliens (purported) with a taste for gingerbread (confirmed). Mysteriously, a monolith appeared on the hills of the Corona Heights Park. Apparently the original Christmas post went viral, and soon everyone had seen, or made plans to see, this tribute from outside our planetary bubble.

I woke on Boxing Day (December 26) to a text message about the artifact, and after eating a hearty breakfast, set forth to see it for myself.

1/400 second, F 8.0, ISO 200, flash assisted.

On my ascent, I was met by legions of walkers who had already examined what was left of the monolith, each more than willing to blame animals for defiling the monument. When I finally arrived, I confirmed the carnage without assigning blame. It appears that somebody double-dog dared this woman to touch the artifact and then step away without laughing. She lost. Or so I imagined.

1/400 second, F 8.0, ISO 200, flash assisted.

Soon dozens of visitors came to view the ruins, and more than one dog sniffed at the soggy gingerbread remains, wondering to themselves, "Is my human watching?". It appeared the monolith was made from plywood to support the gingerbread siding. And I can easily imagine animals chowing down on the makeshift gingerbread house, sharing in the joy Hansel and Gretel must have felt when they nibbled on the witch's house.

After the dog walkers and energetic climbers had visited the structure, families with young children started to arrive. It's hard to tell their reactions, covered as they were with masks. I am sure this will be a moment long remembered, although I suspect that seeing the structure in all of its glory would have been truly awe-inspiring. One could only imagine the artwork the monolith would have inspired if regular school resumed in January. Le Sigh.

The Kit: This morning, I indulged myself and used my X100T in the auto-focus mode. Oh the joy! I also brought a flash, a Flashpoint Zoom Mini, aka Godox TT350 Mini Thinklite flash. I also carried a generic flash cable for Canon cameras. My understanding is that the Fuji's pin contacts were located in the same locations as the Canon's, and that the cables were SUPPOSED to work. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a Canon configured cable that provided proper synchronization, so I only use the cable when prepared to shoot in the fully manual mode. For these shots, i simply used the flash on-camera with satisfactory results. 

The Backyard Birder

   For a compilation of the morning walk images, click here.

This photo was made just hours before California entered its newest lockdown. It will accompany an article about Backyard Birding, an activity one can enjoy by yourself while maintaining on-line contact with fellow birders. For the record, I wore my mask at all times, and my subject removed hers only when the photo was being made. The location was my subject's back yard.  I used a short telephoto lens, so we were farther apart than you might think.

The photo was lit from both camera left and camera right. If you look at the shadow cast below my subject's chin, you can see that it's triangular in shape a clue that two lighting sources were involved. The light from camera right comes from morning sunlight passing through a translucent umbrella, while the light from camera left comes from a flash and a shoot-through umbrella.

For this assignment, I remembered to bring my Westcott 7' translucent umbrella which was used to soften the direct morning sunlight. This both decreased the intensity and improved the quality of the light on my subject's left, providing some separation from the dark background. You notice the bit of light on my subject's sweatshirt. I was smart to request that we used the subject's own backyard which would offer protection of any breezes that might upset my six-foot bumbershoot.

My key lighting would be a speedlight and Zumbrella combination mounted on a lightstand slightly forward and to the left of my shooting position. This gave me the large, round catchlights and provided a soft front lighting on my subject. The flash output was nearly at full power, so I adjusted the aperture slightly to get a proper exposure. As it turned out, the brightness was nearly identical to the filtered sunlight coming from behind, giving me an image that should reproduce well when it hits the paper.

For the shot, I used a Fuji X-T2 with a 16-55 2.8 lens at 55mm. Light was from an older Flashpoint speedlight triggered by an older dedicated radio controller.

You can see the size of the umbrella, and you can image how large a shadow it would cast. The umbrella was positioned to provide a soft light on side of the hanging birdhouse, as you see here. These shots were made without the key light, so the front of the birdhouse is rendered darker than in the final photo.

"Is That A Real Bird??" my editor asked. Yes, it was. At first, the birds kept their distances, wondering what to make of all the unfamiliar activity. After a few warm-up shots, the birds, knowing the feeders had just been filled, tentatively started to take their seats at the buffet. We both stood motionless, hoping that one would land on the feeder on the left. One brave soul obviously did, and I was able to grab one good shot (top of post) before s/he flew off. A second bird arrived moments later, but was too dark to be recognizable.

After Action Report: There are some things I wish I could have changed. The positions of the sun and the birdhouse feeder dictated the location of the umbrella and where my subject would be placed, so I adjusted the key light position accordingly. I might have elevated the key to a higher position to achieve slightly better facial modeling, but overall, there's plenty of detail in the image. Other than that, I was very satisfied with the outcome.