Oamaru Limestone and off camera flash

Two stories for the price of one ;-)

1st story: today's blip is a piece of carved Oamaru Limestone we bought in Oamaru on our 30th wedding anniversary/honeymoon tour of New Zealand's South Island. It is a piece removed from one of the buildings in Tyne Street when some renovation works were being done, and carved across the road by Ian Andersen. It is a traditional New Zealand design based on one of the many ferns New Zealand is famous for. Ian is a great character and his workshop is well worth a visit.

2nd story: as the weather here in England is still pretty grim I have been looking at a couple of Syl Arena's YouTube videos on off camera flash. This is my first attempt. OK, it's not brilliant but compared to the 'Speedlite on the hot shoe' shot it is a big improvement. The Speedlite is to the left (as seen from the camera) at ~45 degrees to the lens axis with my old Vivitar off to the right ~ 30 degrees off axis. Both pointed at the limestone and with diffusers on the flash heads. I moved them around and adjusted the diffusers, ceiling bounce and o/p power to reduce the hard shadows and get the histogram looking reasonable. Clearly, some way to go before I get a good shot, but for a first attempt - I'm not unhappy.