Thanks for registering for either the Saturday May 12 or Sunday May 13 London seminar. I will be posting updated info and rosters soon.Looking forward to seeing you there....
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Lotsa Q's on the Speedlighting Hoops Post
I am getting a fair number of questions on the "Speedlighting a College Gym" post (just below this one.) In an effort to make this a little more interactive, I am going to do a follow-up post within the next couple of days.Please post any questions in the comments thread of the original post and I will choose a selection and answer them.There will also be some poorly drawn lighting diagrams. Fire aw...
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
On Assignment: Speedlighting a College Gym
Saturday, I shot the Towson/Drexel men's college basketball game for The Sun. I knew Strobist reader Patrick Smith would be there, and I knew he would be using the school's house strobes. (Patrick is a photographer for Towson U's newspaper, The Towerlight, specializing in shooting sports and beer.)For the record, we have the rights to use the university's...
Monday, February 26, 2007
English. French. Italian. Pig Latin. Whatever.
Babelfish, the web-based auto-translating site, is now translating Strobist without stripping the blogger-hosted photos. Which is etty-pray eat-nay, if you ask me.Just enter the full URL, (including the http part) into the "Translate a Web Page" part, and choose English-to-(your language) from the dropdown menu.It does pretty well on the western languages. But once you get east of the Urals, you're otally-tay ewed-scray. But I'm sure they're working on ...
Sunday, February 25, 2007
POTW 2/25/07
Another strong week in the favorites folder on Flickr, where it is getting harder and harder to pick which photos will go out front each week.This flaming martini shot, by Justin Lucarelli, jumped out immediately.This is way cool. And as I have to shoot a near-weekly illustration on alcoholic drinks for The Sun, I am so gonna steal borrow this technique...
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Reverse Engineer This:
Strobist reader teewonk got his flash just last week and threw this very cool shot of a helmet up as his very first picture posted to the group.It's wonderfully lit, to be sure. But can you figure out how it was lit? If I had not already seen the book, Light, Science and Magic, I have to admit that it would have stumped me. And lest you think he is...
Friday, February 23, 2007
Sensor Cleaning Update
I have updated the sensor cleaning post from a few days ago. But thought it important enough to stick up top, too.Most people are happy with the Copper Hill cleaning method, but a few have pointed to warnings. They seem to center around Canon 5D owners, so use care and read up if that is you. There is a thread on DP Review specifically detailing the...
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Breaking News: Canon Flash Reaches Puberty
Well, knock me down with a feather. As of, well, sometime soon, you will finally be able to buy a Canon flash with an external PC jack. (Scroll down in the new camera PR for the flash info.)I'd love to think we had something to do with this. Was it was the constant harping on the site? The drunken 3:00 a.m. phone calls? The "plus-sized" Strip-o-Gram...
Today's Special: Charred Squirrel
Let me preface this post by noting that I am trying to get away from the "hey, look at this neat website" posts and more into the long-form, "On Assignment" and gear/technique stuff.Really.That said, "EFP Lighting" has a great little history lesson/tutorial on Chiaroscuro. So for the moment, ditch this website and go learn from the Old Masters.Then...
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
SB-24 vs 285HV Comparison
On the Strobist Flickr discussion threads, reader tmoreau has posted a comparison of the SB-24 vs the Vivitar 285HV.If you have used both models we'd love to know what you think, too.IMO, both are good flashes. And with the re-introduction of the 285HV, there is now an easy retail option for a good off-camera flash below the $100 ma...
Sunday, February 18, 2007
You Can Do It: Clean Your DSLR's CCD
UPDATE #1: There is a Flickr thread with stories of people who have had problems doing this. Ditto someone that got the anti-aliasing filter messed up by the manufacturer's guys, too. To clarify, I used only the weight of the tool itself as pressure as I pulled it across my sensor. I felt like that was a very safe practice and I would do it repeatedly...
Friday, February 16, 2007
POTW - 02/17/2007
What follows is a selection of photos from those submitted to the Strobist Flickr pool within the last week. They were shot by people ranging from amateur to semi-pro to professional. By photographers with years of lighting experience and by those who have only been lighting for a very short time. I would have trouble telling who shot what and I'll...
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Umbrella Update
UPDATE: MPEX has revised their shipping policy and lowered costs to better suit the small orders of many people who are readers of this site. The details are here. I appreciate you guys' accomodation with MPEX's process of growing into their role as a major supplier as much as I appreciate MPEX's quick response to the issue.-DHTwo things on the convertible double-folds:First, MPEX got deluged with emails, orders, etc., and are digging themselves out in much the same way one would dig out of a 4-foot snowfall. Make that 8-foot snowfall.Second, I...
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Westcott's Convertible Double-fold Umbrella: Made Just for Us
I had a few minutes after work before dinner was ready tonight, and decided to quickly try out a new toy: The Westcott convertible double-fold umbrella. Moishe at MPEX actually had these manufactured special (just for us) and he has gotten a big batch of them in. MPEX logo on the side and all. I can't tell you how cool this is that he would go and...
Monday, February 12, 2007
Woo-hoo! My Email is Back Up!
I am connected to the world again. Here's what I learned:• When the server on which Yahoo! has your email account goes screwy, Yahoo! will fix your [sarcasm]free email[/sarcasm] for just $30! (Ooh, sorry. Our bad. Credit card number, please?)• About a gazillion of you Flickrmailed me to suggest I switch to G-mail. You're right - I probably should. But do you know how hard it is to extricate yourself from a longterm email addy? I'd sooner change my name.Well, I'm back, baby. And I have new messages. Boy, do I have new messag...
On Assignment: Macaroni and Cheese
Most of the assignments I shoot are not what most of you would consider glamourous. To be honest, I rather prefer the day-to-day stuff. As much as possible, I try to approach each assignment with the idea that you should not let your attention slip just because you are shooting a less exciting subject. You've heard all of the sports analogies: Hit...
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Attend the May 12/13 London Seminar for Free
Cool photo by "PDPB". (See larger)I am currently collecting ideas for a venue for the London seminars. I am looking for something that can hold about 40 people, with extra room for lighting demos and such. It would need to be available both Saturday May 12 and Sunday May 13. The latter precludes any religious venues. (We had a great room at a church...
Saturday, February 10, 2007
POTW 2/10/07; Still Sans Email
As I continue to try to resolve my no-inbound-emails problem (and to try to work out more London seminar details without that little convenience) I am taking a sanity break to do this week's POTW. We had some amazing photos this week, including a really cool shower self-portrait.In the end, I was never able to figure out how much of the look of the...
Friday, February 9, 2007
FYI: My Email is Down
Just a note in case you have recently sent me an important e-mail that I have seemingly ignored. Normally I get over 100 e-mails a day, and earlier today they just stopped. I have no idea what the problem is, but have a message into Yahoo. I am not holding my breath.I am checking Flickrmail, and am able to moderate blog comments via the Blogger interface. But other than that I am completely in the dark. I'll post again when it comes back up. If it comes back up.(Oh, Lord, please....
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Save the Date for London: May 12th and 13th
Just a brief note to reserve the date if you are interested in attending a London lighting seminar.I have blocked off the time to get over to the UK and will be doing two, all-day seminars: One on Saturday and one on Sunday. I was originally looking at the summer, but scheduling conflicts prohibited. I very much appreciate the feedback you offered...
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
On Assignment: Found Backdrops, Pt. 1
NOTE: Just a heads-up that I will be altering things a bit. Starting this weekend, I am moving the POTW to the weekend to better fit with my Baltimore Sun schedule. Henceforth, it'll pop on on either Saturday or Sunday, depending on my assignment load. -DHAt The Sun, we include zoned prep sports coverage in our sports section. In addition to game...
Monday, February 5, 2007
The Return of a Classic?
*****IMPORTANT UPDATE***** Alas, the reissued Vivitar 285HV is a Vivitar in name only. (They have also morphed into the "Cactus KF36". Same flash.) This article, originally written in 2007, has been updated to reflect that the reissued version has turned out to be famously unreliable. Such a shame. PLEASE read the appended sections below for more info.__________To...
Sunday, February 4, 2007
The Hot List: January 2007
Apparently, it is now too cold to be shooting nudie shots in the Garage, as Garage Glamour has finally dropped from the top ten.But that didn't stop Strobist's readers from curling up by the fire with a good book. Or a bag of ball bungees, apparently. A newcomer on the list is a DVD by Jim Brandenburg, of which I was previously unaware. I am a big...
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Hack-e-Flash Heaven
Step right up, all you DIY-ers. Today's post will point to a few fun projects for those of you with more brains than money.First off, is this cool Vivitar 283 homebrew varipower hack, courtesy Metropolicity. Turns out the formerly $20 now $35 Varipower VP-1, which makes a Vivitar 283 an infinitely controllable manual flash (over a 5-stop range) is...
Hit for Average
Overnight, after posting the POTW's, I had a fellow PJ make a (physically misplaced, I think) comment that I assume was meant to go under the POTW post just below this one. He felt that it would be better to stick with the good stuff and lose the group shot. Granted, the post would look better (no offense, Chris.) But I would point out that for many people shooting for a living, this is more real-world than the other two photos. In fact, at my last workshop, "how would you do a group shot" was a question in which there was wide interest.Here's...
Friday, February 2, 2007
POTW - 2/2/7
Yeah, I am a little behind. It's like they say: Some days you're the windshield, and some days you're the bug.This week I was the bug. What I need is a long, protracted - but not too severe - illness to give me time to catch up on all of the little things I seem to be a wee bit behind on. About three weeks in bed with a laptop, wi-fi and a CD burner...
