Back In My Day, We Used Cardboard

Photojournalist David Honl is marketing a store-bought snoot for those of you who feel funny shooting a Fortune 500 CEO with a cereal box stuck on your flash.He also has a velcro'd bounce-card/gobo thingie, too. I'm sure they work fine, and all. But my last box of Frosted Flakes came with a free pedometer inside.I'm just saying.________________________(Via...

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Speedlighting the Runway

Local photog (20 miles down the street in DC) and Strobist reader Larry Dortch has got himself a spiffy lil' video photo blog, where he talks on camera about shooting and whatnot.He just put up a Quicktime movie detailing how he approached a high school fashion show with a coupla Canon speedlights and some Pocket Wizards.It's all good. But the best...

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Flickr and You, Part 3: Case Study - Sara Lando

This is the third part of a four-part series. It begins hereIn each of the final two parts in the Flickr series, we'll be looking at a photographer who is also a Strobist reader and using them as an example to explore some specific ways they could be better use Flickr to reach the people who may be interested in their work.Milan-based, up-and-coming...

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The Coolest Free White Background Ever

Need a super-quick white-ish background to photograph that little thingamajig you are selling on eBay?(No off-camera flash ia actually needed for this one, but I couldn't resist. It is too good of an idea.)Just go downstairs to the closet where you keep your Igloo/Coleman/no-name-brand cooler, open it up and turn it on its side. Stick your item in...

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On Assignment: Hero Fan

Basically, my job is to travel all around the Baltimore/Washington area at my leisure, with people just waiting in beautiful environments for me to show up and spend hours trying out new lighting schemes.Not.My days are tight, just like yours likely are if you are a shooter. And I get handed some primo environments, if you are into mixed light and...

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Pocket Wizard Christmas in April

Moishe just called from MPEX to let me know that he got a big shipment of Pocket Wizards Plus II's in for a series of camera shows, and he is running a special: $169.00 each. They show on the search results as $186.00 each, but when you put them in your shopping cart they drop to $169.00. Three things to remember: 1. You need two units. These are the...

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Flickr and You, Part 2: The World's Window on You

This is the second installment in a four-part series on Flickr and the future of commercial photography. Part one is here.In many ways, Flickr has leveled the playing field between professional and amateur photographers. Today's article will feature ways to better present yourself and help photo buyers find you if you are still a babe in the woods....

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Weekend Tidbits: 4/21/07

I Can See You TypingYeah, don't think I'm not watchin' you guys out there, 'cause I am. The Technorati trackbacks are pulling up some interesting stuff. Cool finds, just from the last few days::: Concerning Photography :::: Photography for Real Estate :::: Malaysia Wedding Photographer :::: Get Rich Slowly ::UPDATE, adds::: Hibi no Hanashi :: (Damn...

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Flickr and You, Part 1: Rebekka's Experience

EDITOR'S NOTE: We are taking a little field trip from flash for a few days to talk about something that will be of interest to many who read this site. What follows is the first of a four-part series on the blurring lines between professional and amateur photographers, and how your presence on Flickr automatically puts you in the game. -DH________________________________________When...

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'Ebay Remotes' Getting Better?

Gadget Infinity, makers of the infamous $29.95 "Ebay Remotes" have reportedly redesigned them to sync with Canon flashes and work better all around with other flashes. The link takes you all the way to Hong Kong, so mind the jetlag.Full disclosure: I have never personally tried them. But if they keep aspiring to greatness like this, the PW's commanding...

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Ultra-Cheap Quickie Mini Macro Studio

Okay, so I'll be the first to admit that this paper light tent makes the $10 Macro Studio sound positively luxurious and wasteful. That said, this is a technique I use a lot. And since Strobist reader Jeff Geerling beat me to the punch on writing about it, I am sending you over to his place for a little field trip.If you have something very small to...

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Two SB-24's, Some Ebay Remotes and a Thinking Photographer:

I happened to be checking out the Strobist Flickr stream right when reader Moosehd2 (AKA Ken Brown) dropped this photo of a Mercedes 300SL.The simple-but-effective lighting design is both inspired and inspiring. See if you can figure out how he lit the shot, then click through to his photo to find out. Says the photographer, who shoots for a collector...

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New, Reader-Friendly Footers

It is a very rainy weekend, and I am here at Strobist International Headquarters screwing around with the HTML for the site. At the end of this (and every other) post, you'll find some new features. This spot is called the post "footer" and I have tweaked it to benefit the site's readers.The first line still points to the Strobist Flickr threads, which...

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Wired Rocks, and Dan is The Man

Shootin' the Orioles vs. Royals baseball game tonight, except that I probably won't be. It is supposed to rain cats and dogs starting at about 6:00pm.On days like this, you show up at Camden Yards and wait it out. But in the end, your shift is very likely to be an evening off with free hot dogs. I'll take it without a smidgen of guilt, as it partially...

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Next on the List: Indoor Plumbing

Boy, I am a real doofus when it comes to this web stuff. But hey, I'm a shooter, not an HTML'er.Just spent some time in a belated attempt to learn the basics of Technorati. I hadn't even claimed this site until tonight. (I know, I know...) If you are a Technorati user, and you dig Strobist, there is now a link in the post footers where you can fave...

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On Assignment: Munchies

We do an annual survey at The Sun on how people snack - what they eat, how much, how often, etc. I thought it would be fun to play around with the items a little by shooting them very close and lighting them for detail and texture.Mind you, this is basically a porn shoot for me. I love junk food. Luuuv it.So much so that I am constantly practicing...

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Ideas We Like: Greenie Clamp Mini Stand

You have already seen how to convert these cheapo, 99-cent Home Depot clamps into flash mounts, using your umbrella swivel adapter and another 39 cents worth of hardware.But Strobist reader Zedin has gone one better and is using $1.98 worth of the greenies (along with an umbrella bracket) to make an impromptu, tiltable flash stand.These clamps are...

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Dungeon Fun, And an Extended Vacation

UPDATE: Can't fool you guys anymore. Renegade Photo's comment was the first to get the general concept, and the comment right afterwards nailed the technique perfectly.And yes, for those who mentioned it, the red streaks were the flash's ready light, which we left in.I was lucky enough to get to be a part of my friend (and fellow photog) Thomas Graves'...

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Worth a Read: Photo Business News and Forum

If you haven't checked lately, John Harrington's Photo Business News & Forum is really developing into a go-to site for people interested in the photography bidness.I just finished reading a Photoshelter/Digital Railroad comparison, and a piece on the economics behind corporate art.Good stu...

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Another Ringlight How-To

Thanks to Simon J. for the heads up on this combination ringlight/tanning machine. The author foregoes flash in favor of floodlights. No more freezing-cold, scantily clad models for him. No, sir.He's made a pretty good how-to page if you want to try it out.Don't forget to budget for some good quality UV filters for your lenses, should you decide to...

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RSS SOS - Thanks

Muchas gracias to the 971 people who let me know that the RSS feed address had been changed right out from under me, and was no longer working as a result. I have switched the code to the new URL, so things should be running more smoothly now.As for the day-to-day RSS issues, I am trying to figure out a way to keep you guys from getting a fresh ping every time I update an old post, which I do frequently. The process now is "flip RSS off, update the post, flip RSS back on." But that causes some RSS feed aggregators to get a little hinky. Any suggestions...

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Pimp My Light: Light-Painted Knife

You might think I would think twice about PML'ing a guy who plays with guns and knives. But that would be giving me credit for being way too smart.Todd Brewer made this evocative shot as part of a series of photos for a friend's website. He is clearly being very creative with his light, using a snooted LED flashlight to create patterns of light to...

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Light Partying, and a Fuji S5 Review

Strobist reader Ryan Brenizer had a little party with a couple of fellow light-types, and posted a bunch of photos from the evening. It's cool that these kind of lighting-themed get-togethers are starting to happen. If you want to hook up with fellow local flashers, check out the Flickr Strobist threads, which are starting to get some city-specific...

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On Assignment: Spring Arts Guide

I'll tell ya, the longer I am away from softboxes, the less I miss them. Where I used to see them as the go-to, default soft light source, I now consider them to be expensive, light-sucking and limiting. Now, I only use them in special situations.In the past I would have whipped out a 'box for this photo of a montage that was assembled just to be photographed...

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Okay, Let's Start on Year Two

First of all, thanks much for the kind words on the Year-One thing. That means a lot.There were a couple of questions mixed in, so I wanted to answer those before we moved on.___________________ Is that you? I dont think you have every posted your own pic on Strobist... but I may be wrong.Yes, that is me. I posted another photo way back in the OA section, called "Dealing With a Difficult Subject," and someone sent in a shot of me shooting a football game once.Don't be fooled by this picture. I can assure you that the camera adds 10 25 pounds, 15...

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Strobist Turns One

One year ago tonight, I posted the first reference to a new experiment of a lighting blog, Strobist, on a photo message board. What began as a little online notebook to keep track of my thoughts on small-flash lighting has grown into something way beyond what I ever expected.Through March of 2006, I put together much of the Lighting 101 posts, and...

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Get Creative With a Little 'Light S and M'

One of the best things about running a blog on flash technique is that I pretty much live in a vortex of lighting ideas. If something cool is happening, you guys tell me about it. That is how I originally found out about the book, "Light - Science & Magic" last year, when I asked you to send me your favorite photo book titles. L-S&M was by...

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