Cheap Source for Ming Thein-Style Macro Setup

Who is Ming, you ask? He's the young photog in Kuala Lumpur who shoots the amazing watch shots (as opposed to my sad first effort at left) using three sheets of frosted acrylic and some speedlights.(He generously showed us his setup shot, too.)That acrylic stuff ain't cheap. Unless, of course, you happen upon the $1.99 cutting board set at Ikea. It...

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999,998... 999,999...

At about 3:21 PM (EDT) yesterday, someone clicked on this site to become the 1,000,000th page view for the month of July. I had known it was gonna be close, and was actually sweating it or the last few days. I wish I would have had a red siren go off, with balloons dropping from the ceiling and a special sale. But then I remembered that everything here is free. So I'll not be lowering any prices today.So whoever you were, Mr. or Ms. One Million, thanks much. And thanks to the one or two other folks that cruised through here last month, too....

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Now Your Prints Will Look More Charming

Over at Strobist en Espanol, Rafa has tweaked the HTML code to provide much cleaner printouts of the site. And he was nice enough to do it for the main site, too. (My HTML/CSS skills are pretty bad.)Now your printouts and .pdfs of Strobist will look much cleaner. Only the editorial portions print, and the text column runs full width. Combined with...

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Cooking Light: What's Cooking

Still a few days left before the deadline for the Cooking Light, the first full assignment from Lighting 102. But I thought I would share some of the stuff that has come in so far.Some of you guys are clearly enjoying playing around in the kitchen. There is already a wide range of creative approaches to such a sparse assignment.All of these photos...

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No Hot Shoe? No PC? No Problem.

UPDATE: From the comments, there is a Flickr discussion thread on this technique.Spanish Strobist translator extraordinaire Rafa B. has a neat little off-camera flash hack on his VacioPerfecto site. It's in Spanish (duh) but you'll get the idea.He is using a Hama hot shoe slave and a Gadget Infinity remote to synch his hot-shoe-less point-n-shoot camera...

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Monster Flash Garage: 285HV Goes to 1/1024th Power

We think the venerable Vivitar 285HV rocks right out of the box. But it is also a favorite of the mod squad because it's cheap, rugged, and begging to be tweaked.This version, created by Jonathan Kau is one of the best I have seen yet. And the ten-stop range is only the beginning. Hit the Flickr discussion thread for the full list of capabilities and...

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DIY Ball-Bungee Speedlight Soft Box Mount

I don't use my soft boxes very often, as a shoot-through umbrella is a more efficient diffuser, cheaper and more portable. But a soft box does give a nice, rectangular specular highlight, without the visible ribs of an umbrella.(If there are any ribs visible in my vicinity, I prefer them slow-cooked, and smothered with a Carolina-style, mustard-and-vinegar...

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Sunday Flashbacks: 7/29/07

From June 2006:• How to quick change a Nikon Lens like a pro, and• The importance of creating multiple layers of interest in a photograph.Coming tomorrow: A really cool DIY use for ball bungees (or broccoli rubber band...

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Saturday Speedlinks, 7-28-07

Saturday morning - a time to sleep in and wake up to the smell of hot links cooking on the griddle.We got neat stuff today: More SitBonzo, interactive lighting toys, some smokin' Reuters photographers and a must-read about US Presswire.________________________________• David Berman, AKA SitBonzo, is back with another Lighting Slideshow, this time from...

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Rockin' the House

We have talked before about using small-flash lighting to improve your interior shots. The very first On Assignment was about using a single, off-camera flash to totally amp an interior shot. We also did an OA using three flashes to sculpt a large interior with light.There was also a unit on interior photography in last summer's Lighting Boot Camp:...

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A Group Shot Master Class

I have long been a fan of Annie Leibovitz' work. Her American Express ad series (way back when) was one of the things that got me really thinking about light as a way to amp my photos.I have a signed poster framed in my basement that shows every single double-truck from her second book. A very cool gift from my wife, through her connections in the...

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Site Utilities: Search

Over the next few weeks I'll be through some of the utilities on Strobist in the hopes of making the site a little more friendly to the non-power users. There are many general blog functions, like RSS, archives, search, etc., but also some things that are a bit quirky and unique to Strobist.This time I am going to talk about the search function, which is at the upper left corner of the site. And please note that any search link on this page will obviously produce this page as the first result. Scroll own to see what else gets dragged up.________________________________In...

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Lighting 102: Assignment - Cooking Light

The first full assignment for Lighting 102 is deceptively simple. You'll be using what we have discussed in both the position and light source sections.The assignment is to photograph one or more kitchen utensils - knives, forks, spoons, whisks - whatever you like. The look you are going or is that of ordinary object elevated to high art. Or at least...

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Fun With Pocket Wizards

First off, I debated even posting about this. But it was so fun I just had to. The names have been obscured to keep this from getting back to me.Besides, I might want to do it again.___________________________I had my bare bones gear bag with me in a local mall this weekend, as I was heading to the Apple Store for a little tech support. My laptop was...

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A Primer on Gels

Mason Trullinger, the reader who has set up photogels.com, posted a cool link to a Guide to Color Filters (right click it to download) publication put out by Rosco. It is primarily a theatrical lighting how-to, but I found it to be a very interesting reference. I really want to learn more about how to better use gels. So many possibilities.(Thanks, Maso...

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Lighting 102: 2.2 - Specular Discussion

You guys have really started to hit your stride with this exercise. I deliberately made it a little looser than the others, as the point was to explore the specular control technique.There's a great discussion going on in the Flickr thread, and some really cool photos have been submitted. Even right out of the blocks many of you are kicking butt, lighting...

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Strobist Readers Shoot Back

I just thought you guys might be interested in seeing what some of your fellow readers have been shooting in the last few weeks. About once a week, I cruise through 500 or so new photos in the pool and pick out my faves for inclusion in the Strobist Reader Gallery. I go back to it frequently as a source of new ideas. Keeping a lighting file has never...

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Awesome DIY PVC Flash Housing

I have said it before, and I will say it again: The best thing about running a lighting blog is the cool stuff you guys throw at me almost every day.Exhibit "A" is this inexpensive DIY PVC water resistant ("water proof" does not really exist) housing for an SB-800. Or any small flash, really. It was posted in the comments of this post, which was either...

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A Highly Questionable Post

Last week, a reader started a thread on Flickr with a few questions for me. So I opened it up to the group, with the idea that I would answer at least most of the questions and make a post for today. It grew way too long to include here without boring most of you silly. But if you are interested, I inserted the Q and A into this Flickr thread. And I am completely serious about the Wilma and Betty thi...

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Seattle Seminar Registration Opens

UPDATE: Both workshops have filled. For info on the wait list, please see this message in the Seattle Discussion thread.Thanks,DH___________________________________Registration links for the August 18th and 19th Seattle seminars are at the bottom of this post. The location is the Hilton Seattle Airport Hotel and Conference Center, at 17620 International Boulevard, directly across from SeaTac International Airport.These are one-day seminars, and will each cover the same material. So you would register for just one, not both. The price is $159.00.I...

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Sunday Flashback, 7/22/2007

Today's flashbacks take us to May, 2006, where we learn how to make DIY Macro Strip Lights (which were used in this Lacrosse player On Assignment feature.)For SB-800 owners, there are also links to a great SB-800 resource page and a trailer of Joe McNally's Speed of Light DVD, a high-end CLS tutori...

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Guess the Boat Got Here...

UPDATE: Spoke too soon. Out of stock again. Must have been a fluke. Guess the big boat is still a-comin'.The book Light Science and Magic is finally back in stock (NOPE.) at Amazon. (See here for the back story on the delays.)They were expecting the second printing shipment to arrive in early August, but I guess they sped up the boat from China a...

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Speedlinks, 7/21/07

Just a quick reminder that Seattle registration has been pushed back until Sunday due to a conflict with the huge, local Flickr group outing. Info will be posted tomorrow at 8:00a PDT.I'll also start up a Flickr thread to move the discussion off of the main board in consideration of all of the non-Seattle readers.Speedlinks• That Old Black Magic: Imagine...

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Pimp My Light, Submariner Version

UPDATE: From the comments, this suggestion for the final layer of protection: The Pelican 1060 Micro Case, with clear lid. I would line the inside with white paper and maybe stick a StoFen on the flash, too. UPDATE #2: We have a winner. Check out this fantastic, DIY PVC housing before trusting your baby to zip-lock bags.______________Strobist reader...

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Remotely Possible: Wirelessly Fire Your DSLR

Can you trip your shutter wirelessly with your TV remote? You'll never know unless you try.The RCA Universal Remote model 403 or 404 will apparently fire the shutter of a Nikon D50, D70, D70s or a D80. Probably a D40 and D40x, too, as they use the same Nikon remote control. Just set your manufacturer code to 066, use the TV function and hit VOL+ to...

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Important Seattle Update

It appears that there is a previously planned monthly meeting for Seattle Flickr users this Saturday. And many of them will be out on a whale/wildlife photographing excursion (and incommunicado) all day. So we are moving the opening of registration back 24 hours to Sunday, July 22, 8:00am PDT.Thanks for your understanding....

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Chase Jarvis is Everywhere.

Welcome to ACJN, the All Chase Jarvis Network.First up is Chase Jarvis RAW: New Zealand Spring (above) wherein you get a behind-the-scenes look at the logistics of planning and executing a major sportswear shoot on the other side of the planet. (Unless you happen to live in New Zealand, of course.)More background info, and Chase answers your questions here.But wait, there's more: He is also the cover boy on the latest audio issue of LightSource, at StudioLighting.net, where you can hear a really good interview with him here.(Right click and choose...

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Seattle Registration Opens Saturday

UPDATE: It appears that there is a previously planned monthly meeting for Seattle Flickr users this Saturday. And many of them will be out on a whale photographing excursion (and incommunicado) all day. So we are moving the opening of registration back 24 hours to Sunday, July 22, 8:00am PDT.Thanks for your understanding._______________________________Just a heads-up that registration for both Seattle seminars (Sat, Aug. 18th and Sun, Aug. 19th) opens on Saturday morning, 8:00am PDT, Jul 21 Sunday morning, 8:00am PDT, Jul 22.The charge is $159...

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A Ping from Ming on the Bling Lighting Thing

So, to look at Ming Thein's watch photos below, you'd think he was working in some sophisticated studio environment with lots of cool lighting gear, right?He sent me a note (from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) with this photo today after waking up to find he had fifty new friend requests after yesterday's post.I love this setup shot as it shows just how accessible...

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The Hot List, Q2 '07

Every time you buy something on Amazon after clicking through to there from this site, I spontaneously break out into the Happy Dance. Which is a little rough when you buy something at 3:00am. But hey, bloggers can't be choosers.Every once in a while, I pull together a list of the most popular items recently purchased by Strobist readers as a barometer...

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Watch the Light to Light the Watch.

For those wanting to get an idea of just how well you can control specular highlights, I recommend viewing Strobist reader Ming Thein's gallery of watch photographs.A watch is a tidy little nightmare of complex, reflective surfaces. Specular highlight control is pretty much all you have to work with. One of Ming's go-to techniques is to shoot a tightly...

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If You are Reading This from Florida

You might be interested in the reader-organized meet-n-shoot planned for August 19, just south of Orlando in Highland Hammock State Park. I'll be in Seattle that weekend, but it sounds like lotsa fun. Discussion is here on Flickr, and details are on Nick's bl...

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Lighting 102: Unit 2.2 - Specular Highlight Control

Summary: The fourth lighting zone on a given photographic subject is the specular highlight, or reflection of the light source. This can be manipulated in both size and intensity to allow total control over the tonal range of a portion of your subject._______________________________Last week we talked about the diffused highlight, the shadow and the...

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