Happy Halloween

Yeah, I am expecting we will probably get a few of these today in the Strobist Flickr Pool. This one is by Bryan Mitchell, making use of a cheapo fog machine.

If you do one, (or see a good one) tag it "strobistpumpkin" (no spaces) and we will be able to look at a set by clicking here. (This will pull the half-dozen or so pix from last year, too.)

Bryan is a newpaper shooter, and has a pretty cool photoblog, to boot. And if you need some carving inspiration, try here.

But frankly, this one will be hard to beat, IMO...

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RadioPopper Jr. Announced

RadioPopper just lit up a full website with specs and all. No pix yet, tho. They now have a couple of the afore-mentioned TTL radio extenders to choose from, but that might not be the big news, IMO.

The "RadioPopper Jr." has just been announced on the site:

• Non-TTL radio slave
• 2000-ft range
• $25 each (Wait, WHAT?)

That is apparently not a typo. More, and links, after the jump.
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From the website copy:

We stripped the standard radio triggering feature off of our P1 model in an effort to further reduce size and cost - but we’re giving this feature back in the form of the RadioPopper Jr. The Jr. will be a standard no-frills studio strobe triggering device. It won’t sport the TTL or infrared bridging features offered by its older brothers, but it will fill the need in our industry for a simple device that plugs to the PC-synch plug on your camera and reliably triggers manual strobes.



And we’re going to offer it at a ridiculously low price.



Designed with the highest quality radio components, cutting no corners, real world range projected to 2000+ ft, legitimate FCC certified radio slaves, and we’re going to do our best to put them in your hands for $25 each.

Holy crap. If this is as advertised, it is gonna shake up the whole Pocket Wizard/Poverty Wizard dynamic.

I have not seen one, much less tested one. But RadioPoper certainly has my attention.
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:: RadioPopper Jr. Product Page ::
:: RadioPopper (Long-Awaited) FAQ ::
:: Readers Yakkin' About it Here ::

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Seattle Times' Rod Mar, On Assignment

Rod Mar has written a long-form post on the entire process of creating this shot of Sonics' newcomer Kevin Durant for the sports section of the Seattle Times. He takes you from the conceptual process to the logistics of the shoot to screen shots of post production in Photoshop.

Really nice post, Rod. If makes me feel great to see other newspaper shooters going full-blown 2.0. People like learning about this stuff.

(Thanks to Tim for the tip!)
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:: On Assignment: Rod Mar ::

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Detailed Cactus V2s Mod Page

The slickly named "Cactus V2s" wireless triggers have become the staple entry point remote for those with more enthusiasm than cash.

Now you can prolong your "I'll never cough up for Pocket Wizards" fantasy just a little longer, as blogger/tightwad Jeremy Kuster has posted the most comprehensive Poverty Wizard mod tutorial to date.

More pix, links after the jump.

Jeremy posts pix, detailed instructions and an online source for the toughest part (the xmit antenna is store-bought -- and cheap) and assumes you have access to a RatShack or equivalent for battery holders, etc.

(If not, you can get that stuff the same place he sends you for the antenna.)

Don't get me wrong. If I were in college I would totally be on this route. But if you are in the game to stay, you will eventually be drinking the Pocket Wizard Kool-Aid just like everyone else.

(I'm just saying.)
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:: Cactus V2 Mod Page ::
:: Cactus V2 Product Page ::

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Strobist/Zenfolio Deal Expires Tomorrow

Just a quick heads-up -- if you are going to take advantage of the discount Zenfolio has extended to readers of this site, it expires on Oct 31, which is tomorrow. So if you are up for it, chop-chop.

Speaking of procrastinating, I have been gone the last nine days and all of the good pumpkins have been bought up. Now I have to go out and scrounge the leftovers.

I'm thinking our Jack O'Lantern is gonna look a little goofy this year.

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James Balog: Icebergs with Speedlights

Nikon has posted another one of those pieces that show off the capabilities of their CLS system. This time it is natural history photographer James Balog, using multiple SB-800's to shoot icebergs at twilight.

More pics and links after the jump.

Balog is one of those cerebral photographers who always seems to be working on something significant, and I have always enjoyed his approach to lighting. Obviously, the icebergs certainly lend themselves to being shot in such a way as to where you do not have to wade out into the frigid water to adjust the flashes any more than you have to.

The takeaway from this piece (for me) is that more and more of the heavy hitters seem to be using small flashes for their location stuff. Gregory Heisler, long a fan of the large format camera and big strobes, is doing much of his work with a digital EOS and EZ flashes now. Rather than being viewed as a limitation, speedlights are more frequently being seen as a way to accomplish something you simply might not be able to do with big, AC flashes.
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:: Stunning Nikon ::
:: James Balog's Website ::

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Back In the States

We are back from Paris and have the kids shipped off to school, where their jet lag now becomes the teachers' problem.

Nothing says "welcome home" like a couple hundred unanswered emails, and I am slowly digging out of my pile of work. So info if you are somewhere in there, please be patient...

(More Paris stuff and pix after the jump.)

Photo at top (by Belgian Photographer Bert Stephani) is from when we were shooting free model Michael, left, using a bare-bulb-lit alcove as a background element.

And yes, Bert's photo is more interesting than mine. But I try to stay away from crotch shots when shooting with 50 witnesses. That's Bert's cheap Russian fisheye bar shot below, too.

I will be posting some of the photos with lighting diagrams and reader-supplied setup shots (no shortage of those, believe you me) in the next couple of days.

Meeting so many of you guys was great fun, especially at the Pub Winston Churchill after. That's the home of Nine-Euro beers, and you don't even get to keep the glass. But the beers make way cool variable warming gels. I very much look forward to getting back there soon.

We ended a little abruptly, (without the normal Q&A) to squeeze in one more setup in before they ran us out of the joint. But please feel free to ask questions and/or continue the discussion on the Paris thread. (Link jumps to first comment after seminar.) If you didn't grab the slideshow off my my laptop during lunch, I will be emailing you a link for the presentation (in .pdf form) shortly.
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(More pix, courtesy Karsten Rump, in this slideshow.)

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New Wizwow Video on Shooting Composites

Don Giannatti, whom you may know on Flickr as Wizwow, has a new DVD out which demos the process of shooting a "composite." And his preview for it (above) is actually useful on its own. You can see the resulting still photos here. For more info on the full DVD, check his site.

Also, he has posted a tutorial jpeg on how to build a nifty V-card reflector. Two pieces of foam core and some tape makes you a huge, free-standing soft white reflector.

Gotta like that.

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Saturday Speedlinks, 10-27-2007

One of the nice things about using light effectively is that it can save you money on your gear. You do not need expensive, cutting edge cameras to make high-quality photos. Ditto the idea of heavy, expensive, fast glass that is designed to look super sharp wide open. (I like to hang out at f/5.6-f/8. Just about any lens looks great there..)

That said, there's nothing more fun than unboxing a new camera or lens and taking it out for a spin. What many people do not know is that you can get the next best thing to a new camera for free by upgrading the firmware.

If you do not know how to do it, hit the jump for more info and links to the firmware download pages.

Your camera will tell you what firmware it is using, and then you simply go and check to make sure there is not a new version out. At The Sun, we'd pop those new 1's and 0's into our cameras just about as soon as the upgrades were posted on the Nikon site.

Upgrading is very easy if you follow the instructions. You use your memory card to transfer the software. Make sure you have a freshly charged batt installed. (Don't want that puppy going dead while installing new firmware...) Some firmware upgrades are minor bug fixes, while others will make you think you are shooting with a whole new body.

The Nikon and Canon firmware links are listed below. If you shoot with another brand and know where to get to the firmware upgrades for it, hit is in the comments and we will bump those up, too.

• Nikon firmware upgrades
• Canon firmware upgrades

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This Has To Be Unsafe is Some Way...

Somewhere, in Canon's headquarters, a shiver ran down the spine of one of the corporate lawyers at the moment this photo was being taken. That said, cool photo!


... Warning: Do not attempt to fire the Canon e-TTL Wireless Flash System from *inside* of your body ...
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(Photo by Darwin Awards Official Product Tester Grant Beecher)

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Home Depot Week: Foil-Backed Tape

The first time I saw this stuff, the word, "coool" involuntarily escaped my lips: Aluminum foil. And tape. All mashed together.

Okay, the possibilities for light mods here are pretty much endless. Ringlight internals, beauty dishes, custom macro reflectors -- go nuts. The stuff is pretty cheap, too, depending on how big your project is.

HD has is by the 30' x 1.89" roll for $2.27. Or you can get it here, too. (Scroll down.)

I am curious to see what ideas you might have in store for this. Hit us in the comments.

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Vincent Laforet, Using Off-Camera TTL from Way Back When

I was Googling around this afternoon when I found this 2001 SportShooter article by (then) NY Times shooter Vincent Laforet. I had seen it before, but many of you probably haven't.

He was basically just discovering ETTL wireless, and was already doing cool stuff with it for his daily assignments. Several NYT photos and lighting diagrams are shown.

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Home Depot Week: T-Nuts

So, you bought a cheap old flash on eBay with a busted hot shoe for $5.00. If you've got 69 more cents you can mount it to a light stand.

That thingie mounted onto the back of the (perfectly good) Vivitar 285 at left is called a "T-nut." They are pretty easy to find in 1/4x20 or 3/8" sizes. It is fastened with "JB Weld" glue.

Long story short, anything you can stick a T-nut to can be mounted on a light stand. In fact, you could purposely destroy the hot shoe of a flash without a PC jack to get access to the synch wires and easily fashion your own pigtail 1/8" synch cord, using the T-nut to mount the flash. But that's another post.

You can also get spiked t-nuts that would mount to the underside of a small piece of wood (which would increase the surface area for the gluing) if you are concerned about strength of the bond.

Added bennie: The t-nut mount gets the flash head very close to the axis of the umbrella shaft, if you are softening your light that way.

(Thanks or the heads-up, Chad!)

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Home Depot Week: Continuous Light Sources

Fortunately there are now enough people in the world who would like to be able to blind someone with a flashlight to where we can get a killer light-painting source for next to no money.

Most hardware stores will have a good selection of rechargeable, one-million-candlepower+ spotlights at very reasonable prices. Amazon has them, too.

There's even a twenty million candlepower light at HD. Just in case you need to signal someone on, say, Jupiter.

They plug into the wall or your car. Charge 'em up and you are good to head out into the night.

John Moran used one in the photo from this article, and I just saw a cool 1MM-candlepower light painting photo pop up in the pool a couple days ago.

Tips:

• These are usually tungsten balanced. So you can get your camera to tungsten (making other ambient daylight go blue) or put a "CTB" gel over the flashlight to make it daylight balanced.

• For heaven's sake, don't just stand there at your tripod and nuke the scene. That's pretty much the same as on-camera flash. Walk around into the background (stay out of your photo) and define your subject from different directions. You can make a black cardboard tunnel gobo to hide the light if you have to sneak in there, too.

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RadioPopper: Prices, Specs

If you are still waiting for the appearance of the Great Pumpkin RadioPopper (see original post) they are one step closer to reality.

:: RadioPopper.com ::

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Home Depot Week: Fluorescent Lights and Accessories

This is another area I will be getting into when I have a little free time. Fluorescent fixtures are so cheap and so bright, you can use them as portrait light sources very easily.

As you can see, there are lots of shapes and sizes. Normal people see kitchen fixtures. I see soft boxes, strip lights and ring lights.

More on the lights and accessories after the jump.
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Okay, follow me for a sec. Say you have one dinky little flash. Why not consider two fluorescent strip lights for a high-glam foreground scheme and use the flash for the background light?

Seriously, you could mount them vertically (one per light stand) or horizontally (one over your camera, one under, one stand supports the left side of each fixture, one supports the right.) You'd get some very cool clamshell and/or dual sidelight schemes for under $100.

Better yet, throw up a strip light as a side/rim light on each side and umbrella the front to channel your frugal inner Greenberg. (If you want to make the subject cry, shoot another photog and tell him how little you paid for the lights...)

If you are a more MacGuyver-ish, you should be able to find a circular fixture that will work as a ringlight. You'll likely have to cut a hole in the center of the fixture after having relocated the ballast to somewhere off-board.

And if you do this, please insulate the crap out of it. Be safe.

(Some of those progressive Seattle types are already all over this one. Click on the pic for more info.)

Remember, you'll want to green any flashes you use along with the fluorescents and set you camera to fluorescent white balance. For better color, check which bulbs match your camera's fluorescent white balance before purchasing by shooting the various bulb displays and seeing which looks the whitest.
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Moving down the aisle a little, we get to the cool, prismatic diffusers. How does $7 for a 2x4-foot sheet hit you? (Yeah, me, too.)

This is wonderful stuff. It diffuses the light and is designed to be very efficient. It is cheap because it is hardware, not photo gear.

If you have a Dremel tool, this stuff cuts pretty easily. (Ringflash diffuser, anyone?)

You can also use this to make ugly directional sunlight much softer or to diffuse a bare flash. And of course, it works well to front those strip-light fixtures mentioned above.

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Matt Adcock: Drag King

Matt over at FlashFlavor.com has a how-to post up about working in a fluid environment and matching up your strobes to low ambient levels.

These techniques are useful to just about anyone, but especially those of you who shoot (or aspire to shoot) nuptials.

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Home Depot Week: More Backgrounds

Ever wish your commanding officer significant other would let you have a section of the wall to paint as a backdrop in any style you choose whenever you want?

You can, if you are willing to spend seven bucks. That's what a sheet of 4x8', 1/2" drywall goes for these days. If you are doing the home studio thing, or shooting in your garage, it's a no brainer. And at $7 plus the cost of paint, you can do one any time you want a visual theme to tie together a series of portraits or product shots.

(More after the jump.)
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For the portraits, you would just lean the painted sheet against a wall very carefully. ("I promise won't mess it up, honey!") Then pull out your speedlights and you are in business.

FWIW, I am lobbying for a permanent section of the basement as "paintable backdrop space" in our next house. (It's not looking great at this point, but I am very early in the process. I'll keep you posted.)

Granted, drywall looks like crap until you paint it. But no worries, as HD can help you there, too. They have people in the paint section just dying to tell you how to sponge, rag, roll, splatter, exfoliate -- whatever you want.

There are brochures in the color palette areas of the paint display that will get you thinking. Or you can go with a solid color if you want.

Wanna get one of those cool specular background shots, for instance? Just paint with a semi-gloss and choose a dark color. Bingo.

One particularly good book that they offer is "Decorative Painting: Expert Advice from Home Depot" ($14.95.) It contains more ideas for painted backdrops than you can shake a stirring stick at.

The drywall thing is not just for portraits, either. You can cut the stuff easily and make a corner out of two 4x4 pieces. Presto, instant alcove for still-life shots.

Here's a trick: To cut the drywall, you score one side with a utility knife (using a straight edge as a guide) and gently snap it. Do this carefully, and you can preserve the paper on the opposite side to make a nice, joined temporary corner for a shoot.

As for location, if you have no place inside that is suitable for shooting just lean your custom drywall backdrop against the side of a building on the shade side (or in the evening) and shoot away.

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Home Depot Week: Backgrounds

This week we are working our way through the aisles of the Big Orange Store, but this stuff is not necessarily specific to Home Depot. Many of these things can be found at just about any big hardware store, and the idea is to think frugally and creatively when scrounging for lighting and photo gear.
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I could spend all day wandering around a Home Depot or a Lowes store. So many possibilities: Hardware, lighting, backdrops, DIY supplies -- I get tingly just thinking about it.

Today, however, we are beginning in the paint aisle, looking for backdrops. HD has 'em in just about any size you want, only they call them drop cloths. These are washable canvas and they are dirt cheap.

How cheap? How 'bout under $10 for a 6x9-foot canvas?

More, including a link to a discussion on how to paint it and another way cool backdrop idea after the jump.

My photo "to-do" list is long, and growing. And one of the things on it is to paint a studio backdrop. I did one in college, and used it a lot. In fact, I got so much use out of it I had to pawn it off on another shooter, lest I become a 5'6" walking cliché of myself.

If you have the time and inclination, a roll-up painted backdrop is a no-brainer. $10 for canvas, $10 for paint and a coupla bucks for 2x2's at each end to form a roll-up structure. I'll be going into more detail on the process when I get a round tuit and make one, but no trip to Home Depot would be complete without passing by the bargain basement canvas backdrop aisle.

There is discussion on how to paint it here and more to be had if you do a little Googling. If you find a really good tutorial, throw us a bone in the comments.
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Counter Culture

And here's another idea that's a little off the wall: What about counter-top laminate as a backdrop? I was looking at the selection in Big Orange and there were some very nice portrait backdrops if you think of those counters vertically.

They come in 4x8-foot sheets for about $50. I would mount them to a sheet of 1/2" MDF board and collect them, if I had a permanent studio space. Two holes drilled through at the top, and on one side, would make them very easy to temporarily mount via pegs in a wall.

Vertical for single portraits, and horizontal for group head-and-shoulders shots. (The 4x8' thing would be your limiting factor.)

Very durable, and pretty cheap. And the dark, shiny colors are great for those specular background shots.

And just to show you my sophisticated studio for shooting this kind of stuff, here's a setup shot:

My "light stand" came from the rag drawer, the soft box came from the printer (with a minimal amount of origami) and the flash is a 20-year-old SB-26. It was triggered using the slave mode from the on-board flash, which was gobo'd with my hand so it would not contribute to the lighting.

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Bert Stephani: Hard Light and Beer Goggles

Bert Stephani is back, with another episode of shooting a beautiful model in Belgium. In this installment he shows us how to use beer to previsualize a background.

(See Bert's blog for jpegs from the shoot.)

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Saturday Speedlinks: 10-20-2007

Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, my family has arrived safely in Paris. If not, I depart this world leaving as my final words your humble Saturday Speedlinks, this week with video:

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• If you are a Dave Hill fan, he has lotsa new photos up on his website, and some new behind-the-scenes videos, too. That's him working for AP in the video above.

(No, not the $25-payin'-all-rights-grabbing AP. Alternative Press Magazine.) Butcha still can't light like him.

• The New Joisey folks are raising the bar on Strobist meetups. They are being hosted by Dyna-Lite, and are having demo gear shipped in for the day from MPEX.

Click here to find out what exit the meeting is at if you are in the NJ area and are free on 11/10.

• Last but not least, PopPhoto's Peter Kolonia has a very cool piece on the effects of using a polarized light source in conjunction with a lens polarizer. This stuff sucks a lot of light out of the system, so it is not for speedlighters unless you are working with bare flash. But very interesting stuff nonetheless.

(Light: Science and Magic has a very good section on this technique, with theory, how-to's and diagrams.)

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LumoPro LP632 'Shorty' Swivel

MPEX has been busy lately, what with the new 5-section compact stands and now this. The LP632 Umbrella Swivel will be a welcome addition to the gear bag of the space-conscious traveling shooter.

Reader's Digest condensed version: Smaller, better lighting axis, less flexible and the shoe could be better. Some will like this better than the standard umbrella swivels, and some won't.

Find out if it is right for you -- and how to hack it to make it better -- after the jump.
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First off, it is significantly smaller than the standard shoe-mount flash umbrella swivels:

Here they are side by side. If you are packing tight and every cubic inch is at a premium, the new one is gonna save you some room.

An added bennie of the small design is a fix for a problem that irks a lot of umbrella-mount shooters: The distance between the umbrella shaft (center of the light mod) and the flash head. This new swivel gets you a good inch closer, which minimizes the "off-center" quality of your light in the umbrella.

I am more familiar with the standard models, so I am partial to the big lever and smooth movement to tilt the flash/umbrella combo. But the new swivel incorporates a geared movement that bites well without a lot of torque on the lever. Which means you can get away with a smaller locking device. Which saves space.

The screw that holds the umbrella shaft is also smaller. Which actually might be a good thing for those who tend to crunch their shafts with too much torque. (There is a fix for that here.)

So, that said, what's not to like? I am irky about a couple of things. One of them depends on the flash you are using, and the other is fixable. So no big whup. Here they are.

First, the shoe is a little weird with newer Nikon (and other "pin-lock" flashes.) If you are shooting SB-24/25/26's or Vivitars, no biggie. But If your flash pin locks, like an SB-600 or -800, it does not sit very well.

There is a metal springy thing, which is a little weak and is, well, metal. So you need to tape it to kill the conductivity which would be right against your TTL contacts. And I also suggest sticking something under the spring (it is removable) to give it more pressure. I chose a wadded up rubber band.

In short, the shoe works great for older flashes but not as well for newer ones. And since it is not removable, you are locked into it. Not so the other swivels, which have shoes you can replace and/or mod with a drill and pliers to fit better.

The head on the new swivel is held by two rivets, not a screw. It is very secure, but it is a little wobbly on mine. Dunno if this is on all or just mine, but it is easily improved. A rubber band will easily get you nice and solid, so the rivet thing is a non-issue.

Remember, you can still use the swivel to mount to 1/4x20 platforms (like a monopod) with the included brass insert with female threads for 3/8 and 1/4x20 mounts, so don't throw the insert away. Heck, that and a $0.99 Home Depot clamp and you have the makings of a poor man's Superclamp.

So, the choice is yours. But at least there is a choice.

Anyone else old enough to remember these? They (on the left -- the dinky one) were from the old Spiratone catalog (70's and 80's) and had a 1/4x20 mount on the bottom.

Very cool.

Thanks for the pic, Malikmata52.

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(The top three photos on this page, BTW, were shot with the idiot-proof -- and tested -- cardboard macro studio.)

:: LP632 Umbrella Swivel ::

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Kodak, On The Attack

Alright, so this is a year old. But I just saw it for the first time this week, so maybe you have not seen it either.

It was supposedly an in-house video that was so good it made the jump to the real world. But it smells more like a made-to-be viral thing to me. (They have since made another one, but it is not as good.)

Either way, it is awesome that Kodak can simultaneously acknowledge their shortcomings and throw down the gauntlet in such a cool way.

Boo-yah.
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(Via DesktopDarkroom.com -- Thanks, Mike!)

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Assignment Construct: Non-Stop 'On Assignments'

The On Assignment posts are on a bit of a hiatus lately, as I have turned that energy into shooting for the DVDs. But that project is nearing completion, and I look forward to reviving the popular series soon. It's gonna be a whole different ball game, but they are coming back.

In the meantime, my friend John Harrington today launches Assignment Construct, a site which is nothing but On Assignments. (You may remember John as the author of the industry-standard business practices book.) He deals with the assignments a little differently, detailing the process of pulling off photos within the context of the problems and logistics that need to be overcome.

Check him out if you have a minute.

And if you are new around here and have not yet seen the On Assignment series, we've got some cool stuff, too.

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Eighteen Minutes of Your Life You'll Never Get Back

Photojournalist Patrick Smith, who likes to impress the ladies by hoisting bicycles, interviewed me for a podcast last week. He has posted it on his blog.


Mom always did say I had a good face for radio.

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Joey Lawrence Tutorial: Review

If you read our chat with 17-year-old hotshot photog Joey Lawrence earlier this week, you probably made the jump to check out the new Tutorial he just released. And your first reaction was probably, "$299? WTF?"

Well, I have spent the last few days digesting the material in the tutorials, and I'll tell you WTF after the jump. Plus, there is a sneak preview of a full, 10-minute video segment of the Protest the Hero shoot, which is when he made the photo above.

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The first thing I want to dispense with is the price. At $299 ($249 through Oct 21st) it is easy to look at this and compare it to the cost of a commercially produced DVD of whatever was playing 6 months ago in the theaters. If you are looking to watch this once and be entertained for two hours for X dollars, just save your money and buy "Superbad" for $20 when it comes out. Then get you laugh on, McLovin. Better yet, rent it for even less.

(Superbad may well be the funniest movie I have ever seen. But it is definitely a guy thing and most decidedly not for the kiddies.)

We are in a culture where you can get access to an almost unlimited amount of infotainment for very little money. This is based on the idea that you create this very expensive thing and millions of people share the cost load to make it work for everyone. Which is cool, really, but it also warps our perception of the value of information.

This blog, for instance, is free. But the information (hopefully) still has some value. But that doesn't mean I should expect to get, say, a degree in psychology for free.

So, before I get into the DVD itself, here is who definitely should be interested in it:


• People who shoot musicians for income. No brainer.
• Fine art types who want to learn how to take their photos into more alternative visions.
• Sports shooters -- seriously, this is Gatorade/Nike ad stuff.
• Senior portrait photographers: One could make a killing shooting 18-year-olds from rich families who want to look alternative and epic. You'll have some work in front of you to study and learn the shooting/post techniques, but wow.
• People who shoot for -- or aspire to shoot for -- progressive and/or alternative publications or websites. Duh.
• Doctors, lawyers, professionals and otherwise rich hobbyists who have more money than they know what to do with. But then, they get to buy everything.

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What You Get

To avoid any confusion, you should know that the package is not and standard DVD designed to be dropped into your player and seen on TV. It is a package of files (1.5 gigs) that can be either downloaded or shipped on a DVD ROM. This enables the inclusion of texture images. (They are hi-res jpegs, and you'll never look at a concrete wall the same way again.) They would not otherwise be accessible on a TV DVD format. I bring this up because someone left a comment on Monday's IM interview in which they seemed pretty upset that they did not get a traditional DVD, and had problems playing Quicktime on their PC.

The info is navigated using your browser -- as if you were on the web -- but the content is all stored locally. So you can view it offline, and there is no waiting for movies to load.

The package is divided into two sections, videos and tutorials. The videos are shot on location during a few shoots, with some how-to vignettes thrown in. While the real meat of the presentation is in the tutorials, I found the videos very interesting. There is a full video segment embedded below.

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Learning Like a Teenager

Lawrence is one of a breed of new shooters who have grown up with digital and Photoshop. He studies shooting and post techniques the way one of his friends might learn how to beat Halo 3. There is no downside to making mistakes - you just mess up, learn and advance.

His shoots show this, too. He is working with studio lights in some shoots and speedlights in others, but the ethic is the same: Assume there is a way to do anything you need to do. Need blood? Make it. Need new textures for your grunge-look photos? Bake some in mom's oven.

The way he choreographs his subjects, interacts with them, collaborates with them -- it all serves to show you how a 17-year old thinks differently than you probably do. For me, the biggest takeaway was how little there truly was standing between what I am doing and moving into his level. I love this kind of stuff, so I am certainly biased in this review. But being exposed to a new way of thinking is, for me, far more valuable than adding another piece of gear to the bag.

Check out the following video from the "Protest the Hero" shoot, which Lawrence uploaded to YouTube:



The guy is frugal, creative and simply does not acknowledge limits. I love that. I should think that way more often.

But for Lawrence, the shoots are just the appetizer. The first phase of an image creation that gets him the platform to create his final product in Photoshop. You are gonna laugh, but the thing it reminded me of was the three-book series by Ansel Adams -- The Camera, The Negative and The Print. (I wore my copies out.)

Yeah, all except it is totally different in terms of tools, technology and a complete lack of anal-retentiveness.

The Photoshop tutorials were gold to me. As a long-time newspaper shooter with ethics always guiding what I do, these tutorials just exploded the way I think of post processing. I know lots of you out there are Photoshop jockeys, so you may be way ahead of me. But I am certainly going to be doing some different photos from here on out.

He is not holding back, going totally fishbowl on all of his techniques. That's awesome, and it speaks to the different way he views the craft as compared to many of his older colleagues. There is no one technique that rules -- they all are just tools to him. If you are the kind of person who obsesses with backward engineering Dave Hill's stuff (or Tim Tadder's) you'll go for this.

He moves fast, but explains everything. You'll be backing up to see stuff again until you understand it. This is not a begginer's Photoshop guide, either. But if you use PS with any regularity, you'll be able to understand it.

Is this thing totally comprehensive? Nope. Nothing is. But it is a total and honest info dump of all things Joey Lawrence, from soup to nuts, showing you everything he possibly could about his technique, style and approach to image creation.

Sure, people are ragging him for the price tag. But this guy is finding incredible success at a young age and is sharing his techniques with the industry at a time when they have real value. Good on him for spreading the word, and he deserves to sell a lot of copies.

So, will he bury his career with this project? Hardly. He is giving you what he has learned up to here, but he doesn't need to rely on these techniques to make a living going forward. He is a very creative, talented and driven young adult. And with this project, many people will be funding the next stage of his career.

And my guess is that senior portraits are gonna get a lot more interesting -- and expensive -- in the next few years.
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Get a second opinion: Amercan Peyote review
IM Chat Interview here
Joey Lawrence Tutorial
Joey Lawrence Website

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Sweet-Lookin' DIY Ringlight

Whoa. This thing looks so good it is almost too purdy to be DIY. Profile shot, and link to full instructions, apres le jump.

This is really slick. I am curious how even the light distribution is. But maybe it looks nice enough so's I don't even care.

Even sweeter: Total damages - $27.29.

(Props to reader Richard Melanson for the posting the how-to article.)

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Spray Paint: The New Background Paper

Kyle May is refinishing his floor soon. So came up with this cheap, easy solution for a studio backdrop to shoot a light bulb photo: He spray painted the floor.

Seen in the Show Off Your Ghetto Studio thread, which could get very interesting depending on how many people ante up.

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Finally, A Little Compact Stand Competition

I have long been a fan of the Bogen 3373 compact, five-section light stand. Same goes for it's twin, the Manfrotto 001(b). They will stick a bare speedlight right up into an 8-foot ceiling (if you angle the legs right) and they fold down to about 19.5 inches.

Add to that the solid legs (perfect for drilling for a strap) and you have an ultra-portable, long lasting stand. The problem is, they are $57.95 each. And that is when you can find them -- they always seem to have shortage issues.

But that was then, and this is now. Enter the LumoPro LP604, which is the stand on the left in the photo up top.

Full review after the jump.
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Okay, here's the Reader's Digest condensed version: If you like the Bogen/Manfrotto version, you'll like the LP604 (UPDATE: This stand has been replaced by the LP605. Same price, but with removeable ground spikes.). In fact, you'll like it about 30% more, 'cause at $39.99, it costs about 30% less than the Manfrotto 001(b).

As you can see from the top photo (click it for a bigger version) the two stands are both 5-section designs. The LP604 LP605 is a tad longer -- 1/2 inch collapsed and about an inch longer when extended.

The LP605 comes with a 3/8" thread up top, but includes the little nubby adapter to get you to 1/4x20 if needed. This adds a half inch to the folded length. But I do not need it, so I use them without it.

Comparing the two, there are some differences.

First of all the LP605 is a tad heavier. I do not have a scale that will measure the difference, but I would guess it is 5-10% heavier. This is due to the bigger center column -- it has a larger diameter -- and being slightly longer.

Transport-wise, the two are basically interchangeable. If you already have a Bogen/Manfrotto or two, these could be used along with the LP605 with no difference in workflow.

That may seem obvious, but I am pretty picky about smooth workflow. That is why I like to use four of the same model strobes -- SB-26's -- and all of the same umbrella swivels.

If I am using multiple bodies, I prefer they be the same model, too. Just makes for less fumbling around.

If the LP605 cost you a little in terms of marginal size and weight, you get it back with a little increase in strength and stability. Don't get me wrong -- you stick an umbrella on this thing in the wind and it is going down. (You have to anchor those stand/umbrellas with a bag or strings and stakes.)

We are talking marginal differences here. But they are differences.

What is not a marginal difference is the price. MPEX (LumoPro is a house brand of MPEX) has them for $39.99, which is $18 cheaper than the Bogen/Manfrottos. Essentially, you get the LP605 and an umbrella swivel for the price of a Manfrotto 001(b).

(MPEX is now incorporating them into the various, ready-made Strobist kits. And they are reducing the prices to reflect the lower cost of the stands.)

Best yet, these should be much easier for them to keep in stock, as the supply line is pretty much totally under the control of MPEX.

Cool beans.

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:: LP605 Product Page ::

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Young Blood: A Chat with Photographer Joey Lawrence

Canadian Photographer Joey Lawrence is kicking butt. He is doing killer still photography, shooting music videos and traveling the world. He has an agent in New York and another one in London. Pretty cool for a guy who shoots with a Canon EOS 5D and is as likely to be lighting with his speedlights as with Profotos.

Oh yeah, and he is only 17 years old.

As a 42-year-old, that last tidbit is the kind of thing that tends to really piss me off. But rather than get mad at the guy, I thought I would interview him and see what makes him tick.

Our archived chat, more of his photos, links and info on his new DVD after the jump.

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Beers Milk with Joey Lawrence


Strobist: So, first things first: Where are you based, how old are you really, and is your calendar really that full or is that algebra class?

JoeyL: I'm based nowhere, because most times I live in hotel rooms across the world going from job to job, or eating out of a can of noodles. Yup, my calendar is that full and I'm 17 years old .


Strobist: Noodles, huh? You aren't supposed to have to live on those until college. (10 for a dollar...) When did you start shooting seriously, like with a DSLR, for instance?

JoeyL: Nah, I just eat noodles because they are healthy. I started using a DSLR about 18 months ago. A lot of the stuff you see on my website was done with just a standard Minolta Dimage.


Strobist: Yeah, on Strobist we are pretty big on it being what's between the ears and not how expensive your gear is. You shoot Canon now, right? 5D, I am thinking, with those wide shots.

JoeyL: Yes, right now I use a Canon 5D and mainly prime lenses.


Strobist: When did you realize that you had an eye that was very different from that of most people your age (or any age, actually?)

JoeyL: I don't think what I do is really that complicated, it's more of a conscious thought as to making what is already there work. And that only takes a lot of messing up to develop, so I guess when I made enough mistakes.


Strobist: Mistakes are cool. They lead to more interesting successes. You have a lot going on in your photos -- moment. environment, light, action -- what is your creative process? Where do you start when you are building an idea of a photo in your head?

JoeyL: Are you talking about my commercial pictures?


Strobist: Any pictures...

JoeyL: Well, for the more photojournalistic photographs I have, such as pictures from India, it's usually finding a unique spot and waiting for the right person to appear. Or finding the right person to appear and get to know them enough that they will make a picture with you.

You have to pay attention to the wave of the environment and go with the flow. It's different for the more setup things I do, where I may pitch an absolutley ridiculous idea to a magazine or record label and see if they trust me enough to make it work. Then I have to figure out how to make it work myself.


Strobist: So, you'll throw something out there that you have yet to figure out how to do? Ballsy. Do you worry when they accept it?

JoeyL: Hahaha -- exactly, but it's the best way to force yourself to do new and creative things and get unique shots. I'm sick of pictures of bands standing in an alleyway with tough looks on their faces. I'd much rather dress them up as knights and have them scale a wall or something, it's kind of interesting.

Strobist: You do not realize just how far ahead of the pack an attitude like that puts you. Most guys are like, "If it makes money, let's keep doing it until it stops making money." End result: The death of creativity.

You also have a unique position as a pro shooter in that you are on the leading edge of the 18-34 demo that most companies covet. Do you think that gives you a perspective that many professionals lack?

JoeyL: I think it keeps me sane, more than anything.


Strobist: Let's talk about your light for a minute. You mention you use a lot of speedlights -- bare and hard, it looks like -- do you prefer them over the bigger strobes?

JoeyL: Well, I prefer bringing them through an airport! It's true I usually use them bare and hard. But I also make a lot of devices for them myself like soft boxes made of cardboard, tin foil, and a bed sheet I cut up and stole from a hotel room. I do rent strobes from time to time, but usually I want to mix up what I'm doing and change things.


Strobist: That's a great way to go. Far more liberating than $15k worth of studio lights and hi-power cords running everywhere. When you are approaching a shot, say a commercial concept, do you design the light early in the process? You photos have a definite "look," so I would imagine that people are coming to you in part because of that signature style you can create.

JoeyL: Yes, and also because I have a tendency to break a lot of stuff! If I am planning a commercial shoot the light is usually figured out in advance, yes. But if it's not working I usually mix it up and do something completely different on the fly.


Strobist: Your stuff looks effortless and natural, but you did not get to that point by accident. It takes a lot of work and honing of your skills and craft. What photographers have you used as compass points and mentors? Have you assisted for anyone?

JoeyL: I'm more inspired by movie lighting and a cinematic look, where you put lights where the sun or light sources would actually be, and light for the whole set.


Strobist: Tough to do with speedlights sometimes. But agreed, the movie guys are the best lighting folks in the world. What is your favorite movie, light-wise?

JoeyL: My favourite movie is Baraka, but it doesn't really have any setup lighting at all. So I'd have to go with modern music videos and things like that.


Strobist: Baraka rocks. I have it quicktimed on my Macbook. Amazing movie, almost no words. Does that make you wanna go all Ron Fricke and do stuff like time-lapse still photo video?

JoeyL: It makes me want to go chill in India again. Which I'm doing this October for a month -- India, Nepal and Bangladesh.


Strobist: Is it tied to any project, or are you just paying yourself back a little?

JoeyL: The only project for this is to build my photojournalism portfolio, so I can get more jobs doing that. I really like dangerous places and war photography. I was supposed to go to Afghanistan this year but it got cancelled because of the new Taliban threats against foreign nationals.


Strobist: Yeah, and plus if you die before age 20, just think how famous you'd be THEN...

JoeyL: I'd be pretty content with my life either way. But what I really want to do is to be able to afford about 100 cameras and put them all in a circle, take one exposure at the same time, and make an animation of the camera motion.


Strobist: Looking ahead 10 years, what would you want to be doing? More of the stuff you are doing now? A book? Films? I mean you probably have friends that work at the mall -- your head must explode just thinking about your path sometimes.

JoeyL: Well I am doing music videos now, (I've done two.) So I want to slowly ooze more into film and feature film. It would be cool to come out with a book of stuff but I don't think I'm ready yet. I'm not really at the level I want to be at yet.


Strobist: Could you let go and let a cinematographer do his or her thing, or would you be tough to shoot for?

JoeyL: I have great trust in people and would want to be a director instead of a cinematographer.


Strobist: There is a lot of life in your photos. How do you coax that out of your subjects? (I love the yelling stuff in the behind the scenes video on your site.) Do you think your age is an advantage or a disadvantage in a situation like that? Do people try harder with you, or do thay make you prove yourself to them?

JoeyL: Well, on a shoot I like to interact with the people as best I can, such as showing them pictures as the shoot progresses, sketches of what is going to happen. It's hard to convince people because I look like some young sketch so I request that bands see my website before the shoot, for example.

For photographs from the streets, such as the homeless series, I know all those guys and all their stories, so the pictures come after when there is more of a connection. I don't think the pictures would turn out any good unless I was interested in their life.

Strobist: Some of your stuff looks incredibly realistic, and yet highly stylized. The fight photos you have in your website could almost be a snuff film. Is that real blood?

JoeyL: I made it out of food coloring, water, corn syrup and sugar. It tasted delicious!

Strobist: Low-budget SFX rocks. Was that your idea, or a commercial concept?

JoeyL: That was my idea. The pictures are for the band Protest the Hero to advertise a tour they did in Japan.


Strobist: They must have eaten that up in Japan.

JoeyL: They had a different sound in earlier albums and broke into something new, so I thought what better way to show this than beating the shit out of each other.


Strobist: What did they think of the photos?

JoeyL: They loved them, and they are the type of guys that don't really care for photoshoots. and their manager has them on his wall.


Strobist: I loved a recent "fan letter of the week" on your blog, where someone called you basically a product of "matrix metering + Photohop." I laughed out loud. Do people seriously not get that PS is such a part of the process now? Do you do a lot of your own post work in Photoshop, or do you have minions for that?

JoeyL: Haha yeah, it's kind of bad of me to only post the bad 'fan mails' because I get so many good ones. But I think it's also important to show people these because a lot of photographers read that and get similar e-mails. And yes, I do all my own post work. So instead of hiding it and being scared of these e-mails it's kind of hilarious to post them and see how ridiculous they are.


Strobist: It helps to be comfy with who you are and what you are doing. You and Dave Hill (out of Nashville) are working the post process in a really cool way. Ever see his stuff?

JoeyL: Yeah, he shoots for the same magazine that I do sometimes. (Alternative Press) He had the cover last month and I got it this month. He does really cool stuff!


Strobist: All over the world, digital cameras and cheap computers are opening up the process to millions of young, hyper-creative photogs. If you could talk to a roomful of a thousand 14-year-old shooters who want to reach a high level of shooting, what would you tell them?

JoeyL: I get e-mails from a lot of people even younger than me and it's always nice to see that because I used to do the same thing to cool photographers I found. My best advice would be to use the internet as a tool and post as much stuff as possible for feedback. But don't become discouraged -- try to develop something fresh and new. I have tons of really really old horrible pictures that are still around the internet but it's important to start somewhere, it doesn't bother me.

Strobist: Yeah, Flickr is a fantastic thing to happen to photography. There is no distance between shooters any more.

JoeyL: Or people who buy my editing dvds/tutorials e-mail me for more info on something specific. It's cool and there's no way I'm going to neglect those e-mails, I like to help people learn because I was, and still am, in the same boat. If I knew everything than there would be no point at being creative and forcing myself to learn new stuff?


Strobist: Hmm... Be careful what you wish for. Strobist has about 150,000 photographers reading it. And I think you just left your front door unlocked because many of them are going to want to see your DVDs.

JoeyL: That's great! I need money, haha! By the by, I have a brand new one coming out in a few days.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: It is out -- more info here.)


Strobist: What's the subject matter?

JoeyL: My whole workflow, from shooting (behind the scenes footage, light diagrams) to editing (on-screen Photoshop capture with narrration.) It's got some actions and textures to use yourself, even how to cook your own textures in the oven to use! I think it's going to have about 2 hours of material when I'm done. Oh, and it's even got a karaoke sing along intro... (haha)


Strobist: Holy crap, you have no idea how many people are gonna jump on that from here. Heck, I am, too. We'll happily fund your trip to India/etc.

JoeyL: Thanks, I hope it goes over well because I was suggested to break lessons up and sell them individually. But I don't think that's such a great idea because my workflow is just one big thing, you know?


Strobist: Absolutely. IMO, people get hung up on one part of the process (the "How to get the Dave Hill Look" thread in our Flickr group has over 300 posts) and then they lose sight of the more holistic view of the process. You are doing a cool thing by keeping them together.

JoeyL: Yeah, and I think people will learn more this way towards something bigger for themselves. For instance, most people might just jump on the grunge lesson and not on the other ones that make the grunge look good. I've had a friend come around and videotape photoshoots so there's a lot of fire, blood and knights!


Strobist: I really cannot wait to see it. Thanks much for taking the time to chat with us. I can't wait to see what else you have in store, picture-wise.

JoeyL: Thanks, feel free to e-mail me about anything but no "Joey Lawrence: 'woaaah!!!'" quotes from the show Blossom


Strobist: Cool, I'll pass that along....

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:: Joey Lawrence Photography ::
:: Blog ::
:: Tutorial DVD :: (Soundtrack Content: 100% Cheese)

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Our Sponsors Rock - Zenfolio Running a Strobist Special

It is the time of the month where I bend over and firmly plant one right on the cheeks of the sponsors that make this whole thing work. In September, we were supported by MPEX, PhotoShelter, Zenfolio, Connected Flow and Catapult Stock. Thanks also to those of you who click through to Amazon from the links on this site when you shop there, as that painless act helps to support Strobist.

Needless to say, we think our sponsors are special. And this month, Zenfolio apparently thinks you are, too, as they are running a special only for readers of this site: Up to 40% off.

See here for more details.

(Thanks, Alex!)

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Saturday Speedlinks, 10-13-2007

This week I took a day trip up to New York City (always fun) which led to two of today's speedlinks:

• I was up there to be interviewed for Crossfader, which brings together people from the genres of photo, video and audio. Derek Mazzone, who is running the joint, has a pan-creative vision for sharing and mashup that is not unlike what we do here on Strobist.

(I'll also post a link to the interview when it is published.)

• While walking in NYC on 57th street (the main purpose of which is to show you how much money you do not have) I came across a wonderful exhibition of underwater photography by Alex Kirkbride. The photos are from a book that is available here. Amazing stuff.

• Still mooching off of my last trip up to NYC, PhotoShelter has placed several more videos of presentations from their national tour of meetings.

That there's some good Photo TV. Definitely worth a look.

• I have had several people ask how I snagged a Diet Mountain Dew sponsorship. (See button at bottom of sidebar.) Easy -- I didn't. That's just my beverage of choice, the caffeine inside which powers this site. Total fanboy linkup. If you click on the button, you'll see the shark commercial, but I also like the illegal puppet commercial.

(And if you happen to work for the folks who make Diet Mountain Dew, you have no idea how cheaply you could have me... )

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Get Creative for Additional Light Sources

If you only have one off-camera flash setup, you may feel limited in what you can accomplish by mixing strobe and ambient. But that all depends on how creative you are at scrounging for good ambient light sources.

Take the computer-LCD shot above, shot by DBR Photography, which did not even make use of a flash. While I understand that many of you do not have two identical iMacs sitting around (let alone the bikini-clad model) I'll bet most of you have access to my favorite location continuous light source.

(More after the jump.)

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See if you can find the scrounged backlights cleverly hidden in this picture.

Did you guess the cars? If you did, you are correct.

Any time you are doing a night (or twilight) shot on location somewhere you may have very well driven a powerful pair of backlights to get there. And it does not have to be a pair, either, as it is very easy to unplug a car headlight to leave just one.

Astragony left them in the frame (to cool effect) but you do not have to. They are great for throwing a raking side/back light across the frame from well off-camera. In this capacity, they can both add texture to a scene and create a separation light on the shadow side of your subject.

Are they bright enough?

Well, yeah. You can make them as bright as you want if you leave the shutter open long enough. This is basic light balancing stuff -- just open that shutter and let the continuous light burn in.

Depending on your tax bracket, you car's headlights might even have a daylight-balanced color temperature, too. Although they are most likely balanced to tungsten. You can work around this in several ways:


• Leave the headlights as tungsten and work in daylight balance with flash. (Just let those headlights go super warm.)

• Gel the flash with a CTO and set your camera's balance to tungsten. This has the added bonus of shifting any lingering daylight-based ambient to blue for more color contrast.

• Gel the headlamp(s) with a CTB gel (Color Temperature Blue -- opposite of CTO) and work in daylight balance. This makes everything daylight balanced.

As far as direction is concerned, you are not limited to backlight with the headlamps. You could shoot your subject in front of a 2-d backdrop (like a wall) with your car parked right behind you, double-front-fill style. Someone shot in profile could look really cool with the flash coming from the side (better yet -- slightly behind on the side) to define the face against that front-light fill.

(Bonus points: Gobo the flash so it does not strike the background, popping some sidelight on the subject that stands out against the background shadow of half of the front-light duo.)

You can even balance with quickly dimming twilight, too. But there is some timing involved. Here are your variables:

• Flash, which is constant and is adjusted by the aperture (or dialing it up or down with manual control.)

• Headlights, constant and adjusted by shutter/aperture combo.

• Twilight, which will be sinking quickly and cares about the shutter and the aperture.


Here's how I would do it. First of all, understand the twight/flash balancing technique, as this process adds a layer of timing to that.

Start early. Set up the environment for your shot, and nail down your poses and angles you'll want as you wait for the sun to cooperate.

Basically, as the ambient and headlight start to come into balance (headlights are constant and the ambient is sinking) you'll be exposing for the flash with the aperture and constantly opening up your shutter to expose for the sinking ambient light.

Through this time, the headlamps will remain constant, so they will have the effect of getting relatively brighter and brighter as you open up your shutter to follow the ambient light down. When they get too bright to look right with the ambient twilight, you are done. But you can always change the look and just balance your flash and headlights, letting the twilight go dark.

This window where everything (flash, twilight and headlamps) works comes and goes pretty quickly. You might not be comfy with the process the first time. So practice on a tree or something earlier if the shoot is important.
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Have you done a photo using headlights as a second light source? Drop it in our Flickr pool and shoot us a link in the comments.

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