Lighting Basketball: Let's Trade Ideas

It's hoops season again, with pro, college and high school getting into swing of things. We have run a few posts on different ways to light basketball using small flashes, including here, here and here.The photo at top was from our friendly little Final Four competition with Sportsshooter last year. You can see how the photo was done (with two speedlights)...

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Lighting 101 Now Available in PDF Format

Finally found an umlimited bandwidth site that hosts files for free. (Thanks to Rui M. Leal for the formatting effort.)If you are a newb, Lighting 101 is the foundation on which the site is built, and is the best place to start. I have left a few typos in there, just for added charm. Lots of charm, actually. The pix are only screen-res, but the price is right. Full refund if not 100% satisfied.________________________:: Download Lighting 101 PDF :::: Rui's Lighting Mods Blog ::SECOND UPDATE: The MediaFire server is groaning a little unter the strain,...

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You Got Questions, We Got Answers.

Who writes this stuff?I'm David Hobby, a 20-year career newspaper shooter. I studied photojournalism at the University of Florida. I have shot for the Leesburg (FL) Commercial, the Orlando (FL) Sentinel, UPI, and lots of other publications as a freelancer/stringer/intern. I have been a staff photographer at Patuxent Publishing (Columbia, MD) from '88-'99 and at The Baltimore (MD) Sun from '99-'08. I left The Sun in 2008 to blog and shoot full-time.When/why did you start this blog?Originally, Strobist was launched in April of 2006 as an excuse to...

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David X. Tejada Lives in Conference Rooms

So, how are we sleeping lately? Having trouble? Lemme see if I can help:"Meeting shots..."The mere mention of the phrase just nudges you towards somnambulistic bliss, doesn't it?But while you are sleeping, Dave T. is minting coin. Because he knows how to light a room to get nice-looking corporate meeting shots. "But I am a creative photographer," you protest. "And I would never waste my artistic talents on meeting sh- how much?"If you are gonna shoot corporate, and by that I mean if you are gonna be a photographer and be able to afford braces when...

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Save the Dates: Orlando and San Francisco

UPDATE: This is not a signup, just a save-the-date. More details coming later._____________Just a preliminary note that I am planning to be in San Francisco for a lighting seminar on Jan. 19th, and in Orlando on Feb. 16th and 17th. Also looking at Philly and Phoenix (and possibly L.A.) in the coming months, too. (No date yet on those.)I will update with better info soon. Venue suggestions in the comments are much appreciated.-...

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Strobist Reader-Designed Pocket Wizard Caddy

Reader Hil, an industrial designer by day, has created a way to mount your Pocket Wizards to a light stand or directly to a flash. He calls it the Pocket Wizard "Remote Transceiver" Caddy.Having tried it, I can can report that it works very well. Your "remote transceiver" is basically part of the stand when it is attached.Why would you even want one...

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Chase is On the Case

Seattle photographer Chase Jarvis (whose background music is always kosher) gets all logistical in his latest video, showing how he and his group roll with all of their gear. The video above is the short version, clocking in at ~10 mins or so, and hits the basics. If you want a master class in the logistics of transporting still, lighting, video, misc. gear and the like, be it by car, plane, expediter or donkey (seriously) hit the jump for the long form. In addition to being much more informative, it is half an hour of pure gear porn. There are...

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A Little Light Painting

Pretty cool, huh? The photo is by fellow Strobist reader W. Brandon Voges, who shoots with Bruton Stroube Studios in St. Louis, MO. Hit the jump to see a video of how it was done (shooting and post work) and a link to one of the coolest photographer website designs I have seen in a while.__________________________So, yeah, there's a little bit of Photoshop...

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A Photojournalist Looks Back

UPDATE: Corrects Lo Scalzo's mag to U.S. News and World Report. (Sorry, Jim!)This is not about lighting, but I know more than a few photojournalists read this site. If you are a PJ and you have nine minutes and forty three seconds to spare, watch U.S. News and World Report shooter Jim Lo Scalzo's piece, Evidence of My Existence, which is currently...

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Table-Top Lighting a la David Ziser

Personally, I like to preserve the memories of my desserts in the form of archival love handles. But David Ziser, over at Digital Pro Talk, would rather just photograph his food before eating it. Using a Canon 40D -- and only the camera's built-in, pop-up flash -- he made this photo. It is lit pretty much entirely by that little pop-up flash, too....

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Quick and Easy Location Macro Setup

Australian photographer Neil Creek dropped this macro shot of a fossilized shrimp into the pool over the weekend, and included what I thought was a pretty neat lighting scheme in the setup shot.He used two speedlights and two small sheets of paper. Take a minute to figure out how you would do it, them make the jump for the setup shot._________________________Using...

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Strobist Photos of the Year Contest: Call for Sponsors

UPDATE (12/07/07): To the contest's prospective sponsors: THANK YOU!We have an embarrassment of riches of sort, with an oversubscription of offers. I have narrowed it down to five, and there are going to be many drooling photographers when prizes are announced next week. I will be contacting you shortly as to whether your offered prizes will be included. Two things to remember: We will have opportunities to do this again, and those of you who do not end up sponsoring SPOY, will be glad they were able to enter it!Thanks much,David______________________Over...

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The Problem is Not in Your Set

FYI: YouTube, on which many of this site's embedded videos are hosted, is experiencing widespread, sporadic outages. It is not specific to Strobist. YouTube is under the hood working on it as I write this. (Click the TV pic for latest info.)-...

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Leftover Speedlinks, 11-24-2007

(Turkey carcass by MortonPhotographic)• For you continental readers, Rui, over at Lighting Mods now features a dropdown menu of sources for small-flash lighting gear all over Europe. (His most recently updated info is on the right sidebar on his site.)• Wiz has some thoughts on using direct flash in the vertical orientation (not that there's anything...

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SM DV Remotes -- Anyone Know Anything?

Alert Reader Gord H. emailed me to tell me about it after coming across a set. This is the first I am hearing of them, so I do not have anything more about them except Gord's email and info from the website. They look interesting, although some of the website info alludes to a 1/180th of a sec max sync speed, which could be an issue.Says Gord:"I played...

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Friday Flickr Faves -- 11/23/2007

Lotsa cool stuff coming upstream from readers lately. Click the pic to see a slideshow of the newest stuff in a new window...-...

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Sponsor Thanksgiving Leftovers

Special thanks to the bidnesses that made our little corner of the world possible for the last month:MPEXPhotoShelterZenfolioStudioStylesHonlPhoto ProfessionalApple / Hewlett PackardAnd thanks also to those of you who click through to Amazon (who is doing the Black Friday sale thing this year, too.)-...

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Paul Duncan, In the Spotlight Again

Back in the day at Patuxent Publishing, we used to have this Norman studio strobe head, called a "Tri-Light," which was basically a spotlight projector. It threw a tight beam with a sharp edge to it. We, of course, overused the heck out of it, making really cheeseball photo illustrations.(Hey, we were young and stupid.)Paul Duncan, the guy who brought...

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So Much for the Big Macy's Parade Debut

Aaron Johnson at www.whattheduck.net had a really cool surprise lined up for the Web 2.0 photo community. Until, well, better just watch the video.(Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.)-...

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Google, Strobist, You and Mavis

For the international readers, in the US today is Thanksgiving. It is a day in which we watch a big parade, pause to give thanks, eat turkey, watch football and take a breath to prepare for the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.First of all, thanks to all of you for reading the site and especially for contributing to the flow of information that...

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Why You, Too, Should YouTube

Colorado Photographer David X. Tejada takes us along on another location shoot today. Here's a question for you: Why does Dave bother to shoot all of these videos? I have been thinking a lot about this recently, and the bennies are starting to add up in my mind. Hit the jump after watching the video for more on why David in the world would continue to spend time and resources to keep doing this.__________________________The Bennies of Free TVConsider:1. David is sharing his techniques with other photographers, raising the industry's knowledge base...

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Lighting 102: 4.1 - Restricting Light

Soft light is... nice.Soft light is safe. It is flattering. It is, well, expected, for lack of a better word.And don't get me wrong -- nice, safe, flattering and expected are good things. They put bread on the table every single day for pro shooters around the world. But the people who are doing edgy, risk-taking stuff -- fun stuff -- tend to not be...

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Shoot Projects on the Cheap with your Peeps

Belgian photographer Bert Stephani posted a video last week that hits on a lot of cylinders for me. Taken at face value, it is a cool series of hard-lit shots of a gas-masked runner. But before you watch the video (after the jump) take a moment to notice all of the things that Bert and his buds are accomplishing with this group shoot.A Little Stone...

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Gadget Infinity / Canon 5D Issues?

Are you using the Gadget Infinity remotes with a Canon 5D? Some are reporting banding issues in photos, especially with modded units. It seems to center around RF interference and CMOS chips.Discussion is here, if you are having problems (or success) with the combo.-...

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Another Crafty Bouncy Thing

Sean, whom I met in Paris last month, has a simple little bounce diffuser thingie he designed out of craft foam and Velcro. It's DIY-able, but if you are well-heeled, or time-poor, or just plain lazy, Sean will sell you one here.(Don't tell anyone in Microsoft legal what he called it. You know how those soulless corporate types are...)-...

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Saturday Speedlinks: 11/17/2007

• At Digital ProTalk, David Ziser forces his poor backlight to do the work of two flashes for no extra pay.• The F Stop Mag has a new piece out, which includes a great interview with high-end shooter Pier Nicola D'Amico.• Ninedays Blog posts about how to dye the previously mentioned cheapo Home Depot canvas backdrops.• Oldie, but new to me: Guy goes to a Halloween party dressed as a whole pack of paparazzi. Awesome creativity. (Found from people musing in the comments about how to turn 8 disposable flash cams into a ring light...)• Patience is...

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HD RingFlash: Test Drive / Q and A

I have not had much time to play with my new ring flash yet, but I can already see that it produces light that is soft, even and strong enough for the kinds of photos I want to learn how to shoot. Click on the pics for larger versions.______________________I made this photo at the Patapsco meetup, just starting to experiment a little with still life...

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UltraBounce: Bare Bulb Flash, Flat as a Pancake

I was bouncing around the LumiQuest site last night and saw something pretty neat. It's a Sto-Fen Omnibounce-ish sort of thing, but it folds flat to not take up much space in your pocket or bag.Mind you, these things are not panaceas. No matter how much you pay (some will cost you a ridiculously Scary Song) their primary use is to send your flash's...

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ISO Baltimore Studio Space

Just a shout out to the local folks: If anyone has a good suggestion for local (Balt area) shooting space that I can co-op, rent, crash, whatever -- shoot me a comment with some contact info. I'm gettin' itchy.(Your info won't be published, and thanks much.)-...

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Jazzing Up a Boring Computer Portrait

SuperDave Tejada is back, this time showing you how to pump up a typical, boring person-at-computer shoot using a couple of SB's. Dave is shooting corporate here, which means that (a) he can direct people all he wants, and (b) he makes lots more money than you do. Stuff to watch for:1. He gets good contrast and fill from two opposing light sources - left and right.2. He has the hard-vs-soft thing going, too. Hard camera left vs soft camera right.3. He also uses a warm-vs-cool scheme, working a CTO against a CTB for good internal separation.You...

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Ring Flash Week: Building the HD Ring Flash

I just didn't have the heart to force-feed you another donut. Even Krispy Kremes get old after three days in a row. Logo or not...__________________________So, here's the main structural component of the ring flash. A 16" concrete form tube. ($10.67 at Home Depot.)This stuff is so useful for DIY goodies. I have seen giant Dobsonian telescopes made...

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Ring Flash Week: Designing the HD Ring Flash

Gettin' tired of the donut logo yet? Have another... We still have a whole 'nother box...I have been pining for a good DIY ring flash adapter that will do everything I want it to do for a year now. Every time a new design would pop up, I would want to play with it. But ultimately, I knew I would be disappointed if it would not meet my needs. So I just...

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From the Bargain Basement Background Dept

If you happen to have a Jo-Ann Fabric store near you, check your circular this week. Sale items vary by locale, but they very likely have muslin (some of which comes in the 10-foot wide rolls) at 30% off (40% off w/coupon this week.) According to tipster SkepticalJS, it comes to about $5.99 a linear yard.(Thanks for the tip, and if you score any good stuff tell us about it in the comments.):: Store Locator ::-...

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Ring Flash Week: Getting Past Cliché

Nothing I blog about, save maybe Jill Greenberg, is as polarizing as is ring flash. You either love it or you hate it.(The haters are in the minority, BTW, as the RF posts are consistently among the most widely read pieces on the site.)That said, I'll play Devil's Advocate for a moment. (More after the jump.)___________________Little Tommy G., of Burtonsville,...

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