How To: Sync a Canon G9 at 1/2500th of a Sec

The Canon G9 is my knock-around point-and-shoot camera. It has 12.1MP, a fast lens, does video and actually syncs well above its nominal sync speed of 1/500th of a sec -- if you know how to do it.There are a couple ways to pull this off, and the cheapest way is actually the best.The first thing you have to know if you are going to sync the G9 (or G7)...

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Greetings from the Land of Cranes

Finally over my jet lag in Dubai, where the temperature is currently 167 degrees. Although, that's fahrenheit, so that's not as bad as it sounds. The humidity is 132% and the breeze is zero mph. Or less.But it is totally worth it, as I have been hanging out with the other intructors and learning loads about some really cool stuff without having to...

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Lighting 102: 6.1 - Gelling for Fluorescent

On their face, gels are a pretty simple concept. You stick a colored piece of plastic in front of your flash and it alters the color of the light accordingly. But so much is possible from just this simple trick.In this, the first of a four-part section on using gels, we'll be looking at their most common use -- converting the color of your flash's...

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New at Amazon: Minimalist Lighting, by Kirk Tuck

Minimalist Lighting: Professional Techniques for Location Photography is a new book by Austin-based commercial photographer (and long-time Strobist reader) Kirk Tuck. For those of you looking to grow the small-light thing into a practice of shooting for editorial, corporate and advertising clients, Kirk's book serves as a road map in his effort to...

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Marry Me, Katharine Gammon

Wired Magazine, my favorite mag for just about everything -- especially photography -- blogged about this month's cover story and included lighting diagrams from the photographer. They were done Joe McNally style, on airline cocktail napkins by photographer Brent Humphreys. Please, Katharine, let this start happening every month. I will link to you...

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On Assignment: Controlling Daylight, Pt. 1

Last week, I photographed Jessie Newburn, a local blogger and social networking maven. I shot in the middle of the afternoon to use this portrait as an example of how to light an outdoor portrait with a couple of small flashes on a sunny day. (First step: Cheat.)Being able to create a speedlight-lit photo like this any day, rain or shine, is a pretty...

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Welcome, USA Today Readers

If you are dropping by after reading the story in Wednesday's USA Today, we're glad to have you.Fair warning: You may at first be a little overwhelmed with some of the current lighting info on Strobist. Don't worry, that's cool. We were all beginners at some point, too. To help make some sense of it all, read our Welcome Page to see what we are all...

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RadioPopper-Palooza

The long-awaited CLS-eTTL extending RadioPopper P1s are starting to arrive to people who were early on the shipping list. I was able to get my mitts on a set, and spent last Friday evening at a local lighting meetup trying to get them to fail.Keep reading for an unboxing video, an installation video and a torture test from our meetup.__________Zeke,...

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By Request: Brendan O'Shea's Post Production

Several people asked for some details on Brendan O'Shea's Photoshop work on the cool band photo featured on Friday. Brendan was kind enough to check in and supply the added info:Says Brendan:"I got quite a shock this morning when I checked my inbox. A few people have expressed interest in the post production, although it never works for me if the lighting's...

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Like Martin, Only More Spartan

After seeing the Martin Prihoda Delirium video recently, fellow west-coaster Andrew Jorgensen decided to see if he could get close to the look with a trio of speedlights. Light is light, and if you can find ways to allow for the differences in power levels, you can do many things with your speedlights that the Big Boys do with their Profotos.Jorgensen...

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On Assignment: Par For the Course

Last week I went to Severn, Maryland to photograph a young female golfer who is sixteen year-old sophomore in high school. She competes on the men's team and drives form the mens' tees. Before you start feeling sorry for her, she drives 240 and recently shot a 68 on a par-72 course. She can bring it. I was shooting her for The Sun, and decided to do...

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Bits and Pieces, 4/15/2008

Nothing to tax you too much on Tax Day here in the US. Just a couple of things of interest to lighting photographers. Now if you'll excuse me I gotta get back to seeing if I can figure out a way to classify my SB-800s as dependents...• Adorama will be hosting "An Evening with Joe McNally" on May 8th, in New York City. (Assuming Joe is past his jet lag from the workshops in Dubai, that is.) It's $25, but you get a $25 gift certificate if you attend. Which makes it free-ish. I'd jump on this pretty quick if you want to go.• Quest Couch, the man...

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HonlPhoto Speed Grids: Controlling Contrast

While hanging out with the Western Kentucky photojournalism students this weekend, I got a chance to play around with David Honl's new speed grids for a bit. Long story short, I like his better than my DIY versions -- for several reasons.I have been spending a lot of time lately reverse engineering the light of a few photographers whose work I really...

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How to Give a Seminar in Your Underwear

Ever have that dream where you wake up, totally unprepared, and have to go to school to take a test in your underwear?That's what pretty much happened to me this morning.__________SWA Sends You an Extra Reservation, Just for Good MeasureIf you'll indulge an OT rant, here's how not to start a trip off very smoothly.Back story: I am heading to Bowling...

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Reynolds Wrap Table Top

For those of you who were reverse engineering the shot of the flash last week from the cheat sheet post, make the jump for the setup shot -- and a link that has me laughing out loud.Okay, here it is. It's shot on my TV cabinet. Which makes my (mostly) unwatched TV good for at least something. The backdrop is a sheet of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil....

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First Look: Honl Speed Grids

UPDATE: David has a blog post about them here, with more info.Here's what I will be playing with this weekend: Just got me a set of the not-yet-released Honl Speed Grids. I'll be down at Western Kentucky University on Saturday, teaching an in-house lighting day for the PJ students. And we will definitely have to give these a test drive.One more pic,...

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On Assignment: Peter Yang Shoots Admiral William Fallon

Imagine this: You have all of 25 minutes to shoot Admiral William J. "Fox" Fallon for an Esquire Magazine feature story. They need a portrait that conveys intensity, but you will be shooting in a typical office setting.And on the day you show up, your subject (who also just happens to be the U.S. CENTCOM Commander) is busy focusing on the fallout from...

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To London-Area Readers

Hit the jump for a heads-up on a lighting workshop at The Flash Centre which might be of interest to you.DJ LaDez (from Lumedyne) is doing a flash workshop at The Flash Centre in London on April 28. Food, model, demos, how-to, etc. It's £60.00, but they give you a voucher for £50.00 towards portable lighting gear. Which makes it darn-near free if you were gonna get some lighting gear anyway. BPPA members get in for £50.00, which nets to free if you use the voucher.(More info her...

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Can-Do Approach to Cheap Lighting

"Back when we were young, we didn't have no speedlights. We had utility lamps. And we didn't have no light stands, neither. We had sticks. And cans. And we were glad to get 'em."If my dad were guest blogging, you'd being hearing that kind of thing left and right. But maybe that's not a bad thing.Hit the jump for an old-skool, ultra-low-rent lighting...

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Beats Another Shot of a Wal*Mart

Before I get 10 gazillion emails asking if megablog Consumerist had permission to use my photo all life-sized and stuff: Yup, they did...I am a huge fan of Ben Popken and his merry band of little-guy advocates. Not to mention their impeccable art directing chops, natch. If you are like-minded and sufficiently generous with your pix, they have a Flickr pool where you can drop your pictures of Wal*Mart, Best Buy, greasy hambugers, etc. (Putting them in the pool makes them eligible for inclusion in the blog.)I am always happy when I pop up on their...

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Birthdays, Heresies and Watt-Seconds

Strobist turned two this weekend. And while I will admit that it is not yet completely potty trained, now is as good a time as any to announce some upcoming changes. What to expect in the coming year, after the jump._________Looking ForwardIn upcoming weeks you will no doubt notice some changes. They will be welcomed by some, and poo-poo'd others....

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Light Faster With a Cheat Sheet

Heading into the weekend, here's a little tip to help to make you more intuitive with your flash.One of the first hurdles in learning off-camera flash photography in the manual mode is knowing where to set your flash for that first test exposure. For beginners, it can almost seem arbitrary or random. More experienced photographers, on the other hand,...

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Martin Prihoda is Back

For those of you wondering what happened to Strobist favorite Martin Prihoda, he's back. Never really went away, actually. He just deleted his (very popular) Flickr account to focus on his core photography website.Martin made a video of himself shooting the musical group "Delerium" in Vancouver. He is using big lights here, but don't go turning up your nose. There is some good info for many of you both for now and for later down the line. And I especially like the advice he gives at the end.Hit the jump after the movie for a little bit on how to...

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