Light Fare From Martin Prihoda

A little while back I did some surveying on this site. Among other things, the survey told me that the readership of Strobist skewed male. Overwhelmingly, pathetically, ninety-four-percentingly male.So I am thinking today that roughly six percent of you will react to Hamish's shotgunned beer burp with an "Ewww, gross," while about 94 percent of you will hold up signs with ratings from one to ten.Vancouver-based shooter Martin Prihoda is back, squeezing a little end-of-day fun out of some lighting gear rental, and walking through the process of...

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Mount Your Mods with Speed Straps

Having spent much of my 20 years as a newspaper shooter with sticky-velcro-covered flashes, I have recently become a big fan of velcro speed straps for mounting all of my light mods to small flashes.Hit the jump for why you want 'em, where to get 'em, and how to make 'em -- plus a whole mess of archive DIY links._________At one point in the 1980's,...

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DVDs Back in Stock

If you missed out on the Strobist Lighting Seminar DVD set, the second printing is in. All backorders have now been shipped, and remaining DVDs are available here.-...

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Nikon SB-900 Foot: Size 16 EEEE

The new Nikon SB-900 Speedlights are dropping into stock pretty much everywhere, albeit on allocation. But before you buy, you might want to check this thread for a running update on what the flash shoes the newly designed foot will -- and won't -- fit. Please feel free to add to this list if you find out anything first hand. And remember that they...

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Speedlights, South Africa Style

South African photographer (and Strobist reader) Robert Miller, whom you may also know as "Panascape" on Flickr, has been showing up in PIX African Photo Journal so often he should be paying them rent.Back in the March edition, Miller wrote and photographed a story entitled, "Welcome to Strobist." He got four pages for his story and another four pages...

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Hands-On Review: Nikon SB-900 Speedlight

I got a chance to play with a new Nikon SB-900 speedlight over the last few days and I gotta say, it's a pretty sweet flash. Long story short: Nikon has just extended their lead in the flash department. The only drawback I can see is the "perfectly good" status of the current SB-800. And that $500 price tag, of course.Should you get one? Swap out all...

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One-Light Night Landscape

New in the Strobist Reader Gallery is Jonathan Boeke's night shot of a stand of trees.It's done with multiple pops, during a time exposure. And it is easier than you might think. Keep reading for a few tips on creating shot like this, next time you are alone in the woods at night...For this shot, Jonathan walked to a spot behind each tree and fired...

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Speedlinks, July 18, 2008

I'm up in NYC, gearing up for tomorrow's lighting seminar and Sunday's "Shoot! The Day" classes. But there's still time for a fresh batch of speedlinks!• Thomas Graves has an excellent real-world review of the RadioPoppers at Light-Shoot-Print.• Remember Joey Lawrence? He's been in Moldova, shooting cats the King of the Gypsies and has a video which includes the lighting setup. That kid is something. Eighteen frickin' years old and never home.(Warning: The audio is NSFW, and the video is NSF cat lovers...)• My friend Kevin Coloton is doing...

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Rembrandt Lighting? Um, No.

Phoenix-based shooter Blair Bunting must have been asleep the day they taught the classic portrait lighting styles in school. Either that, or he skipped right past "Rembrandt" and went straight to "Badass."Bunting is part of a movement of a high-def lighting style that is especially well-suited to subjects like athletes, rock musicians, MMA fighters,...

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Orbis Ring Flash Adapter Details

An email from Enlight Photo dropped into my box tonight with some fresh detail on the upcoming Orbis Ring Flash Adapter. It's similar in function (if not design) to the Ray Flash adapter, with some key differences:• The flash is mounted off-camera, similar to many of the DIY designs we have seen.• From the light source reflections in some of the test...

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Win a Free Set of PocketWizards

UPDATE: I asked for a little clarification on the means of off-camera flash trigger allowed for the contest and got the following answer: ANYTHING. That means, PW's, Ebay remotes, sync cords (ironically), Nikon CLS, Canon eTTL, voice-activated test-button-pusher during a time exposure -- ANYTHING.Yeah, I'm pretty much thinking that headline got your...

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Light We Like: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

Like Platon, photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders does most all of his portraiture with one, soft light. So he's an especially good person to learn from if you are still waiting to snag that second flash.Greenfield-Sanders has made a career out of shooting elegant portraits of people, lit simply but beautifully with one light source. He also uses large format cameras for their extreme detail and lush tonal range. This consistent setup allows him to spend his time exploring expression, detail and subtle subject/photographer interactions.This...

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New, and Long Overdue: Blogroll

It's on the sidebar, about halfway down. Starting with the usual suspects, with more to come soon. Stay tuned.-...

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Canon G9: The New Polaroid?

Back in the day, when the earth was still cooling and dinosaurs still roamed the plains, film-shooting photogs used to have to proof on Polaroid backs. Wasn't cheap, or convenient: $2.00 a pop, and two minutes to pull a print. That doesn't sound too bad until you realize how fast light can change at, say, golden hour.I was talking today with Grayson...

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Getty to License Flickr Images

UPDATE: Lots of interesting views in the comments, and PhotoShelter has now responded.Seeing how many of you have photos on Flickr, this is gonna be a topic of conversation around here. We have one of the largest groups on Flickr, and the quality is such that the photos in the Flickr Strobist group regularly make explore. So this is definitely gonna...

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On Assignment: Night Chopper, Pt. 2

In part one of the Night Chopper shoot, we talked about some of the problems that had to be overcome in preparation for an interior-lit, ground-to-air shot of a police helicopter. Today, we are going to walk through the shoot itself, see what unexpected problems popped up and look at some of the edits from the take._________Perry, the pilot, landed...

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Light We Like: Gregory Crewdson

UPDATE: Adds a second video, with lots more detail, after the jump.I find myself completely mesmerized by Gregory Crewdson's photos. The light, the narrative, the light, the tension, the light -- well, you get the idea.When you look at his photos, bear in mind that he puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like you do. Only then he spends the whole day taking over entire city blocks, directing his technical folks, manipulating casts of "figures" and, well, never actually "holding the camera," as he notes.Gregory does not work "in a studio"....

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