Lighting 101: Strobe/Ambient Balance — A Shorthand Way of Thinking

Okay, so by now you should have a decent understanding of how you can balance flash flash with ambient light. In this segment, we'll give that process a little shorthand language to help you understand other photographers when they talk about the way the lit a photo.Here, I want to accomplish two things:1. To set you up with a way of quickly understanding...

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LA, LA, LA...

If you are going to one of the L.A. lighting seminars this weekend, make sure you check in on the L.A. seminar discussion thread for the latest info. Also, there is one seat that just became available, info here. (Filled.)-...

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Lighting 102 - 7.3: Time in a Bottle Discussion

Here we are, on the very last of the Lighting 102 assignments. This series has been more than a year in the making, and it is almost time to put this one in the books.But first, we take a look at your "Time in a Bottle" assignment shots from earlier this month. As I recall, you were to shoot a photo using flash and some kind of time-controlled variable....

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Act Fast: Best Buy Liquidating Nikon SB-800s

If we were looking for a sign that the Best Li'l Speedlight ever made has been put out to pasture, this is probably it. Sadly, it looks like Nikon is clearing SB-800s off of the shelves to make space for the newer, bigger, faster, more 'spensiver SB-900. Hit the jump for just how cheap they are, and your best game plan to get one.Normally, I am not...

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Lighting Q and A, 09-26-08

Christine, in Virginia (USA), asks:"Is it possible for a specular highlight to be anything other than blown out? If so, how do you meter and control its intensity?"Yes it is, Christine. Keep reading for how to control specular intensity -- and for your second question, which I liked even better...Christine's question went into more detail, and was...

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By Request: The LumiQuest Softbox III

UPDATE: Lotsa good questions coming up on this in the comments. Doing my best to keep up with the answers.Those of you who follow my Flickr stream already know that I have been playing with the new LumiQuest Softbox III for a few months now.It was created in direct response to Strobist reader input, and is one of several upcoming lights and light mods...

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Dean Collins - Live at Brooks Institute

Without a doubt, my biggest influence when I was first learning how to light was Dean Collins. He passed away suddenly at far too young an age, but we are very fortunate in that much of his material was preserved on video.Cruising through YouTube the other day, I found a 6-minute excerpt from and old VHS tape of one of his presentations at Brooks....

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Lighting Q and A, 9/19/2008

Looking through the questions that have come in so far, at least a dozen people have asked about the process of shooting manual flash without a flashmeter. So we are going to hit that one in depth today.Like a lot of pros, I have made the switch from shooting with an incident meter to winging it and chimping off of the TFT screen on the back of the...

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Betcha Can't Watch it Just Once

I always enjoy a good photo shoot video. You know, a little chance to see behind the scenes, the studio banter, some cool finished stills at the end. Nice way to spend a few minutes.Several months ago, Chase Jarvis did a promo still/video shoot for the Kung Fu HD network. For various reasons, he has not been able to publish it until now. But I got an early sneak peak, and I thought it was killer. So I watched it again. And again. And again.How many times? I have no friggin' idea. I only know that I was watching the full, 1080p version via his server....

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Ghetto Studio: Compact Garage Background Support

I love it when a great idea just drops in out of the blue. This one is from Ray Dobbins, a bicycle collector who likes to take photos of his prized objects in his garage. He is totally frugal on the light, using a pair of cheapo worklights as main sources. Brownie points for that, obviously. But it's the two small metal brackets he made that will certainly...

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Time to Give Away Some Pocketwizards

I am slammed today, editing from a corporate shoot last night. So rather than do a full post on who won the August round of the Going Wireless contest, I am sending you over to the PW Blog. Congrats to [find out who won]!-...

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Lighting Q and A, 09-12-08

This week's questions are all about gels. Hit the jump for the light-sucking, color-shifting details...James, who would tell us where he lives but then he would have to kill us, asks:"If you gel a flash, say a full CTO for instance, does the power output of the flash alter the color thrown? (I didnt know if it had the same effect as say dimming a tungsten...

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Today's Special: Gourmet Speedlights Al Fresco

UPDATE: Nick was kind enough to drop by and answer some of your questions in comments. (Thanks, Nick!)I love letting the new submissions to the Strobist Flickr Pool build up for a few days, so I can spend a few hours looking through the thousand or so photos that have dropped in since the last edit. That's a lot of images to look at in one sitting....

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Speedlnks: Sept. 8, 2008

Quickie batch of bonus speedlinks for Monday morning, after the jump:________• PDN ran a piece on Tim Kent's amazing car photography, thus justifying Ken Brown's subscription for the next ten years. Don't miss the companion OA-style sidebar, too.• If you live in eastern Canada and are a fan of Martin Prihoda, you may wish to check out a big-lights seminar he'll be doing in Toronto later this month.• My bet is most of us get a steady stream of requests to shoot photos of friends and family. This is how you might do it if you were contributing SI...

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Los Angeles Lighting Seminar Registration Opens

UPDATE: Both seminars, Saturday and Sunday, are sold out. You can jump straight to the discussion thread, here. Please check that thread periodically, as the latest info will be there. -DH________Registration for the October 4th and 5th lighting seminars is now open sold out. Continue reading after the jump for details on the seminars.LOCATION:We will...

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Strobist Lighting Seminar: Los Angeles - Oct. 4th and 5th

Just a quick note that I am finally getting out to L.A. Just scheduled myself for a nose job (and a quick Botox touch-up) to better fit in with the locals next month at the Oct. 4th and 5th lighting seminars in Los Angeles. We will follow the same setup as in this previous seminar in Phoenix. So read through that if you want more info, links to reviews, etc. Registration opens on Sunday at 8:00 a.m. local (LA) time -- watch this space. We'll be at a hotel (TBA) near LAX. More details and full registration info then.-...

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TTD Video: How They Roll in Belgium

Thanks to Didier Jouret, who sent me a link to this video from a Pieter Van Impe "Trash the Dress" -type shoot. This one is not so much about lighting, but it does include all of the typical stuff: Beach, sunset, trippy beats, happy couple, some champagne, a little nipple pinching, a kite-mounted Canon G9 for overheads, ... wait, WHAT?Dude, I so want that G9 kite mount. He uses the G9 on a monster light stand, too.Related links::: Pieter Van Impe :: :: Tom Museeuw :::: Bridseye Kite Aerial Photography :: :: Didier Jouret :: (Videograph...

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Dustin Snipes on Quality and Quantity

Quick, what's the first image that would pop into your mind if you were assigned to go to a basketball camp and shoot seventy portraits in two days?Picture day in seventh grade? I Love Lucy at the cake factory? L.A.-based shooter Dustin Snipes shows not only that it can be done, but it can be done with quality and style. Check out his blog post for...

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Lighting 102 - 7.2: Time in a Bottle

Before we get to the assignment for this last unit in Lighting 102, I have one more technique for you to consider when using time as a variable for your flash photos. It's very useful, because it acts as a gear multiplier for those of you who may not have as many strobes as you'd like.Given that a flash can record it's subject in an instant -- even...

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